College reading list for 11th Grade parents

While your high school junior prepares for the PSAT’s and works on keeping grades up in challenging courses, what should you be doing to prepare for the college process?

READ.

Keep discussions about college to a minimum for now; as a senior, your teen will get sick of the subject soon enough. Just do your homework, to support your teen and be able to answer his questions.

MY READING LIST (in no particular order):

The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price by Lynn O’Shaughnessy. The Bible.

Admissions Matters: What Students and Parents Need to Know About Getting Into College by Sally S. Springer, Jon Reider & Marion R. Franck. The college landscape has changed a lot since your day. Learn to navigate it.

The Hidden Ivies, 2nd Edition: 50 Top Colleges-from Amherst to Williams-That Rival the Ivy League by Howard Greene (Greenes’ Guides). The classic guidebook has finally been expanded and updated!

Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges by Loren Pope. Specific schools are less important than the approach.

A is for Admission: The Insider’s Guide to Getting into the Ivy League and Other Top Colleges by Michele Hernandez. Gain an understanding of unique characteristics of the admissions process in the Ivy League.

Pay for College without Sacrificing Your Retirement: A Guide to Your Financial Future by Tim Higgins. Sticker shock! Financial aid considerations need to be an integral part of the college application strategy, not an add-on next year!

College Match: A Blueprint for Finding the Best School for You by Steven R. Antonoff. A great starting point to help juniors figure out what they may want in a college. Not “how to get in!” Rather,  an emotionally healthy approach to help teens know what they’re looking for.

Ultimate Guide to Summer Opportunities for Teens by Sandra Berger. Your teen will have one more summer to explore academic or extra-curricular interests before applying to college. Be on the lookout for great opportunities.

The Insider’s Guide to the Colleges 2010: Students on Campus Tell You What You Really Want to Know, 36th Edition by Yale Daily News Staff. Student opinion with a balanced perspective.

Fiske Guide to Colleges 2010 26E by Edward Fiske. The must-have reference for every college-bound family’s bookshelf.

Also check out my post, Kris Hintz’s Top Ten College Websites. These web addresses should definitely be bookmarked—you’ll be using them a lot in the next two years!