Parents Partnering with admission2college
The college admissions process is a critical first step in your child's college education. It’s important though, to stay focused on the purpose of going to school vs. simply getting into school.
There is a finish line; graduating, finding a job or continuing their education. Yet, reaching the finish line is about more than getting a degree. It’s about getting a meaningful education with the knowledge, skills and abilities to get a job or enter graduate or professional school.“Working with admission2college through the college search and application process was invaluable. Watching them work with our daughter was amazing, opening her mind to all the options and choices for schools. Form their years in the field of college admissions they know the college admissions system inside and out and it was comforting to have them in “our corner” when our daughter was going through the process. They are very knowledgeable and thorough and their understanding and insight into the how best to handle the application process, apply for financial aid and scholarships put our minds at ease. ”
A few tips from us as college admission counselors and parents of successful college graduates.
Keep the college search process in perspective.
- There is no standard playbook.
- You need to tolerate an element of randomness in your student throughout the process.
- Never forget this is all about your student, not you!
- Find a balance between how active you are and what your student is responsible for.
- Your student may question your involvement even though your intentions are just wanting to make things right. Help them understand your involvement.
- As parents, we can put too much emotional energy into thinking about where our son or daughter should go to college—making it all about us and our own wish fulfillment.
You may have a student who has decided on a career path, knows what they want to major in and what school to attend. In our experience, that’s maybe 30 percent of the thousands of students we’ve worked with. If they are like the remaining 70 percent, who only have a vague idea what they want to do, don’t panic; that’s normal.
Part of the reason to go to college is to explore, find one’s interests and discover one's passions. We hear you thinking, “Great, they spend all that time in school, never find a major and it costs us a fortune. They need a job when they graduate.”
Parents Note: Not everyone’s career path begins with a four-year degree. We know that college is not for everyone, nor should everyone attend college right out of high school. Some should take a gap year, working or exploring and researching their interests and careers. Others should look into community college and earn an associate degree, attend a technical/trade school, or earn career certificates in fields that interest them.
We all know of, or have read about, students who can’t seem to find their interests or passions, don’t graduate and leave school owing student loans. School for them has been a series of missed opportunities. It doesn’t have to be. Not if you put your time into finding your student’s best-fit school.
Get the Facts
Going through the college selection and application processes you will hear tons of suggestions and comments on how your student can become the shining candidate that sticks out in the tens of thousands of applicants a college receives.
Throw in the miss information that is communicated among parents and students and applying to college becomes overwhelming, and in our mind, out of control and way over done.
So, to get you the right information we’ve put together an admissions facts list on college admission. To keep up on college admission happenings sign up for our admission2college newsletter delivered weekly to your email inbox.