<p>Sounds good, lots to think about in the next 4 years, thanks.</p>
<p>I agree that it’s wise to start a resume now and update it throughout his hs years. It’s too easy to forget some of the awards and ECs when he’s working on college apps. Also, begin looking at colleges now as you travel on vacation or business. Check out colleges near home. Take the tours - just for general information. I always say “you don’t know what you don’t know.” Once he is actually trying to decide where to apply it helps to understand the process and what he has already observed as something he likes or doesn’t like about types of schools. Listening to multiple tours or presentations will help you formulate the questions you realize are important to your son when he’s deciding on a college or major.</p>
<p>If you think your son may be a candidate for highly selective colleges, find out about the SAT Subject Tests. You can start here: [About</a> the Tests - SAT Subject Test](<a href=“The SAT – SAT Suite | College Board”>What were SAT Subject Tests? - College Board Blog)</p>
<p>Most colleges do not require these tests, but some of the highly selective ones do. And in some instances, it may make sense for a student to take one or more of these tests at the end of 10th grade, or in rare cases, 9th grade – which is usually before the Guidance Department gets around to doing any college counseling.</p>
<p>Don’t limit your testing to SAT, consider the ACT. I know several students who did very well on the SAT (Commended), but far better on the ACT.
Take subject tests right after the courses are complete (ie Biology after AP Bio).</p>
<p>Pay attention to finances. “Paying for College without Going Broke” comes out annually. It’s in many public libraries. Or buy and read now (about $16)</p>
<p>Good record keeping on volunteer hours and EC’s can save a lot of time and headache in filling out applications for scholarships/enrollment.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks for the tips!</p>
<p>Get to know your son’s guidance counselor now. Especially in larger schools, or schools with high counselor to student ratios, this can be invaluable. Often, schools have college and career resource offices that can be enormously helpful to parents and students. (Check the website for your school or district.)</p>
<p>Encourage your son to write thank you notes as appropriate - it will pay dividends later, especially of they are sincere.</p>
<p>Ask his teachers what courses he should be taking, and make sure he’s pushing himself hard enough, but not too hard.</p>
<p>Tell him to enjoy high school. It should be a fun time, and a time to figure out what interests him, and where he’d like to head. Don’t rule out options before their time. :-)</p>
<p>I am a new member of CC and have a daughter who’s starting h.s. I, too, am eager to learn more here. </p>
<p>At the last meeting of my parenting group one mom shared an annotated organizer for h.s. students that might be of interest to the OP. It’s called The EDWIN and was created by a college counselor. It provides a concise timeline and info for what kids should focus on throughout h.s. leading up to application time. It also has sections for storing report cards, resumes, community service hours, test results, awards, college apps etc. </p>
<p>I ordered one online (by googling “The Edwin”) and was pretty blown away by the practical advice for each step of the game. My daughter, who luckily is motivated, thought it was awesome too and it helped her figure out what to do this summer. </p>
<p>Thanks again for all the tips, keep them coming. I am sure I will have tons of questions in the coming months.</p>
<p>I confess that I didn’t read the first page (slacker) so I apologize if this is already mentioned. In the category of “wish I had”, we
Saw after the fact the suggestion to start a
Gmail account that both parent/student has access to.
This would have been very helpful at our house because once the information starts coming thru the postal and email, it is truly amazing. Even for one, it would be nice to have one generic gmail that both can check. Your main emails would also be protected from lots of marketing info</p>
<p>May I be contrarian here? I wouldn’t obsess over tracking volunteer hours. I agree about tracking a general resume (which can be very important for some scholarships) but if Billy has 100 vol hours and Sally has 400 – it won’t matter to the few colleges were voluntarism is favored. In 80% of colleges, vol hours aren’t considered whatsoever.</p>
<p>I agree sorting out money issues sooner rather than later is critical.</p>
<p>Also you probably have a general idea whether your kid is one who always scores in the top 10% of standardized tests and appears to be a top student in classes. If you are aiming for very selective universities you will have to pay a bit more attention to checking off all the boxes. (Four years of foreign language? Four years of math? A reasonable number of AP/IB courses? etc.)</p>
<p>My kids had very few volunteer hours - (basically one summer) - it didn’t seem to hurt them. Do try not to waste the summers - summer jobs are very highly regarded by admissions counselors, but it may also be a good time to pursue interests like science research, math, writing, music or art in greater depth.</p>
<p>One thing we thought was helpful was to download a copy of the Common Application and give it to our child so that he could see what the boxes were and what activities they ask about. I think it helped avoid some of his slackerish tendencies. :)</p>
<p>Finally don’t push too hard. Your kid should take the most demanding schedule they can while still getting mostly A’s (f they are an A student, mostly B’s is not the end of the world either!) and having a life. Kids need some down time. Don’t overschedule them.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Read and repeat. So much growing takes place when kids have time to initiate and follow through with something of their own creation, whether it’s a short story, a work of art, or a small business started over the summer. When kids are over-scheduled (the definition being individual for every kid), they’re unlikely to have the energy to want to do something productive when they have the time.</p>
<p>
Try to save as much as possible. Any college savings will expand your kid’s college options.</p>
<p>Taking the PSAT sophomore year will allow a rough indication of the band of colleges at which he might be a competitive applicant, either for admission or merit money. NMF status aside, it’s useful for that. Then you can do your looking/touring accordingly in junior year/summer before senior year.</p>
<p>Try to live in the present and value the high school years as they happen. High school should be more than college prep and and thinking of ways to look good on paper to strangers. I see so many kids who are totally stressed and burned out by senior year. It’s not even necessary, and indeed may even be counterproductive.</p>
<p>Yes, do take the PSAT sophomore year. It was cheap (maybe only $8 at out hs). </p>
<p>Make sure you and your son get to know the GC. We dropped by GC (new that year) at teacher conference night sophomore year. The GC was very friendly but overwhelmed with new students. Hr asked if our son was interested in attending college. Ummmm… yea… he was in IB and near the top of his class.</p>
<p>FYI, ‘eyemgh’ had great advise when recommending the book called ‘The College Solution’. I read it and it was very informative. I recommend it as well.</p>
<p>Time managment is a key component to producing the kind of high school record that will make him competitive in the college application process.</p>
<p>If and when you take any vacation, try to include a drive past colleges in the area and have a meal where they eat, just to give your family a taste of different colleges and areas. This will help your kid get a better sense of what may be attractive or unattractive to him in future college. We did this for many years and it helped our kids include and exclude criteria for their college search.</p>
<p>Try to stay flexible and revisit the issue of finances periodically, especially as incomes may change, particularly if there is more than one child. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that other kids may also wish to attend same U as others and may be unhappy and resentful if all finances are spent on first kid or unequally. Think of how your family will handle this. </p>
<p>Assume college costs may continue to rise until your child gets there and graduates in 4-5 years from the U. Be sure your planning includes funding for all 4-5 years, including likely increases. Be sure funds for college aren’t invested in something too volatile that may tank just when they are needed for expenses.</p>
<p>Our kids also didn’t track volunteer hours at all. Both were involved with scouts and other ECs they enjoyed, which had volunteer hours as part of the orgs. </p>
<p>Remember college can be paid partly from savings, partly from current income and partly from loans and grants/scholarships. If kids enjoy and take APs and/or CLEP, they can get inexpensive college credit, as they can via dual enrollment–HS and college. </p>
<p>There are many affordable paths, including for some, CC and then transferring to college, instate Us, Us in neighboring states which have a tuition reduction agreement with your state, etc.</p>
<p>The Common App has an EC (and academic honors) section that makes a useful template for a resume:</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2013/2013AppFY_download.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2013/2013AppFY_download.pdf</a> - page 4.</p>
<p>Or you can do something like this: <a href=“http://mycollegestreet.com/AppResume-Simple.pdf[/url]”>http://mycollegestreet.com/AppResume-Simple.pdf</a></p>
<p>I don’t think many schools, if any, want the actual resume, but it can be useful to refer to when filling out apps, or to give a teacher who is writing a recommendation.</p>