<p>Man…I think I’m getting a late start at preparing for my daughter to go off to college. I’m Joe, married with a wife and 3 great girls (17, 13 and 8). Haley’s the first so maybe I’m burying my head in the sand and don’t want to face her leaving home. She’ll be a senior this year.</p>
<p>She’s very bright and could probably have her pick of a lot of schools, but I think she’ll wind up going to Oklahoma State because it’s the family school (her Mom and I met there, as well as a ton of her relatives from both sides)…plus she doesn’t want to get too far from home. Anything would be fine with us.</p>
<p>I found this site because I’m really looking for some direction. Is there a first-timer’s post that flow-chart me through this process so that I don’t make the big mistakes and don’t miss anything? Maybe a good thread from someone who’s done it before?</p>
<p>I bought a couple of books on paying for college, but nothing on just the process.</p>
<p>Any advice would be appreciated. I look forward to becoming a part of the group.</p>
<p>Welcome! I’m Kate (and, clearly, I love pugs!) and my son will be starting college this fall. CC has been a huge help each step of the way. I found my way around by reading threads that looked interesting and also by introducing myself in the threads that applied to my status as a parent.</p>
<p>For example, there is a thread of parents of high schoolers who are graduating in 2011, check that one out for a good place to start.</p>
<p>Welcome to the forum! I think if you go to the Parents Forum rather than the Parent Cafe you will probably get more advice than you want! But please check in here at the cafe, we talk about all sorts of things.</p>
<p>Sometimes the toughest thing for a newcomer is to figure out where you are on the CC discussion board and where you want to be. There are a multitude of forums and if you arrived here through a google search, it’s easy not to see the forrest for the trees.</p>
<p>Buy the book, The Best 371 Colleges 2010 Ed. by The Princeton Review. Have your daughter read through the description of each school and start getting her list of schools to apply to (see if you SATs and GPA match up with those schools or at least in the ball park). Take her on a tour of U. of OK asap, as well as tour other colleges on the next coming weekends. Nothing makes your kid more motivated than visiting a campus that they can see themselves at next year! :). It’s a whole other animal then when parents were applying to colleges back in the 80’s — way more competative so be sure to have a big enough list of schools to apply and include a couple “safety schools”. As for money, do a search for all your state schools and apply to where she’d be a good fit. But also keep in mind that if she’s a particularly good student, many privates give good financial aid. My newphew only had a 3.0, and 2100 on the SATs, but he was a National Merit and ended up with a full ride to Ohio University.</p>
<p>Joe, Welcome! May I suggest you refrain from too much personal information; like your daughter’s name as well as your own? You would be amazed at how easy it will be after you post for a while for someone to figure out who you are. You may not care, but your children might if you give out too much information. We don’t realize something that what we say will make teen girls very upset.</p>
<p>Enjoy your visit around CC; it is addicting!!</p>
<p>Very good information all around! That’s what I was looking for!</p>
<p>@snowball - You’re totally right. Yes, I’m very naive when it comes to putting out my personal information and I’ll pay for it some day. Daughter would be horrified. </p>
<p>@jkiwmom - Thanks - I see on Amazon that the new Best “373” Colleges… comes out Tuesday. </p>
<p>freeland: I got a book titled, Countdown to College: 21 To Do lists for HS", by Valerie Pierce with Cheryl Rilly. It starts in Freshman year, with the focus on mapping out the 4 years of classes, volunteering, summer suggestions. Sophomore: the PSAT, must reads. campus visits. Junior year: getting to know your GC, building in AP to your transcript, standardized test taking–and prepping, financial aide details, getting HS teacher recommendations. By senior year, it’s about firming your lists, applying, essay writing, and a lot about financial aid.</p>
<p>I say you found the best resource already: here!</p>