The best thing that I did actually for my own fun, thinking that D. probably will not use it at all, was researching colleges for 2 years prior to application, using very well known to me D’s criteria. I have compiled an XL spreadsheet that had very few schools but included very detailed information for each of them, for each of the D’s criteria, nothing was neglected. I had a ball with it, it was my game! When if was time to apply, I told D. that I have a list, but she did not have to use, I just was having fun gathering all information. The spreadsheet was soo huge that I had to stick several pages together when I printed it. She got very interested and decided to use my list. After additional research and many visits, D. reorganized my list in her desirable ranking of the colleges. She ended up attending at her #2, and looking back it was her best match, still having very fond memory of it.
This process was so successful that later D. asked me to compile a similar list for her Med. School application cycled. That was much easier to do and took me about 30 min. to accomplish. Again, list matched her very well and she was accepted at 4 out of 8 that she applied.
Not much else we did for her, except driving her to out of town visits and interviews for UG.
Did you do the same for residency match?
Be sure to tell your kids you are proud of them for handling the whole process completely by themselves. Tell them these are the days you are available for visits, etc. but they will have to do all the work - i.e. figuring out can they visit Harvard and MIT in the same day, or Penn and Swarthmore, etc.
One friend told us not to visit more than one college in a single day - it becomes information overload, and the second school you visit inevitably does not shine as much as it would on its own. Besides, from a parent’s point of view, spending a day of your kid’s HS spring break junior year looking at colleges is often when the schools look their best.
We had no choice but to tell our pups to chase the money, and they did so, with great outcomes (Columbia and Stanford). Yes, it became nerve wracking, but likely letters have a very calming power.
Tell your kids to aim high, and that rejections only mean they aimed in the right level.
One of the smartest things I did during the college process was find a friend going through the same thing. She and I vented to each other every day, but it kept us from venting to our spouses and our high school seniors, which was a good thing! If you can find a way to dissipate some of that stress and frustration outside the home over a cup of coffee or glass of wine with a kindred spirit, everyone wins!
“Did you do the same for residency match?”
-This one was the easiest to select. D. applied to the most of her specialty programs, eliminating NYC and CA and few others on the West. No list was needed, she applied to about 80% of all specialty programs + few close by prelim years, total number was 100. Residency application cycle was the most challenging and stressful of them all. But most people here will never apply to residency, so the question / answer is not relevant in this thread.
Had son put together an “academic resume” during his junior year. It was great for having all the information in one place, which helped with applications, interviews and recommendations.
We did something similar, but having learned from when my older child was applying to colleges, I began keeping a running list of my second child’s activities and awards freshman year. Any time he joined a new club or did anything else of note, I just added it to the list. So by the time applications rolled around, we didn’t have to try and remember anything that happened in the preceding years, it was already in chronological order.