My sixteen year old son is a sophomore in high school...?

Question

He started receiving information from colleges last year and even more have started coming in the mail this year. He is a great student with almost all A's (a few B's have slipped into his report card lately).

Some of this mail states that it is now time for him to make some decisions about his academic career.

Is this true?

Does he need to start making decisions now?

What kind of decisions?

Should we start visiting campuses now?

I am ignorant as to the proper procedure to follow. I went into the Air Force after high school and have just completed my undergrad degree. Please help...?

Answer 1

It is routine for good students to start collecting this stuff. My son had a large box full by the time he was a senior.

Here's the scoop.

First, take a look at the US News list or the Princeton Review list of good schools. Cut that list out and whenever something comes from a school that isn't top 100, or first tier, throw it straight in the trash. Don't even open it.

Second, start looking at some campuses. Your son's main decision will be city vs country, big vs small, private vs public, tech vs lib arts. If he goes to some small college campuses near you and falls in love with them, then that will eliminate 2000 schools from consideration. My son did just the opposite. He wanted to go to school in the city. OK, so you are narrowing down your choices. By the way, it's not bad to consider what area you are going to study, but you have to be aware than more than half of all students change their majors before they graduate. We should expect this, because, after all, what does a HS sophomore know about how different jobs work? Don't get stuck somewhere where you are unhappy with your major and don't have any choices left!

He does not have to decide ANYTHING before September of his Senior year. Then he has to decide if he will apply early decision to one school that he really thinks is his #1.. If he does not feel confident then he doesn't have to choose then. He can wait until Dec of Senior year, send in about five or six applications (two schools that are definite for him to get into, like say, the state univ, then two schools that he feels he has a very good shot at, and then two 'reach' schools that are very competitive, but that would be great, if they admitted him.

Then you sit back and wait until April 1 of Senior year. The letters come from the colleges, you check their financial scholarship offers, and make a good decision.

There are actually some very good books that can help you. Go to the big public library near you and ask the librarian for some suggestions.

Answer 2

They're usually only saying this because they want your money. However, it is not too early to look into scholarships. The best is www.fastweb.com as a search engine. If your son is getting that good of grades, you can also expect a waiver of application fees. Your mailbox will be full of brochures and applications soon enough (they usually start near the end of his junior year).

As a sophomore, the best thing you can do to prepare is do well on the SATs (it's ok to take more than once) and enroll in as many AP (advanced placement) classes as you can. His school may also offer the International Baccalaureate program, but this is very intensive, and most Universities don't even know what it is. The AP courses however usually come with an extra grade point as well as prepare your son for a test at the end of the semester in which he can earn actual college credits (virtually all colleges accept these credits and it's very impressive to have on an application).

Likewise, consider cost in searching for a school... but quality is the most important. Even if it would be difficult to afford, don't let your child settle on a subpar school just because it's slightly cheaper... taking out interest free loans (subsidized Federal Perkins loans... www.fafsa.ed.gov) will ultimately be worth it in the long run.

Plus for his sake... take into consideration friends and the social scene as well... if he's not happy where he goes, it will effect his course work. Likewise, if he has no friends, that usually means resorting to the Greek frat life... also a terrible idea... but at some schools (such as many small schools... that's all there is to do).

Answer 3

Hi, I am a freshman in college so i recently went through the whole college thing. From a students perspective I would encourage you to have your son start thinking about college and want he wants from it. He doesn't need to know what he wants to do, but talk about how far, how pricey, and maybe academically what he is thinking about. A lot of research about schools along with virtual tours can be aquired right online at their sites so i would have him look at this first and then decide where he actually wants to visit. I wouldn't start this though until his junior year.

Also during his junior year he should start thinking about the SATs. I took mine twice, once in Feb. and then again in June. From this he can then start deciding where to apply.

At the start of his senior year he should start the application process. I would reccomend apply to a couple schools and then maybe one backup that you are fairly certain you will get into. This way he will know where he is accepted by December and can start narrowing it down and decide.

I hope this helps a little. I was confused about the entire time line prcess, but this is what I did and it worked out fairly well so far. Just make sure he keeps the grades up and tries his best.

Answer 4

Your son needs to research many colleges and college search websites online. He needs to find out what the requirements are for all of the colleges that he even has a slight interest in attending. This will help him to become the most competitive applicant he possibly can. You both will regret it if you don'yt start now. Don't stress about it because that wont help anything, but start your research now. If your son has any particular career interests, have him find out what it takes to get there. For instance if your son really loves animals, so he says he wants to become a veterinarian, make sure he takes biology and chemistry courses iin high school. If he ends up hating biology, then maybe he should reconsider this decision. these are all things that must be taken in consideration, so start preping now!!!

Answer 5

I'm a senior in high school so I've recently been through everything. My sophmore year I really didn't do that much. I also got a lot of mail from colleges but I mostly ignored them or kept them in folders for later. Junior year I spent time figuring out the type of college I want to go to, how far away I want to go, the size of the campus, etc. The summer after my junior year, I visited many colleges. Visiting colleges is the most important thing. When you visit a college, you really get a feel for it. As soon as my senior year started, I began to apply to colleges and apply for financial aid.

The truth is, you can never start too early in searching for the college you want to go to. But it's also important to remember that high schoolers change so quickly. What your son likes this year may be completely opposite of what he will like next year.

Visit collegeboard.com to do college searches. It helped me find a lot of the schools I applied to.

Good luck to you and your son!

Answer 6

It is true that he should be thinking about his academic career, but he doesn't need to make the decision of what college he should be going too yet. I am a sophomore in high school also, and i already know what i want to do as a career. What I did to choose my college is look at the schools with a great program in what i wanted to do. I want to be an architect, so i looked at schools with a good program pertaining to that. Visiting campuses wouldn't be a good idea, i think just getting information about the schools and about the classes that he is interested in is good for now. Visiting campuses should be saved for senior year.

So basically, he should think about what he wants to do with his career before looking for colleges. Once he figures it out, he can look at schools specialising in that subject.

that's just my opinion :)

Answer 7

My sophomore year of high school I went to a college fair and made a college visit, but they weren't really helpful because I didn't think seriously about it all until junior year... so I think you can wait another year

Answer 8

have you ever seen the nudie photos of Obama's mamma posing in convicted pedophile and felon Frank Marshall Davis's condominium ? to no longer undesirable looking truly . Ohh and did i fail to point that Davis became Obama's adolescents mentor ?

Answer 9

junior year is key