For families, especially parents and guardians, the college search and application process can feel like entering a whole new world. Between touring different schools, remembering all of the deadlines, and learning about financial aid, it can be a lot to wrap your head around!
In this podcast mini-series, we're breaking down 5 big college planning topics into digestible episodes, while sharing insider advice from a college expert and former Dean of Admissions. Our hope with these episodes is that you and your student walk away with a stronger understanding of these topics, so that you all feel more confident going into this new step in your student's journey!
Curious what each episode is about? Here are previews of each!
1. Family Bootcamp: Keys to Getting Started with College Planning
Here's a preview of this episode:
“Go window shopping. Don’t go to find the ‘perfect school’ but go to see what you can see. Experience lots of different campuses, and what you’ll discover in the process is that you're going to be able to calibrate on the kinds of things that are important to you. And by the end of the window shipping you’ll know what you like, you’ll go back for more at those particular types of schools.
Take the tours, do the information sessions, knock on doors, talk to professors if you can. Try to understand the culture of the program. How do people treat each other? How do people engage each other in the learning process? Where do you feel comfortable? Where don’t you feel comfortable? And it’s all fair. It’s not a matter of finding good schools or bad schools, you’re finding places that match up well with you.”
2. Family Bootcamp: Why Course Selections Matter in the College Admissions Process
Here's a preview of this episode:
“When admissions officers look at the student's academic record or the application in general, the very first question they’re going to ask is ‘Can this student do the work at our school’?
...This is an essential part of the admission process and what we’re talking about now is building that foundation so that an admission officer can proceed with confidence that the student is going to be a viable candidate academically.”
3. Family Bootcamp: Strategies for Managing the SAT/ACT Experience
Here's a preview of this episode:
“Test prep, when you do it [through a program], is effective one time. Many test prep programs run for about 12 weeks. My strong suggestion is that, if students are going to do test prep, they engage with a program such that the last week will come within 2 weeks of the time that they sit for the actual test.
There are parents that want to send their kids to SAT/ACT camps over the summer—I'm not sure that makes a whole lot of sense. I mean, there are going to be a lot of tips that the students can get from that, but then if they don't take the real test for 3 months or so, they're going to forget half of it."
4. Family Bootcamp: Tips for Building a Productive College List
Here's a preview of this episode:
"One mistake to avoid is the sense that selectivity is a proxy for quality. The assumption is that [selective or dream schools] are the best schools. Sometimes parents lead with that assumption, so parents need to back off of that assumption themselves.
But when you have a student parroting that assumption as well, as a family, step back a little and recognize that there are a ton of high-quality places around the country that are not necessarily as well-known…but they’re just as good.
So I think that as a family, you just need to stay grounded in what’s important for the student and how can we find elements of that ‘fit’ in institutions even beyond those places that we seem to regard as ‘the best schools’ out there.”
5. Family Bootcamp: Financial Aid 101
Here's a preview of this episode:
"If you have a child who is keenly interested in applying to a college, it’s the dream school, and you want to do everything you can to support your child but you lay awake at night wondering how in the world are we going to afford this—[you may feel like you’re at the mercy of the colleges but] there are some things you can do.
You can get, from that institution, an early estimate of your expected family contribution…between mid-June at the end of the junior year through October of the senior year. And I’m going to explain [the questions you should ask regarding] how you can acquire this.”
Catch up on the series and listen with the whole family today!
To hear the full series, check out Family Bootcamp on Inside College Admissions, now out wherever you listen to podcasts. Sign up for our newsletter and students, follow us on Instagram (@scoirinc) for more advice! See you next time! ☺️
