College Searching/Advice Seeking

thumper1
Sat, 25 Apr 2020 02:21:09 +0000

In terms of boosting his application…he wants the best possible ACT score or SAT score…and GPA. His ECs should be things he enjoys and wants to do (don’t add things to pad a college application resume).

Things not mentioned but were important to my kids.

1. Location. Does he want urban, suburban, small town? Close to a city or out in the country!

2. Size. Some kids really want a huge college. Others want a small one.

3. Things to do. Some kids want a college with great sports teams, or a good orchestra, or great clubs. What does your kid want.

4. Distance from home. Some kids don’t care how far, and others do.

5. Cost. Your family needs to be able to pay the cost to attend. If your kid loves NYU but your net cost is $70,000 a year and you can not pay that...it won’t work. There are net price calculators on every college site that you can use.

6. Gut feeling. Sometimes it’s just a gut feeling when a kid walks on a college campus...and they know “this is one I like”. Or not.

7. Areas of interest. Does the college have majors that the kid likes.

8. Be realistic in terms of potential acceptances. Every kid should build their list from the bottom up. This means...find a school they like, would be happy to attend, is affordable, and where they have a great high chance of acceptance. Do this first. Then add schools to the list.

It’s easy to find reach schools.