Are you one of those parents who wish to be involved in the college search with your child, but are not confident about how to go about it without accidentally taking over the process?
It’s good that you like to be involved and like to be mindful of how you involve yourself. You’ve probably heard many times that your role is to support your child, and we would want to reiterate that statement.
Nonetheless, supporting your kid must not be taken to mean nodding your head in agreement with their every decision and thought. As an alternative, continuously engaging your kid in open conversation is the ideal way to prompt them to take time to self-reflect.
In this blog, we will outline important questions you can ask your child to help them find their best-fit college.
What do you wish your life to look like after college?
Do they like to remain close to home or move away from home? Do they like to have a home or an apartment? What type of social life do they like to have, and how might their work hours impact their social life.
After you consider lifestyle, your kid can easily think about what career paths fit their preferred life.
What type of careers interest you?
In this question, you should keep the focus on careers instead of college degrees. The idea is that you like your child to think of their lifelong career desires and backtrack that into a degree program.
If your kid understands what they wish to do, that’s awesome. Ask them to explain why they came to that conclusion and keep asking for complete responses.
If they are still not sure, you can ask them what things they enjoy inside and outside of school. You can help them find an area of study that interests them. From there, you can work on understanding why they love that area. For instance, if you find that your kid likes to raise his voice for those who cannot or help the ones who feel weak in their knees when it comes to standing for themselves, then it might be safe to conclude that they like being a lawyer for the less-privileged. It is self-explanatory why they would love to do this–perhaps they feel that they can be of help to others who cannot bring themselves to justice. From here, you can chalk out a path for them to excel in law. Not only can you find them a law school, get them prepared to surpass the entrance test, and help them graduate with flying colours, but also suggest to them the recruiters like Alex Gotch, who can help get them high-paying law jobs.
After they understand that, they can easily understand the type of education they will need.
How much are you ready to invest in your education?
Whether you’re paying for all, partial, or none of your kid’s education, it is important that they realize that college is an investment. Your job is to help them understand what level of investment they’re ready to take and how the career they pursue will help them to have a positive return.
Many students who graduate from college are unaware of the amount of college loan debt they have acquired.
What will the school get if they admit you?
The idea here is to get your kid to consider who they are. What are their best skills and qualities? Why would a university benefit from admitting them? Motivate your child to outline their strengths, weaknesses, and best qualities.
Keep in mind that collaborating with your kid on their college search can be a challenging journey to traverse. With such questions in mind, you need to keep the discussions going all throughout high school.
On top of that, you might find that the reactions to these questions change significantly as your kid understands more about the things they enjoy and what they dislike. With clear boundaries, open communication can make a difference.
