Tips for Parents
Help your student choose realistic schools in which to apply.
Help your child review admissions requirements for each college to which they are applying. You can do this online, by talking with your students' counselor, requesting brochures and by talking to college admission offices. The student should check in with their counselor to review their transcript and confirm that they are meeting all the required academic and testing requirements. If necessary, she should adjust her course schedule. She should also talk to her counselor about financial aid options and local scholarships. List should include three type of schools:
- Reaches: Those schools with extremely competitive admissions processes or those where the applicant's objective academic credentials (grades and test scores) fall into the bottom one-quarter of the college's admitted class. These schools often possess many desired features, but admission is extremely competitive, such as one chance in ten.
- Possibles: Those schools that possess many significant desired features, and which the probability of admissions is even to slightly better than even. The applicant's objective academic credentials fall in the middle half of the college's admitted class.
- Likelies: Those schools where the objective academic credentials fall at the top of the college's admitted class and possess many significant desired features.
Deadlines, Deadline, Deadlines!!
The life of a high school student is often very busy, and teenagers are still learning time management skills. So help your child begin keeping a calendar or day planner to keep track of all those college application and financial aid deadlines.
Don't limit your student based on "Sticker Price"
It's always a good idea to encourage your child to include several affordable colleges among their college choices. But remember that financial aid often helps families send their children to even the most expensive colleges. It is important to be mindful of financial aid deadlines, most aid offices have limited amounts of grant or scholarship money, and this is often distributed first.
Visit Campus
Make campus visits to as many of the colleges on your child's list as possible. To get a feel for the campus, encourage your child to talk to students, take a tour, sit in on a class and try to stay overnight in a dorm. This is the best way to determine which of the schools on their list may be the best "fit".
Listen, Offer Advice and Cheer!!
For many students, their choice of college is their first adult decision--and it can be difficult. Likewise, it can be difficult for parents to find the right balance of guiding their child without making decisions for her. Parents should be aware of what is going on, should make sure that deadlines are not missed and the proper tests are taken, and should be available when the student wants advice. Try to act as a sounding board for your child: ask good questions and let your child supply the answers.
Your child needs to choose a college based on his individual abilities, interests and personality. To that end, beware of pressuring your child to apply to the college(s) you would like him to attend. Of course, encourage your child to apply to a good range of schools, but your child must decide for himself which colleges to apply to and which college to attend. After all, your child will be the one who spends several years living and learning at college.
The college admission process can be stressful. Your child may feel uncertain about the decisions she must make, fearful of rejection from colleges, or anxious about meeting deadlines for both college applications and her school work. Over the course of the search process, your child may change her mind (more than once) about her career aspirations, academic goals, or what she wants in a college. All of this is normal. Parents can help their college-bound child by offering plenty of encouragement, a listening ear, and gentle guidance. And don't forget to celebrate each step along your child's journey from high school to college.