<p>Change ^^^^^ #42 to #1.</p>
<p>Agree to #3 whole heartly.</p>
<p>
Now. I see a conflict interest here. If you push your kid to do LOTS of community service for the scholarships when will he find time to do tons of homework, school activities and other ecs that counted most to those ‘need-based’ schools? </p>
<ol>
<li>“Need blind” admissions means when FA awards come out they are blind to your need.</li>
</ol>
<p>Thats a good one. lol</p>
<h1>43. If you did great on the PLAN and you weren’t a national merit semifinalist, there is no need to take the SAT. Try the ACT first. You might see a great ACT score and you will never need to take the SAT. (If you take the SAT and do not-great by CC standards, any college that wants to see official copies of your great SAT II scores wil also see your not-great SAT scores. This will annoy you.)</h1>
<h1>44. If you take a good honors or AP biology class in 10th grade, you should take the SAT II biology test in June of 10th grade. (This would have been such a good idea.)</h1>
<p>Sorry if anyone already posted these…</p>
<h1>46 Despite all the angst and disappointment your child may face, in general the colleges know what they’re doing and most kids end up where they should be.</h1>
<p>don’t try to fit the mold of the perfect stereotypical applicant. consider your ethnicity, your gender, and your background, and then try to do something that completely contradicts all of that.</p>
<p>Carpets should be promoted to “senior member” due to the wisdom shared in post #44 above.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Reach schools are “reach” for a reason. </p></li>
<li><p>“Holistic admissions” means “holistic for anyone with a 4.0 GPA and a 2200+ on the SATs.” </p></li>
<li><p>Don’t make your kid apply to a school they really aren’t interested in. </p></li>
<li><p>“Need blind” admissions means when FA awards come out they are blind to your need. </p></li>
<li><p>Don’t waste your time visiting schools where accepted student SAT/ACT scores are significantly higher than your PLAN and PSAT scores. </p></li>
<li><p>If you know or suspect your EFC will be high, push your kid to do LOTS of community service. </p></li>
<li><p>For your sanity, pick a rolling admit safety school with merit financial aid your child will garner (lower tier) and go through the entire senior year with that fall admit and merit aid in your pocket- what a pressure reliever </p></li>
<li><p>The non-academic aspects of collegiate undergraduate life will often have a larger and longer-lasting impact on your college experience than anything that takes place in the classroom. </p></li>
<li><p>Consider the weather and realize that the college calendar is different than high school and make sure you are psychologically in sync with what you are going to experience. </p></li>
<li><p>If you are seeking financial aid, make sure that school at least is listed at not gapping a large amount on average (ie: look for schools that meet as close to a 100% of need as possible keeping the applicants stats in mind). Also, check that need is met with tons of student loans and w/s vs. grants.</p></li>
<li><p>Look at gpa needed to keep merit awards at a school, and the % of students that actually keep them for all 4 years (tough info to get).</p></li>
<li><p>If you want your student to graduate within 4 years, look at the % of students who do graduate in 4 years (keep in mind that some % of students can be coming into the college with advanced standing through APs and dual enrollment courses).</p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 10.] Include in your college list different <em>types</em> of colleges, as you’ll never know what strikes the fancy of some admissions committee about you, positively. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 10)] Never assume that because your son’s or daughter’s high school guidance counselor has been doing his/her job for 20 years that they know much about more than a handful of colleges, or that they know your child well enough to make meaningful recommendations. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 7)] Don’t decide before exploring your options that you can’t afford to go private. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 8)] Investing a few bucks in a service: ie USNWR </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 13.] Start earlier. Do what it takes to visit in Junior year and then do apps early, early in senior year before it gets any busier.</p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 14.] Prepare child for weirdness of college admissions (good merit aid at top school vs none at safety). Scholarships are recruiting tools and there’s no telling what they may recruit this year.</p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 15.] It takes a lot of time and money to prove you have no money and need financial aid. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as #16] Respect the privacy of the college residents and do not expect to see any dorm rooms during a college tour. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 17 (or 18?)]: there are only seven activity slots on the common app </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 19.] If you stay more than a few days on CC, you may be in for life. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 20.] First thing parents need to do in the college search process is fill out a financial aid estimator online to understand what their financial commitment is expected to be. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 21.] If you don’t do well on the SAT, try the ACT. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 22.] There are no schools that are need-blind to those with very large and open checkbooks.</p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 22.A.] Come to think of it, there are no schools that are need-blind. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 23.] You should be planning for the SAT Subject Tests by 10th grade at least. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 24.] The real deadlines for submitting college application paperwork are not the ones set by the colleges. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 23.] Sit down and have the money talk with your kids. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 24.] Financial aid is based on what the school things you can afford to pay, not how much you are willing to pay (there is often a big disconnect).</p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 25.] If your school uses the CSS profile yes, they will ask for the finanical information from both you and your ex-spouse along with the financial information of your current spouse(s) if applicable. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 26.] Students, if your parents tell you that they are only willing to pay $ “X” for your education, beleive it. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 27.] Plan on getting a second (or third job) to pay for all the dorm supplies your child insists they will need. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 28.] Plan on carting a quarter of the needed supplies home in August when child discovers there is not enough room for it. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 29.] If your host, at an accepted-student overnight, brings someone back to the room and begins making out (hooking up?), immediately leave the room. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 29.] Unless your child is superhuman, superorganized, insanely mature, insanely well read on the college process, or doesn’t sleep, do not expect your child to do this alone. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 30.] Understand the concepts of yield and enrollment management as they relate to the college admissions process today.</p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 31.] Recognize the reality of grade distribution in high school (B is the new C?). Understand what having SATs in the upper 2% of the population really means in terms of thousands of applicants. Use the tables provided by the SAT for this information.</p></li>
</ol>
<p><a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools; </p>
<ol>
<li><p>[posted as 32.] Search for activities in your child’s area of interest/passion that are outside your high school to give your child more depth in their interest area and also another place to have fun and develop friends and skills. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 33.] Applications, if done well, take time to percolate/ripen/cure/mellow. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 34.] Encourage your student to take contemporaneous notes when visitng colleges. Helps to distinguish “which one had the great ice cream but lousy profs?” later on.</p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 35.] Rolling/EA can be a very good way to get a feel for a student’s competitiveness in the applicant pool. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 36.] Relating that the process is going well, with little involvement of you, is not appreciated, even if you are asked. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 37.] Find out your HS policy on test scores. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 38.] Don’t be afraid to take a gap year. If college is not right for you in this point in your life, don’t waste your money on it now. You can either apply as a senior and defer admission for a year or two… or you can apply a few years after graduation.</p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 39.] Don’t outrule a class of schools (urban, suburban, large, small, rural, “preppy,” “athletic”) based on one college visit to one type of school. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 40.] Don’t use US News Ranks (or any ranks, for that matter) as the final determining factor between schools.</p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 41.] “Your mileage may vary” may as well be the theme of everything college-related. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as 42.] Parents, recognize your limits. Your kid is going to college and applying to college, not you. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as #43.] If you did great on the PLAN and you weren’t a national merit semifinalist, there is no need to take the SAT. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as #44.] If you take a good honors or AP biology class in 10th grade, you should take the SAT II biology test in June of 10th grade. </p></li>
<li><p>[posted as #46] Despite all the angst and disappointment your child may face, in general the colleges know what they’re doing and most kids end up where they should be.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I can’t believe that I am the first person to post this, but the one thing I wish I’d known?</p>
<h1>? I (and most students) could have been happy and gotten a good education at many, many different schools. Having a first choice is completely unnecessary (and in my opinion, often harmful).</h1>
<h1>54 As a parent, keep my mouth shut from the moment we arrive anywhere near to campus…this is not my decision.</h1>
<h1>55 Students should realize that they sometimes make mistakes and, despite how smart, independent and capable they are, someone else really should edit/proof their essays before they hit the “send” key</h1>
<p>56 Don’t worry about trying in school, doesn’t matter how much work you put in, the stoner to your left with 300 less sat scores and 5 less act will make it in before you.</p>
<h1>??</h1>
<p>If you are applying to an rolling admissions school, apply EARLY (as early as August in some cases) and certainly before the priority deadline (usually in the fall).<br>
Kids are applying late (Dec)to some of these schools as safeties (usually state schools) and then are SHOCKED to find out that they are waitlisted or deferred to secondary (and undesirable) campuses. GCs need to do a better job of communicating the importance of early applications to these schools. I can’t believe how many kids are on the PSU boards whining about their rejections. APPLY EARLY!!!</p>
<p>–Ask if there is a parent support group. I was put in contact with another Mom who had a student in the program my S was interested in, and she was very helpful. This was after S was accepted, but before he had made his final choice. </p>
<p>–Encourage your student to take advantage of the “any questions- contact student _____” option. We forced S to send an email to the upper classman representative in his major, and he got a very encouraging letter in return.</p>
<p>LOL @ Achilles1211 (#56)</p>
<ol>
<li> Some of the admissions officers are recent grads, not seasoned specialists in the evaluation of 17 and 18 year olds, or admissions credentials in general. Some are more seasoned and have made a career of admissions. Regardless, there are no real outcome studies to verify that either group makes “right” choices or that everyone ends up where they should be. That categorically close kids who aren’t admitted to school A, adapt to school B, go on with their lives, and even thrive at school B is not necessarily evidence that it was THE correct choice by admissions, but,more likely, that kids’ (humans’) have a natural ability to adapt to new environments/situations, develop new friends and live new “realities”. It’s certainly evidence that people can be happy wherever they land but again, not of a “correct” choice. This can probably be eliminated from the list since it’s really commentary and not advice!</li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>Prestige, despite what everyone tells you, is one of the most important things to be considered when looking for a college. I don’t care how good of a “feel” Kansas Community College gives you – take Harvard over it, even if you absolutely hate the place. It’s worth it.</li>
<li>College visits are vastly overrated. Little can be learned from them that cannot be learned from the college’s website. Only visit colleges after you have been accepted to them.</li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>Up to fifty percent of college students change their major once during college, therefore, consider how strong a certain school is in another major(that you may change to).</li>
<li>Look at the prospective college’s meal plans/food service. Its easy to get depressed w/ terrible food day after day.</li>
</ol>
<p>i disagree completely with #59. and thats a little harsh of a comparison, ive seen people go to state schools who end up doing better those who go to cornell, harvard, yale, princeton and columbia. Im a distance runnning runner and we have a saying its not the shoes on your feet that make you go fast but the balls in your pants(you will understand if ur a distance runner) similary for college admissions its the brain in ur head not the school listed on ur resume. when you go to get a job it will be a question can you get this job done not did you go to harvard.</p>
<p>I’d say don’t apply to too many schools! I have twins, and my son applied to 7 schools and my daughter applied to 8. It was really hard for them to write so many essays and doing all the financial aid stuff for so many different schools was really hard for us. I would drop the “reach” schools–both applied to Swarthmore, and their financial aid form was complicated. My daughter applied to Barnard, and their essays and financial aid were incredibly difficult. I don’t think either will get in these schools and now that I’ve read lots of posts on CC (which I didn’t know about until it was mentioned in a New York Times story on colleges), I don’t think they would be happy there anyway (too much pressure).</p>
<p>And I would start doing everything earlier–I had no idea it was so much work!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If you drive up to visit a school, and your S/D takes one look and refuses to get out, don’t waste your breath. College campuses “speak” to students in ways that adults sometimes don’t hear.</p></li>
<li><p>If your S/D is an athlete, start everything 6 months earlier. SAT’s/ACT’s by Jan/Feb of junior year (to prequalify with coaches), emails to coaches in March-May, down to 3-4 schools by the end of August (for official visits), final decision made by Oct 15 (to be on the coach’s list for admissions).</p></li>
<li><p>If you think your S/D has a shot at NMS, have them take the PSAT as a sophomore. It doesn’t count, and is good practice if the score needs to be tuned up a bit.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Maybe Harvard over Kansas Community College makes sense, but I would give a lot of thought before taking Harvard over the University of Kansas if I planned to live in Kansas for the rest of my life.</p>
<p>Stop at all flagship universities as you vacation - this means from first grade on up. As your kids see their friends older siblings go off to college they will have a campus to put with the person and they will begin to understand the personality of each school.</p>
<p>Look at flagship universities west of the Mississippi, north of Texas and east of the West Coast. Most of the states are smaller, they are looking for quality students and many have money for quality out-of-state students.</p>