
“OMG, it’s end of October.” “OMG, I missed the PSAT date!” Everywhere the cries of supposedly college-bound high school juniors and seniors can be heard. Then of course there is the eternal clueless student who just isn’t tuned into the college process at all and then you will hear, “It’s the end of October and my son hasn’t even researched any colleges.” Or, “My son missed the dates for the SATs (or PSATs). Now what will we do?” Notice I said “son” because the statistics show that a far larger percentage of teenage boys procrastinate when it comes to preparing for college.
Last weekend I visited my eldest daughter and her family in Southern California. Her son has just started his junior year in a new high school. He transferred this year from a parochial school to a charter public school that offers a concentration in his great passion, digital media, along with classes for gifted students. So here he is, sixteen years old, a new school, new friends, classes he loves, and some AP classes that are challenging to say the least. Do you think college, two years from now, is on his mind? Then there’s my daughter. Besides her son, she’s juggling a successful career, two daughters who attend schools on opposite sides of the valley, and a marriage. Do you think college two years from now is a priority in her thoughts?
My daughter discovered just how “out of thought” college was for both of them when she attended a Back to School Night at school last week and discovered that her son had missed the PSAT day at his school!
Unfortunately the count-down calendar has begun for my grandson (and his parents) in his march towards college admissions. No one can prepare the applications for him. No one can write the essay or take the tests but him. But we can all guide him. It really does take a village to go to college and the villagers are there waiting to be asked.
It occurred to me when I returned to work yesterday that even though it may seem redundant to me, every year there are thousands upon thousands of new college applicants beginning the process. Each year I need to update and share some of the resources we use to help our USPA students and their families take the journey towards college.
First, to alleviate my own family’s panic, the PSAT is exactly that…a preliminary practice SAT. You can even request a copy of this year’s PSAT now that the testing period has passed to study and practice on your own. There are many ways today to receive preparation for the SAT and ACTs. There are private individuals and companies that give counseling and practice on taking the SAT. The test itself can be taken several times to raise your score. Even missing the PSAT does not disqualify you from an opportunity to be a National Merit Scholarship Finalist.
In missing the test what you did lose of course is the potential opportunity for your high test scores to be noticed by college admissions officers and for a “recruitment” process to begin. Also, by not filling out the interest card you won’t automatically receive interest back from colleges. You can begin that process yourself. You can research, identify, and send for information on your favorite choices on your own. The plus side to that is that you’ll only be receiving information from schools that really interest you and not a bunch of random colleges that have a check marked interest of study.
So, avoid the panic. Start developing a planning calendar. Start with a long-range plan with the hard dates. Test taking dates, college visits you might want to take, application due dates. Talk regularly with your “village” about your progress in researching schools. Discuss openly whether you feel a test prep course will give you the added confidence you need to successfully take the SAT or ACT. Find out how knowledgeable your high school college counselor is about schools in your current field of interest. Find out how much time your counselor has to help guide students in her charge. Talk about whether an independent college counselor might benefit you in your ultimate success.
Set aside some weekly time to just focus on your college journey. It can be your “College Time”. One week it might be to surf the web researching schools. Most schools do virtual tours now and their sites contain loads of information. Another week it might be used for test preparation or work on your personal essay. Whatever you use the time for that is college related it will give you a sense of accomplishment, knowledge and confidence that you are on your pathway to college.
I’ve said it before and I will continue to say it, enjoy this process. It is a great time of discovery.