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My DD is only in middle school, but I've heard our public high school will provide only limited minutes of college counseling services. I have considered private high school in order to get better access to these services. However, the public high school seems like it will be a good fit in all others areas, so I am starting to research private college consultants.
I do not have the background, expertise, nor time to become a complete expert in the college admissions process. However, I am willing to pay (not overpay) for someone who has expertise in this area. What are your thoughts/experiences with this? How do I go about evaluating consultants/services? Are there any good natl. certifications I should look for? I am looking for someone who will basically hold our hands through the entire process (3-4 years?) and help us find the best college match. I am not looking to get my kid into a particular school (e.g. an Ivy), but the school that is the best fit for her.
Some background on DD:
My DD will likely be a very strong candidate based on: academics, athletics, music, extracurriculars/leadership, etc. She is highly competitive and self-driven. She is a strong student in a highly regarded gifted program, with very high natl. test scores (particularly math/science). She is also an elite AAA hockey player, 4 sport athlete, and successful in other areas as well (orchestra, student govt., debate, science/math teams, volunteerism, etc.). She is the girl who wants to do it all, while I keep careful watch for any signs of burn out and spend endless hours driving her around!
Her hockey club will start "showcasing" her at college tournaments in upcoming years. Her coaches are completely focused on getting the girls into the best "hockey schools," which may or may not be the best fit academically. Her coaches keep telling me that hockey will pay for her college (but I'm not going to count on it).
She wants to study bio/mech engineering or medicine (brain surgery) at a top school. Perhaps her hockey skills may be an additional "hook" into some prestigious programs - we'll see. She also has the goal to be on the olympic development team. So, some of her goals are to 1) be a top brain surgeon and 2) be on the women's olympic hockey team - It's good to dream big!
So, in addition to standard college counseling, we may need counseling on athletic recruitment/scholarship as well. This is all so confusing and overwhelming to me, which is why I am starting the process in middle school.
Any advice is appreciated!
Personally, I liked the college search way too much to turn it over to anyone else. I found reading books and this site: Parents Forum - College Confidential worked for me. Since your daughter is still young, there is no hurry to make a decision about anything. My one piece of advice is to use bulletin boards to talk about college to other adults and not stress your daughter out.
My DD is only in middle school, but I've heard our public high school will provide only limited minutes of college counseling services. I have considered private high school in order to get better access to these services. However, the public high school seems like it will be a good fit in all others areas, so I am starting to research private college consultants.
I do not have the background, expertise, nor time to become a complete expert in the college admissions process. However, I am willing to pay (not overpay) for someone who has expertise in this area. What are your thoughts/experiences with this? How do I go about evaluating consultants/services? Are there any good natl. certifications I should look for? I am looking for someone who will basically hold our hands through the entire process (3-4 years?) and help us find the best college match. I am not looking to get my kid into a particular school (e.g. an Ivy), but the school that is the best fit for her.
Some background on DD:
My DD will likely be a very strong candidate based on: academics, athletics, music, extracurriculars/leadership, etc. She is highly competitive and self-driven. She is a strong student in a highly regarded gifted program, with very high natl. test scores (particularly math/science). She is also an elite AAA hockey player, 4 sport athlete, and successful in other areas as well (orchestra, student govt., debate, science/math teams, volunteerism, etc.). She is the girl who wants to do it all, while I keep careful watch for any signs of burn out and spend endless hours driving her around!
Her hockey club will start "showcasing" her at college tournaments in upcoming years. Her coaches are completely focused on getting the girls into the best "hockey schools," which may or may not be the best fit academically. Her coaches keep telling me that hockey will pay for her college (but I'm not going to count on it).
She wants to study bio/mech engineering or medicine (brain surgery) at a top school. Perhaps her hockey skills may be an additional "hook" into some prestigious programs - we'll see. She also has the goal to be on the olympic development team. So, some of her goals are to 1) be a top brain surgeon and 2) be on the women's olympic hockey team - It's good to dream big!
So, in addition to standard college counseling, we may need counseling on athletic recruitment/scholarship as well. This is all so confusing and overwhelming to me, which is why I am starting the process in middle school.
Any advice is appreciated!
Hey look! ^^ I found the OP! ^^^^ Back to it please!
To the OP-I would suggest starting by talking to your daughter's high school counselor. Be advised that in brain surgery as well as the Olympics, "many are called but few are chosen". I'm not saying she shouldn't follow her dreams; I am saying she should maybe have a backup plan. Re-reading the OP, she's only in middle school now. Let her be a kid, a kid who plays hockey, mind you.
Last edited by toobusytoday; 05-30-2013 at 05:22 PM..
Reason: removed orphaned comments
Yesterday, a coach sent me a packet re: NCAA Prospective Student-Athletes which lists the bylaws governing athletic prospects. I did not request this info so it must be going out to all the players in the club at a certain level. As I said, they are playing at a high AAA level, with several pro NHL coming from the club. Their girls' teams have won USA Hockey national championships (yes, even against MN teams) with some going on to ODP (Olympic development). The NCAA bylaws allows them to become prospects before 9th grade in some cases. I believe there are also girls at the 14-16 year old level early committing to top Div. 1 programs (e.g. Harvard, MN, Yale, etc...) as I have seen articles about it in the league newsletter.
Although my DD is only in middle school, I do not think it is too early to start researching all of this so I can best support her. As I mentioned, she is also very precocious and academically talented for her age, and has always had very high academic and athletic goals for herself, some of which she has already achieved. Her direction may change, but it is good to be prepared with the right knowledge. She also happens to be one of the happiest, well-rounded people I know. I am just along for her ride, trying to get the right support structure in place for her.
Yesterday, a coach sent me a packet re: NCAA Prospective Student-Athletes which lists the bylaws governing athletic prospects. I did not request this info so it must be going out to all the players in the club at a certain level. As I said, they are playing at a high AAA level, with several pro NHL coming from the club. Their girls' teams have won USA Hockey national championships (yes, even against MN teams) with some going on to ODP (Olympic development). The NCAA bylaws allows them to become prospects before 9th grade in some cases. I believe there are also girls at the 14-16 year old level early committing to top Div. 1 programs (e.g. Harvard, MN, Yale, etc...) as I have seen articles about it in the club newsletter.
Although my DD is only in middle school, I do not think it is too early to start researching all of this so I can best support her. As I mentioned, she is also very precocious and academically talented for her age, and has had always had very high academic and athletic goals for herself, some of which she has already achieved. Her direction may change, but it is good to be prepared with the right knowledge. She also happens to be one of the happiest, well-rounded people I know. I am just along for her ride, trying to get the right support structure in place for her.
They can verbally commit but they can't sign anything until the signing period senior year. Teams can send out "marketing materials" early in the process, that is ok. There are just strict guidelines for when the coaches can make contact with your child. Your CHILD, however, can call a coach any time they want and can visit a coach, on campus, whenever they want as long as you pay for the trip and they don't give you anything they wouldn't normally give a potential student (pay for meals when they normally would not, etc.). Keep in mind that it's not your child that would get into trouble for improper recruiting practices, it would be the coach, and knowing the rules will make a difference in the selection process as you probably won't want to be involved with a program that is not aboveboard.
One thing about Harvard, etc. is that if, after freshman year, she doesn't want to play any longer, she isn't out any scholarship money so your costs are what they are. If you go to a place like the U of MN and she decides not to play, she will lose her funding. It's not like they will kick them out of school though .
Yesterday, a coach sent me a packet re: NCAA Prospective Student-Athletes which lists the bylaws governing athletic prospects. I did not request this info so it must be going out to all the players in the club at a certain level. As I said, they are playing at a high AAA level, with several pro NHL coming from the club. Their girls' teams have won USA Hockey national championships (yes, even against MN teams) with some going on to ODP (Olympic development). The NCAA bylaws allows them to become prospects before 9th grade in some cases. I believe there are also girls at the 14-16 year old level early committing to top Div. 1 programs (e.g. Harvard, MN, Yale, etc...) as I have seen articles about it in the league newsletter.
Although my DD is only in middle school, I do not think it is too early to start researching all of this so I can best support her. As I mentioned, she is also very precocious and academically talented for her age, and has always had very high academic and athletic goals for herself, some of which she has already achieved. Her direction may change, but it is good to be prepared with the right knowledge. She also happens to be one of the happiest, well-rounded people I know. I am just along for her ride, trying to get the right support structure in place for her.
What I would advise you to do at this point in time is support your daughter in her sport and her athletics. Don't always be thinking about "5 years from now". My kids were in competitive gymnastics; many of the super-stars in middle school simply lost their passion for gymnastics later on.
They can verbally commit but they can't sign anything until the signing period senior year. Teams can send out "marketing materials" early in the process, that is ok. There are just strict guidelines for when the coaches can make contact with your child. Your CHILD, however, can call a coach any time they want and can visit a coach, on campus, whenever they want as long as you pay for the trip and they don't give you anything they wouldn't normally give a potential student (pay for meals when they normally would not, etc.). Keep in mind that it's not your child that would get into trouble for improper recruiting practices, it would be the coach, and knowing the rules will make a difference in the selection process as you probably won't want to be involved with a program that is not aboveboard.
One thing about Harvard, etc. is that if, after freshman year, she doesn't want to play any longer, she isn't out any scholarship money so your costs are what they are. If you go to a place like the U of MN and she decides not to play, she will lose her funding. It's not like they will kick them out of school though .
Thanks -
The above bolded is what I have been trying to understand from the NCAA letter I just received.
NCAA Amateurism Rules for Prospects / NCAA Bylaw 12.1 reads: "A student who has not started classes for the ninth grade may become a prospect if an institution provides that individual any financial assistance or other benefits that the institution does not provide to prospects generally."
Can you clarify the above??? Just curious - was your daughter a recruited NCAA athlete?
I think once the season starts in the Fall we will get more information from the coaches. There is also a girls' college recruitment seminar they want us to attend, which should be immensely helpful.
What I would advise you to do at this point in time is support your daughter in her sport and her athletics. Don't always be thinking about "5 years from now". My kids were in competitive gymnastics; many of the super-stars in middle school simply lost their passion for gymnastics later on.
The reason I am thinking about it is that some decisions (e.g. should we go private prep "hockey" HS, should we move closer to a top program/coaches, etc.) need to be made before the high school level. By H.S. it is too late for some of these decisions. E.g. Admission testing / interviews for prep school programs begin in 7th/8th grade, which is only a year away. The highest levels of many sports often require earlier planning and involvement.
My good friend has a daughter who was on the Juniors Natl. Figure Skating team (Evan Lysacek was in her program) and she traveled the world starting in middle school. They loved it. Others would disapprove of this type of lifestyle. This is an individual decision for a family on how far they are willing to uproot lives in order to pursue a child's dream. I think it is wise to consider options early on, but also be very flexible to changing directions as kids do change and grow.
Most sports follow the same timeline, however, some sports are different. The calendar above gives you a guideline for that. The other link has some signing period differences.
As for the bolded part, that is basically saying that they can't pay for your visit or give you anything they wouldn't normally give. Most colleges we visited gave potential students a meal voucher to eat lunch there. If they didn't give those to non-athletes they could not give them to athletes, for example. Tickets to watch a game is another one that is mentioned as not being ok if they don't normally give them to everyone that wants them.
Our D was a recruited athlete and will be getting a scholarship to play her sport so we've been through the process.
Basically they can send her "hey, this is what we have for camps" type information, it has to be "form letter" type information and it can't have any "hey, we want you to play for us" message.
The confusing part is the "contact" part. Basically, you can't talk to the coach off campus until after her junior year (July 7th it looks like). That means, if the coach comes to a game this fall, for example, they can say "hi" and that's about it. They can talk to her COACHES all they want, just not you or her. This is where her coaches are so important for the hockey recruiting. Say sophomore year she wants to start contacting coaches, she can email them her schedule, her resume, etc. but they can not email her back until after the first day of her junior year. If you want to visit campus sophomore year, she ask the admissions person to set up a meeting with the coach and you can talk to the coach all you want, on campus, then.
After the first day of her senior year she can make an "official" visit to a college. She can accept up to 5 official visits. These visits are paid for by the school. They can NOT pay for a parents visit though so if you want to go alone, you have to pay your own way, which isn't a big deal, just something to know for planning. They can only stay for 48 hours or less. She will want her list ready to go before her senior year. Since you are considering Ivy type schools, verbal commitments are not something you want to do since they have their own process for this. They will have her apply Early Action, do a pre-read on her transcript and test scores and, if they want her badly enough, issue a "likely letter" which is a letter saying yes, you are getting in but it's not official until they let everyone else know but pack your bags you are going to Harvard or wherever. Coaches can only support a few kids through the application process with a likely letter so just be aware of that. She may have 4 schools that issue likely letters and 4 that won't give her the time of day--it's just hit or miss sometimes.
One thing I wasn't prepared for was when D picked her school and the loss of that "relationship" with the coaches at the other schools. It was almost like going through mourning.
The reason I am thinking about it is that some decisions (e.g. should we go private prep "hockey" HS, should we move closer to a top program/coaches, etc.) need to be made before the high school level. By H.S. it is too late for some of these decisions. E.g. Admission testing / interviews for prep school programs begin in 7th/8th grade, which is only a year away. The highest levels of many sports often require earlier planning and involvement.
My good friend has a daughter who was on the Juniors Natl. Figure Skating team (Evan Lysacek was in her program) and she traveled the world starting in middle school. They loved it. Others would disapprove of this type of lifestyle. This is an individual decision for a family on how far they are willing to uproot lives in order to pursue a child's dream. I think it is wise to consider options early on, but also be very flexible to changing directions as kids do change and grow.
It's not my place to approve or disapprove of anyone's lifestyle. I'm just saying, your DD may lose her passion for hockey, or she may get injured and not be able to play at her current high level, or something. Do what you need to do for now. If that involves moving, so be it. But keep the above in mind. I know very few people who competed in DI sports in college, regardless of what they were doing in high school.
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