<p>My son will be in ninth grade this upcoming year, and of course, I have always talked about college to him. I have had the opporunity to take him to college campuses in our area, and he has talked about liking 2 or 3 of them. My questions are, when did your kid(s) start compiling their list of colleges that interest them? How did you help them with their list or did you help at all? How big was the list initially? </p>
<p>Thanks for the responses!</p>
<p>Well my s is a rising senior and hasn't compiled a "list" yet. Either have any of his friends! Frankly the admissions data has been changing so fast for the past few years, that it's really not possible to put together a final list until you have the latest stats released in late summer prior to senior year. If your son is only going into ninth grade, imo it's way too early to even be thinking about college for this and the reason that he should just enjoy high school! To answer your other question, I think, absent a great guidance counselor, it is the parents' responsibility to help their child build a preliminary list of reasonable academic and financial choices, but the child should have the final say about the final list. After all, he/she is the one doing all the work on the applications and he/she has done all the work throughout high school. The length of the list will be up to him also.</p>
<p>I agree that this is very early. Even if he is interested in schools now, his interests will likely change over the next couple of years, and that is to be expected! Don't rush into things. Also, his transcript, standardized test scores, extra curricular interests, in short, everything that makes up the "package" that will become your child (harsh word, I know, but that's reality) hasn't even begun to coalesce. Let him still be a kid for the next year or two at least. He has plenty of time for the college process, and hopefully, his HS will have it as part of the students' programs.</p>
<p>I guess I should have clarified that I am not looking for "lists" in the sense that I am even thinking about stats and all that come with it. Of course, he is way too young. I was thinking more along the lines of lists of colleges he likes, may visit in the future, how did you expose your children to their many different choices.</p>
<p>I do, however, believe that planning for college can start now. Yes, 9th grade is a long way from 12th, but is it really?</p>
<p>Although I agree that 9th grade is early, by 10th we started visiting colleges when we were near them on vacation, just short drive-bys. Went to some local college games and walked through campus. Visited some friends who were already at college. Much more of that activity pl;us actual tours in Junior yr. That way they started to form an idea of the big-little, country-city under a vary relaxed atmosphere. But selection can can be all the way through senior year :) DD totally changed her major in middle of junior year which meant all the ones we had visited did not matter and we started again. But through the visits she knew she did not want something out in the country. So it was not all for naught. </p>
<p>But if they really resist, it could backfire and make them totally resistant into senior year (S2 did that) so I would not push.</p>
<p>^^^ we did too. D attended a college fair in the spring of 9th grade. She picked up brochures and sent in interest cards. Spring of 10th we went to an info session and we visited 2 campuses the summer between 10th and 11th grade. My brother works on a university campus so we visited him there too.</p>
<p>Agree w/ singersmom that it can easily backfire if you force the issue. Plus from what I have read and seen on the high school campus where I teach, boys can be very different than girls. They are pragmatic and more inclined to not be into the process of selection to the same degree. Many boys that I know only apply to 4-6 or even fewer schools and are totally comfortable with chooing between those few choices. I have read posts by parents who were surprised and disappointed that their boy just doesn't get into it in the same way they hoped he would. Just make sure that there is a safety or two on the list he does eventually come up with. And take it slow and casual. Going to games and/or performances on campuses close to where you are going to be anyway is an excellent way to get them thinking about it.</p>
<p>Oh and yes I helped and I know many if not most of the CC posters help their kids come up with a list. I helped by signing up for mailing lists for schools that look interesting but mostly by encouraging my girls to look at other schools that are in the area they are interested in visiting in the first place. ie...they wanted to visted one school in Oregon. I arranged a visit but also arranged that they tour three other schools in the vicinity. TwinE is all over the college visit thing. TwinK is more reluctant so she had the option of opting out and hanging in the coffee shop on campus for the tours. I also told them that they could bail if they didn't want to complete all of the activities scheduled and knew the school wasn't for them. As it turned out both girls full participated and really liked/loved three of the four so I now have credibility as a campus picker-outer. :D We ditched out on the fourth school. I think that for a reluctant child it helps them to know they have veto power.</p>
<p>If your son knows what college is, and has seen a couple of them, and expects to attend one some day -- which is what you say in the first post -- I would leave the question of "which college" COMPLETELY alone for at least the next two years. Maybe 2-1/2. Sometime between the end of 10th grade and spring vacation in 11th grade is a good time to start.</p>
<p>I guess the best way to start, and really, just keep it in the "wish list" sort of category, if he is willing, is to think about what he loves. Not what is best for him, but what he is really interested in. Even if it might be computer games or music. Those interests can turn into very viable studies and later into good careers. Follow the bliss! At this point, it couldn't hurt. Then, look at the myriad sites that help winnow the lists down. I can't remember them, but I know that through College Board and Princeton Review there are survey types of thing that you can use. Geography, size, approximate selectivity, interests, etc. can all help to begin list-building.</p>
<p>It is not to early for you to figure out how much per year you are willing to pay for college, either with cash or with loans. Then you can do some research on financial aid at likely colleges. </p>
<p>By the time your S is ready to start compiling a list, you will be able to give him guidance on whether some of the schools on his list are out of the question financially. If he decides he wants to apply to those schools anyway, just in case they come through with a generous aid package, that's fine. Just make sure he knows the bottom line of what you will pay per year. You can also help him with the decision of whether he will want to take out student loans himself and how much debt would be acceptable for him to graduate with.</p>
<p>You don't want to get drawn in to the emotion of the moment when he gets accepted to the dream school but it just costs way too much.</p>
<p>I didn't start thinking about which college till halfway through tenth grade. D started keeping a college expando folder in the seventh. Anything she saw that interested her she put in her alphabetical folder. In the end we had a room. It was not alphabetized. I do understand that she is a freak of nature.</p>
<p>Mathson didn't begin to think about colleges until I dragged him to see a few colleges on a junior year spring break tour. He had seen college campuses - three summers at three different LACs through CTY, one summer and a Saturday course at Columbia and two reunions at Harvard. </p>
<p>I don't think you need to be thinking about the list yet at all. It doesn't hurt perhaps though for the parents to be reading books about college admissions, boards like CC so that you are aware of how the game is played. You also want to make sure your kid is taking a curriculum that doesn't close off options that he would regret later. That's not to say that your child should take every AP offered, but that you do want to keep half an eye on the courses colleges expect a student to have taken.</p>
<p>During the summer between freshman and sophomore years, I left a couple of "big books" in D's room. When I checked in August, I noticed she had marked several colleges. That fall, we started attending college fairs. Her favorites varied, but I checked recently and noticed that the college she's attending is one that she had originally marked (and I had overlooked!).</p>
<p>Son (just finishing junior year) is a different matter. He came up with criteria this year and asked me to compile a list. I did, and sometimes he manages to remember the names of the colleges on the list. We'll be touring them this summer.</p>
<p>"I helped by signing up for mailing lists for schools that look interesting...,"</p>
<p>"... just keep it in the "wish list" sort...,"</p>
<p>"D started keeping a college expando folder in the seventh. Anything she saw that interested her she put in her alphabetical folder."</p>
<p>"During the summer between freshman and sophomore years, I left a couple of "big books" in D's room."</p>
<p>The above are great ideas, and are is along the lines of what I had in mind. I did not say that I wanted to choose the colleges for him, or bombard him with a ton of information he is not ready for at this time. I was interested in how you approached this with your children, or if you did at all. Thank you to those of you who are mentioning when you noticed your child's interest peaking, and the differences between boys and girls. I did love the financial aid planning and affordability of it all suggestion. I have saved Princeton Review, and other websites, (of course CC), for referencing.</p>
<p>In ninth grade, I think it's more important to be sure he's on track with his academics and extracurriculars, and getting into the right study habits, than to think about specific colleges. </p>
<p>He's going to change a lot in the next couple of years. His interests will mature and grow too. This is a great time to encourage him to notice & think about what really interests him, what he excels at, and to try new things. It's exploration time. The "right" list of colleges for a budding artist is quite different from the list for an aspiring engineer.</p>