<p>This is a fantastic site/resource! I am very thankful to have come across it. I would like Forum members to assist in directing me as to where to begin the process of doing the necessary research for our daughter.
She is a very disciplined and dedicated student and near the top of her class. If other information regarding her background or the backgrounds of my wife and I are pertinent I will provide that.
This next year and a half we will be very committed to doing all we can to create the best college opportunity for her that we can. I would like to hear your suggestions as to the things to do sequentially and any other input you believe to be valuable.
Thank you!</p>
<p>Welcome!
You will learn so much just by reading the threads and then generating your specific questions. There are many experienced posters here and I’m sure they’ll post some tips on how to use cc.</p>
<p>Good luck and see you around on this board!</p>
<p>Start by taking a long hard look at your family finances. How much can you pay easily out of pocket? How much can you pay if you make extreme cuts in your lifestyle? How much debt are you willing and able to take on?</p>
<p>Once you are clear about your financial bottom line, you will be able to be clear with your child about just how deep she will have to dig to find her safety college(s).</p>
<p>GreatKid,</p>
<p>What grade is your daughter? </p>
<p>I would start with having her take either the ACT or SAT fairly soon, especially if she is a junior. You should plan on her taking it twice and the sooner she takes the first one the better, it gives her more time to prepare in her weaker areas for the second time around. The second test should probably be taken no later than October of her senior year.</p>
<p>The next thing to start doing is reasearching colleges online, to see which ones have the programs she wants and to start getting a feel of which schools she would like to visit. The questions she, along with you, will need to answer are:</p>
<p>1) what geographic locations are acceptable?</p>
<p>2) what size/type of school is acceptable? public/private/LAC?</p>
<p>3) what costs are acceptable (after financial aid is taken into account)
a) will she likely qualify for need base aid?
b) what chances does she have for merit aid? if those chances are high, what schools that she is interested in offer merit aid?</p>
<p>4) does it matter to her what the female/male ratio at the school is?</p>
<p>5) does greek life matter to her?</p>
<p>6) What kind of mix of academic/party life does she want at the schoool?</p>
<p>I am sure there are a million more questions for her to consdier, this will just get you started.</p>
<p>I assume your daughter is a junior right now.</p>
<p>I think people on this forum will ask you</p>
<p>1) Do you need FA - what can you afford
2) What’s your kid’s stats - test scores and GPA
3) What kind of school is she looking for - location, size, single sex/coed</p>
<p>When we worked with a private counselor, one thing he did was to interview my husband and I together, then interviewed our daughter separately. He asked us what our priorities were when it came to look for a college for D. He asked our D the same question. I think they were - prestige, money, size, distance from home, location, major, job placement. You may want to do something similar with your D. You could write down what’s important to you, and have your D do the same. If there are differences, now is a good to work it out. It is especially the case when it comes to money.</p>
<p>corss posted with bajamm.</p>
<p>I agree – start with the finances so you have a clear picture of what you might be expected to pay and what you are comfortable paying. Lots of good info on the financial aid forum. When you start thinking about specific colleges ask questions. If your student is only a freshman or a sophomore do a gut check mid-year junior year based on the gpa and test scores and you’ll be in great shape. Somewhere junior year do a college tour or two so your student can give you some insight into the basic big/small, urban/rural question. Finally don’t overwhelm your student if they are young…for many if not most kids college isn’t something they are ready to think about until junior year…they are too busy being high school kids and just like the 2 or 3 year old where you would want them to walk faster and they would slow down…you just need patience.</p>
<p>Hi Greatkid,
We started our daughter’s junior year. Take a tour of a large university vs a small private university. Your daughter might have a preference. Then make a list of all the things that are important to your daughter. ie: major, minor, football team, sororities, location, etc. Start looking at colleges that she would fit. Some reach schools, some fits, and a safety or two. Look at the scholarship opportunities available at each school that your daughter might be able to snag. Then go visit some schools next summer. Start weeding out schools and do research on the ones she really likes. ie: how happy are the students, how tough is the course work, financial aid, acceptance rate, how many students live on campus, commuter school. collegedata.com is a great place to look at a schools info in the college match section. Good Luck and have fun with your daughter.</p>
<p>It is definitely not too early to sit down and figure out finances! Everything flows from that. It does no good to have your child dream of a school that does not offer merit money if you are “unfortunate” enough to be in the upper middle class income or assets wise with an estimated family contribution (EFC) that is not what you can actually afford. (After filling out the FAFSA, ours was almost 1/2 of our takehome! We live in California where life is expensive, so our EFC is, as a practical matter, ridiculous). So, our child will be going to either a school with some merit money or staying in-state where tuition is cheaper. He is fine with that. Visit some schools over spring break and be sure to visit a mix of types of schools–big urban, small rural, mid-sized suburban. Get a feel for where your D thinks she would be happiest. What are her interests? Does she have any idea what she wants to major in? How did she do on the PSAT? Has she registered for the SAT? You might want to have her take a low key SAT prep course and see how she does on a practice exam. That way if she bombs it, you can get more prep before she takes one that really matters. Get ready for the rollercoaster–I have a senior and the last year has been quite a ride and we still have a few months before it is over!</p>
<p>Thank you for your responses! Our daughter is in 10th grade. We are following her lead as it relates to pursuing these things. Meaning that we are not pressuring her in any way. She has expressed an interest in beginning the college selection process. She seems to have a greater interest and awareness of this now than the majority of her close friends. Practically all of her classes are AP or Honors classes. She is very active musically as well as in language clubs and other education based extracurriculars. (a sweet nerd)
I don’t anticipate much assistance as it relates to Financial Aid given our Family income. I believe it likely that there will be merit based aid at a number of Colleges. It seems likely unless she smashes her SAT’s to pieces(positively) that she will be a young person who is accepted at a one or two of the lesser Ivies. (Of course this is speculative) until it happens we have no idea.
We hope to have to be making the decision between an Ivy and an “almost an Ivy” that is making a considerable amount of merit based aid available.
What we intend to be doing soon is meeting with her guidance counselor, meeting with a college assistance planner, scouring all the resources such as this site that I can and lastly I would like to see if I can arrange a parent group among some of the families at our daughters school to pool our idea’s and resources. I would invite Guidance Counselors and Academic advisors to participate as well.</p>
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<p>The Ivies only give need based financial aid. No merit money.</p>
<p>How did she do on her PSATs? That will give you a jumping off point.</p>
<p>A regret DS has was not encouraging him to do more activities that fit his interest outside of high school. When I read up on those that get into the Ivy, near Ivy, many have national or statewide awards, and geting letters from ECs that are outside of the community. At the very least he would have been able to explore the world a bit more. </p>
<p>I also agree that it is important to know your finances and use Net Price Calculators. Check out the threads regarding merit aid, and have at least one financial safety that your D will love. This summer is a great time for her to go to an academic summer program. Our family did a few visits to schools locally to figure out what size school that Ds would like. </p>
<p>This may be a no-brainer to others, but practicing speaking to adults for interviews and scholarship competitions was a great help to DS. Social skills really do matter when it comes to appearing poised. It also helps to be able to be comfortable with small talk later in life with internships and job interviews. </p>
<p>If your school has Naviance, it is a great indicator of what colleges are matches based on GPA, SAT and relationship with schools. Pay close attention to what schools the seniors apply to and accept and rejects.</p>
<p>We started our college visits in the spring of D1 + D2’s junior year but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to do a little bit of visiting coming up this summer. Good thing about that time is that weather probably won’t color her thinking re: whether she likes a school or not. You’d be amazed at how bad weather will completely turn off a 17-year-old to a school, even if it’s only unconsciously. An exception, however, was D2, when we did her first college visit at UW-Madison in a blizzard, and she was hooked from then on. Go figure. :)</p>
<p>You really don’t know what universe of school you can realistically shoot for until you have some SAT scores in your pocket. She won’t be taking those until the second half of her junior year, so up until then, it’s all guesswork.</p>
<p>Did she take the PSAT as a 10th grader? If so, what were her scores? Although only 11th grade scores are used for National Merit purposes, underclassmen also take the test to get some practice.</p>
<p>If you want to help your kid with the application process, I’d take a look at an application and see what kinds of things it asks. You can use the next 20 months to plan experiences to fill in those spots. I liked the MIT application for those purposes. Pay attention to questions that they ask–like “List leadership positions and awards.”</p>
<p>Here’s my advice to anyone shooting for an Ivy. Assuming you haven’t found a cure for cancer or something on that level, LOL, you need to take your extracurriculars and push farther and deeper with them. </p>
<p>It’s not enough to be in music at your school–be involved in leadership positions. Try out for state honor orchestras and bands, perhaps try for competitions if she’s good enough. Be in musical groups outside of the school, etc.</p>
<p>If she’s interested in science, push that farther by finding a summer research program for her to attend in the summer of her junior year. </p>
<p>And know that if she does all of these things, she still has less than a 10% chance of getting into the most selective Ivys. And that is the truth!</p>
<p>[cross posted with sybbie and mizzbee]</p>
<p>Something concrete she can do this year: take one SATII in May or June. Not something ongoing, such as a language or math, in which it is advantageous to wait until more material is covered, but a discrete course she is doing well in this year. Chemistry, for example. Having one SATII in her pocket can help lessen the testing pressure junior year.</p>
<p>Be aware that not all courses, even honors or AP, cover precisely the same material as the SATII. In my S’s HS, the Honors Chem teacher was aware that some of his top sophomore students might want to take the SATII, and held some after-school sessions to cover the additional material. You can also get a prep book for her, which will provide the basics of what is covered and offer some sample tests.</p>
<p>And if I may interject…re: ivy schools. I came to cc hoping to help my D get into an ivy or top tiered school. What I learned on CC is that it is all about fit and finances when helping your child select a school. D was being recruited by an ivy for her sport and had a few conversations with the coach. While she knew the coach would support her application to the school (contingent upon her scoring well on ACT), she didn’t feel the fit was right. Believe me, it threw me into a tizzy. But, D was very logical in her explanation about why she was choosing not to go there. </p>
<p>As long as you and D explore the college possibilities together and learn as much as you can, the decision she makes will be a sound one and the best for you and her family. CC is a wonderful community and I have recommended it to many of my friends.</p>
<p>You can also do some preliminary research into colleges with an eye to how good they are in your D’s area(s) of interest. You may find it unnecessary to hope she gets into an Ivy (that doesn’t give merit aid) when there are wonderful, less expensive alternatives. :)</p>
<p>But do nose around CC…you’ll learn a lot about colleges, test prep, finances, and the facts of life. :D</p>
<p>Maybe read some books like Loren Pope’s “Beyond the Ivies” and “Schools that Change Lives;” a little dated, but useful, and there is a website for the latter book, now. Bookstores will have more books in this vein, and maybe libraries too.</p>
<p>Preliminary visits to a state versus private, large versus small, rural versus city to get down basic parameters.</p>
<p>Tell her not to check the box to receive mailings, and request information from schools she is interested in, after looking at websites.</p>
<p>Otherwise, keep it as simple as you can, try to keep the stress down, and keep the focus on thriving in the present. Tenth grade is a little early, so all the more need to keep things sane.</p>
<p>A few points:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You do this research with your daughter, not for her.</p></li>
<li><p>However, there are two important exceptions to #1.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>One of these is family finances. Here, it is your responsibility (and your spouse’s) to figure out what your family can afford and how that translates into college choices. Ideally, you should be able to have a well-informed discussion of the financial aspects of college with your daughter early in 11th grade, so she knows what the limitations are, if any.</p>
<p>The other is SAT Subject Tests. Students in 10th grade generally are not thinking about SAT Subject Tests yet because most of them haven’t even taken the SAT yet. But it may be to their advantage to take one or more Subject Tests at the end of 10th grade. You can find out more about this topic by searching for threads about the Subject Tests here on the Parents Forum. Or just search for me. This is my pet topic, and I talk about it constantly.</p>
<p>compmom, the advice about not marking the box is one I wish DS had done. I think our mailman hates us now.</p>
<p>OP – I suggest researching possible summer programs for your daughter. It may be too late to find something for this summer that corresponds with an area of interest and is not too expensive, but I would definitely try to find something for the summer before her senior year. At the very least, it could give her something to write about for her application essays!</p>