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As soon as your child enters high school, the crunch will be on - the college crunch, that is. They will soon be inundated with college viewbooks in the mail, pressure to figure out what they'd like to study, and worries of how to make one of their first major life decisions. As a parent, you're sure to be just as confused and apprehensive about the admissions process as they are. So, what do you do when your teen turns to you for direction?

When it comes to the college admission process, it's important to encourage your teen to evaluate what they really hope to achieve from higher education, says Joseph Sponholz, who co-authored The Princeton Review  

College

  Companion (Random House, 1996) with his wife, Melanie Sponholz. In other words, even though it's okay for you as a parent to take an active role in helping them explore their choices, be sure to allow your teen the freedom of mind to determine what they wish to discover in their quest for increased knowledge and happiness.

Helping Your Teen Start Their Search
Encourage your child to examine the multitude of choices available to them - state schools, large universities vs. small universities, schools with top 10 sport teams, big-name faculties, trade schools. When it comes time to make a decision, the college to pinpoint should be one that best matches their interests, career objectives, characteristics, and needs. Of course, they should also be the type of student such colleges are pursuing.

How can they accomplish that? According to Pat O'Brien, author of Making College Count (Graphic Management Corporation, 1997), starting out on the fast track is a must-do. "It's all about preparation," he says. Think of the college admissions process as constructing a building. "The earlier you start building, the higher you're going to get." That means encouraging your teen to plan their college-bound itinerary way ahead of time - the sooner, the better.

Finding a Fit
First things first: What field of study interests your teen the most? Is he or she actively focusing on those career goals? They should try to dive into opportunities that will help them better evaluate if a chosen field is really for them. Good ways they can start:

Participate in an internship or after-school job, read books on the topic, surf related Web sites, and establish a mentor relationship with a professional in their favorite field. The next step is to scope out schools, which offer specific programs to suit their academically-oriented occupational needs. "Use career aspirations as a tool to help you evaluate," advises O'Brien. Most college guides, such as Barron's Profiles of American Colleges & Universities (Barron's) and The College Handbook (The College Board), organize profiles in a manner conducive to this goal - by programs and majors offered.

Preparation is Key
Once your teen makes a wish list of schools to which they will apply, it's time for them to get studiously serious! Make sure they start preparing for those all-important regents, SAT, and ACT exams any way they can.

"Take tests incredibly serious," says O'Brien.  If extra help is needed, enroll them in a prep course, drop them off at the library or bookstore to leaf through study guides, or help them surf their way through on-line practice tests and strategic help sites like www.kaplan.com, www.princetonreview.com, and www.collegeboard.com.

Get Them Involved!
Being a well-rounded student can also score them big admissions points. Extra curricular involvement is another way they can distinguish themselves off paper, says Melanie Sponholz. If your teen puts time into activities they enjoy - writing for the school newspaper, coaching a little league baseball team, or getting involved in local charity events - they'll be able to prove to college admissions officers they have the skills and dedication to accomplish great things.

"It clearly indicates that they're willing to make a commitment and follow through," says O'Brien. "With college graduation rates decreasing, schools want students who can commit to finish."

What Will College Be Like For Them?
If you're like most parents, you're just as anxious as your child to find out what college life is like and what will be expected of them once they get there. Help your teen research - have a "Saturday Search Party" leafing through books and magazines at your local library or bookstore and surfing education-related Web sites. There are pages upon pages of information out there about colleges, scholarships, preparing for the admissions process, making great grades, scoring high on the SAT, and succeeding scholastically and socially.

Making a Stress-Free Decision
If you see your college-bound teen getting discouraged, remind them of their value. What to say: "Show those colleges and universities you've got what it takes. It's all about you - your needs, your goals, and your dreams!"

Take it from Sponholz: "Most likely, there isn't going to be one right choice." O'Brien concurs: "Know that there are several choices out there that can make you happy and able to achieve your dreams."

What your college-bound teen hopes to achieve and the way in which you work together toward fulfilling those goals will allow you both to discover that the college admissions ends will justify the anxiety-ridden application process means.

"The process may be overwhelming," points out Joseph Sponholtz - for you and your teen alike. "Once they get to college, however, it's sure to be one of the best times of [their] lives."

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