I realize we may be in a somewhat fortunate NJ school district, but our public HS guidance counselors do this also. Both department and our GC are extraordinary. I had no idea how important this was before we moved here 19 years ago. But if I had known I would have done the following prior to buying the house:
• Call the HS and ask the ratio of GCs to student
• Ask the guidance department for a list of college adcoms that regularly visit
• Of course look at the HS profile and see where the kids get in. Ours wasn’t on the internet when me moved here but most are now.
• Ensure the relationship with the GC was great. This happened naturally for us (again, luck) but I know many people who have said “my GC is an idiot” or “we hate her”. Cultivate that relationship as best you can.
Don’t know if this is related, but I think our state requires 48 graduate hours to be a GC, so it is not the “PE Teacher Washout” role it was back in my day. It takes a real commitment.
Good advice on GCs. Their quality varies and you may not know yours is way out of the loop, so don’t assume.
I do get a do over with S2, but not entirely bc he is such a different kid. He will be undazzled by rankings and such like S1 was tho. So finding his fit will be the goal.
“Ask the guidance department for a list of college adcoms that regularly visit.”
^This. One of the hidden variables in admissions is how well a given college did recently (both accepts and yield) at kiddo’s high school. It really should be more of a level playing field, but it isn’t. As the colleges get more sophisticated with their targeting, the playing field will level out a little more. But, as things stand now, many colleges seem to have picked out their favorite fishing holes.
I have a comment/suggestion about working with the school counselors, especially at a public school. When we met with the college counselor (yes that is her sole job) we asked her some questions that we were confident we already knew the answers to. Without showing any disrespect (i am closely related to a different guidance counselor after all), we were able to assess our college counselor’s level of knowledge and experience. It was pretty good, but not spectacular, especially considering we shortly thereafter discovered the forum here at CC LOL…
It is great for kids to learn a musical instrument. String instruments and other than brass instruments are just as valid as brass ones. Whether or not the students plays it in HS depends on interest. Private lessons are not needed.
Likewise every child should learn to swim. And ride a bicycle. Not all schools have swim teams. Plus, there are many other athletic options to keep fit and destress. Extracurricular activities are to be chosen by the student for interest. Top students will need them to occupy their time along with classwork. Plus, they make a person more well rounded, give them a chance to try things and enjoy themselves.
Spending money on test prep is not needed if the student learns what is taught in school and does free practice tests. Not all colleges accept superscoring.
Visiting schools is a must. Dorms do not make or break a school choice. More attention should be placed on available courses for possible majors.
Starting to save money early is another to do thing. Choosing to work in a place with good school districts you can afford to live in may improve your quality of life.
Taking the most rigorous classes available (and not having study halls) gives the best education for those who can handle them.
@MotherOfDragons, I wholeheartedly agree on being a Luddite! I wasn’t tough enough on the cell phone usage. If I were to do that one over, I’d say all phones on the kitchen counter after 8:00. It is a huge time such. One good thing is our son never got into computer games, another time suck! Good list though!
On visiting colleges – in some cases, the college considers the level of interest expressed by the student in their admissions decision, and visiting the college (‘officially’) prior to submitting the application might make a difference. One of the colleges my son applied to probably falls in this category, but he didn’t make an “official” visit (one that the admissions office would know about) until after having submitted his application – possibly to his detriment (he was not accepted). — So that’s one of my “do-overs”
Staying on the visiting theme, another college that we did visit offers an automatic $1,000 per year scholarship to all students who attend one of their pre-application info sessions; if you waited to visit this school only after you were accepted, you could be missing out on $4,000! So there can be advantages to visiting before applying, especially if it is a school that you are seriously considering applying to. For some students, too, visiting a range of different colleges can help them really focus in on what it is that they are looking for in a college.
On assets – if you have assets that you consider as “for your retirement” but they are not actually in appropriate qualified retirement savings plans, start moving them into such plans sooner rather than later (this would another “do-over” for us…)
Another related do-over for us would be to really have a complete handle on your financial picture before messing with the Net Price Calculators – the NPC for a Profile school is basically going to ask you all the questions that would be asked on the Profile form itself, and you’re not going to get good results if you are just estimating or “ball-parking” the numbers (garbage in, garbage out). We thought we would qualify for some need-based aid from our first-choice college, but were offered none – but we are making it work so far, so I guess maybe they were right…
With regards to phones I’d say “know your child”. Favorite smart phone story:
Teacher handing back test in AP Spanish: Well you got a 100, I was sort of worried when I saw you were on your phone every day in study hall ( she was supervisor… Kids are allowed to use phones))
Kid: I was quizlitting
Teacher: What in the world is that? ( this was a number of years ago, lol)
In any event I would never have deprived my girls of a smartphone. They both managed their time well, used their phones both for important school and EC work as well as important to them social stuff. It was their time to manage and they have always shown that they can do it well.
Good stuff here. Contemporary wisdom says those summer programs are just money makers for the colleges. ADCOMS know lots of families can’t afford them, so there is now a negative shadow cast on them.
ED is for everyone. It’s your best shot at getting into any school despite need for FA. Don’t wait to the RD round to declare your dream school. Schools want students who want them!
Good Luck to everyone. The only constant thing about college admssions is that it is in a state of constant change. Unfortunately, good or bad one has to rely on Guidance Counselors if you’ve never been to the rodeo before.
Swim team, brass instruments, and summer programs are NOT going to improve your kid’s chances of being admitted to a college. BTW…I have a brass player, swim team member…and twomkids who attended summer programs. Oh…and being an oboe player isn’t going to make you a shoe in either.
Really…being in a good marching band is by audition…and that’s done once the student is admitted…not before.
Swim team? Oh please. Unless your kid is a recruited athlete in swimming, this isn’t going to help in any big way.
Summer programs? Like what? Again…not usually a deal breaker when it comes to college admission.
I’ll give my savings thing…we were advised to put as much as we could into our retirement accounts…not into college savings. My free advice…it’s good to have two parents working during the college years.
My kids both took SAT Prep courses after their first SAT. One I proved his score by more than 300 points. The other got exactly the same score the second time areund as the first. Sure, students should prep, but I’m not sure a SAT course is the only way to go.
Sure…watch your assets…but the reality is…need based financial aid is largely based on INCOME. So…if your income is above a certain threshold…your assets aren’t going to make or break you in terms of financial aid. In addition…the VAST majority of colleges do NOT guarantee to meet full need so all the financial gymnastics withntegard to assets might not net you a dime of additional financial aid.
On summer programs – I can’t speak to the programs offered by colleges that you all are talking about, but in my state there is a highly selective program offered by a prestigious private prep school that brings in many of the best public high school juniors from around the state. As I recall, top colleges (Ivies and such) send admissions people to the college fair that is part of the program.
Here is my guess…if your kid is attending the summer program you are describing…that kid already has lots of other good things on their list of accomplishments.
@thumper1 yes, that’s probably true. My kid didn’t attend that program (he chose not to apply) but I do know many others… I guess the unanswered question is “does it help a kid gain college admissions?” My suspicion is that it almost certainly does not hurt!
My son did a pre-college program at my request; I wanted him to have a few weeks away from home in an academic environment since he’s not the outdoors type. He didn’t love the experience but earned an A in the course (an official university course within his intended major, condensed into one month). College consultant said we absolutely needed to send an official transcript from the university to each of the schools he applied to, which hadn’t occurred to me on my own but I’m glad we did. While I’m sure it didn’t have a major impact on his application overall, it did show he was up to the rigor of college work from a well-known university in addition to the usual AP/IB.
So while I wouldn’t put pre-college programs in a definite “wish I had” list necessarily, it has its benefits.