<p>I am an immigrant and so have no clue about the college selection [as in how to help/guide your kid select a college] process.</p>
<p>I have figured out when the kids should take the SAT, when the application deadline is etc.</p>
<p>But with so many great schools and University's how does one select a college. I know the generic answer big/small, urban/rural etc.. </p>
<p>For a child who has not had much experience other than go to school and participate in typical school activites, how can they figure out or know what is the right choice?</p>
<p>We can go on the college visit express, but we need to select the college's first before we start spending the money. :(</p>
<p>We wont qualify for any aid other than merit aid. The kid is hard working and has multiple APs, several hundreds of hours or volunteer service, before the end of Sophomore year, research papers are due to be presented in conferences in the spring of freshmen year. I guess SAT scores will be good [let us assume it will be good]. </p>
<p>I am assuming the kid can apply to most IVY/Top tier schools. Child's interest is in combined/guaranteed medical program. </p>
<p>Any suggestions, advice, critcism, appreciated. Thanks for your answers. BTW we are in Upstate NY.</p>
<p>Sylvan
The student is a Sophomore ie 10th grade now. Will be taking 3 AP and subject SATs in April/May of this year. Starting the final push to complete the rest of the APs in the Junior year, PSAT in October, 1st SAT in Oct/Nov of 2012, ACT and SAT 2nd attempt in April of 2013. The question is what college and how to select colleges?</p>
<p>We want to start travelling to college campus starting this summer and or when ever I can afford to take time off, before we start applying early in the senior year is in 2013.</p>
<p>My best advice would be to start with the good schools in your immediate vicinity and visit. This will require less time off work and later plan the others in groups based on proximity. It tends to be cheaper in state when there is no financial aid expected with the exception of private colleges. Look up schools that have his or her major in terms of areas of interest. Your kid can do practically any discipline as premed major. I am not sure which ones have guaranteed medical program but most schools would allow you to follow a premed part with any discipline of interest. </p>
<p>Your kid seem to be on target in terms of preparedness. Good luck in your college search.</p>
<p>Consider your budget. You may want to try the net price calculators are various colleges’ web sites to determine whether they are likely to be affordable.</p>
<p>Consider majors offered. Pre-med is not a major, but a set of courses taken along with a typical college major (even if the student is in a streamlined undergraduate to medical school program). The student needs to be at a school that offers the courses and major of interest.</p>
<p>Of course, if the student is interested in the streamlined undergraduate to medical school programs, that is certainly a consideration, but be aware that getting into those programs is very competitive, so there should be some plan for the common case of not getting into such programs. Getting into medical school the usual way by applying as an undergraduate not in a streamlined program is also very competitive, so the student needs to consider the possibility of not getting into any medical school (most freshmen intending pre-med never go to medical school, often deciding not to do pre-med after getting grades too low in chemistry and biology courses).</p>
<p>Be sure to have one or more ironclad safeties. A safety is a school that has assured admissions, assured affordability, academic offerings appropriate for the student, and good or acceptable fit otherwise (so that the student will like the idea of attending that school). In-state public universities (e.g. SUNY schools for you) are common candidates for safety consideration, but be aware of the possibility of budget cuts causing capacity reductions and therefore increased selectivity. Schools offering guaranteed scholarships for certain GPAs and SAT/ACT scores (e.g. the University of Alabama campuses at Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and Huntsville) can also be safeties. Schools with greater emphasis on subjective admissions criteria like essays, recommendations, extracurricular activities, “level of interest”, etc. are less predictable in admissions and are less likely to be reliable safeties. Some students use community college with intent to transfer to a four year university as a junior as their safety.</p>
<p>Ok, so it’s still early in the process. I would suggest starting a list. A lot of people use a spreadsheet like Excel, I just have a list in Word. On the list include facts and figures about each school that you investigate which are relevant to you - Name, Location, website, Cost of attendance, number of undergrads, middle 50% SAT scores, any notes or thoughts you might have about it, etc. A great deal of this information is compiled in the collegeboard website. </p>
<p>Key to remember that student is young, and what he wants now might not be what he wants 2 years from now, so you want to keep the list pretty general at this point. Also it will be there for the later kids. On my list, if I investigate a school and rule it out, I make a note as to why (e.g. “NO MERIT”) and leave it on the list for future reference. (After awhile they start to run together.)</p>
<p>You will find that you develop certain criteria which will rule out some schools without further investigation. One of mine is a top-of-middle-50% SAT CR/M of at least 1200. Another is reasonable potential for merit aid if school is a private. A third is a minimum cutoff on the size (say 2000). </p>
<p>As far as visits, since you live in NY, I would begin with the nearest SUNY research campus - Albany, Binghamton, or Buffalo. If possible take one of the official info sessions and tours. Get some sense of the town/city outside of the school as well. That will give you and the kid a sort of baseline for comparison. Make notes for the list about what you liked and didn’t like, general impressions, etc. </p>
<p>With S we found that after awhile we had a list of a number of schools he liked and new schools that emerged in searches were compared to the “liked” schools. If School P was similar to liked School A, then was there any reason/feature why he would choose P over A? Often P would be farther away or more money, so was less desirable than A. In that case P would not make the list. Some schools which looked good online were nixed after visits. Eventually it gets narrowed down to a decent selection for application.</p>
<p>I was just starting to write up a list on Excel then changed to Word. Still very early on.:)</p>
<p>I guess it all depends on the SAT, ACT scores. Right now D is enjoying school, not getting stressed out about the load, says it is a piece of cake, have to wait and see when we get the results.</p>
<p>I did not know that Alabama will give scholarship for non-resident students… ROLLLL TIDE.
[I don’t know if it will help that if we mentioned in the application that I am non-attending alumnus of Tuscaloosa and Tide…;), Go Saban ].</p>
<p>My D is in the top of her class and I think is taking 3 or 4 APs this year and plans to take 4 next year. I only hope she does well in the exams. </p>
<p>We will start visiting campuses that are closer to us and get a feel, as you all have suggested. </p>
<p>She wants to do study abroad and travel when she is in Undergrad school. I am not sure which schools encourage or provide options for such travel. She does not like big cities but also hates heat and cockroaches [there goes the South…:(]. So I am kinda stuck to looking at the East coast or the South West Coast. </p>
<p>Will reach out to you guys when I have more questions. Thanks a lot Guys and Gals.</p>
<p>We also practiced on good local universities and colleges; these can be fast day-trips. You get a feel for your family energy levels and the process itself. More important, you start to get an idea of what you will want to see or learn about at the real target schools. In our case, after the first few Info Sessions, we started skipping them. You can also get one of the big, fat books that describe hundreds of colleges- it’s a fast way to cover choices. After looking through those, the colleges’ own web sites are usually superior.</p>
<p>Your school may have Naviance, which will give perspective on which schools may match your D’s grades, and more. It also helps to have your child sit down with the guidance counselor early, to help shape directions. You can look at a sample of the Common App, online, in order to understand the info adcoms will see and weigh. Assuming your D has the grades, class rigor and test scores that would qualify for an Ivy or other highly competitive colleges, read their web info over and over. See what self-image they project because that has a lot to do with what sort of students they seek. Yale, eg, notes it wants future leaders.</p>
<p>Almost forgot- if your D is interested in particular colleges, look at the course catalogs to see the breadth and depth in her major, particular requirements, etc.</p>
<p>Lookingforward
Thank you.
I went to the CollegeBoard website. They want the student to register and not the parent. Also is College Board information for free or is it website that will sell services?</p>
I registered S, and D registered herself. You will need to do this anyways as they can get their SAT scores through there. Everything we got there was free.</p>
<p>Sybbie makes a good point. And finaincial aid policies can differ for intls. My own feeling is to not assume collegeboard info on colleges is always up to date. Another great site, if you need aid, is finaid.org.</p>
<p>*We wont qualify for any aid other than merit aid. The kid is hard working and has multiple APs, several hundreds of hours or volunteer service, before the end of Sophomore year, research papers are due to be presented in conferences in the spring of freshmen year. I guess SAT scores will be good [let us assume it will be good]. </p>
<p>I am assuming the kid can apply to most IVY/Top tier schools. Child’s interest is in combined/guaranteed medical program. *</p>
<p>I don’t know if I missed something, but can you further clarify…</p>
<p>Is the student an int’l…or does he have a green card/citizenship?</p>
<p>The ivies and many elites don’t give merit aid.</p>
<p>How much can you spend each year on college.</p>
<p>Yes…Bama gives big merit for stats…even to int’ls. :)</p>