Now through December is the time to get your sophomore and junior high schoolers on the right track for college. Here are five tips and resources to consider:
- Connect early and often with your child’s school counselor. In the event that your counselor is virtual, make an appointment via Zoom or email. Ask questions about the parts of the college process that you can get a head start on. Many schools organize the college process with programs like Naviance. Ask about these programs and see if they offer specific parent access.
- Consider which admission test is best for your child. If you aren’t sure whether your child should take the SAT or ACT, this one-hour diagnostic test, will take the guesswork out of choosing which is best suited for each individual student. The test uses a combo assessment to help predict scoring potential and is under $200. In addition, be aware of the SAT and/or ACT test dates and work with your child to make a testing plan. You can find a schedule of upcoming ACT and SAT dates here and here.
- Take advantage of virtual tours offered on college websites. This will help both you and your child get a sense of what to expect from different college campuses. Youvisit.com has wonderful virtual campus tours of hundreds of colleges and universities. If you'd rather visit in person, try to plan visits early so that you allow enough time to tour all campuses that you want and have enough time to make an informed decision.
- Create a College Checklist with your child. You can discuss and plan out a course of action for tackling the college application process. This checklist is a great place to start.
- It’s a great idea to become acquainted with the Common Application early on in the college process. You and your child can create an account here.
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