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Best advice for preparing for/getting into college? Books? Articles?


nancyb
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Hello Ladies,

 

My oldest just finished 7th grade and I am starting to panic. I know we have plenty of time, but I don't know what we need to do. Is there a "Going to College for Dummies" book? Seriously, I know I need a transcript and SAT/ACT scores, but that's about all I know. What's the best way to prepare for these tests? How do you chose a college? How do you get financial aid? What else do I need to know?

 

Thanks,

Nancy

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Read this forum for a start. You asked a number of common questions that are addressed regularly.

 

Remember though that there are a variety of colleges and universities to suit goals and personalities. It is not just about getting your kid into college but finding a college that is a good fit.

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Hi Nancy,

 

: )

 

Breathe deep. As you said, you have plenty of time to work it all out.

 

All that happens over the next 6 years has a lot to do with your daughter... what kind of path she wants to follow, what career she is interested in...

 

But a good place to start is to make sure you have a solid College Prep High School plan in place... 4 years each of the core subjects (Math, Science, Social Studies, English) and at least 3 years of a foreign language, plus electives. That will leave the most doors open when the time comes --- community college, 4 year school, or even some other as yet unknown path.

 

If your plan is to homeschool the whole way, I suggest reading here... on this board and the high school board. There have been many, many posts about test prep, scheduling, and the college application process in general. It has got to be the single largest repository of information about homeschooling high school in the world!

 

Some other books I have read along the way and liked:

http://www.amazon.com/Debt-Free-Outstanding-Education-Scholarships-Mooching/dp/B0052HKYK2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1369313843&sr=8-3&keywords=zac+bissonnette

http://www.amazon.com/Fiske-Guide-Colleges-2014/dp/1402260644/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369313870&sr=1-1&keywords=fiske+guide+to+colleges+2014

http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Financial-Aid-2013-All-new/dp/0874479827/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369313893&sr=1-2&keywords=financial+aid

http://www.amazon.com/Admission-Matters-Students-Parents-Getting/dp/0470481218/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369313922&sr=1-9&keywords=college+admissions

 

and many more....

 

The whole process was like making a mosaic for me ... bits and pieces from here and there over time....years.... and of course lots of thoughts from my daughter. We made sure to emphasize the 'team effort' part of this right from the beginning ... we will all have to pull together and make it work educationally, financially, personally... so we talk - a lot ... and continue to talk now that she is on the verge of 'leaving.' She knew right from the beginning that we have financial limitations and that was going to be a huge part of the college decision. All three of us spent time reading books, visiting colleges, investigating careers, and sharing all of the info with each other.

 

Now we are working on our mosaic with dd#2... and I know it will be a totally new and interesting one.

 

Most of all, don't worry! There have been so many success stories here, I know you will find many that resonate with your family. Keep asking questions here, and enjoy high school with your teens. It's a great, great ride. : )

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Not much advice, but keep in mind that our culture now views preparing for college as a vocation practically! It is really, really hyped. I suppose if you are looking into getting into a top Ivy League school, you might need to do that, but I don't believe you need to stress about it as much as you might think. (Probably others will disagree with me.)

 

We never thought about it until our children's senior year in high school, although they all took a year off between high school and college.

 

Just stay on course with your high school education, do some extra curriculars, and take advantage of interesting and unique opportunities that come your way.

 

I think another thing that helped my children was really supporting them and helping them with their passions (I don't like that term, but you know what I mean!) By helping them be the best they can at something they love, they can really excel and stand out, which can help a lot in the college application process. This makes it seem almost effortless, because it's something they love to do.

 

We rarely did things with the goal of getting into a good college. We did things because at the time, it seemed like it would be a good thing to do to help or add to the current situation. In hind site, we can see that simply by doing the best they could in everything they did, and taking advantage of -- and even seeking -- unique opportunities, we were preparing for college without realizing it.

 

Hope that makes sense. :)

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Hi Nancy,

 

: )

 

Breathe deep. As you said, you have plenty of time to work it all out.

 

All that happens over the next 6 years has a lot to do with your daughter... what kind of path she wants to follow, what career she is interested in...

 

But a good place to start is to make sure you have a solid College Prep High School plan in place... 4 years each of the core subjects (Math, Science, Social Studies, English) and at least 3 years of a foreign language, plus electives. That will leave the most doors open when the time comes --- community college, 4 year school, or even some other as yet unknown path.

 

If your plan is to homeschool the whole way, I suggest reading here... on this board and the high school board. There have been many, many posts about test prep, scheduling, and the college application process in general. It has got to be the single largest repository of information about homeschooling high school in the world!

 

Some other books I have read along the way and liked:

http://www.amazon.co...zac bissonnette

http://www.amazon.co...o colleges 2014

http://www.amazon.co...s=financial aid

http://www.amazon.co...lege admissions

 

and many more....

 

The whole process was like making a mosaic for me ... bits and pieces from here and there over time....years.... and of course lots of thoughts from my daughter. We made sure to emphasize the 'team effort' part of this right from the beginning ... we will all have to pull together and make it work educationally, financially, personally... so we talk - a lot ... and continue to talk now that she is on the verge of 'leaving.' She knew right from the beginning that we have financial limitations and that was going to be a huge part of the college decision. All three of us spent time reading books, visiting colleges, investigating careers, and sharing all of the info with each other.

 

Now we are working on our mosaic with dd#2... and I know it will be a totally new and interesting one.

 

Most of all, don't worry! There have been so many success stories here, I know you will find many that resonate with your family. Keep asking questions here, and enjoy high school with your teens. It's a great, great ride. : )

 

Wow! Thank you so much for the book list! It looks like Admission Matters would be a great place for me to start.

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Not much advice, but keep in mind that our culture now views preparing for college as a vocation practically! It is really, really hyped. I suppose if you are looking into getting into a top Ivy League school, you might need to do that, but I don't believe you need to stress about it as much as you might think. (Probably others will disagree with me.)

 

We never thought about it until our children's senior year in high school, although they all took a year off between high school and college.

 

Just stay on course with your high school education, do some extra curriculars, and take advantage of interesting and unique opportunities that come your way.

 

I think another thing that helped my children was really supporting them and helping them with their passions (I don't like that term, but you know what I mean!) By helping them be the best they can at something they love, they can really excel and stand out, which can help a lot in the college application process. This makes it seem almost effortless, because it's something they love to do.

 

We rarely did things with the goal of getting into a good college. We did things because at the time, it seemed like it would be a good thing to do to help or add to the current situation. In hind site, we can see that simply by doing the best they could in everything they did, and taking advantage of -- and even seeking -- unique opportunities, we were preparing for college without realizing it.

 

Hope that makes sense. :)

 

You really didn't think about it until senior year? That's great!

 

I appreciate the advice. She really has no idea what she wants to do for a career or study. I don't blame her; I didn't have a clue at that age either. In the meantime, I'm doing my best to help her find her passion(s). It would all be so much easier if I could see her future. She may decide traditional college is not for her, and I am okay with that. I just want to make sure she has the option.

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I really like the book 8 First Choices.

 

Also, once she hits the summer before 9th grade start keeping track (I have just used a spiral notebook - nothing fancy) of ECs, community service/volunteer hours, awards, books read, work, etc. It's much easier to do this as you go along than to try and build it retroactively.

 

I did not/do not homeschool for high school. When I did homeschool, I kept a binder of work for each year documenting curricula (easiest way is to copy the book cover the table of contents of your main text), description of what we did in each subject, texts used, books read, samples of work (particulary tests and some writing samples), calculation of grades, standardized test results, field trips, etc. I would have thought this even more important had we decided to stay home for high school. Again, much easier to keep up with as you go along rather than trying to think of everything you've done retroactively. My state didn't require this at all - I just liked doing it. I was also nice being able to look back through the years of binders and see how far we'd come!

 

Now that I think about it, my yearly homeschool binders also included the items in the first paragraphs as well. I guess I just didn't have as much to keep up with once ds headed off to charter school so I scaled back.

 

HTH.

 

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Unless you are aiming for Top 20 schools, getting admitted isn't too difficult as long as you continue with decent/"normal" academics + extras (4 years foundation in the main subjects, electives that show a well-rounded person, extra-curriculars that show a "life" outside of academics - not necessarily tons of these, but in depth for what they do care about), and do the SAT or ACT (prep definitely helps scores), then getting in will not be a problem. Do keep records as you go along. We "had" to here due to our state's regs. I was quite pleased when I already had everything I needed for college apps.

 

PAYING for college can be a problem. If you're not to the point where money is no object, I'd be investigating savings and watching the threads where we talk about merit vs need-based aid schools...

 

There are MANY good schools out there. Around 10th grade you should start looking at options a little. In 11th grade look quite a bit (if still college bound). Until then, lurk on the high school and college board to get a feel for options and spend the bulk of your "time" figuring out what you can do for finances... (if not a lot, don't fret - just spend a bit of time on the need-based & merit aid threads.)

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I think you are very wise to start thinking about this in middle school!

 

First, look at what colleges require. I've known a lot of homeschoolers who were shocked to learn in their junior year that their dream college wants students to have four years of the same foreign language. We used Harvard's recommendations http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/preparing/index.html as a guideline, because we thought that we didn't want the education we gave our kids to close any doors for them.

 

Second, look at some applications. You don't want to get to senior year and be upset that you have nothing to list under "Honors and Awards." See what they're looking for, and keep it in mind as your child goes through the high school years.

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Nancy,

 

Work backwards! Decide what you want your student's transcript to look like on the day they graduate, and start working the classes backwards. It will give you great perspective, and help you to stay on track when the inevitable changes take place. You can always make changes, but knowing where you want to be when you end, based on your child's abilities and interests, will make things much clearer.

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I think you're seeing already in this thread the differences of opinion about the college prep and college application process. You know yourself what your children are capable of, what they are interested in, and that will be your guide more than anything else. If you're a masochist, spend some time at the college confidential website reading the threads about all of the topics you've mentioned. You'll get an education and a half, not only about the arcane details of financial aid, but more importantly, about what exactly students look like who end up at college A, B or C. And as others have said, the whole process is a different kind of crazy than it was when our generation went to college. There is no question whatsoever that years of advance planning and hard work are what's called for if your child wants to go to a very competitive school. The kid also has to develop a talent for self-promotion.

 

And if you'd like a lighter, but very accurate look at the process, I recommend reading "Crazy U: One Dad's Crash Course at Getting His Kid into College" by Andrew Ferguson.

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