The most common time a student meets us at TBU is in their junior year of high school.
More often than not these juniors are exhausted by school, overwhelmed, and worried about the college process, and their parents often share this sense of bewilderment. In the best cases, they’re also excited and curious about planning their future.
If you’d like to help your child and family experience college planning that is more curious and excited than overwhelming, read on for our insights on planning for college with less stress– 
When you weigh the options of starting college advising early on in 9th or 10th grade, versus waiting to engage support later in junior or senior year, there is one fundamental question at work for a student–
Will you be intentional in writing the story you want to tell, 
or 
will you seek support in telling the story you’ve already written? 
As college advisors, we can tell you honestly that our work can have the most impact on your child’s journey, experience, and outcomes, when we work together to support a student in exploring options, making choices, and investing their time early in high school. 
A student’s college options and the college applications they craft will be shaped by the classes they’ve taken, the grades they’ve earned, and the ways they’ve pursued their interests and engaged in their communities while in high school. Each of these pieces are ones we can support students and families to engage intentionally along the way when we start a partnership with a family in 9th or 10th grade. Can part of this be strategic? Absolutely. Some families are invested in understanding where students should focus their coursework or time outside of school to best position themselves to gain admission to the kinds of programs or colleges they desire. We are glad to support students and their families in making well-informed choices amidst all the noise of the college admissions process.
At its best though, starting earlier gives a student something more than good strategy. Engaging support in 9th and 10th grade invites a student to have more agency to shape the story they want to tell. Students who start thinking about who they are, what they are curious and passionate about, and how they want to contribute in the world as early as 9th and 10th grade feel more empowered to pursue their interests. They might be more confident to explore new opportunities, or consider leadership roles. They can be intentional about spending each of the three summers they have before they graduate high school. They have a clearer sense of what they want and need in a college community and how to choose schools that best align to their own values, priorities, and vision.
Does this mean you shouldn’t start college advising late in junior year or even with senior year on the horizon? Of course not! When we meet students in the spring semester of junior year, we are excited to jump right in with them, and help them take the stress and guesswork out of the college process. But we will decidedly be working on a compressed timeline to identify priorities and make decisions. When students come to us near the end of junior year, or even at the start of senior year, we are always eager to support them and know we can make the process easier for them. At that point, we are most often helping students tell the best version of the story they’ve written throughout their time in high school. 
It’s not too early or too late to engage the support of a TBU Advisor. We are experienced in supporting students to understand themselves, navigate their college choices, clarify their personal best fit, and tell their most compelling stories; our passion is helping you make a plan that takes the overwhelm out of the process and empowers you to become your own best you. 
If you’d like to explore working with a TBU Advisor from 8th grade through transfer admissions, get in touch here and we will look forward to connecting with you.
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