Lisa, I have to admit to you that your post has me concerned…my oldest son is also a junior in high school but we have NONE of the books, mailings, etc., that you are dealing with in your home.  I’m going to print your post & show it to my husband later…we must be missing something!  (full disclosure:  son knows which college he wants to attend, what majors he wants/needs for his career path, so maybe the lack of “college craziness” is a blessing…)

Mary, our Eric is extremely motivated to seek out the right college - thus the reason for all of the books!  This spring, he will take two AP tests, the SAT, three SAT subject tests and the ACT!  That equates to a lot of thick study guides sitting around!!  I think you’re lucky that your son has a clear sense of direction that will help make all of this much simpler!  Count your blessings…

Thanks, Lisa…I have to also mention that both dh & I are concerned about the SATs which our son will be taking this spring, too.  That is SO great about the AP tests/classes that Eric will be doing.  Our son was considering one AP class but b/c we homeschooled in 9th grade, he “missed” a couple of our district’s required classes & has been working hard to make them up so at least one (actually, two) of his daily classes are not really 11th grade at this point b/c of that.  He’s in all accelerated classes, though, so it’s just one of those cases of different situations working for different families…we have to work w/what we’ve got.  ; )  God bless your college craziness…I’ll remember you all in my prayers!!!

We have been getting stacks of glossy college brochures in the mail and quite honestly we are beginning to find this expensive marketing quite tiresome. We have a good local college where my daughter will take classes in her Senior year and then hopes to stay on a freshman. She even knows which Masters program she wants. She can live at home for as long as she wishes and save a lot of money. I keep thinking I’m missing something…it seems so simple.

Some people don’t live anywhere near a college. Or the college they live near isn’t geared toward them (they might not get in or it’s not academically challenging enough).  Or a student knows of a particular engineering school he’s been working towards getting into.  Or some want to go to their parent’s alma mater (because there is often extra scholarship money to be found that way!)  Or a student gets into an academically superior school that she never thought she’d get into…and so plans change or else she’d never forgive herself if she didn’t take the opportunity to go to this ivy league school.

There are so many reasons why it’s not so simple.  And I totally agree, Lisa, it’s so much more involved than it was even 10 or 15 years ago.

A few things for parents of 8th or 9th graders that I wish I knew back then:

The student should have a decent amount of volunteer experience.
The student should have job experience; the more responsibilities, the better.
The student should be involved in a sport (and it’s better to do well at one sport than to be spread thin over 3 or 4).
The student should be involved with one other extra-curricular activity besides sports.  An instrument, chess, jr. ROTC, math team, debate club, etc.
It helps a lot if there’s a “passion” for something, anything.  It’s likely you can tie that into the admissions essay (which has become much more important lately).
And of course this is in addition to SATs, SAT subject tests, ACTs, AP classes, class rank and grades.  (And don’t cram all the SAT subject tests in the later years; e.g. my daughter had biology in her freshman hs year, so she got that out of the way by the time she started her soph year).

If there are good schools within a commutable distance, do know that many will give extra scholarship money because they have extra seats in the classroom, but they only have so many beds. 

Also, I had mine apply to a few “reach” schools, but also a few that slightly undercut them; those “undercut” schools are more likely to offer more scholarship money, to increase the quality of their student body.

Boy, the things you learn from the first couple times around!...

Wow “Been There” - thanks so very much for sharing your expertise.  I love your advice to parents of 8th graders!  I know that I will be doing some things differently with Adam than we did with Eric!

Just wanted to note that students can take AP tests without having taken AP classes - I only took one “official” AP class in high school, but took assorted accelerated classes & then the tests for US History, West. Civ., both of the English AP tests, the Calc A/B test, and Art History (which was rumored to deliver higher scores due to fewer takers). The net result was that I was handed 22 credits when I walked in the doors of the University of Michigan. Graduating a year early cost a lot less than the tests did!

“Been There” hit it right on the money!  Lots of things to start early in the game.

With our older daughter, now a sophomore at University, we started with American College Partnership when she was in eighth grade.  She knew the top 25 schools for her area (after using the program to dtermine her preferred area).  We spent the remaininf spring breaks, and summers visiting all of those colleges/universities.

Do NOT overlook private schools thinking they are too pricey!  Our daughter chose a small catholic university with the high price tag, but with all of the scholarship and merit money given to her (she was an average B/C student), we pay less than $8000 a year!  Local state school would have cost us $30,000!

The more schools you visist, the better!  Watch your child. . .s/he will let you know if the school you are visiting is a possible match.  Our oldest had her heart set on a certain catholic school, but within 15 minutes of arriving, she was ready to leave “This is SO NOT ME”!  Good Luck!

Monique, thanks for sharing your advice!  What is “American College Partnership” and could you please share their website? Thanks!

Mary- I’m wondering if your son took the PSAT back in October.  It is only offered once a year.  The PSAT (College Board) gives your name, address and score to a bunch of colleges.  My son is a sophomore, most of the mail he gets is from schools who got his info from the PSAT.

Mommy, he did not take it this year b/c he’s taking the SATs in either May or June (we haven’t chosen the date yet).  He did take the PSATs when he was in 10th grade but we never got anything back then either.  It’s REALLY weird.  But, as I said in another post, he knows where he wants to go & what his career path is going to be so all the unwanted/unneeded mail is a blessing!  ; )

Lisa~

Sorry, it is The College Partnership.  3030.804.0155 is Headquarters phone.  It is a four year program on how to market yourself to schools & how to get the most money for your education.  Everything you need is in a huge binder.  It starts with a 3 hr online survey to determine areas in which you are interested, based on answers.  Then you fill out a questionairre about the type of school, location ?(rural,urban), size, etc.  They then send the top 25 schools based on your questionairre.  The binder contains 1. Getting started 2. College Admission Overview 3. Checklist/Action list steps 4. college majors & careers 5.College testing 6. Paying for college 7. Evaluating colleges 8. Student promotion 9.Applying to college, FAFSA 10.Student Aid Report and finally a 4 year calendar.  Hope this helps.

Sorry. .area code is 303.

Lisa, Just had to thank you for bringing this up the other day…b/c we hadn’t heard anything at all, I decided to touch base w/our guidance counselor and finally was able to check in w/our son last night (he has been working right after school & getting home after I am in bed most nights in recent history) to find that he did, indeed, get some (albeit very little) info from school…and we are working on http://www.collegeboard.com to get his signed up for SATs & such now.  I’m going to check out the College Partnership that Monique mentioned as well.  While I don’t desire the mega mail pile up from various colleges, it’s nice to have some outlets now for information beyond just what doesn’t make it out of ds’s backpack! ; )

? for Monique…how much does that College Partnership cost?  I just did a tiny bit of googling & am shocked by what I found/read.  I’m just curious if maybe I’m reading about the wrong thing??

Mary, I’m so glad it was helpful to you.  I have to say, I wouldn’t pay much, if anything, for college counseling.  I would go to the library and check out the books and study guides, or try to find them used on Amazon.  I’d also schedule a sit down appt. with my child’s counselor and make use of the many resources the school likely has.  Unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of businesses out there that are feeding upon families who think that paying a large fee will help get good results.  I haven’t had any experience with the College Partnership, but I am just wary of anything that has a high fee attached.  Keep in touch - we’re in this together!

Thanks, Lisa!  Our counselor is truly my lifeline where all things high school/college are concerned.  I just love her!  She shared the http://www.collegeboard.com site w/me & everything there is free…which is why I was concerned b/c what I read about the Partnership is that it cost $1000 or more…no way would I even consider paying that (or even paying anything…we can’t afford it, especially right now!) and I wondered if I was reading about the wrong program (I hope so).  I really do appreciate your bringing up this topic…God’s timing is always perfect!  God bless!!!

ps.  How are you feeling these days (now that you are post-treatment)??

Thanks for asking Mary - I am doing very well!  I had an appointment today with my Oncologist and things look great.  I will have a follow up mammogram soon, but am convinced all will be well.  God is so good!