Description of tip for starting the college search:
It is important that the student take the lead in the search process and in narrowing down the list. Students all seem to go through six distinct stages during their college search:

Unaware to interested

Interested to inquiry

Inquiry to campus visitor

Campus visitor to applicant

Applicant to accepted

Accepted to enrolled

Your job as parent is to familiarize yourself with the resources available to you while your child is still in the ?Unaware? stage so you can get started once your child becomes ?Interested.? Capitalize on his or her interest and begin to work together on identifying your internal and external criteria and start your list of potential colleges to investigate.

Your child? selection criteria and judgement may change as they move through the stages and become more certain about what is important to them and which schools feel ?right.? This ?heart? factor is important to consider when making decisions about which colleges to apply to. Admissions staff will tell you that student satisfaction with their chosen college seems to be related to what? known as the ?heart? quotient: how they feel about the school. If the feeling isn? there, there is a greater chance that the fit will not be the right one.

Other comments or suggestions:
You should note that while the college chooses at one stage (applicant to accepted), the student chooses five times. (You may need to remind yourself and your child about this as you wait for those acceptance letters!)