Reply to Lessons Learned- College Admissions- If you had to do it all again.....

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My suggestions of what I would do if I could start over (and some things DCs and I did that I think were successful).

Start saving for college very early (by age 5).
Prep for the SAT or ACT the summer after sophomore year and plan to take the 1st SAT or Act in the fall of the junior year. The prep for the SAT/ACT will help the PSAT score, and you will have plenty of time to retake and improve your score.
Focus on taking the most challenging courses offered beginning in 9th grade. Doing well is the top priority.
Find a passion and excel or consistently engage in the passion at school and over the summer.
Focus on one significant charitable project that will fit into the common app.
Visit enough schools so that your DC is able to pick one to apply to ED.
Carefully review course offerings and write about the program DC will enter and the courses they will take in the "Why this college" question on the common app.
Write the common app essay and as many other essays as possible the summer before senior year.
Do not use Naviance- the matches do not make sense and because you can't figure out the entire picture from 2 data points, its anxiety producing.
Apply ED and EA. Guide the choices as best you can, making sure DC picks a place with many good courses of study so DC will not have to transfer if DC changes their mind about what they want to do.
Be prepared for disappointment. Be supportive of other families who are going through this process, sharing things you learn along the way.
The college admissions process is the worst thing we do to our children. Try not to be too hard on them while they are going through it.

Veteran of 2 college admission processes and glad to be done[/quote]

While I agree with your suggestions for parents doing all they can as early as possible to ease access to college (most notably start saving early), I find your suggestions for student focus on apparent altruism for the sake of building appeal of profile appalling. [/quote]

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