Factors that influence your teen's college preferences

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Factors that influence your teen's college preferences

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Parents are sometimes worried that their child seems to be influenced as they look at college options by things that seem frivolous or unimportant. Maybe friend's perceptions, or how good the football team is, or even what color their uniforms are, things like that. And to a certain extent, parents are right. Those things probably are not particularly important in the grand scheme of things. But on the other hand, what we need to remember is that perception is reality for our kids. And if our child, if your child, doesn't want to go to a school or isn't interested in a school because of something like that, or if they fall in love with a school because they've always loved that football team, well maybe there's a reason for that. And ultimately, most students are going to make their decision based upon many different things. But those aren't necessarily bad things for them to have a first sense of as they're looking at a school. The other question is, to what extent should we be influenced by college rankings? Every magazine in North America now will put out a list of the top 50 schools or the top 100 schools or the top Western schools. And there's a certain amount of credence that a lot of parents and kids put into those. The reality is that what parents shouldn't be looking for is which school is number one on the list or is a top 10 school. What parents should be looking for is what schools are good matches for the things that their students are interested in, that their children want to learn about in college. And then maybe also look at where do the graduates of those colleges end up. Those are the things that are really more important than who might be in a top 10 list or a top 50 list.

Watch Video: Factors that influence your teen's college preferences by Robert K. Cooke, MEd, ...

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Robert K. Cooke, MEd

Upper School Director

Robert has been in K-12 education for thirty years; for sixteen years he was a high school history and social studies teacher, teaching subjects such as AP US History, Western Civilization, World History, Economics, and Anthropology. His school administrative career has been equally varied, serving as Director of Activities at a large public high school, and a Middle School Director and Upper School Director at independent (private) schools in the Midwest and California. Robert earned his Bachelor's Degree in History from Carleton College, and his Master's in Education from Claremont Graduate University. He is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS), and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). Robert has served on school accreditation teams in the Midwest and California. He has two children, one of whom is an acting and English Literature double major at a large urban university on the East Coast, while the other is a high school junior in Los Angeles.

 

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