<p>I am a High school junior and am just begining the College search process, does anyone have any advice?</p>
<p>I have a junior, too. Read this board! It is a great resource. Start visiting colleges at spring break, if you can. See if your kid is interested in city schools, small college towns, universities, liberal arts colleges (called LACs on these boards)...... Make an assessment of her academics (PSAT or SAT, grades etc.) and see what schools would be a good match. Karen</p>
<p>Thanks fot the advice, that helps alot.</p>
<p>Definitely read posts here and even check out old threads, and if you are willing, go read through the posts back at the old forum at <a href="http://www.collegeconfidential.com/discus/%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeconfidential.com/discus/</a> . You can search for certain things too. When I was new to the process, I read the old board often for advice</p>
<p>Decide on your colleges before senior year.</p>
<p>get the book "Looking Beyond the Ivy League: Finding the College That's Right for You" by Loren Pope. Pope has a bias towards LACs, but you'll find the book clearly lays out a systematic method for deciding what is important to you in a college and then picking among your options. He's also written another good book, "Colleges that Change Lives".</p>
<p>The best advice I can give is don't pick names, pick by criteria. For many students their college planning process starts with "which of Stanford, Harvard, Yale, etc. is best for me". This is exactly backwards. First decide what you want in a college. Then armed with these criteria look for colleges that provide what you want. If HYPS provides it, so be it, but it will be because they indeed are a match for you and not just a glittering name. </p>
<p>The second bit of advice is to start upfront by knowing what your family can afford. There's no sense working to get admitted to colleges you can't afford to attend, and while talking about money with your parents is never an easy conversation it can save a lot of frustration and tears down the line.</p>
<p>But you are in a great situation, since you have the time to consider what you want in college and test it out with visits (preferably overnite with a volunteer host) rather than compressing the process into 2 hectic months. Start by reading the book by Pope, it will give you the roadmap you need.</p>