Need Help for Son's college search

mikemac
Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:13:52 +0000

Applying for college can be a stressful time for kids and its not just due to the college search process. Up to now the range of choices made by the average kid are relatively constrained and HS kids are roughly the same, but 4 years from now the paths people are on will be wildly different. Making these choices, and avoiding bad choices, can bring a lot of anxiety. And another reason to not have strong preferences about college is that many HS kids are not really aware of the variety of colleges out there.

A way to tackle a huge decision is to break it down into a bunch of smaller decisions. I suggest getting a good book on college admissions if you don’t have one already since they break the process down into logical steps, and have checklists that help keep you on track. One book I like is “Admission Matters”; the table of contents is at [Table of Contents](Table of Contents)

Time is going quickly but I suggest having your son start with visiting some area colleges of various sizes (large U, LAC, etc) and locations (urban, rural, etc), campuses where students live in dorms or near campus and campuses where many students commute, to get a sense of what feels right for him. If they are close enough he may be able to do this as 1/2 day trips (preferably during the school week so he gets a sense of what a typical day is like). Books about admissions will talk about “fit”, choosing a range of colleges that are a good match for what the students wants & needs. By learning more about the range of choices available I think your son will come to express more opinions about what he wants and does not want.