One of the most significant and daunting tasks in any teenagers life is applying to college. No matter how gifted and talented, how confident and self-assured, most kids must overcome incredible hurdles in order to get into the college of their choice:

• How do they maintain an adequate GPA over four years of High School?
• What’s the difference between the SAT and ACT tests?
• Which teachers and counselors do they ask for letters of recommendation?
• What extra-curricular activities will a college admissions office find of interest?
• What financial aid will they need and where can they find it?
• And on and on…

How can parents help? How do they advise their son or daughter? What’s the answer to questions like:

• How much will college cost?
• What options are there for financial aid?
• Are test-prep services worth it?
• Do High School counselors have all the information we need?
• Should we hire a private college admissions counselor? What do they charge?
• Are there any good books to help make sense of the process?
• How I can help minimize the stress involved?
• And on and on…

Families must deal with many, many other issues. We know. We have a a daughter who went to college this year and a son who’ll be applying in three years. We are not college counselors, test prep experts, financial aid officers or university admissions staff. We’re Mom and Dad.

We’ve started this blog to discuss some of the questions that come up when a son or daughter applies to college. We don’t have all the answers. But we’ll share resources that worked for our family. And as we find other useful bits of information we’ll share those as well.

We’ve already posted a bunch of tips and a list of resources on our website. Check them out and let us know what you think.

Ian and Sandra