Advice on starting college search

[Anonymous]

Congratulations to all who recently completed the college process and good luck to those still waiting. I’m hoping some of you will be willing to give some bTDT advice to someone who is just starting the process. Any and all advice welcome.

My oldest is only a sophomore and is completely (and understandably) uninterested in college issues so far. I’m not very interested yet either but I sense I should start getting slightly educated so I don’t feel stupid later. I checked out one of those how to apply to college books from the library and skimmed it. Here’s what I gathered:

1. Get your kid to think generally about what they want in a college, and if possible about what they want to do after college. Size, location, feel of school, types of majors offered. Think about what we can afford.
2. Encourage child to look for colleges that generally match the stuff they like. Avoid the trap of picking the most selective colleges.
3. Visit as many colleges as possible to get a feel for what different ones are like.
4. Get good grades.
5. Engage in some sort of extracurricular beyond academics. Sports, a club, anything. Just do something.
6. Take the ACT or SAT. Don’t blow it off.
7. Encourage kid to write carefully considered essays and not slap stuff together the day before it’s due.

With the exception of grades and extracurriculars, all this gets done junior year. That seems stressful but is perhaps unavoidable.

What else is there to do? What nuances am I missing? Anything else that ought to be done before junior year? Anything else I or my child can do now that will make junior year less stressful? Any tips for a newbie?

FWIW, I don’t think either I or my child will suffer too much from overstress or competitiveness. Child gets good grades (mostly As) so that’s likely not a problem unless some change occurs. Not a competitive athlete so that is not a consideration. I am a planner who dislikes disorder and stress, so that’s why I’m trying to figure out now what I can do in advance to keep things low key next year.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

PH

[Anonymous]

I am a novice, but here are a few things we learned with our eldest:

1. Prep for and take the SAT/ACT during summer after sophomore year. Of course, I am talking about the normal environment, but probably still a good idea in test-optional environment.
2. All essays should be done summer after junior year. Do not let your kid convince you otherwise. There is no good time to deal with this during fall of senior year.
3. Do not underestimate the effect other students from your child's high school will have on your child's admissions prospects, at least in situations where the other students and your child are applying to the same schools.
4. Think about hiring someone to help, if only to reduce the tension between you and your child.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Great job! I think you have taken away most of the healthy pointers on this site.

I would just saying being a leader in one group/cause/campaign is better than being a member of many. They want to see that you can manage/lead, because all of the clubs on campuses are run by students.

Also, after you visit at least one school (start nearby) in the major categories (large public, small liberal arts colleges, urban/rural,etc), then get him a book (like Princeton Reviews Best 386 colleges) to he can start making a list of the places that are maybes.

If he can identify a major/career interest, that will make your life/search easier. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I would add that this early in the process, don't let the child focus on specific colleges. Focus on areas of interest, type of school, different colleges being better for different areas of study, etc. Get him to see there isn't just one ranked list of good schools -- the choice is so much more nuanced.

You really can't start focusing on specific schools until you see how your child's mid Junior year stats line up with your school's Naviance data. Letting your child fall in love with a school that it turns out has never accepted a child from your school is not a great way to start out. Also, if possible, start by choosing a list of three schools where your child's stats are above the 75th percentile, then move up from there. First impressions matter, and if your child can start with a favorable opinion about the likely schools, there will be a lot less pressure if the reaches don't work out.

[Anonymous]

Great advice so far. Keep it coming. Many thanks.

PH

[Anonymous]

Anything I can do now to make it easier later? Read another library book, or are they all the same?

PP who suggested testing this summer, really? That seems soon. But maybe I should be more proactive.

PH

[Anonymous]

I agree with your general takeaways.

One of the best tips I got was to NOT kill yourself visiting. Instead, maybe pick a geographic area that has several different types of colleges. Maybe you plan a trip to Boston. You can see Boston University (large, urban), Boston College (small, Catholic), Emerson (urban, artsy), Wellesley (selective, single-sex), and many more. That alone can offer a lot of different perspectives.

[Anonymous]

Make sure the list of colleges to apply to includes safeties that your child would be genuinely happy at. Think about the attributes of the reach/match schools they like, then look for schools with similar qualities but less selective. Ideally, they have an early action application option, in which case, apply early. They are great practice for later applications (with less stress), and your kid will hear back December/January, ideally getting confidence that he or she is into a college they could happily attend. (My senior is still waiting to hear back from a few last schools this week, so it has been very, very helpful to have two great safeties in the bag.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anything I can do now to make it easier later? Read another library book, or are they all the same?

PP who suggested testing this summer, really? That seems soon. But maybe I should be more proactive.

PH

My senior did a practice SAT and practice ACT (offered by the school) by 10th grade. Did a bit of Khan Academy test practice the summer between sophomore and junior year, then did tests fall of junior year. That schedule was great for us, and not just because Covid led to later test cancellations--it meant that either the student could be done with tests and move on, or they had time to address any test deficits that had shown up. There's not much point to waiting if your child will have covered the math subjects. (SAT goes through Algebra II, and ACT includes trigonometry.)

[Anonymous]

If you are trying to steer your kid to your state school, secure a few tickets to a football game so he can get a feel for the school spirit. Keep it light in the early searches.

[Anonymous]

1) Make a spreadsheet for your college list

2) Cast a wide net

3) Where you go is not who you'll be

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anything I can do now to make it easier later? Read another library book, or are they all the same?

PP who suggested testing this summer, really? That seems soon. But maybe I should be more proactive.

PH

My senior did a practice SAT and practice ACT (offered by the school) by 10th grade. Did a bit of Khan Academy test practice the summer between sophomore and junior year, then did tests fall of junior year. That schedule was great for us, and not just because Covid led to later test cancellations--it meant that either the student could be done with tests and move on, or they had time to address any test deficits that had shown up. There's not much point to waiting if your child will have covered the math subjects. (SAT goes through Algebra II, and ACT includes trigonometry.)

Ooo, this PP reminded me: Consider whether your student is on an advanced math track when scheduling the tests for real.

My senior took the tests right before this school year when testing started to become available again. But because she’d done Alg II and Trig stuff in freshman year, her math scores were lower than the others (still high, but noticeably lower than verbal on SAT and all the other ACT sections). Granted, she went in cold for both—no prep, no studying. (Wasn’t worth fighting about because she tests well, and this summer sucked enough!)

So if it has been a while since your child took Algebra II, I recommend a Khan Academy refresher!

Overall, you sound like you have your sh*t together, OP! Good luck in the process!!

[Anonymous]

The latter being a book.

[Anonymous]

People seem to forget the goal of college is to get out and get a job. This is not an easy task nowadays.

Please check the major your student is interested in at each college. Not all colleges have companies come for interviews, not all colleges have a track for every major. Make sure your student is comfortable with job-seeking if the college does not make that a priority. Of course, this part is usually easier for CS, Eng, finance, accounting, because those companies come. But Anthropology or communications might be on your own so how does the college help Just examples...

After acceptances, please look at coursework it varies from college to college. For example, one of the colleges one of my DC decided to attend required 2 years of a language. They would not accept AP and or community college credits, only taking a foreign language at school. Hence my child is a horrible student in languages, give them any other subject excellent grades. Almost did not graduate as a B was required not a C.

[Anonymous]

Funny how no one has mentioned affordability. Sit your kid down and explain how paying for college works. Are you full-pay? Do ED. I’ll write that again. Do ED.