The Case for Early College Planning

I had a disappointing school visit today for a sophomore whom I began counseling in April.  He is interested in careers in Engineering, but is not on the advanced track in math or science.  We went in to see what our options were to remediate credit over the summer and get him advanced in the fall.  The school district offers NO alternative for acceleration at this late date.  He will be greatly disadvantaged in the college admissions process because of this perceived gap in his academic record.  No matter how well he scores in his math and science courses, he will be applying to engineering programs alongside thousands of students who will be considered more qualified just because they completed a more rigorous course of study.

A few weeks ago, I met with the guidance counselor at another school on behalf of a freshman student who needed to accelerate in science.  We were able to sign him up for a summer course and he will begin the advanced track in the fall.

In October, I began working with a 7th grade student who was not in advanced STEM classes.  We were able to move him up at the end of the first quarter.  He will now be free to spend his summer volunteering at the zoo as he is interested in zoology or marine biology careers.

You tell me...which student is experiencing the least amount of stress?  The sophomore? The freshman? Or the 7th grader?

I meet parents all the time who tell me that their children are still in middle school so it is too soon to think about college acceptance.  They usually end the conversation by walking away saying they will call me in a few years. 

So this is how the rest of the conversation goes in my head:

Parent: "My daughter is only in 7th grade.  It's too much pressure to talk with her about college now.  But, I'll definitely need your services in a few years".

Me: "Let me ask you something...does your daughter KNOW that she is going to college?"

Parent: "Of course, we've been talking about it and saving since she was born".

Me: "Does she know you expect her to do well in middle school?"

Parent:  "Of course, she gets grounded if she doesn't make honor roll".

Me: "Does she understand the relationship between how she does in middle school and her future college opportunities?"

Parent: "Uhhhhh..."

Me: "Wouldn't she be more internally motivated to do well in school now if she understood that she was building up a bank account for herself that she can use when applying to college?" (This is what we call college CAPITAL)

Parent: Stunned silence

Me:  “Providing the reason for your high expectations will do more to motivate her than taking away privileges.  You are already putting a certain amount of pressure on her to do well, but she doesn't know why.  Understanding the relationship between middle school and college only increases the relevance of current classes that might seem pointless.  Providing direction and support in the middle grades actually reduces the stress of college admissions because you are making sure that she will never have to back-track to make up necessary courses once she decides on a career pathway!"

Anyway, that’s how it goes in my head. 

I’m not sure why I have such a hard time engaging the community in a discussion about early college planning.  I have offered free parent presentations at one library, which 2-3 parents attended.  I have offered the workshops to every library, middle school and elementary school on the east side, but they are not interested in hosting an event. 

And every summer and fall parents call me to help their seniors with college applications.  I am happy to help and we do get amazing results, but at that point I cannot add anything to the student’s resume or academic record.  It breaks my heart to meet a student at this point who dreams of being a doctor only to look at his transcript and discover that highly-selective pre-med programs are not a real option for him.  This doesn’t mean that he can’t do well enough in college to apply later, but it does mean that we have to limit our target colleges to those that consider students like him.  I much prefer to begin earlier and help kids make themselves into the kind of students colleges will vie for.