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Old 10-29-2010, 08:15 AM
 
Location: San Antonio, TX, USA
5,142 posts, read 13,072,564 times
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I think to really start researching is when your student starts showing a serious interest in a career field. Some of that may happen in junior high. If there doesn't seem to be a career interest yet in junior high, this would be a good time to introduce them to different career fields to open them up to the possibilities.
I work in a pre college program and we start in junior high with the campus visits, career exploration, etc. We expose them to schools that they might be interested in according to their interests. Example: student like zoo so we take them to zoo and take them to school with a focus on sciences. We stress to them the important of their grades starting freshmen year and to take challenging classes, participating in our program on Saturdays that offers math instruction, job shadowing, etc.

Last edited by skeet09; 10-29-2010 at 08:20 AM.. Reason: Added some more info.
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Old 10-29-2010, 10:03 AM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,259,082 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by debzkidz View Post
Like the OP, our kids were exposed to many different universities, including our alma maters, throughout their lives. So they were familiar with different types of schools. DH attended one of the largest public universities in the country, while I graduated from a very small private school university after my kids were already in grade school. So they really got to see the whole spectrum. We got serious with the college search at the beginning of DS1's junior year and DS2 was a sophomore, although they did attend a college fair during the year before. We did a lot of looking!
DS1 got a general feel for what he wanted, and then he started applying. We ended up repeating several visits, as he was finalizing his choices. The time DS2 spent tagging along as a sophomore seemed to be a waste. At that point he just wasn't interested or just couldn't remember what he saw by the time he was ready to start applying. So we had to revisit a few schools for him when he actually got serious. There were several schools they wanted to visit that were really far from home. Our rule was, go ahead and apply and if you get in/get offered a good scholarship, we would go visit before they accepted any offers, which is what we did.
Definitely agree with the bold. You can do it too early; they're just not on that page. We did our visits after junior year, plus my kids had heard about the U of CO from time immemorial, as we live in the same county.
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Old 10-29-2010, 12:46 PM
 
Location: Eastern time zone
4,469 posts, read 7,172,505 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hoffdano View Post
A tiny rant. Do people really like "DH," "DW", "DS1," etc. Do you say that because it is cute?
It's a universally recognized internet shorthand for a term of address. It's not intended to be "cute".

The doctor's office doesn't intend to refer to me as "Mistress Aconite" when they address my bills to Mrs. Eulalia Aconite, either.
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Old 10-29-2010, 06:23 PM
 
Location: Camberville
15,798 posts, read 21,311,780 times
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I went into high school with a list of about 40 colleges I was considering. Visits had started in early middle school and a sophomore year SAT showed me how much I needed to progress in order to get into my top schools. I prepped in middle school to get involved in activities in high school that would help me achieve my goals.

I hope to do the same with my children. That earned me $180,000 and a lifetime free of (undergrad) student debt.
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Old 10-30-2010, 12:47 AM
hsw
 
2,144 posts, read 7,137,887 times
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Never too early
Need to view college/major in terms of career strategy, not some abstract 4yr vacation
Physicality of campuses and soft/fuzzy issues are fairly irrelevant
Easy to learn much more in a few mins searching on Net than from a multi-day visit to any campus
What is job placement of specific college/major for its grads of past 5-10yrs?
How to earn credits in HS to finish undergrad in 2 or 3 yrs and move on to lucrative careers?
What are summer job opportunities (and school yr part-time opps) of a college/major?
Who are most notable <45yo alums of college/major?

~40% of recent lib arts grads from Harvard or Stanford are effectively un/underemployed after 4yrs of college: lack of relevant job skills and career strategy, despite a prestigious $250K diploma

World keeps evolving and rationalizing out workers with obsolete/overpriced skills
Up to parents and kids, not teachers or profs or counselors or community organizers, to plan ahead and constantly update skills, to increase odds of upward mobility
Not sure why anyone allegedly lacking time, advice and money chooses to have kids: stagnation or downward mobility of kids is an ugly phenomenon, esp when other taxpayers ultimately pay for these parasites
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Old 10-30-2010, 02:03 AM
 
Location: The New England part of Ohio
23,885 posts, read 32,179,551 times
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I would say the earlier the better! I worked at a university and lived near one. In a pinch I took my kids to class.
If college is a way of life to you, talk about it! My best friends are still the five people I roomed with in my undergrad years.
We attend events at colleges and universities and show respect and awe for the well educated.
Conversely, we do not play up money or material goods.
College is like a religion for us. There is no need to introduce it because we keep it as a part of our lives. People go to college. Period.
Associate with like minded people. This really helps.
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Old 10-30-2010, 03:05 AM
 
Location: Northeast PA
436 posts, read 951,570 times
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Military service and then college. Today's rugrats need to be shown direction and discipline. There is no better way to bring a humble, sacrificial commitment, unless you, as parents, reject national service (which is another subject all together, I'm thinking).

Let the taxpayers pay for college. Why go into debt funding college when you can wear the uniform or find another way to have your college paid for ? It comes down to the suckers... it always does.

Over-priced and overrated. College doesn't guarantee you a thing.

College is not the only option when it comes to one's development. A religion? It should never be treated like that. That's asking for resentment later, at the very least.

Last edited by golfgal; 10-30-2010 at 06:06 AM..
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Old 10-30-2010, 02:07 PM
 
443 posts, read 1,252,352 times
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Default When to start investigating colleges

Quote:
Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist View Post
I agree that talking ABOUT college (as a general concept) early is a good thing, but my impression was that the original poster was wondering about when to start investigating or considering specific colleges for application purposes. Grade school, or even junior high, would be (I believe) far too early to start talking about specific colleges.
I am the OP and your are correct regarding what I am asking. I have found, thus far, lots of helpful advice and I appreciate it!

Taben
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Old 10-30-2010, 02:23 PM
 
Location: SF Bay Area
2,133 posts, read 3,294,084 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by taben View Post
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?

When/where do you begin? Apparently, at their school some talks begin in 10the grade and visits in 11th. Is this time enough?

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?[/b]
Our school begins discussing college with students (and parents) in 9th grade, and more seriously each grade thereafter. They host an annual college fair for the entire school with reps visiting from numerous colleges, financial aide workshops, etc. and has reps visiting the school during the day, etc.

IMO general interest discussions begin by 9th grade, continue in 10th grade, and once your kid has taken the PSAT and SAT, you can narrow down realistic colleges and begin exploring options at that point.

My kids (10th grade) took the PSAT in October and will take them again next year as well as the SAT's. Spring of junior year we will kick into gear and start seriously looking at colleges and begin visiting those that they are interested in.
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Old 10-31-2010, 09:57 AM
 
Location: Middle America
37,409 posts, read 53,301,023 times
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I really didn't start the visiting and narrowing down process until I was a first semester senior. College was always on my radar in the abstract, and I knew what atmosphere I was looking for in a college, due to doing a bunch of honors programs and music/arts programs that took me to a lot of college campuses during junior high and high school. When you're a kid, visiting different campuses for meets, gifted/talented competitions, music festivals and clinics, etc. doesn't give you a taste of the academics, but does give you a feel for size, atmosphere, what people are like, etc. I did a lot of research on different schools probably starting about 11th grade. I took the PLAN/PACT as a 10th grader, and the ACT as an 11th grader. I didn't go on actual college visits until I was in the fall semester of my senior year, but by then, I'd narrowed it down to four or five to check out based on their literature and phone conversations with recruiters. I used the campus visits as final decisionmakers. I finished my applications to the three I ended up choosing by the end of December my senior year...I remember a deal with my dad that I could not go out on New Year's Eve unless I had finished all my application and scholarship essays. I got my acceptance letters in January (I remember this, because my acceptance letter to my first choice school came on my 18th birthday.

I am the oldest in my family, and my parents were playing it by ear when it came time to commence the "getting ready for college" process. They had it much more down pat by kids 2,3, and 4. We didn't really have a lot to compare with, either, because I went to a small, rural high school where the vocational track students outnumbered those in the college prep track, and of those in the college prep track, most started out at a local community college for a couple of years. Very few of us went from high school straight to a four-year, so I didn't have a lot of people around me to gauge the pace of the process. I may have started a bit late with the visits, etc. and crammed a LOT of application processes into a small amount of time, but it worked out fine. My sister, who is six years younger than I am and four years younger than our brothers, got dragged along on years' worth of campus visits between myself and the boys, and spent a lot of time visiting us at our colleges. I'm sure she knew what she wanted out of a college at a much younger age, consequently.


In an unrelated note, in response to an earlier post, I would never, ever recommend military service solely as a means to accessing a free education. There are plenty of other ways to go to college for free. I would recommend it to a student who showed a sincere interest in a career in military service, but that's something else, entirely. It is also entirely possible to be/become a disciplined, responsible individual without having served in the military.
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