“How far away from home can I go to college?” was my daughter’s philosophy when she began preparing for college. I wanted a more practical approach and spent hours poring over college planning handbooks trying to find the perfect fit for my daughter. We made enough mistakes during the process with my daughter we decided to call her our practice child! This year I am beginning the planning process again with my son and I am much better prepared. Here’s some of the most important points I learned:
1. Talk to the guidance counselor at your child’s school. They have a wealth of information we would have never found on our own, including obscure scholarships. They also know deadlines for financial aid forms and college applications.
2. Plan visits at the colleges of choice. You might be surprised when you visit! One college we visited had dorm rooms (almost) the size of shoe boxes. My daughter found a couple of colleges to mark off the list after visiting and a couple she fell in love with. It’s important to experience the atmosphere and if your child feels like it is a fit.
3. Take the SAT or the ACT early. If the scores aren’t what you want or need, there is plenty of time to retake the tests. You can also send the scores into schools early if you do get good scores!
4. Take an SAT or ACT prep course. My daughter’s school offered a vocabulary prep course, but I enrolled my son in a comprehensive course that covered all the core subjects on the test.
5. It’s never too early to begin researching the college process! My daughter had a huge set of criteria for choosing a college. We began visiting colleges her sophomore year in high school to see which ones could be a good fit for her. It took us two years to find one where she felt comfortable and wanted to attend!
What are your best tips for preparing for college?
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for SheSpeaks/Kaplan Test Prep. I received compensation to write this post, and any opinions expressed are my own, and reflect my actual experience.
Definitely taking the test early in case they need to take it again is a good idea. It’s only offered a few times a year so the earlier they take it the better.
Really great tips!
It’s such a fun time but super crazy as well! Prep courses are always a huge help for sure!
I loved my Prep course! It was so helpful. A discount code is awesome!
Great tips, we tried to start the college discussion as early as possible, and the prep the first year of high school I know some students even pick their middle and high school planning for college!
I still have a few years but it’s never to early to start planning. Thanks for the great tips!
Great tips! We have a few years until college comes around! I hope we can afford to send our kids when the time comes! Or get a loan! =)
Sounds like great tips for children who are attending public schools and getting ready for college.
Great tips. My son is starting college in a couple weeks and my daughter is going next year. It is so important to start the discussion early.
The one thing that I remember doing was talking to a financial counselor about what loans, grants, financial aid was available for college. It gave me a sense of peace about what to expect.
These are great tips. My son is only 14, but we’re already eyeing college prep. College is more important now than it’s ever been.
These are great tips. With today’s competitiveness, it’s never to early to start planning ahead.
GREAT Tips… my step-daughter is going through all of this right now and it has been a roller-coaster… I feel like it was easier when I was in HS.
For myself, the best thing I could do was start freshman year gathering information (do they still send info by mail?)… then look everything over and go from there. Being prepared and knowing as much as you can about what you want is so important!
Reading this after my child’s 2nd grade parent/teacher open house. You’re right, never too early. Time flies and I’m sure I’ll be sending my child off to college in a blink of an eye.
This is a great list of tips. Also find out if your child’s high school offers any special programs for college bound kids. My daughters is in a program/class where they prep her for college and do visits to the colleges around our area.
Great tips! I know soon enough we will be college prep testing and the like. Great advice!
I remember my college process sin I had to do all the work myself. I believe I started he process when I was in 11th grade.
My little boy is growing quickly, so I appreciate these tips. Planning in advance makes a huge difference!
Those are all great tips. I still have many years before I need to worry about college planning for my kids.
My little sister is headed off to college shortly! These are all great prep tips, I’ll have to share them with her!
Great tips! I can’t wait until my kids go off to college haha. It was great help when my mom was so involved when I went off to college though.
Great list of tips. Prepping for school is a bit stressful, I know when I started college my parents weren’t there to help and I was completely overwhelmed at where to start!
We suggest to also research which college has a specialty in the field of study you’re looking at. You wouldn’t go to a northern school for marine biology!
Great tips! I have three girls who are all in school as of this year. Mine are little, but I will need to review these tips sooner than I realize!
Those are all great tips. My boys are still little, but this is all great to know because they will be in high school before I even know it.