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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Encourage her to get involved with clubs and other ECs at school and elsewhere. These should be things she has a genuine interest in. Some parents think kids should wait until they've adjusted academically and then start sophomore year. IME, it's better to join in 9th. First, it's hard to get any leadership positions if you wait til 10th. Second, if the kid does go overboard with ECs and it hurts grades, it's much better to do this in 9th and course correct than in 10th when grades matter more.

Academically, opt for the tougher classes. At almost all high schools it is a lot easier to drop down to less intensive courses than to move up to more intensive ones. That doesn't mean take all the toughest classes. It does mean that if she's borderline for honors or harder classes in some subjects, go for it.

Find out who her counselor is. At some schools, it's the same person all 4 years. Just stop by and introduce herself if it is.

If it's allowed at her school, go to the meetings with college reps for colleges that may be of interest. Don't go to all of them but if, for example, she thinks she might like to go to a small liberal arts college, go to a couple of talks by that kind of school if 9th graders are permitted. Especially do it for less popular schools. (I mean less popular at that particular high school.)

There's no need to go traveling all over the country visiting colleges. You can see lots of different types of colleges locally.

Start looking at colleges from the bottom up. Even if your kid is a superstar, don't start with Harvard or MIT. You're kid is likely to be more open to less selective colleges if she sees them first.

Get a sense of how much your family will be expected to pay by trying out some of the NPCs--net price calculators--at your flagship public and a few other colleges.  Be aware that there are certain things that can really hurt. For example, if you're going to sell a second home, the timing of this could inflate your EFC--expected family contribution. If applicable, check out rules for separated and divorced parents.

Talk about money early and often if you have any financial restraints whatsoever. If you are only willing to pay X dollars or some formula like the cost of the most expensive instate tuition, room and board, tell your kid that. I've known kids who wanted to go to attend more expensive colleges and did so because they figured out how to pay the difference. For example, several kids got ROTC scholarships. Not everyone in ROTC gets scholarships, BTW. These kids did because they focused on getting them. You can't get one if your parents tell you fpr the first time when the envelopes come back that they aren't paying for the college of your dreams.

Tell her the better her grades and test scores, the more options she will have. If your family needs financial aid, the most selective colleges tend to have the most generous fin aid policies. If she's going to need to look for merit, better stats will help.

Right now, she should focus on doing well at school, not prepping for standardized tests. An exception is if she wants to sign up for one of those "word a day" sites that just sends her one word a day to grow up vocabulary slow.

Good luck!

[/quote]

Great advice here[/quote]

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