COMMENTARY
Planning for college is best begun early

By Doreen Nagle
Gannett News Service

Getting into college these days is competitive, confusing and requires hard work — from your teen as well as from you!

Early shortcuts

• Different schools, different entrance requirements. Learn the requirements of each type of college your teen is interested in by keeping in contact with the admissions office starting in your child's sophomore year.
• School counselors. Meet with your child's school counselor often to make sure that your child is getting all needed subjects and meets other requirements for the schools of your choice. Many parents start these meetings in the last year of middle school or the freshman year of high school.
• Advanced placement courses. Some high schools or local colleges offer college-level classes to high school students. Once completed and passed successfully, these classes will get your teen more favorable notice by the college of his or her choice. It may also count toward college class credit.
• Summer school is another way to catch up on classes required for graduation and/or advanced placement classes.
• The year before high school graduation is the perfect time to send for brochures from desirable colleges and universities. In addition, the summer break between your teen's junior and senior year can be spent visiting campuses, gathering information.
• Get a calendar and mark dates for the SATs, scholarship applications, campus open houses and other important occasions during your child's junior and senior year.
• More than minimum. Each school has minimum admission requirements, but if two students with equal grades are compared by the admissions committee, the one who joined the debate club, plays soccer and edits the school paper while giving blood in his or her spare time is the one who will get accepted. Enriching extracurricular activities count heavily during these competitive times.

Year by year guide

• Middle school. Most colleges want three years or more of high school math and prefer levels to calculus. Make sure your middle schooler has the right prerequisites to take algebra and geometry as a high school freshman. Ditto for other advanced courses.
• Freshman year. You and your teen should meet with the counselor to map out an appropriate high-school curriculum with an eye toward the best college choices. Teens should continue with extracurricular activities they had a preference for in middle school, or develop new interests and memberships.
• Sophomore year. Potential colleges will be interested in how your teen spent the past summer. This is an ideal time to think about summer advancement classes or volunteering on a worthwhile project.
• Junior year. Keep up the good grades and extracurricular activities as well as start shopping around for colleges. Solicit brochures and applications and visit campuses in the summer. The PSAT is given in the fall and the SAT in the spring; teens should take both tests. If they don't like their scores this year, they can retake it in their senior year. Make this summer break count with another worthwhile project.
• Senior year. While it's tempting to take it easy this year, counselors advise seniors to keep up their schedule since colleges are expecting senior year to be as full as years past. Meet with the counselor to go over your list of college choices. Then start applying for admissions, scholarships, financial aid. Try not to stress out while you wait for the mail.

Tips from parenting trenches

• Hire help. There are professionals who can look at your child's academic and activities records and help match you to the best colleges as well as direct you through the maze of scholarship and financial aid applications. It's worth hiring one. Ask your counselor about it.

Doreen Nagle is author of "But I Don't Feel Too Old to be a Mommy" (HCI, $12.95). She welcomes your child-rearing tips and concerns at dnagle@bsn1.net.