I'd like to add something about college counselors. When my son had his first college consult with the school counselor, it was clear she didn't have much advice for the solid B+ kid. I'd always heard our school kowtowed to the highest achievers, but never believed it until the counselor gave us a list of schools with very low stats. It really helped us to pay a couple of hundred dollars to a private counselor to help us work on a solid list of schools.

Freshman year is an excellent time for parents to talk to each other about finances and whether they're taking the "find your dream school" approach vs. saying "here's what we can afford" or "here's what your realistic public school option costs, and here are the conditions under which you can go some place more expensive." (Conditions might be your family's standards re what kind of education is worth the price, they might be getting merit or FA, etc.). I think it's important for parents to have worked this out before campus visits start.

Sophomore year should be when you tell your kid what the rules of the game are -- both in terms of family-imposed constraints, as well as more generally how admissions works, the range of college options available, and how to choose among them. Ask your kid what his or her college and career goals are (and emphasize that they may change). Introduce some realism and some means-ends rationality into the process, especially if your kid is in an environment where the "dream school" and/or the must-get-into-an-Ivy mentality dominates. This is the ”here are the various ways you can get from where you are to where you want to be" phase.

Once you have a sense of what your kid wants, you can start researching (and/or teach your kid how to research) schools. Look at majors and any extra-curriculars that are important to your kid, then at cost/debt load, admissions standards/criteria, 4-and 6-year graduation rates, job and grad school results.

By junior year, it's nuts and bolts time -- course selection, standardized tests (including prep), identifying teachers who will write recs, figuring out what your kid is going to do during the summer, whether athletic recruitment is in the mix, whether there are outreach programs and/or scholarship opportunities that your kid may be eligible for.

By the end of that year, you'll have a better sense of what schools are within range. Summer's a good time to figure out where to apply. And the goal is to create a list where (a) you can afford to send your kid to any school on it (b) your kid would be excited to attend any school on it and (c) at least some of the schools on it will pretty certainly admit your kid.

ITA with previous advice about making college visits fun (for us that meant no more than one school a day and enough time in each place to do a night out on a college student budget) and about the desirability of getting essays written the August before Senior year.

And, as others have also mentioned, if your kid is interested in highly selective schools, the (SC)EA/ED decision(s) are also important. That ended up be a stressful last-minute decision for our kid; if I had to do it all over again, I'd be tempted to focus on that earlier. OTOH, maybe it's just inherently stressful and indecision got more apps written sooner. FWIW, I think it's a very good idea to apply early to a relatively accessible but desirable public and/or foreign school if DC's first choice is highly selective. Too many kids feel crushed/panicked if the only result they get in the winter is a rejection.

When to visit colleges will really vary on schedules and your child. We found Sophomore year was too early, kids don't know what they are looking for, are not focussed and may also fall in love with a school they cannot get into. While you might be able to focus on size somewhat, schools are pretty idiosyncratic and each is different. But many people do visit during Sophomore year, and many visit during Senior year. We did a couple of visits during my daughter's senior year and they were much better than the early ones.
Kids retake SAT/ACT pretty commonly today but don't have your child take a test until he or she is ready. Taking it too early and not scoring well can just add additional pressure, and there is some sense that kids tend to do best in the Fall of their Senior Year when school has just started and when some kids might study over the summer.
Naviance is not helpful, at least it was not for us.
School websites can have a ton of information.
Get started on essays in the summer but since these are high school kids, most will be working on them up until the deadline. Most supplemental essays are very short and many can be recycled with careful proofreading.

We were told to visit schools during the summer after sophomore year, not to look at the individual schools, but for our child to get an idea of the sort of campus where she'd like to spend four years: urban, suburban, rural, large state U, small SLAC, mid-sized college, public, private. We did visit a number of campuses, and DD told us she wanted small and rural, so that at least was helpful. She ended up at suburban and mid-sized, but kids change their minds every few seconds at that age. At least showing her some campuses, got her thinking a wee bit about college and gave her some perspective when we went on the official visits starting during spring break of her junior year. Another piece of advice that was really helpful to me was: make the college process fun! Visiting colleges is part of the last year your child will be living at home full time with you. You want to enjoy it!

^One cautionary note:

Stats are old SAT -- not current, so not sure how they'd convert.

Re college confidential

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1789717-ranking-by-selectivity-for-help-picking-reaches-matches-safeties-p1.html Is really useful

With the new SATs, what is the best time to take them? Which math subjects/classes should be finished before taking them? Is completing Algebra 2 & geometry enough? Thanks.

If you're both happy with SAT/ACT scores and GPA by end of junior year, apply Early Action wherever possible. Spend the summer working on the essays.

I find both College Confidential and Naviance to be very discouraging. Keep in mind that everyone on CC has kids with 4.5 GPA and perfect test scores, but will still worry they won't get in anywhere. Naviance is quick to red light; you need to dig deeply into all the numbers to get a true picture.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, go to the College Confidential website and read-read-read. Most of all, you're smart to want to learn for yourself - and not rely on being taught by the high school. High schools have their own way/timeline for doing things which tend to result in their students getting into the same-old-colleges again and again. If your student's admission journey is likely to be different from the herd at your high school, you need to become your own expert.

My dc is a sophomore so I guess I need to start this research. I've heard of others recommending College Confidential and have been on the site but I don't know where to start. It's just a massive jumble of threads. Do you just click on a thread and read? Use the search box?

Start with the Parents Forum. And please, please ignore the chance me threads where a high school sophomore guarantees a senior with a 3.9 gpa and perfect SAT will be get into Harvard.