You’ve picked your college. Now what?

Congratulations! Your student has selected the place where they will spend their next four years. It is time to celebrate! This journey has been a long one. Your student worked hard, did the work, and deserves all the praise!

Now mom and dad get to make that first deposit (sorry!)

Your college will be clear about how the deposit is made, and your student’s spot is secured. Make sure your student is checking their email for important notifications about next steps. Check out this guest blog post about reading and understanding your student’s college bill when it comes time to pay tuition, room, and board. You will want to plan for all four years, not just this first one.

Send notifications to the colleges you won’t attend

If the student has a specific admissions person they worked with at a college, send them an email with a simple but clear message. Sample wording can be:

“I’m so grateful for your help to learn about XYZ college. Although I found many elements of XYZ college to be very appealing, I have chosen to attend another school. Again, thank you for your assistance over the past months.”

If you didn’t have contact with a specific individual, shorten up the email and find an email address for admissions at the college on their website or in email communications sent to your student.

Doing this quick and considerate notification allows those colleges know where you stand, and they can take action based on your communication.

Schedule your orientation

Colleges usually have a new student orientation. They all look slightly different but will often include information about course registration and the mechanical things you need to know about being a student at that college. This event may or may not include a “parent track.” Information about orientation registration will be shared soon. This vital information is another reason for your student to really and truly watch those emails.

This summer

Make the most of your summer. Getting ready to move to a new place and starting the next chapter will cause many questions. Parents, if you haven’t done this before, you might not know what to think, plan, and talk about with your student.

Topics for family discussions should include academics, safety, health, finances, communications, career planning, relationships, expectations, and much more. It’s a lot. What is covered in orientation is pretty brief and somewhat mechanical (where to find this or that).

You likely need more support to not miss anything big. Consider our Getting Ready for College eBook to get you and your student started with these conversations. You can use our eBook as the launching pad for some meaningful adult conversations to get your new graduate ready for fall and the next four years, and (in normal At The Core style), you’ll get a ton of resources to support your family actions this summer.

Continue your career research

If you have chosen a major, spend some time investigating careers in that major. What does that professional’s day look like? How did they get to where they are now? What’s listed on a job posting for college internships in that career area? Exploration does not end at high school graduation. Experiential learning while in college is important to getting that first job.

If you are entering college as undecided, be sure to plan ahead and understand the steps to success and achieving confidence and clarity.

And finally, celebrate some more!

Our kids only graduate from high school once. Make it a celebration that you all will remember with a smile.

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