While I know he had my best interest in mind, it made my college application process much more stressful than it should have been. Fortunately things worked out in the end – I went to my dream school, graduated with honors, and have a pretty fantastic career so far.

My dad? It took him awhile to come to the realization that I probably would not have gotten to where I am today if I didn’t go to a college I was 100% behind. However getting to that point was not easy, and I couldn’t help but think that much of the tension could have been eliminated if we were better at communicating with each other.

So let’s say you’re in my dad’s shoes 6 years ago and you absolutely can’t fathom your child going to any of the colleges they have in mind. What should you do to avoid a whole mess of unnecessary drama? Here are some suggestions:

1.  Don’t be a victim to college rankings and brand appeal.

Everyone knows about the various “best college” rankings that come out every year. It’s easy for parents (and students) to get caught up in the craze of getting into the highest ranking, most-selective schools. But guess what? The “best college” according to whatever magazine might not be the best college for your child.

There are over 2,000 four-year colleges in the US alone and there are plenty of amazing lesser-known schools out there that don’t make the Top 100 for any given year. Use college match tools to uncover the hidden gems that might be a good fit and read up on college reviews to see if current students and alumni believe if the school is worth the money.

2.  Before you express your disagreement, ask your child “Why?”

Understanding your child’s reasons for choosing schools to apply to is absolutely essential to being a supportive parent in the applications process. For me, I only focused my search on schools with strong internship programs and those who offered the niche major I wanted. Size was also another important factor – I didn’t want to be lost in a sea of 100+ undergrads in every class.

When I explained this to my parents they had a much easier time digesting which schools were going to be better for me than others – even if they weren’t completely in love with them.

3.  Understand that picking a college is the first “grown up” decision many teenagers will have to make. 

Badgering your child into picking the college that you would want to go to is a surefire way of alienating them and hurting your relationship. For 18 years you’ve helped your child make decisions on everything from which clothes they should wear, which classes to take, what friends they can hang out with, etc. Now it’s time to let them taste a little bit of independence and plan for their future. This isn’t to say that you should remove yourself from the process completely – it’s important for you to guide your child to the places where they can find answers if they’re having trouble.

4. Be careful how you dish out your advice.  

It’s better to ask questions that make them think about consequences than to accuse them of being flat out wrong. For instance, if you aren’t a fan of your child applying to schools that are all across the country, ask them how they will plan to relocate, how often they’ll visit and call, and what’s their plan incase an emergency happens and you’re unable to reach them.  Experiencing sticker shock at some of their more expensive college choices? Ask them if they’ve looked up any information about applying for financial aid.

Having them find answers to these very practical questions before making a final decision on a college will help guide them into making more informed, responsible decisions. Even better? It will make for a more peaceful college search experience for you and your college-student-to-be.

******

Today’s guest post is by Sam Coren, Content Manager for StudentAdvisor.com, a Washington Post education site for college reviews and free resources on “all things college.” You can read more of her insights about the college search process on the StudentAdvisor blog.

Much like choosing a wife or husband, your child’s school-of-choice will ultimately have long term effects. And, like when selecting a spouse, your child not only wants for it to be a perfect match, but secretly seeks for your approval. In the end your child will pick a school that he or she feels is best suited for them, but you can play an important role in the decision process –helping your child pick a school that’ll make the both of you content.  There are more than 7,000 higher education institutions in the U.S. and filtering through all the choices can be hectic. Here are some questions to discuss with your child to narrow down the options in the hopes of finding the perfect college for your child.

1. While your child doesn’t initially need to know exactly what they want to major in, looking into their interest is a good start. Does your child enjoy art? Writing? Technology? Are they more focused on developing technical skills?
2. What schools are tailored to meet your child’s needs and interests?
3. What specific programs and sequences are offered at the school?
4. Does your child want to attend a college that is close to home or out-of-state?
5. What type of school would your child prefer? A small intimate college or a large university? Do they prefer a public or private school?
6. Do they prefer to attend a school with a particular religious affiliation?
7. Is the institution accredited and by which agency?
8. What is the student/teacher ratio?
9. Is it coed or single sex school?
10. Is your child interested in online courses? Does the school offer them?
11. Does your child want to participate in a specific extracurricular activity or sport? Which ones? And does the school offer these options?
12. What kind of living arrangements would your child prefer? Does the school offer on campus and off campus housing? Would your child rather walk to class or drive?
13. What’s the cost of tuition? This includes room and board, textbooks and miscellaneous expenses.
14. Does the school offer financial aid or scholarships to help cover these costs?
15. What else is important to you and your child? Does the school meet these additional concerns?

While most school Web sites, brochures and admission officers will answer most of your questions regarding the institution, College Navigator is also another good source to scour different colleges around the country.

******

This guest post is contributed by Olivia Coleman, who writes on the topics related to online colleges and universities.  She welcomes your comments at her email Id: olivia.coleman33@gmail.com.

She gives presentations about college strategies for schools, companies and financial advisory firms.  Lynn wrote The College Solution, which is an Amazon.com bestseller. The College Solution includes countless tips on college admissions, SAT/ACT strategies, college scholarships, financial aid and much more.

Where do you find a great college?

I hear that question all the time.

You can pour through the big fat college guides from folks like the Princeton Review and Fiske, but frankly they ignore most schools. For instance, Princeton Review’s latest guide covers 371 schools, but there are more than 2,200 four-year colleges and universities in this country.

What I’m going to quickly share with you today is one valuable resource, America’s Best Colleges from Forbes Magazine, that people can use to find hidden educational gems in their own regions.

The rankings created by Forbes and the nonprofit Center for College Affordability and Productivity include many colleges that the guidebooks don’t cover.

What I find especially helpful for teenagers searching for colleges is that the college rankings are also broken down by four regions – Northeast, Midwest, South and West.  A lot parents don’t want their teens going to college too far from home, but often they don’t know what schools exist beyond the public institutions in their own state.

This week, I sent the Midwest college list to my niece who lives in St. Louis and the Western list to my nephew who lives in the San Francisco Bay area.

The Western list includes instantly recognizable schools like Cal Tech and Stanford, but other highly ranked institutions include College of Idaho, George Fox University and St. Mary’s College of California. The latter two were ranked higher than UCLA or Berkeley. The Midwestern list includes such overlooked jewels as Doane College in Nebraska, College of Wooster in Ohio and Earlham College in Indiana.

You can learn more about Forbes’ list by reading a blog post that I wrote for CBSMoneyWatch entitled, The Best Colleges You’ve Never Heard Of.

I hope the Forbes’ rankings inspire you to look beyond the most obvious spots for great colleges. To find the best academic and financial fits today, families need to be casting much wider nets.

If you liked this article, you might like:

Choices. Choices. Choices.

Finding the perfect “fit” (for college)

Exploring Community College Options

Those of us committed to liberal arts education seem to be fighting an uphill battle in communicating the true nature of the liberal arts. Perhaps the first task is to dispel some common misconceptions.

1 – The Liberal Arts are not related to the Democratic or Republican (or Libertarian) political parties

2 – The liberal Arts are not highly specific fields of knowledge that are limited to only certain areas of life.

3 – The Liberal Arts are not lofty musings disconnected from the “real world” where people must get jobs and live their lives.

Those myths now cast aside, what exactly are the Liberal Arts?

Originally there were seven liberal arts, divided into two sections known by their Latin names, the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music) and the trivium (logic, grammar, and rhetoric). These areas of inquiry were considered appropriate for a free person (Latin: liber) in contrast to manual skills that were appropriate for slaves.

Obviously, things have changed over the centuries. Other disciplines were added to the list, and some of the traditional ones slipped away or were subsumed in the newer areas. During this century, many referred to the liberal arts as certain disciplines that were considered “traditional” as opposed to those areas that are associated with particular careers. In addition, colleges that referred to themselves as “liberal arts colleges” developed general education programs that consisted of a menu of courses in those traditional disciplines. We are familiar with them: English, History, Philosophy, Economics, Mathematics, Science, etc.

It is interesting to note that at the beginning of the twentieth century Harvard did not recognize Chemistry as a proper discipline for a true university; it was considered a “trade” skill. In recent decades scholars have recognized that to limit “the liberal arts” to a list of specific disciplines would not be adequate. Knowledge was changing too quickly, and disciplines did not separate into neat, mutually exclusive “silos.” Therefore, the language in higher education is shifting from “the liberal arts” to “liberal education.” We no longer speak of a static collection of knowledge to be memorized but a way of approaching the world–or, more accurately, several ways of approaching the world.

Liberal education involves different ways of analyzing questions or problems and developing answers or solutions. Each question or problem may lend itself to a particular method of analysis: scientific (natural and social), humanistic, artistic, empirical, philosophical. We must learn these different methods and gain the ability to discern their appropriate applications. In complex cases, several methods must be applied in order to achieve the best possible solution or answer. The liberally educated individual will have the tools to perform such a complex analysis.

In the case of Maryville College, where I enjoy the role of academic dean, our Maryville Curriculum is intentionally interdisciplinary and developmental, in that students take core courses in every year of their college experience, constantly reinforcing and extending their analytical skills. Even in the discipline-specific courses, while content is important, critical analysis of the content is crucial. All students bring their education to culmination in a senior research project, in which they apply all of these skills in creating a product appropriate to their respective major.

And isn’t that what the world demands today…multiple skill sets, complex analysis, the ability to think critically about an issue or situation and provide an ethical, effective idea or solution? The liberally educated individual—one who has experienced the depth and breadth of a liberal arts education—is able to engage with this world successfully, adapting with the changes and complexities it presents.

Those, my friends, are the Liberal Arts.

You can follow Maryville College on Twitter @stretchyourmind. 

• The print edition for $9.95
• The online edition for $14.95
• The combo package (print and online) for $19.95

If you don’t want to fork over the cost for either of these, you can browse their website and find a wealth of information.

It is my recommendation that you invest in at least the print version of this publication. If you’re in the process of choosing a college or even widdling down some choices, this publication will give you the needed information to make the right choice.

What does it provide?

1. It is packed with articles about how to choose a college, how to prepare, how to get in, and how to pay for the education.
2. It provides information about the best colleges concerning tuition, aid packages, student body, room and board cost, email addresses and website information.
3. There is also explanation on how they determine their rankings based on several key measures of quality: academic reputation, retention, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rate performance, and alumni giving rate.
4. It is an invaluable tool for determining past financial aid packages and will help you gauge if applying to a top-tiered college will be affordable based on alumni giving.
5. Schools vie for the prestige of being in this publication. If a school makes the list, you can be assured that the quality of the education you receive is worth every penny you spend.

And…Since this is such an invaluable tool for college-bound teens and their parents, here’s what I’m going to do:

To qualify for a giveaway of the U.S. News and World Report 2009 Best Colleges, simply sign up for my College Tips Email and post this on Twitter:

@suzanneshaffer is giving away a FREE U.S. News and World Report-Best Colleges 2009 http://tinyurl.com/kk6zg4

I will be choosing a random winner on June 15th. Spread the word to all your friends who have teens heading off to college !