Free College Counseling: Stressed out parents...

Hi Dawn,

From your e-mail, I?m assuming that your son has already chosen and been accepted to a school?Don?t freak out about his behavior?it could be that he?s really just nervous about the whole situation, or that he?s just not ready to think about it and take on that challenge, but I?m sure with the end of his high school career in sight, he will become more and more excited about starting what comes next.

If he really does want to go to college, don?t stress out about him not choosing a major. I have changed my major 4 times since I?ve been in college, so it?s actually better that he enters undecided, than to pick something simply to ?have? a major.

Pressuring him to pick a major or even try to choose one can really just make things worse, he really is better off entering as undecided. This way he will be able to get all of his core classes completed which usually takes about 1 ½ to 2 years. By then he might have taken some electives or at least had some classes that he?s interested in.

Be on the lookout for career fairs that colleges offer and let him get familiar with the career services center at his college and have him talk often with his advisor until he decides what he really wants to do. Possibly show him that you?re excited for him, again I?m not sure what the entire situation is, but demonstrate your pride in him, and hopefully he?ll come around.

Pick up the guidebook from College Prowler that specifies his particular university if we have it. This book might ease his mind a little more considering it?s students talking about what its like to be a student at that university. There are over 25 topics dealing with academics, campus life, diversity, athletics, campus dining, atmosphere?etc.

I hope this helps?
Julia Y.
The College Prowler Counselor

Hi Susan,

You are asking the exact right kind of question. By the time a parent enters the college process with their child a lot about the protocol has changed. Legacies aren?t half as important as they were 25 years ago because the general applicant pools of qualified students have increased, most schools do not accept donations in exchange for admittance as they did back in the day. You are most definitely ahead of the curve by inquiring what criteria will qualify a school as a safety, target, or a reach.

The best way to answer the question of what schools he will be eligible for is to look over his: high school transcripts, SAT scores, ACT scores, as well as his extra curricular activities (including Varsity sports.) From there you will have a general sense of what areas he excels in and what areas he won?t probably want to focus on in college. Next, you want to start looking up the statistics of a few colleges (hopefully with one or many of the College Prowler guidebooks!)

The safety schools would be the schools that have mean SAT scores are a little below or right on the edge of your son?s SAT scores, that offer many extra curricular activities/Varsity Sports (if he is athletic) that he loves, and the average high school GPA is a little below his average GPA. State U should definitely be on this list, just as a back up and especially if your son likes the idea of a big college. These are schools that your son has a very good chance of getting into, and there should definitely be two or three of these schools on your initial college list.

Next are the target schools. These are the schools that have your son?s name written all over them. Their average GPA is very similar to his, and their standardized testing scores match his scores almost perfectly. Plus, these are the schools that are in the right kind of location for him, and are a size that makes him feel comfortable. These are the schools that he would truly happy attending, and they fit his personality very well. There should be about four of these schools on your list.

Finally, there are the reach schools. What puts a school into this category? The reach category for most students consists of the schools they they?ve always dreamed of going to, but either they didn?t do well enough on the SAT to really put it in the target category, or, for lack of a better word, a reach. There are many reasons why a reach school could be a reach, it could be a money factor, it could be a GPA factor, but for some reason the reach schools are going to be harder to get into.

Make sure you get a very good sense of what kind of a school you son wants to go to and involve him in every step of the process, because it is his college experience.

Once you and your son have figured out which colleges he is serious about come back to our website and check out our guidebooks. They really help you make a more informed decision!



Best of luck and I hope this helps,

Madison B.
College Prowler Counselor

Hi Jeff,

The first thing you want to do is ask your daughter why she wants to drop choir. The arts are a great thing for high school students to be involved in, but it is one of those things that if you don?t love it and you are stuck doing it for four years the whole experience can be bad one.

So, see what she has to say. If she has a valid reason for dropping it i.e. the teacher can?t sing, but she wants to continue to sing, you should let her drop the class and maybe find another way to get her involved in a choir outside of school. This is one of those situations where google.com can be one of your best friends.

If she wants to drop the class because she really doesn?t enjoy singing, then you might want to figure out another way to help her expand her artistic side. See if there is a photography class available at her school, or a pottery class. Being involved in the fine arts is a way for teenagers to express creativity and it doesn?t hurt to have Photo I, II, and III advanced or choir all four years on a college application.

The music programs become much more important if your daughter plans on majoring in music in college. If she plans to be a musical theatre major then I would say that having four years of choir and voice lessons would be necessary. If she plans on being an engineer, it will serve as more of the ?I?m a well rounded student? purpose, which colleges are very keen on.

Hope this has helped,

Madison B.
College Prowler Counselor

Hi Allan,

If your son is interested in business/finance as a career he will most definitely want to check out both University of California Santa Barbara and University of California Santa Cruz.

Santa Barbara?s most popular major is business, with 12% of their students majoring within this discipline. Their average high school GPA is a 3.7, their 25th-75th percentile for the SAT is (1080-1300) and their ACT range is: (24-27).

Santa Cruz?s second most popular major is Business/managerial economics and they have 8% of their students studying this. Their average high school GPA is a 3.5, the SAT range is (1030-1260) and the ACT range is (21-27).

Both schools also accept AP tests with scores of 3 or higher and Santa Cruz accepts IB test scores of 5,6, and 7.

As far as employment after college rates go, 82% of Santa Barbara students have a job within their first year of graduating and Santa Cruz doesn?t publish their career-bound information.

Best of luck with your son?s admission process and hope this has helped,

Madison B.
College Prowler Counselor

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I agree that, should he continue to wrestle (and considering his social nature) a smaller school would be best. Generally at smaller schools, academics take priority over athletics when there comes to be an unbalance between the two. Coaches are more willing to allow their athletes to get caught up with their work when necessary, and teammates can more easily become a tight-knit group when there is less pressure to perform as if the sport is their ?job? rather than their choice (Division III vs. Division I).

While I understand your concern for your son?s splitting his time between wrestling and studying in college, sports actually do help with time management in college. I had the same reservations my freshman year of college and elected not to join the swim team at my school. However, I found that when I joined my sophomore year, I wasted far less time than had my freshman year and was actually more productive.

As for becoming a doctor, your son can major in almost anything while fulfilling pre-med requirements. Some majors lend themselves more easily to fulfilling these requirements, as many courses overlap in disciplines such as Biology and Chemistry, but English and History majors can still go to medical school providing they take the proper courses and score well on the MCATs.

I hope this answers your question. Certainly talk to your son both before he goes to college and while he is at college. He is likely to be feeling as uncertain as you do, whether he expresses his uncertainty or not.

Allison G.
College Prowler Counselor

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Joyce,

Michigan is known as a very liberal and geographically diverse public school. Its size contributes to its diversity, and as much as 34% of its student body comes from out-of-state, as well as a 4% international population. Check out one of the sample pages offered on our website relating to U. Michigan?s diversity at http://www.collegeprowler.com/guide.asp/1427401780/index.html#sample. Meanwhile, there are more Asian-Americans at U. Washington than there are out-of-staters, although the white population is about the same as that of U. Michigan.

If your only concern about U. Michigan is that your daughter will not ?fit in? because she is from the West Coast, I believe you may rest assured that as long as she has some interests other than surfing or sunbathing, she will be able to find a welcoming niche at a university as large and resourceful as U. Michigan.

Allison G.
College Prowler Counselor

Hi Brenda,

Your daughter sounds like she is one very busy girl! Taking the SAT a second and perhaps even a third time is a great idea. Her GPA is great, but colleges and universities also weigh how rigorous an institution is, so if she has her stellar GPA at a fairly easy school it will not be the same as a stellar GPA at a top prep-school.

Your daughter most definitely fits the criteria for the students that apply to Ivy League schools, so there is no harm in trying. Getting into these schools is not easy, and I encourage you to be supportive of your daughter and listen to where she would like to go...sounds to me like she has had enough exposure to have a pretty good feel for whether she wants to go to Columbia or UVA.

As for biomedical engineering, the top schools are Johns Hopkins University, Duke University, as well as University of California-San Diego. If this is what your daughter is interested in studying?these are the schools that she should be looking into and visiting. College Prowler does have guidebooks on all three and I hope that you purchase all three in the near future.

Best of luck and hope this helps,

Madison B.
College Prowler Counselor

Zeva,

There is always hope. It looks as though high school may have been rough for her. I would recommend that she take some classes at the local community college. This will give her the opportunity to receive personal attention in smaller classes and to regain her confidence. By working hard and improving her GPA, she may be able to transfer (after receiving her 2-year diploma) to a 4-year college or university, perhaps one from which she was previously rejected.

If addition, you may want to write (or have your daughter write) to one or several of the colleges from which she was rejected to ask why. This both shows her interest in the college and also may give her guidance for the next time she applies.

No matter what, your daughter can use this as a learning experience. It is not a defeat, simply a hurdle she must and will overcome if she puts forth the effort. I encourage you to help your daughter have faith in herself.

Allison G.
College Prowler Counselor

Hi Terry,

You?re very smart to start asking these kinds of questions this early in the game. Has your daughter shown any kind of interest in a specific college/university? If so, you want to start gearing towards getting to know that particular institution better by getting one of our guidebooks. As for everything else you want to help your daughter stay involved. Extra curricular activities such as sports and/or the school?s drama program are great ways to build friendships and accomplish goals. It is important that your daughter also help out in the community when she has some spare time, community service is a big one for a lot of private colleges.

As for what schools are great for people who want to major in English or Writing there are a lot of great schools out there. As your daughter gets a little older you both will be able to sound out if she wants to go to a big state school, in which case a school like University of Michigan would be a great place to look, or if she is looking for a very prestigious school there are schools like: Dartmouth College, Cornell University, and Johns Hopkins University.

You definitely want to wait to do the bulk of your research until after your daughter has established herself in high school, so that you know how she really ranks academically. Once she starts taking the PSAT?s her sophomore year you will have a good idea of what kind of schools your daughter will be getting into during her senior year.

Also, at the end of her sophomore year you want to start making contact with her College Advising office. You?ll want to feel out whether or not the office is efficient and can help your daughter sift through the thousands of colleges out there, or if you will have to do a lot of the sifting yourself. Hopefully they?ll be able to help!

Best of luck and feel free to contact us in the future,

Madison B.
College Prowler Counselor

Hi Payal,

I agree with you that a 6-year program might not be the best idea for your daughter. It is ultimately her decision and it is one that she should decide for herself. As for some top dentistry universities I have come up with a list.

Of course there are the Ivy League schools along with Johns Hopkins that lead up some of the best pre and degree programs for medicine etc., but that isn?t actually my top choice. One great school is Mcgill University, it is a public school and not very expensive. It is in Canada, but they have a great pre-dentistry program.

Another school is the University of Medicine Dentistry of New Jersey. This school obviously specializes in the lovely art of teeth cleaning and more.

There is also Washington State that has a good pre-dental program.

A lot of schools offer pre-dental options, so if your daughter has a school already in mind you should check out their website to see if they offer your daughter?s program.

Best of luck with your search,

Madison B.
College Prowler Counselor

Suriano,

Some schools that offer majors in apparel/fashion are:

Auburn University (suburban; AL)
Fashion Institute of Technology (urban; NYC)
Northern Illinois University (suburban; DeKalb, IL)
University of Alabama (urban; Tuscaloosa)

Allison G.
College Prowler Counselor

Jordan,

There is never any guarantee that a student will be accepted to any particular university. The admissions process is a tricky one, and well-qualified students are not always admitted to their desired colleges, especially when the competition is stiff and almost all of the applicants are well-qualified. That being said, here are the averages of admitted students at Grove City College:

GPA: 3.7
SAT: 1153-1384
Acceptance Rate: 47%

Your son?s scores exceed these numbers, and he therefore has very good odds of being accepted. However, make sure there is a back-up plan, just in case.

Allison G.
College Prowler Counselor

Rebecca,

Your son?s academic marks do look very strong. These will serve him well in the admissions process, no matter where he chooses to attend. My advice regarding the SATs is to hold off on having him take them again and to wait to take any SAT II?s until he has a clearer idea of where he wants to apply to college. Many colleges only require the SAT I, and some may require specific SAT II?s, so you can save time and money by waiting until he has decided where to apply.

As for the Ivy Leagues, they are?as you no doubt gathered from our book?highly renowned and therefore can afford to be highly selective. I would encourage you to visit one, because doing so can only help your son to decide what he does and does not want in his future college. For instance, Ivies do tend to have large student populations, and therefore they may not offer a lot of individual attention, which your son may or may not prefer.

One attractive feature of Ivy League schools is that they usually offer liberal arts-based curricula. This means that they expect students to take a wide variety of classes in many different academic disciplines in order to receive a broad education and, in essence, to ?learn how to learn.? This type of curriculum sounds ideal for your son, since he does not seem to have one exclusive area of intense interest or aptitude. U.S. News ranks Williams College, Amherst college, Swarthmore College, Welesley College, and Carleton College as the top five liberal arts schools in the country. You mentioned that you have already visited Oberlin and Kenyon. Other liberal arts schools you might visit in and near OH are Denison University, College of Wooster, Allegheny College, Haverford College, Washington and Lee University, and Bucknell University. Many of these schools are smaller (Denison, for example) and may suit your son, as well.

Good luck on your college search!

Allison G.
College Prowler Counselor