Tips For Helping Your Child Get Into The College Of Their Choice

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For some parents, the college education of their children is something they thought of since the day their children were born, while other parents have not given their children's eventual college education a single thought, in spite of the fact that their children are halfway through high school; regardless of which side of this you fall on, however - or even if you fall somewhere in the middle - it will be important that you understand some of the things you can do to help your child get into the college of their choice.

Colleges sift through thousands of applications annually, and depending on how exclusive the college, it may admit anywhere from 10% to 80% of all applicants - and if you want your child to be in the positive percentage of this equation, you will need to be aware of the three primary things colleges look at when sifting through applications and deciding which they will give greater attention.

The first things a college will look at in order to narrow down the applications are grades and test scores, and what you may not have realized is that colleges tend to give more weight to test scores than to grades, even though grades span over four years and test scores are created in a single day; this might seem unfair, but it is the only way for colleges to conduct themselves, as grading rubrics can vary greatly from school to school - so make sure you help your child understand what is contained on the standardized tests they will take, and help them prepare from the time they start high school until the time when they finally achieve the score they want to achieve!

In addition to test scores, colleges will narrow down the applications that come their way based on the extracurricular activities a student is involved in; if one student has no extracurricular activities and another student has several (and all other things are equal!), the student with more activities will be given preference, so encourage your child to participate in things outside of school, and help them realize that this will pay off in the long run.

And lastly, the essay that is part of the college application will be a big part of the decision a college makes, so help your child as much as you can, and make sure this essay is as good as it can be.