Tips for Parents

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What Parents Can Do to Help Their Senior Daughters

 September - December

• Create an organized, quiet space where your daughter may routinely work on her college applications - help her stay organized and motivated; 
• If possible, continue to visit colleges especially those that have already invited your daughter to enroll - she has five excused days as a senior for college visits; 
• Encourage your daughter to rank her choices if she has not done so already. Know which is her first choice, her second, her third, etc. and attempt to bring your wishes and her wishes into alignment; 
• Double check her college list - which is her safety? Which is her reach? If she has dropped any schools or added any, please keep our college counselor in the loop! 
• Have a thorough understanding of your daughter's deadlines and of the rules surrounding her applications (e.g., an early decision application is a binding agreement between student and institution); 
• Be sensitive to the intricacies of all this paper work and thus to the stress your daughter is experiencing; 
• Help motivate her to complete all scholarship applications; 
• Print, keep, and organize all confirmation communications from colleges re applications received. File hard copies of everything; 
• Ask your daughter if she has checked in with her rec letter writers - are those letters in the mail? 
• STUDY FOR EXAMS! Remember: colleges receive and evaluate first semester transcripts, so first semester exams are her last shot at influencing her GPA; 
• As a family, continue developing a solid understanding of your bottom line, yearly $$ contribution for college expenses, including travel, spending money, house fees, and all other seemingly peripheral costs. It's best to have a secure understanding of this before financial aid packages roll in (usually March); 
• Contact a school's financial aid office if you have any questions about the process of aid at that particular institution. In fact, getting to know your daughter's financial aid staff early is a very good idea no matter what -they can tell you about deadlines, other aid for which you may apply, and inform you of important future paperwork you should submit; 
• You should begin thinking through the FAFSA form (Free Application for Federal Student Assistance) and the CSS Profile form for official submittal in January (or by the earliest financial aid deadline, typically early February).

Here is a list of what NOT to do once your daughter's applications have been sent in:

• Avoid the itch to send one, two, three more letters of rec to your daughter's schools. It remains important that she follow each application's specific guidelines - more is not better; more is irritating to admissions committees! 
• Resist the temptation to call admissions reps on a daily or weekly basis to inquire about her candidacy. Fact: if you are annoying, your daughter will not be accepted; 
• Dissuade friends, family, acquaintances from placing calls/sending emails for her to her colleges. This is just as, if not more, annoying to admissions officers;
• Refrain from second guessing the paper work she has already submitted. In other words, if she felt good about her application the day she submitted it, then continue to feel good about it today. 
• Stop the worrying! It's time to let the process take care of itself. Envision the holidays and relax.
   

Tips for January - June

• Complete and submit the FAFSA and CSS Profile; 
• After you submit the FAFSA, you should receive your Student Aid Report (SAR) within one to three weeks. Quickly make any necessary corrections and submit them to the FAFSA processor; 
• Discuss how you and your daughter will handle both good news and bad should it arrive. Be prepared to celebrate and/or be prepared to cope; 
• As you wait for her acceptance/rejection letters (in the meantime, remember random acts of kindness = good fortune); tell your girl that everything is going to be OK! 
• Once she have received notification from all colleges, review your daughter's choices and compare financial aid packages; Contact a school's financial aid office if you have questions about the aid that a school has offered you; 
• When your daughter decides on her college, notify that school of her commitment and submit the required deposit. Many schools require notification/deposit by May 1.  For Early Decision or Early Action acceptances, many institutions require or request a deposit within three weeks of acceptance. 
• Help her fill out all necessary housing information and roommate questionnaires! 
• If parents are invited, attend her college orientation; if not -
• Help her pack.

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What Parents Can Do to Help Their Junior Daughters

• Begin to create routine "quality time" devoted to chatting about college - curl up on the couch and have fun discussing the kind of "campus culture" that seems like a good fit for your girl; help her to imagine a life full of new potential; 
• Buy a college reference book and start reading together about colleges you are curious about: ask questions, be curious, and have fun! 
• Be sensitive to your daughter's emotional response to "college" - if she's excited then help foster that excitement; if she's scared, nervous, or apathetic, thoughtfully coax her fears or apathy towards a healthier perspective: your response to her response sets the stage for the next two years; 
• Remember: your daughter's most important task right now is to do well academically and to uphold her extracurricular responsibilities - her grades junior year are what colleges first evaluate on her transcript; 
• If she is struggling in any particular subject, immediately contact her advisor and set up a meeting to problem solve the situation; 
• If possible, start planning a college trip in the spirit of investigation and adventure - she has three excused days as a junior for college visits; Mardi Gras is an excellent time to visit schools! 
• Encourage your daughter to attend as many information sessions here on campus as possible; these sessions will prime her curiosity and motivate her research; 
• Put standardized testing on your radar: juniors should take their first official SAT and ACT in the late spring of junior year; (the PSAT is in October and this is the qualifier for National Merit Competition;) begin to question whether or not a prep class is needed; 
• Leisurely and thoughtfully fill out the Parent Questionnaire and Evaluation - take your time with this document, ensuring that is honest and detailed; however, do return it to the college counseling office before winter break. In December, upon receipt of the questionnaire and evaluation, we will schedule our first family conference (conferences begin in late January);
• Get ready for Junior Seminar, a mini-course, devoted to the initial stages of "the college process; this course is part of your daughter's spring schedule. Encourage her to share all that she learns in this course with you at home. She I will meet regularly in a classroom setting with our college counselor to discuss and analyze America's college landscape. It's time for the real fun to begin!