The Road to College...

Or, should I label this one...

What to do while you wait on your teen to get all her ducks in a row.

Anyway, here's an update on our saga...

We have so far turned in three complete college applications with all the extra stuff. The deadline for each of these colleges was November 1st and we accomplished it. Each envelope contained 29 course descriptions, a four page transcript, one had an essay, and another had a recommendation form filled out by her English teacher. We sent each college an official SAT score report from the SAT website also.

Now for the waiting part. Allison filled out all the applications for each of the other four colleges that she's applying to, but she still needs four recommendations and two essays before we can finish those colleges.

We found out that her SAT scores were not as good as we hoped. She increased her scores in each of the different areas but since she didn't study for the test, it isn't enough for her top colleges to award her a scholarship. So plan B is in action. I signed her up for the ACT and she will take it in December. I also signed up for their online study guide for $19.95. By far, the ACT is a more economical choice and I'm hoping that with a little studying, she'll get a good score. She'll need a 29 to get scholarship offers. Luckily, SAT and ACT score deadlines are flexable. Most colleges give you until the end of the school year to get your final scores in. It would be better to get them in sooner, but better scores can mean more money, so we'll keep at it a little longer.

What I've learned...

1. Study for the SAT and ACT early. It's really never too early once your teen is in highschool.

2. Start collecting recommendations from teachers, pastors, and close friends as soon as they have done something. It's better to have them early. Also, you need a lot of them, so don't be shy about asking a teacher for one. You'll need it. That way, you can spread it out and not have one person doing five different ones for five different colleges. They don't like that.lol

3. Start work on college essays in the Jr year. What I've noticed about the essays, is that they all are basically the same. They all want to know WHY your teen would make a good fit at their school OR they want to know what they've learned from some experience that makes them a good fit for their school. Allison wrote one essay during her college class that actually fit most of the college essay question and it has helped tremendously. Now that I know, I'll be working with Jon to get a few good essays in next semester to help with his college applications so that we aren't trying to do everything at once.

Blessings,