Preparing your child for college acceptance can be difficult if you do not know the best ways to help them. Preparing for college not only requires strong academics, but also a wide range of skills that your children can develop by participating in extra-curricular activities.
Start Early with Extra-Curriculars
Parents should begin helping their child prepare for college as soon as possible. Parents should encourage their children to participate in a wide range of extra-curricular activities as soon as they begin high school. Extracurriculars can range from after-school sports to any number of different clubs offered by a school.
Participating in extra-curriculars can help your child get accepted into a top-rated university by helping them develop unique skills. For example, top-rated universities value students who demonstrate teamwork and responsibility by taking part in sports, while academic clubs can help students further their knowledge in a subject they want to pursue in college.
Even better, if you can encourage your child to take a leadership role in a club at school, they can use the experience they gain to further increase their chances of getting accepted into a top-rated university.
Extra-curriculars can also include activities outside of school like volunteering or a part-time job. If you child has a part-time job or helps out around the local community during their free time, your child should make note of it on their resumé to demonstrate that they are capable of handling schoolwork, in-school activities, and a professional life outside of school. The more skills and experience you child have before they apply, the better.
Encourage Your Child to Become a Leader
The best way to increase your child’s chances at getting accepted into a top-rated university is to encourage them to take leadership roles in their schools. Whether they become team captains for their favorite sport or become presidents, treasurers, or secretaries of an academic club, they can use leadership roles on their resumé to impress college admissions staff and
Invest in an SAT Prep Course
The SAT exam is the single most important exam that your child can take in high school. Earning a high SAT score is essential for getting accepted into many of the country’s top-rated universities. While individual studying can prove to be effective for some students, many like to enroll in prep courses that can help them earn an even higher score.
Parents should encourage their children to enroll in an SAT prep course well in advance of the date of the actual test. SAT prep courses generally cost a few hundred dollars and include practice exams, questions, and guided study materials. The most popular and trusted SAT prep courses can help students boost their scores by several hundred points, more than making up for the initial investment.
Have A Professional Proofread Your Child’s Essay
Having a professional proofread your child’s essay is the best way to guarantee that their essay will help them get accepted into a top-rated university. Making sure your child’s college application essay is high-quality and lacking grammar and syntax errors can be difficult on your own — trust a knowledgeable professional to make sure you child’s college application essay is the best quality it can be.
A professional that you hire to go over your child’s essay can also help them identify strong points that they should develop further in their writing. Professional essay editors understand the things that are most helpful in a college application essay and can help your child fine-tune their writing, so it is more appealing to their chosen college.
Encourage Them to Apply Early Action
Encouraging your children to apply early action for college gives them the freedom to choose from a variety of schools. Taking early action to apply to college means that your child will get early, non-binding responses to their applications, which can help them better plan for the future.
Applying early will also give you student a big advantage among other applicants. If they apply early, they face less competition and are more likely to be accepted by a college’s admissions staff.
Alternatively, you can encourage your child to enroll for early decision. Early decision is legally binding — if your child is accepted by their early decision school, then they must withdraw all other college applications. Early decision is best for students who have a single ideal school that they would like to attend.
Conclusion
Helping prepare your child for college is a difficult task. Fortunately, there are thousands of online and local resources that you can use to help increase their odds of getting accepted into the top-rated university of their dreams.
