How to Help Your Child Choose the Right College

By DeVinney, Michele

Many parents begin worrying about sending their children to college as soon as they are born. Their kids, on the other hand, find their own time to begin considering their options. And, those options are plentiful, with private, public, in-state, out-of- state, liberal arts and technical schools all among the mix. It is not surprising that some teenagers would rather visit their Facebook page than begin thinking about life after high school.

But choosing a college does not have to be painful. It can actually be exciting. Approaching the matter openly will make the process rewarding and successful. A visit to a school guidance counselor early in their high school career can help students begin to plan for the future. The sooner students start looking ahead, the better their options will be when they start making choices.

“The minute you walk in the door, what you do matters,” says Heather Case, guidance counselor at North Side High School. “A lot of freshman just think ‘Whatever’ when you say that to them, but colleges are looking at everything from high school, not just grades. If a student received a detention for participating in a food fight his or her freshman year, when a college or university representative asks if a student received any detentions, then we have to say yes. If it’s a competitive school and it comes down to a choice between someone who didn’t get into any trouble and someone who did, it can determine whether or not the student is accepted.”

“It is never too early to start looking for a college to attend,” says Lora McGuire, senior counselor at Bishop Dwenger. “The sooner a student becomes familiar with a particular college of interest, the better. Students need to fully understand the expectations of a college and its level of competitiveness for admission. This knowledge will help the students set goals for their achievements in high school, including academic, extracurricular involvement and volunteer work. I highly recommend that students consult the Internet to start the college search process. I recommend starting with www.collegeboard.com. Students and parents can search for colleges in a variety of ways, including location, size, fields of study, cost and religious affiliation. One can gather vast amounts of information from the Internet without leaving the house.”

Dennis Eller of Canterbury School agrees that the first step is for students to start considering their options.

“Parents start thinking about it a lot sooner than students do. The discussion starts in earnest in their junior year, but the process can start a lot earlier than that. You can begin visiting colleges in the ninth or tenth grade, and I recommend you visit different types of schools – technical schools, larger and smaller schools. Start considering what you’re looking for. Is distance a factor? Is what I call ‘rah’ a big factor? Do you want to get a job? Go to graduate school? What criteria are you looking for?”

Choosing a school based on programs may be less important than those factors, and counselors agree.

“Seventy percent of students change their mind about what to major in anyway, so I try not to make a big deal out of that when we’re talking about colleges,” says Eller. “Unless students are looking to get into something specific like pharmacy or physical therapy, then students will often be able to find what they need at many different universities.”

A visit to the counselor can also help students discover what may be realistic academically.

“When I talk to a student, I’ll look at their transcripts, because certain schools may be out of reach because of their G.P.A. or test scores,” says Case. “We’ll also look at what they want to do when they graduate, because different schools have different focuses. And we’ll see if a school makes sense for the career they want to pursue. If a student wants to be a social worker, for example, that position typically doesn’t pay well, so if a student wants to go to Harvard, it might not be a good return on investment.”

Cost is certainly a major concern for parents, one which students might not completely grasp as they sort out possibilities. But area counselors say parents may be pleasantly surprised to discover there are new ways to finance education, which can make those high-end dream schools obtainable for middle-class families. Recent valedictorians and salutatorians from North Side have gone on to attend schools like Stanford, Harvard and the University of Southern California without facing a lifetime of debt.

“Some of the upper-tier schools, the Ivy League schools, have made it affordable for students to attend,” says Case. “Parents who make $60-70,000 a year can send their children to an Ivy League school for less than $5,000 a year. In the last couple of years, at least one of our students has gone to an upper-tier school – it just takes a lot of preparation.”

While the decision about college is an important one, remember, no decision is binding – so the choice need not be regarded as final. Remembering that may make the process a bit less daunting for everyone concerned.

“I tell the students to go with their strongest urge and to not be afraid of making a mistake,” says McGuire.

“There are no guarantees. Make the best decision you can at the time.

If it turns out not to be the right one, you can always transfer to a different school. It’s not a life-long, permanent decision.”

Copyright Michiana Business Publications, Inc. Aug 2008

(c) 2008 Business People. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.