Parents Share College Admissions Tips and Lessons Learned

Last Updated on October 15, 2024 by Jill Schwitzgebel

As the college application cycle for this year’s seniors is in full swing, I decided to survey a few parents of college-bound high school seniors to see if they had any admissions tips or just thoughts on the admissions process that they would like to share. And they sure did! You will see that a theme quickly emerged. (And I promise, I didn’t pay them anything to give that advice! 😉 )

All of these anecdotes below come from first-time college parents – they are all preparing to send their oldest kids to college in the fall. And as “newbies” to the college search and admissions process, they offered plenty of relevant insight that I think will be useful to parents who are just beginning the college process.

This information is still quite fresh in all of their minds. Only one parent has a senior who has already committed to a college. The others have students who are still either considering their options among the places they have been accepted and/or still waiting to hear admissions decisions from their preferred colleges.

Surprises

Everyone was surprised by different aspects of the process.

Amy was especially surprised that kids and families were not given more guidance about the process from their high school. In her case, she would have liked “more information, much sooner.”

Another mom actually felt overwhelmed by the amount of information that was out there (though not from their high school). There was so much information, that she found it difficult at first to pick out what information was important.

One parent expressed surprise about how time-consuming it all can be from beginning to end. “The amount of time it takes for the entire application process.  Starting with how to choose what schools to look at (considering multiple criteria: size, location like urban or rural, expense, school’s reputation, proximity to home if that’s important, etc.) And then finally once your student submits applications, “you have additional honors apps or scholarship apps etc.  It’s a VERY long process.” 

Meanwhile, Mike said that the thing that surprised him most was that “a $60,000 college does not actually cost $60,000.” When asked for clarification, he said that prior to doing some research, he assumed that there was no way they could afford to send their child to a college that cost that much, and that an in-state public university was the only real option. So, he was shocked to learn that sometimes, that school with the big price tag can be in the same price range.

Application Process

When asked whether their students could have handled the entire admissions process on their own, all but one parent said, “NO.” To be fair, the answers ranged from, “He** NO,” to “After she finally got a few applications in, she knew what to do and was able to keep track of deadlines on her own.”

One parent felt her son could have handled it, but “...he would not have been as thorough on many things.  I think our added guidance was a huge help. We put together the schedule of critical dates and deadlines as well as did a lot of initial research to help lighten his workload.  But, we wanted to be heavily involved in the process.  If we left it all up to him, sure he could have done it, but I think it would have been extremely stressful trying to balance it all. “

Stressors

Predictably, when asked what they found most stressful or at least the most challenging about the admission process, answers all differed somewhat. Most said it was hard to narrow it down to one thing! However, “nagging” their student showed up somewhere in each parent’s answers. As far as challenges, Heather said, “I think time management regarding applications and essays for sure.  Always reminding him to start something or work on his essay etc.” 

Along with nagging, one mom mentioned “Waiting on answers from the schools.”

Another parent said the most stressful part was understanding financial aid and then making the cost comparisons, when each college breaks it down differently. Closely related to that, one parent mentioned that waiting to find out whether financial aid would make the school affordable AFTER receiving the acceptance was probably the most stressful part.

Hindsight

I asked each parent what they wish they would have done differently during the process. Once again, the answers came back in almost complete agreement. And here we have the overall theme of everyone’s answers –

“Start sooner!!” “

“Start sooner on everything…”

“Don’t wait until Junior year!”

And, ” a better timeline/schedule from the start to balance jr/sr. year obligations and schoolwork and application deadlines etc.”

Advice

The advice from all parents was closely related to hindsight.

“Get testing done as soon as you can,
narrow down college choices early, write the essays during the summer
before senior year. I took that advice and it paid off. Convincing my
teen to do it early was not easy but the acceptances that were rolling
admission came in quickly and it was a nice payoff in the end.”

“Start college visits before junior year.”

“Get the visits out of the way so that they can narrow the list and be ready to write their essays and get applications finished over the summer before senior year even starts.”

Heather summed it all up so well that I think she may have a future in college admissions consulting:

“Start EARLY!!!  Start the college discussions early on in HS with questions like where they picture themselves at a college (small, large, popular athletic teams, close to home, urban or rural, etc.)  Visit local schools that vary in those criteria: city school, private school, “preppy” school, commuter college.  If you travel for sports or other extracurricular activities, visit colleges when you are on the road.  Walk on campuses etc.  It doesn’t have to take a lot of extra time. Be open with your kids about expectations: what you are willing to pay for school, what contribution you expect them to make,  talk about college debt etc. Taking college prep tests early as well; leave time for re-takes and improvement if necessary and if possible.  Also, if you have multiple kids, please realize it’s a different journey with each child depending on their likes and dislikes.  Take siblings along on campus visits as well.”

Summary

So, parents of high school freshman, sophomores, and juniors, listen up! Here is the quick compilation of college admissions advice and lessons you can learn from these parents of college bound students:

• Start early, especially with college visits
• Expect to do some nagging
• Expect to assist with organization and timelines from the beginning
• Private school “sticker price” is not what you will necessarily pay
• After submitting the application, there may be more work to do!

Visit this College Preparation Timeline to learn what your student can be doing to make their senior year less stressful!  And, here are 8 ways for parents to help with the admissions process.

A huge thank you to Amy, Heather, Kristen and Mike for being willing to honestly share their thoughts on the college admissions process!

 If you’re looking for application advice directly from college admission counselors, click here!