Yesterday, a co-worker mentioned that her daughter is graduating high school in May and so I asked about her plans . . . "what does she want to do?", "is she going to college?" . . . the usual small talk.
To my shock, my co-worker replied that her daughter had not applied to college yet. Both mother and daughter felt that there was enough time as she did not have to enroll until next September. They planned to start the process in January, which is way too late. It's late now but they can still meet the deadlines if they work really hard and move very fast. Not an ideal situation.
Why are they in this situation? They are immigrants who are not familiar with the educational system in the US, the process, the deadlines, the hyper competitive environment. I explained to her that most colleges have application deadlines in December and January and that they need to spend several months preparing the applications instead of doing them in a rush.
I encouraged her to take a day off and go visit her daughter's teachers and ask for assistance. I also promised to find her some resources that can help them tackle this process.
I searched the internet and the best website that I could find that explained the process clearly was College Board whose stated goal is to, "ensure that every single student has the opportunity to prepare for, enroll in and graduate from college".
It's a very informative website and I encourage anyone with children to review the website even if your child is not yet old enough for college. You will know what to expect when that time comes and you can ensure that you start the process earlier rather than later.
Click here for the College Application Calendar to see all the recommended steps. Do it now before it's too late.
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