I know it sounds crazy, but Sophomore year is not too early to begin the process of shopping for college. If that’s not possible don’t lose the summer before your student’s Junior year. Let me explain…
Imagine you arrive at a new shopping mall. After circling for a parking spot, you enter the closest door looking for the Information Sign …”You Are Here”. You are looking for art supplies. Will you find those in Accessories, Specialty Stores , Miscellaneous or Other? I’m not sure how this mall works.
Shopping for college will be even more foreign. In all likelihood television’s college bowl games and March Madness are your most current source of college information. Some lucky students have actually attended a tailgate and football game, but most not. In fact many parents haven’t spent more than a weekend at a college in over 20 years.
In addition to this void of information, inertia favors no proactive college exploration, no change. By their sophomore year in high school, most students have found some good friends, a few teachers they like and have busy schedules after school. They’ve got a comfortable life. Its only natural that most high school students don’t want to leave their family, friends, room and high school to attend a college where they have to study something they haven’t a clue what it is, in a different city, while sharing a room with a total stranger.
This is where TIME is your student’s best friend. Going back again to the shopping mall, if you must find your art supplies in one hour before your class you will have to go to the first store you see and settle for whatever they have no matter whether they are precisely what you want or not. Adding to the college search challenge,high school students do not start even knowing what they want in college. Therefore, most high school students are shopping without a list for something they’re not sure they want.
For all of these reasons, TIME is your student’s best friend in the quest to find the perfect match college. Sophomore year is a great time to informally visit colleges and attend games, plays or other events with college students present gradually exposing your student to the “fun” side of college. Summer before Junior year your high school student should take formal tours at 6-8 colleges, each selected to explore different questions such as size, location, academic programs etc. Building on this foundation the college search will continue to narrow until the end of summer before Senior year when your student’s college list is set and your focus can be on creating quality applications.
Time will not only make the process less stressful, but it will make the process more successful at finding the Perfect Match college for your student.