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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There's probably a discussion about this somewhere but I can't find it.  As a parent did you do any early college research to help jumpstart your DC's search? Probably from reading this board I've come across a few schools that IMO might be of interest to DC. Is it worth offering up a few to suggest visiting their website or doing research on their own as a way to begin to dip their toes in.

I'm not sure how this process starts in a way that isn't handing a kid the Fiske guide or something and saying good luck.  Any advice or BTDT on how your student geared up in exploring schools?[/quote]

Depends on the kid. But for us, I think our daughter was overwhelmed at the thought of finding colleges she even wanted to apply to because (1) she had no idea what she wanted to study and (2) she had no idea what to look for in a college.

So, we tried starting with questions like big or small? near or far? She really didn't know.
She knew a certain activity she wanted, so that gave us one factor to include.

By spring of her junior year, she still had no clue. So we determined that we just needed to get her to visit a few schools so she could just get a feel for different campuses.

We arranged for two visits back-to-back one weekend. One was a very small private school and the other a mid-sized state school. She immediately was able to determine she preferred the mid-sized school. Great.
Took her to my alma mater when we were on a trip nearby. She decided she would be interested in it if it were closer to home. Great. So, we then knew 4 things: mid-size, not too far and not to close to home, specific activity requirement, and liberal arts.

Just have to build from there. If they don't know what they want to study, that narrows it down to community college or 4-year liberal arts (in-state public...not spending 2-3x as much money to "explore").[/quote]

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