I am dating a woman whose daughter just started her junior year in high school and is very
bright, possibly vying to be class valedictorian. In any case she really hasn't started taking
any serious strides to look at colleges yet and I just mentioned to her mom that now would
probably be a good time to start if she shouldn't have already. My question to those of you
who either work at colleges/schools or have kids that have gone through this recently is how
do kids start researching and gathering info?

I remember when I was that age I bought a huge catalog and leafed through it looking at
statistics on campuses and what kind of academic programs they offered. I wasn't the
brightest student and really was more interested in applying to the cool places or somewhere
with a better climate than Northern Illinois. Anyway, I had suggested to the mom that maybe
it was a place to start but that was 20 years ago. Are there websites that anyone here would
recommend to start a general search? She seems interested in law but at 16 I doubt many of
us really knew what we wanted to do. Any suggestions or info anyone could provide would be
appreciated, especially from those of you who have kids that age or recently have sent them off.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

you should be more concerned with spending the next couple of years working that into some hot mother-daughter action

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Given that the daughter is just 16, expect a tersely worded pm from Nas about the potential objects of "affection" you're discussing.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

16yo mother daughter action!? im so in! speaking of, eminems daughter is homecoming queen, and you dont have to look too hard to see why. supposedly a great athlete too. just think some dude out there is shootin it all over her face... ugh...

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

Creepy Dolphin statement aside...

The Slim Shady LP is so old that the little girl is a senior in HS now?! God, I went and got old somehow.

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Lotta help for TBone in this thread

Online research I guess. I pretty much threw a dart at the wall and ended up in Bozeman, Montana. Aside from essentially wasting the $25K I racked up in loans, I don't regret a minute of being there.

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I have two kids in college right now and while I cannot say we did the best job with the selection process I would suggest they:

1) Determine the budget and resources. How much can be paid with savings vs how much will be paid for via loans/grants/scholarships.

2) Make use of resources at high school.

3) Determine if the kid has any career interests.

4) Start lining up some visits. Even if they are at schools she is not interested in at least they will start becoming familiar with the process.

5) If she isn't already, get the kid working a job now so she can save some spending money for school.

6) If she is a bright kid she probably has good rapport with some of her teachers. They could give her ideas based on what they know about her.

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

Personal opinion here -- the goal of college should be to minimize your debt coming out of it, especially for an undergrad degree. Apply to a number of schools, and pay attention to the private schools as they often have a lot more money to give in the form of scholarship/gift that will actually make the cost less than that of a public school. 98% of people love the school they go to, which seems to indicate that the actual school isn't necessarily all that important as is the experience of just going to a school. Distance is probably a factor, and reputation in the field, although again, let me reiterate this -- graduating a school with 50k in debt vs graduating with 10k in debt makes a big difference. As soon as you get cash positive and can start saving for retirement, that money will compound over time.

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"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

Here are some questions to ask yourself:
1. What can I afford as a parent? What type of financial aid does my child qualify for (i.e. FAFSA)? Will my child be taking out a loan? Remember that college loans will be around forever.
2. Does my child need to go to a community college for a year or two to save money? Will the 2nd school transfer all the courses from the community college?
3. Public or private school?
4. How far away is the school and will I be able to visit them in case of emergency?
5. Does this school offer a major that will help my child transition into a career?

Once you answer those questions then you can pick out a handful of schools and there are another set of questions:

1. Can I set up an appointment for my child to visit all prospective schools?
2. Will my child qualify for the school based on admission requirements?
3. What are the application deadline times for each school?

Once you get your final list together and do the school visits you should probably have 1, 2 or 3 possible school choices depending on if the schools are hard to get in to or not. Then, it's important to get all the applications filled out.

My biggest point of advice would be to do your visits early maybe even in the junior year because the application deadlines come pretty fast. It's not uncommon for some schools to have application deadlines 9 months in advance of the fall semester or earlier. Once you miss the deadline there's no more openings at some schools.

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To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

1- U.S. News publishes every year the best ranked colleges in the country:
http://www.usnews.com/info/blogs/press- ... t-colleges
and
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandrevie ... s/rankings

2 - For a high school kid getting good grades is 1 piece, but also the ACT/SAT scores is just as important for getting into a good school. Also having extra caricular activites like volunteering or participating in some afternoon clubs (not the weed smoking club either) is always good on a school application.

3 - The 2 best schools in IL for academics (not partying) are:
[*]University of Chicago - This is the Harvard of business schools in the Midwest (a lot of noble prize winners teach here)
http://www.uchicago.edu/about/accolades/22/
[*]Northwestern University - Very good for liberal arts and Medicine.

4- Be prepared to take huge loans for a kid... AS these top tier schools cost $200k for a 4 year education.... Lots of Money for sometimes not so much return. But in my opinion if the kid is bright going to a top school like Northwestern or Univ. of Chicago help get the kid there foot in the door in many good companies.

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"You know 'that look' women get when they want sex? Me neither" ~Steve Martin

Guidance Counselor.

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@audioidkid

I realize she may be interested in becoming a lawyer. But that also requires a lot of competitive drive and 60 or more hours of work a week. Being a lawyer can be quite stressful and it would be fairly difficult to complete such a task if this girl is interested in having children in her 20s.

The career field that a lot of people recommend is nursing. I read that the median income for nurses is $50,000 a year and it's not as hard as becoming a doctor. There will always be a demand for nurses.

There are people who do quite well even with an associate degree. The mistake that a lot of people make is thinking that they have to go to a super expensive school to get a job. In doing so they hamstring themselves with a massive amount of debt. And in many cases schools are pumping out more people with college majors than there are open positions in those fields. So you don't want a daughter living at home for 5 or 10 years after college working at Starbucks to pay off her college loans.

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To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

This may be a good idea. I am thankful I don't have children sometimes. Many thanks for
most of the suggestions.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I would take a path that is leading in the direction away from law school for college. You can always decide while you are there you want to apply and be on just as solid ground as anyone else. That isn't to bash lawyers, but there are a lot of people who go to college planning on being a lawyer and then it doesn't work out either by not wanting to, not passing the bar, or not finding a good job once they do.

Since she seems to be quite smart I would recommend looking into a path to lead to medical school without locking yourself in by just being a pre-med major. While the medical climate will probably change drastically by the time she is done, it still should always be a high paying and secure career. A lot of schools do things differently but having a chemistry or biology degree can do well. The only thing you have to be careful about is that most people who get chemistry or biology degrees still need some sort of post-graduate training to really get the good jobs so even if she doesn't go to medical school she'll likely be going to grad school or as I said before law school.

At this point, the potential career path she wants to take is probably more important than anything else. That would help her narrow down her schools more than anything. She doesn't have to pick the rest of her life out but she should start to figure out if she wants to be in the sciences or engineering or the social sciences.

The mother also needs to figure out how much she can afford to pay for it even if it isn't much. That will help make the decision easier and make a big determination if out of state schools are even an option.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

All very valid points. I think her mother will be sitting her down tonight to discuss. The daughter wants to go far
away and get away from her dad, but that is a whole other situation. I am not sure how her AP classes will leave
her in standing when she actually starts but I would guess there are some pretty standard classes that everyone
would need to take that first year or so if she doesn't know exactly what path she is going to take.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

None of your undergrad work other than the GPA has any relevance to law school or getting into law school. Law school should not be a consideration in any decisions prior to law school

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

This is good to know. I mentioned to her mother that getting a business degree for example is a relatively
safe and innocuous path. If she liked that she could continue on with an MBA or if still interested in law
maybe choose that path assuming that her marks are good enough.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I can only speak towards my experience, but they recommended you had a major chosen when you were applying as different schools within the college have different requirements and admissions standards. Obviously you can choose later on or you can change majors as many did but in general it makes the experience much easier to at least start off in a specific major. She doesn't have to choose now but knowing what she wants to do, but specifically what she does not want to do can make college choices easier. For instance, if she is interested in engineering, there are many places you probably want to avoid. If she is interested in music or drama, there are places she wants to avoid.

It also helps you figure out what makes sense for you. For the major I wanted, NIU told me that I would have to go there for the first year and then apply to get in as that was the standard procedure. ISU had no such requirement and I didn't really feel the need to do another admission one year in so it helped me eliminate a school.

Then again, I ended up applying to Purdue on a whim in January of my senior year after not really researching anything about them so what do I know?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

T-Bone, the above is very helpful. I went through the application process recently relatively speaking in 2006/2007. Having an idea of what you’re interested in helps a ton in picking a school. I knew I wanted to study accounting and finance so I went to a library and just looked at the top ranked business schools and the ranking of the accounting/finance programs. I knew I wanted to stick around the Midwest so I just applied to the Big Ten schools with strong programs and Virginia. I made sure to apply during the early admission stage (I believe October 31st of your senior year is the standard deadline) as I read there is some benefit in doing so. I ended up picking Indiana as they accepted me into the university (not hard) but also directly into the business school (competitive) itself. The last thing I wanted was to make the significant investment of tuition and not being able to study wanted I wanted to do in life because I wasn’t accepted into the desired school.

Good stuff, thanks for expanding on what Rick mentioned. This is valuable information.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I recommend a business degree in something that is an actual skill, such as accounting. Business Admin major, for example, in my opinion, is kind of a waste since you most likely aren't going to be hired out in the real world at a manager level in a significant position. You are better off having a skill to sell for entry-level positions.

If an MBA is the goal, business undergrad itself isn't even necessary. Half of the people I went to grad school with were Engineering majors. Also, most upper-tier business schools are going to want to see a few years of work experience and to be able to demonstrate what the degree will mean for their career.

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You know me like that.

Again, thanks. Exactly why she needs to start some dialogue and get the ball rolling on these things.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I've held the belief that where you go isn't as important as what you can prove you know.

Yes and no. I think in this sluggish economy bigger schools or good programs offer the advantage of very good career offices and relationships with companies that'll enable you get to great face time to get your foot in the door. For example, I interned with an orthopedic manufacturer who only hired IU grads in accounting/finance positions. My current supervisor for the company I currently work at was an auditor for them when he worked for the Big 4. Was a very nice coincidence that I think helped in getting my current gig.

Make sure she knows how to pole dance as a Plan B.

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Mom and Daughter need to go see the Guidance Counselor.

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@audioidkid

I agree. It sucks, I know, but having a large alumni network or coming from a school with a reputation of being great in a particular profession does make a difference - especially in a difficult job market. I got my first entry-level job out of college over 600 other applicants mainly because I went to UofI and so did both of my bosses.

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You know me like that.

I agree. It also matters a lot if you are looking at secondary education, whether it is law school, medical school, or grad school.

You can overcome it and still be a success without the big name school, but it's easier to do it with a highly regarded school.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

That's only true when u have experience and don't seek to get hired at top tier companies... If your in business and have master degree (MBA) companies like McKinsey recruit directly from top business schools like Univ. of Chicago., Harvard, Stanford, etc... If you went to Southern IL and have no experience highly regarded companies don't recruit in those schools like they do in top tier bus schools.

The key is to succeed in the entry level position and show your employer your a valuable asset and after so many years of experience you can sell your self and your skill set to any employer.... but getting your foot in the door is sometimes about perception rather than reality when a job market is tight.

Also in my opinion a Law degree is one of the worst majors one can go for. There are numerous articles the unemployment rate for lawyers and recent graduates having to temp work as law firms have a glut of applications. There are only so many lawyers and this field doesn't increase exponentially like Computer programmers for example.

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"You know 'that look' women get when they want sex? Me neither" ~Steve Martin

A young Dr. Ken begins his first job out of college...

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance