I am so privileged that DD20 has an amazing college counselor at her school and a consultant from a community organization. Even with having so much assistance navigating this college process is not easy. Now DS09 went to a blue ribbon magnet school and I got zero help from the counselor and a young lady who she told was not college material is now a registered nurse. DD07 was a total experiment, never once heard from a counselor or received any information about college planning from her school. With each child I gained a little more knowledge. I’m just saying this to say that those who did not get accepted anywhere were not necessarily negligent perhaps they just did not have the education, assistance and knowledge that so many of us have. There are children who are being discharged from foster care, first generation students who have parents who did not speak the language or have a high school diploma themselves, or children who are doing everything on their own with no parental involvement etc. The ideas listed above are great if you are aware of the process and can get past the acronyms which here on CC are plentiful. I just think we have to be very careful not to make assumptions. I do try to share the things I have learned with others with the hope that they will be that much further ahead than I was.
You can’t know what you don’t know. You can’t know about things you have yet to discover.