Step 1: Come join us parents of high school juniors at Parents of the HS Class of 2026 - #2533 by co2mom
Here’s my opinion about your questions. Your mileage may vary! 
Have 1 kid who went through the process last year and is finishing up freshman yr at college right now + I have a HS junior.
Most important things to prioritize junior & senior year:
- work hard, get good grades.
- be an engaged student. Participate in class. Don’t just be a house plant.
- encourage your student to explore things that interest them.
- figure out your family’s budget for college. What is the max per year that you can afford to pay?
- take your kid on some college tours, but go tour some local colleges first.
- When you go on a college tour, don’t chime in right away with your opinion on the school. Ask your kid to name 3 things they liked and 3 things they didn’t like as much. And THEN you provide some of your own feedback.
Tips for managing the emotional side of kid leaving home:
- senior yr will be emotionally hard for your kid. Expect there to be ups and downs. Every last “thing” will be emotional for them and for you.
- Be ready to be supportive, give your kid a hug, etc.
- Be ready to switch from a directive role (i.e., I’m going to do X to take your emotional distress away) to one of suggestive & supportive instead (i.e., “Have you considered doing X?”).
How involved should you be in the process w/o overstepping:
- Your kid is in the driver’s seat. You’re in the front passenger seat. Sort of like when you’re teaching them how to drive.
- With D24, I did a single 15-20 min “college session” each week. Usually on a Sunday evening. That was the one time each week when she & I would talk about college app stuff. And outside of that session, we weren’t allowed to talk about it. Because otherwise, I would drive her bananas. I set a timer and once the timer went off, whatever we talked about went on the back burner to the next week.
- this is the 1st big adult decision that your kid is going to make. So it’s an opportunity for you to guide them through what is a complex decision making process.
- If you sit back and aren’t involved at all, there are some risks to that. For example, your student could end up deciding to apply to all reach schools and get rejected everywhere. Or they could end up with no financial safety on the list, get accepted to a school that’s really unaffordable for your family, and then your kid ends up at end of senior year with no options.
- start listening to the Your College Bound Kid podcast. Episodes come out every Mon & Thurs.