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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DS is entering middle school. Academically good, is in GT courses, musically talented, has played piano for several years but not at the eleven of winning competitions, not interested in sports, inclined towards stem, Asian. Both immigrant parents with no insight into college admissions here. 
What parents with little knowledge of the college process here. What advice would you give such a kid in terms of what he can do now in order to get into a good college?[/quote]

- Look at your finances. Earn and save as much possible. If your son stays on track, the range of schools where your son can go will depend more on you than him.

- If there are likely to be limits on what you’ll be able to spend, talk about that. If you earn $300,000 per year and own some property, and will only be able to spend $15,000 per year on college, because you’re bad at budgeting and you refuse to sell the property, make sure your son understands those constraints now. Don’t let him have an unrealistic image of the resources available.

- Understand that you steering your son toward the kinds of “Top 30” schools that will really care if your son is an athlete is pretty foolish. If your son wants to aim for those schools, OK. But you pushing your son toward those schools is like pushing him to be an astronaut, or a poet. Yes, astronauts exist. A few posts who earn a living from poetry might exist. But that sort of thing isn’t common enough to be part of a sensible life plan. Going to Harvard, or even Duke, isn’t really apart of a sensible life plan, either. It’s

- Recognize that most paths will lead to your state flagship or a similar school. Or, if you’re in Virginia or California, a state university other than the flagship. Stop thinking and talking in terms of “good colleges.” Talk about the “right college for you.” If, say, you’re in Virginia, don’t make fun of George Mason. Your son could end up going there.

- Given that your kid is an enthusiastic, hard-working kid, and is already earning good grades, just encourage your son to keep up the good work, have fun l arming, do what interests him, and avoid being a slave to the people in charge of college admissions at Harvard. If “it will look on your college application” gets him away from TikTok, that’s a good reason for him to think about college applications. But, if trying to read the minds of admissions people causes him to join the track time instead of being in theater, and he loves theater and hates track, that’s terrible. Any constructive activity he enjoys is the right one.

- If you’ll have lots of money, he’ll be able to waltz into all but about 40 private schools and 100 public schools without much fuss. He’ll probably have a 50 percent chance at half of the selective schools and 5 percent at the others, and there’s really nothing you can do to change the odds. Anything that seems logical will be done by too many people and make your kid look boring.

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