My son, David, and I went to a College Information Night last week sponsored by Chyten Educational Services.  While it certainly was a way for this outfit to raise awareness of their services, it was a very informative evening.  I know I have a maturing son on my hands when he left the meeting telling me that he enjoyed the evening and that there was a lot of good information shared.

Most people in the audience were Juniors – the year of heavy lifting in the college search process – the year students need to treat the college process as a part time job or at least an additional class.  However, if students are disciplined to get out in front of it enough in their sophomore year, from what I’ve heard so far the two best things to do are to:

1.  Write your resume – and let it be a tool that can be built upon over the next 2.5 years.  By starting early with it, and getting things down on paper, students won’t forgot anything, and maybe more importantly it points out where some holes may be that need to be filled in.  It also forces them to assess their key strengths.

2.  Develop the College Roadmap - Identify 2-3 “Reach” schools, 2-3 “Target” Schools (student’s background closely models what college is looking for) and 2-3 “Likely” schools.  I can understand for many (and probably most) it’s hard to know where to begin – there are so many choices out there.  There are a couple of online assessment tools – one at collegeboard.com and another called Naviance, which many High School guidance offices have, which can help start navigating this process.  (Naviance was the one most recommended). By asking certain key questions – size, geography, urban vs. suburban, etc., students can start narrowing down the field.  I imagine it would be a comfort to both student and parent to start Junior year with at least a roadmap of those schools that you know you want to visit and potentially apply to.

Now, I understand that these words of wisdom may only be a parent’s dream.  What kid ever gets started on something before the very last minute?  Not too many, but I will continue to chirp my suggestions.  There have been a few unscheduled homework free afternoons where I’ve suggested taking a stab at that resume.  Any results?  Not yet, but I’ll keep trying!

I know some of you have already been through the college admissions process with your children – and from what I hear, it’s an arduous, stressful time for all.  I have a high school sophomore, and Elaine has a junior.  I know junior year is the year of discovery – doing the homework to determine that list of colleges that seem to suit, getting prepared for and taking the SATs, and ACTs.  While my son is a good year away from being in the thick of it, I find myself getting very keyed into any conversations I hear about preparing for college – and I know that we have a great deal to learn from each other – strategies to help us maintain our sanity.

To that end, I’m going to create a category called College Tips.  I know many of you have wisdom to share, and I would love to hear about your insights whether it is through the comments on this blog, or if you would like to be a guest blogger we would welcome it at anytime.

Thus far, following are some tid bits that have been shared with me:

1.  PSATS do matter.  PSATs are typically taken for practice in the fall of sophomore year. In the fall of Junior year, they are taken again, but this time the results are used to identify National Merit Scholars.  With a certain score, students can be eligible for National Merit Scholarships.  If warranted, this makes me think we should invest in a SAT prepatory course prior to PSATs.

2.  Wrap up the SAT spring of Junior year.  Take the last SAT in the spring of Junior year, so it’s behind the student when they have many other stresses upon them Senior fall. One parent told me to sign up my son for SATs every month in the spring – March, April, May, June.  While this may be overkill, most students typically improve every time they take the test, and again, the goal is to be done by the end of Junior year.

3.  Ask teachers and coaches for college recommendations in the spring of Junior year.  The teachers become inundated with requests Senior fall – and it is more likely that a recommendation can be inadvertently overlooked, potentially making an application incomplete – and thereby late.

4.  Spend the summer before Senior year writing one stellar essay. Landing on the right topic and story that differentiates a person takes lots of time and lots of drafts.

5.  Prepare a student resume. My son’s guidance counselor gave him a sample resume and suggested he create his own.  Apparently some colleges do request these resumes, but I also believe it’s a great tool to use early on to help (1) capture activities, honors, etc. that  may be overlooked or forgotten about when it comes down to application crunch time and (2) it helps identify the “holes” that may currently exist so the student can focus on filling in some important gaps.  Community service may be an example of this.

So that’s the start of this category.  As I learn more, I will add to the list.  And I know there’s a lot of wisdom out there to share, so please do!