110 Tips for Getting Into The College of Your Choice

Today is April 20th. There are only 10 days left for high school seniors to decide which college they will be attending in the Fall of 2008.

If your high school senior received the perfect offer, you and your student are preparing to visit the school for “New Admit Day” or are making a list of all of the personal items that need to get shipped to the dorm before the first day of school.

Or, if the perfect school did not say yes, your son or daughter is doing much nail biting trying to decide among the acceptances that you have.

And, if your student didn’t make it into any of the colleges that he or she applied to, Tip 90 of 110 Tips For Getting Into The College Of Your Choice by Sandra and Ian Griffin offers hope. There are colleges that offer “late admissions” and others that have “rolling admissions.” Your high school’s college counselor may have lists of these colleges or can get them from the National Association of College Admissions Counseling.

Where to Start in Preparing for College

This tiny gem of a booklet offers 109 other sound tips for actions students and their parents can take starting in middle school and continuing all through high school until your student is ready to board that plane, train, bus or car to begin a new life at college.

Having been through this process with my first son who is one month away from completing his Freshman year at college, I was delighted to discover that Sandra and Ian Griffin cover all of the most important topics our family discovered with our son.

Starting in middle school?

Yes!

Just as learning basic reading and math in 1st grade are the building blocks for your child for higher grades in elementary school, reading and math in middle school prepare your child for high school. It is also a time for your child to start exploring interests that may be come life long passions.

Tip 103: Keep An Open Mind About Your Student’s Interests

I could never have imagined in my wildest dreams that my older son’s hours of Gameboy and Game Cube playing would help him get admitted to college. In fact, my husband and I used kitchen timers to limit our son’s game time. When the timer went off, it was time for him to read, do homework or go outside to play.

Even so, our son pursued his passion, eventually landing a volunteer coding job with an open source online game. That led to becoming a team leader on the open source game project.

When it came to writing the essays for college, our son had quite a story to tell. And, several of the colleges loved it. They saw his commitment and growth through the essays he wrote about handling the good and bad of being a volunteer on an open source game project.

You could say he got into college by playing video games.

110 Tips for Getting Into The College of Your Choice has many more tips about middle school preparation, high school courses, writing essays and choosing colleges. It’s easy to read and very easy on the budget — just $5.99 plus tax and postage. You can order the slim, hardcopy version to keep as a handy reference.

In my last post, Was Your Son Or Daughter Rejected By A Top College?, I talked about what to do if the perfect school didn’t materialize for your high school senior. There are a lot of steps to take before that day comes. Sandra and Ian Griffin’s handy little book is a great place to start.

110 Tips for Getting Into The College of Your Choice

Please check it out.

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