Where to start?

I had heard some recommendations for this site and decided to check it out. My oldest is a Junior in high school and at the moment seems completely lost and uninterested in what to do after he graduates. At one time he said he wanted to be a heart doctor, then he considered engineering, and more recently agricultural science. He seems to have hit a point where he has no idea where he wants to go or what he wants to do with his life. His only shot at going to college is to get some amazing scholarship/grant money due to our current financial situation. I think his GPA is currently 3.9375, he has taken the ACT once so far(last June) and scored a 24, so I know he will need to pull that up. He has a part-time job, is involved in church, class president, FFA vice-president, robotics team, Tiger teller(local bank opened a branch at school and chosen students serve as teller during break and lunch), Franklin County Junior Leadership, there are lots of other clubs and organizations but those are some that come to mind. Last year was his first time ever to have a B on his report card, he had a B in Spanish II both semesters and also wound up barely missing an A in health 2nd semester because he was using the time allotted for that class to try and catch up on the Spanish assignments, both of those classes were online Access classes.

Any advice on where to start?

He doesn’t have to decide right now what he wants to do in the future. I suggest you post in the college search and selection forum to get ideas. Try putting it in a list format, so that it’s easy to read. Grades, test scores, possible majors, location, campus size, sporty, creative, Greek life or not, type of vibe he’s looking for, financial considerations, etc…

He first needs to make a list of schools of varying selectivity. Get a Fiske or Princeton Review college guide book, and start reading up on suggestions. He can study and retake the ACT if he likes, as getting a higher score will give him more options. Schedule a meeting with his high school counselor, for you and him, and get suggestions from him/her too. Ask the counselor to help you get started, because now is the time to be doing this. You can find checklists online about steps you and your child should be taking go to get started.

Run net price calculators on colleges of interest, to be sure they are affordable. Post in the FA forum if needed. His grades are good, but his test score will shut him out from getting merit aid. Maybe he needs merit aid, or you have money saved. Finances should be considered first if it is an issue. Some students know that a public in state is the only option, so that helps narrow a list immediately.

Has he taken or is he planning to take the PSAT? If he scores well enough to make NM semi-finalist there are some colleges that will award generous scholarships solely on that basis.

Also, I suggest taking him on a few admissions visits/tours at local colleges. Nothing too serious at first - just dip his toes in the water. Sometimes visiting a campus will spark an interest and focus a kid’s thoughts - maybe get him to consider a little more about where he might like to go to college and what he might like to study.

With money being tight, another option to look into is local community colleges. It’s often a great way to save on college expenses while deciding where to transfer for the 4-year degree.

As parents and child begin the college discussion, the costs should be discuss up-front too. Is money no object? Is there a money limit? Are there other conditions? All that needs to be clear before applications are sent out.

Junior year
Take the PSAT at school. This one will count for National Merit Scholarships.
Apply for leadership positions in your clubs. Even if you don’t get to be President, take leadership of a project.
Take the SAT sometime in the spring of Junior year.
Start investigating colleges.
Visit some local colleges in the fall.like your State flagship, a smaller private school…see what you like and don’t like about them. Or take a trip and visit more schools.
Come up with a list of what you want in a college…major, location, urban/rural, size, etc etc
Based on that, use Naviance, Supermatch (here on CC), Fiske Guide, etc to come up with a list of colleges
Visit those colleges over Spring break if possible.

Junior year summer, do the following:

  1. Make a list of all your ECs, when you did them, about how many hours a week, and descriptions.
  2. You only get 10 slots for ECs on common app, so start categorizing them. Like you may want to categorize all music ECs together, or split them up somewhat.
  3. Make sure to mention what leadership you have in those ECs, even if not a formal position…and talk about what you did as a leader.
  4. Choose a Common App essay prompt
  5. Write a draft of your essay this summer. Give it to your GC/English teacher to review in the fall.
  6. If you haven’t already, choose who you want to ask to write recommendations for you. If your major is STEM, ask a Math and a science teacher.
  7. See what your HS Guidance office wants you to do for college apps…(look on their website)…Do they want you to complete a brag sheet or something else to help the GC?
  8. Visit some local colleges if you haven’t already…
  9. Find out from your parents how much they can spend on college each year
  10. Run the Net Price Calculator on those colleges to see if they are affordable
  11. If not, look at colleges that give automatic scholarships and see if they are good for you http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html#latest
  12. Try to visit some of those colleges over the summer if possible if you haven’t already
  13. DO NOT APPLY TO A SCHOOL YOU WOULDN’T ATTEND. Also known as “Love thy Safety”. Pick your Safety first. I don’t know how many stories I read about people who didn’t get into an of their reaches and what they thought were matches and are only accepted to the safety and have a fit…find one that you like.

Yes this seems like a lot of work…but imagine doing it when you have classes and ECs too!

Senior Year
Choose a rigorous schedule, but not one so rigorous you will regret it in the spring when you get senioritis.
Take the SAT one more time if you want.
Apply to colleges.
Make sure you have safety, matches and reaches.
Apply to at least one school early action…particularly the safeties so you have an acceptance in the bag.
Continue doing well in your courses.

The college process can be overwhelming for all of us, but especially for the kid involved. It’s great you’re thinking about what to do now! If you haven’t done this already, maybe visit some state colleges during a school break – one large, one medium/smaller – to see what your S likes in a school. If financial aid is needed (and lots of it), in-state might be a good path. Many private schools offer incredible scholarships, so surf CC for past postings on which schools. Other large state Unis, like Alabama, seem to get mentioned by posters often with their merit scholarships for OOS, but it would help if your S could improve their ACT score closer to 30. If he kept his core class grades as As, that also is helpful. Some top schools don’t look at PE and other elective classes grades. For ECs, he looks pretty solid. Would recommend he takes advantage of the summer to continue with one of his passions – be a robotics camp counselor, etc. He has great leadership, so keep building on that. He should think about asking a fave teacher from this (junior) year for recs. Ask before the school year ends (maybe ask teachers in May – some work on recs over the summer). He’s clearly doing well!

For majors/what to study, college students change their major on average 4 times (at LACs). So, he’s a perfectly normal kid! It would help if he knew if sciences or social sciences were a focus. larger Unis often have “colleges” that a student applies to (College of Engineering, College of Arts & Sciences, College of Business, etc.); not all schools, but many. You might need to check out if any colleges of interest to him have this and begin pathing this for applications.

Two stories to share about some kids: One of my S’s friends had no idea as a senior in high school. Was contacted for sports, but didn’t want to play in college. Was all over the place (and country) with his list. All of a sudden, said he was going to follow his older brother and enlist in the military. Decided to take a year off. When his friends went off to college, he worked full time. By October, he started to realize that he did want to go to college. He visited schools (completely different ones than the year before!) and ended up at a great state uni. He flourished there. Loved it. Now graduated, he has a fantastic job in construction management. (CM was not even on his majors list entering college but he changed to it soph year, by the way). Second story: Valedictorian of my S’s grade went to a community college for two years before matriculating to a larger State U. Her family is of modest means, and it was all part of a financial plan they laid out (she’s the oldest of 3). She was president of her class in hs, salutorian, homecoming queen. Many people raised an eyebrow that she didn’t go to a “better” school with merit aid (there are lots of them out there). She now has her nursing degree and is doing well. Her plan worked out just fine. My S went to a great LAC with generous aid, did a year with Americorps, and now has a “dream job” working for his alma mater. My point here is that each kid has a different path, and sometimes it’s not as direct as others. A year off, or gap year as some call it, might be worthwhile. Work, do something different or unusual (mission trip or volunteer through your church?), and just mature to a point that he’s ready to embrace all that college can offer him.

Your S might be overwhelmed with all the pressure and options. As a leader at his school, he probably feels that pressure to “be” something. He already is something! Visiting schools really helps. I saw it with both of my kids – they turned from “i dunno” to “I can picture myself here.” But perhaps he needs a breather to help him sort it out. He sounds talented and smart. The biggest help as parents, is to guide them on a realistic path as best we can. If financial reality is that scholarships and instate are that path for your S, then educate yourself on all the viable options down that path.

Hope this helps!

First of all, as others have said being undecided wrt major is perfectly normal at this point. My oldest changed majors several times. My youngest has only been at university since this past September and so has only had enough time to change her major once. It is perfectly normal for kids to change their major. A few schools don’t even let students pick majors until the end of their freshman year on the basis that it is likely to change anyway.

You are going to need to figure out what you can afford to pay. Try to minimize debt if you possibly can. As others have said you will want to pick a few obvious nearby schools and run the NPC and see what it comes up with. The NPCs are apparently not very accurate if you run your own small business, have rental property, own a farm, or are divorced or separated. Otherwise they are usually relatively accurate and will at least give you a good sense wrt where you stand on finances.

We visited a few nearby universities to get started, including at least one large state university and one small LAC. This can give at least a starting point. Both daughters ended up doing quite a few visits before picking where to go, and visited the school where they ended up at least twice (once before applying, and again after being accepted).

Medicine (or premed) versus engineering versus agricultural sciences are different enough fields that I would hope that he can narrow it down a bit before actually showing up at university. It is entirely possible however to be an animal sciences major and also take all of the premed requirements.

I’d suggest looking into liberal arts colleges (LACs). If you’re new new to those type of schools as I once was, they’re worth taking a look at. They can have strong STEM programs, often have the benefit of smaller classes, smaller student-prof ratios and more likelihood of research possibilities. Many also have some of the highest acceptance rates into graduate schools in their fields, higher than many well-known schools. What LACs are great at is allowing students to gain breadth of their education which makes them a stronger thinker/writer etc. and more sure of their ultimate major choice.

I’d specifically suggest starting with [url = <a href=“https://ctcl.org/about/%5DColleges”>https://ctcl.org/about/]Colleges that Change Lives/url schools. This is a group of liberal arts colleges (all across the country btw) that were found to be excellent alternatives to an Ivy League education, less selective, and affordable by NY Times writer Loren Pope. Finding some schools from this group (or similar) might alleviate some pressure to be “perfect” and would be a good starting point. For reference (my presumption) would be that a 3.7/3.8+ student with a 1300+ SAT / 28 ACT would be in line for some solid merit scholarships at many of these schools. CTCL does traveling [url = <a href=“https://ctcl.org/events-all/%5Dcollege”>https://ctcl.org/events-all/]college fairs and info sessions and were helpful to me in learning about the college search.

Having no specific major as a goal is totally normal and totally fine. HS students are brought up as generalists and then are forced to make a decision when they are still naive to the world. They don’t have a firm understanding of how a major relates to a career, although I’m not sure anyone does in this modern world. For a kid, choosing a major is like anyone choosing a food item at a buffet when you’re being told that you’ll have to eat it everyday for the rest of your life. Overly dramatic example but in that position, I’d be sure to sample lots and take my time in making a choice.

Good job to your son and you for being in a good position for your search. Use the breaks to study for SAT/ACT. The more practice tests, the better. At first I’d try both SAT and ACT btw, as you can’t be sure which is the better fit. Hiring a tutor might be a good idea if your son can’t stay motivated. These forums have some good testing tips.

When you check out schools online, look and see if they offer an exploratory program. It’s a program that is kinda like a sampler to help them decide what they want to major in.