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When should parents begin seriously discussing college choices with their children and what type of college/university they may want to go to? At what gage/grade should you take them to college fairs?
My husband and I both went to college and graduate school and our oldest is now in 9th grade. All of our kids have been on the college campuses of our alma maters, local colleges and a couple of other schools they have seen when we travel. The oldest has the thought that she would like a big school, outside of our immediate city and in or near another large city. That is about it. She also has attended Parochial school and thinks that she might like to continue at a Catholic University or College. Still, she really has had limited exposure.
When/where do you begin? Apparently, at their school some talks begin in 10th grade and visits in 11th. Is this time enough? Obviously the focus now is academics so she can get IN a good college. We don't want her stressing about college choices, but we do want her aware of the various types of schools so that she later can make an informed and not rushed choice. DH went the first place that gave him a free ride. He hated the school and looking back was not at all cut out for the small liberal arts place he went to. So, he is particularly wanting the kids to be happy with their choice and have a sense of types of schools.
I think I can navigate what level of schools our kids have a shot of getting in. So my question is: When do you begin seriously exposing them to college campuses and thoughts of what type of place they see themselves in?
Location: Prescott Valley, Az (unfortunately still here)
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I think by the time the kid is around the 9th grade (first year in high school). That way they can really work hard at school and get to the college they really want to go to. One of my favorite mottos is "The earlier, the better". Good luck!
I think your kids are ahead of the game having visited so many campuses already. That is a great way to start with what type of school they want to attend. I don't think it is ever too early to talk about making the right choices that will allow you into college-taking the right classes, doing well in school, etc. Our oldest is a freshman in college and he went to some summer camps on a college campus when he was 10-14 years old, went to band camp freshman year at a different campus and we took a vacation to Washington DC and he saw Georgetown all before his junior year in high school. He had a pretty good idea that he wanted a small campus.
Our twins are sophomores and we will do some campus visits next summer with them (after their sophomore year), mainly because of their summer band schedule and limited time to go in the summer or fall. We plan on visiting Notre Dame for DS15 and I don't know which others yet. Most people do campus visits during their junior year.
They have a HUGE college fair in our area in October (just a couple weeks ago) and that is usually attended by juniors in high school. Most high schools around here also have visits from admissions reps throughout the year that juniors typically attend.
Most kids by the end of their junior year will have a list of schools they want to apply to and may do some more visits over the summer. The seniors right now are finishing up their applications and starting to hear back from some schools with rolling admissions.
Our DD is will probably receive golf scholarship offers so that complicates things somewhat for her since they can't contact her until the end of her junior season but hopefully by then she will have an idea of where she wants to go.
I had it easy! My kids only had a choice of state schools so there was really no need to prepare ahead of time. My eldest just applied to a bunch and pick her favoriate from her acceptances. My youngest is going the CC route and will be able to go to pretty much whatever one he wants as a transfer student.
When I was a teen (in the 90s) 10th grade seemed to be about average, especially if your children are planning on going a traditional college route. In other words, they're presumably already planning on taking the types of courses that will get them into college. I went to a big college fair junior year. I also took the PSAT my sophomore year, and I believe it was after that that the flood of college brochures starting rolling in. I remember looking closely at the first ones, then tossing most of the later ones. Looking back, it might be useful to use the earlies received college packets as a starting point to discuss specific types of colleges, and to toss around the pros and cons of different types of colleges and settings, but not yet focusing on the specific schools.
I think summer after sophomore year is a good time to start. By then you have two years worth of grades and a good idea of where they may get accepted. I would not do any college fairs until Junior year - you'll tick off the admissions people and the Juniors and seniors that really want some info. Freshman and sophomore school years are mostly to figure out what you like to do and get the best grades possible.
Just a heads up the PSAT is taken junior year if you want it to count for National Merit consideration. Our twins took it as sophomores as practice but their scores can't count for National Merit consideration until they take it as juniors.
Good reminder golfgal. I think it's also become much more common for kids to take the PSAT as a practice run as sophomores (my three kids did that too) and then for real as Juniors. For those in the states where ACT is the main test I understand they take the PLAN as a pre-ACT.
One thing we told all our kids when they started looking at colleges was the importance of merit aid and how they should try not to fall in love with any one college unless it was both an academic and financial safety. And that's something you don't know until all the fin aid packages are in.
Our son is a Junior - but has known where he wants to go for quite some time now. For him, his major is so specific.
He took the PLAN last year and started getting all the brochures in the mail, which did help him because he became aware of a few other places he should consider.
He just took the PSAT. The plan is to take both the SAT and the ACT (they have to take that here) and we'll see which to submit.
I try to be involved and give guidance, but I also don't want him to feel some sort of pressure either. I think it's easier for him since he knows what he wants to study. For kids who don't know yet, it may be a harder decision.
One thing he did do this past summer is go to a 3 day camp, specific to what he wants to do, on the campus he wants to go to, staying in the dorms. It was a great experience for him. Cemented for him that it's where he wants to go and what he wants to do.
We live in an ACT state but took the PSAT, not the PLAN (although perhaps others do?); then again, most of us also ended up having to take BOTH the ACT and SAT. The PSAT is totally worth it though (even if a student doesn't have to take the SAT), since it does come with the possibility of scholarship money. You don't even have to be a finalist to benefit, since some schools will offer funding even for commended students.
Someone also mentioned the college recruiters' high school visits; I agree that those are a great opportunity, and would also encourage students to attend some of those, including for schools that are not immediately of interest. I sat in a few for schools I had no intention of attending (because I went along with a friend who was interested, or because the parent volunteer asked us to consider going -- I think they felt bad if not enough kids showed up!) and it was actually pretty useful to hear different takes on the topic. Sometimes hearing about the schools you don't want to attend will help clarify what it is that you do want in a school, or what your priorities are. With so many great colleges out there it can be a bit overwhelming to figure out how to wade through all that information and focus in on what really matters, versus things that are really nice but not essential.
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