By Jack Simmons
Coastal Parent

They're your ticket to a luxurious retirement and they owe you big time. So now you have a teenager and you want her to get into a good college so she can get a good job and support you in your retirement...we understand.

As the high school year approaches, many parents ask what their kids ought to be doing to prepare themselves for college. What classes should they take? Should they be involved in extra curricular activities, which ones, and how many? And what about standardized tests?

Now that nearly everyone is expected to attend college, college admissions offices are flooded with applicants. As a result, the top state and private universities have become very competitive. The first thing to remember when thinking about college is the purpose of higher education: enlightenment. Don't focus too much on university rankings. Most accredited universities offer satisfactory educational opportunities. The key is to find a college environment in which your child will thrive.

That said, it is important to know what colleges and universities look for in the application process to improve your child's chances of getting into the university of his or her choice. While this process varies at each institution, the top three concerns are almost always: high school GPA, high school curriculum and standardized exams (SAT). The University of Georgia looks at these three criteria in this order.

GPA is almost always the first thing university admissions officers look at, so encourage your child to do well in school. At UGA, the average GPA of freshmen in 2000 was 3.7. If you child is doing poorly in a subject, ask the teacher what you and your child might do to help improve your child's grade. The most likely solution involves hiring a private tutor, but there are other options like summer math camp, joining a book club or practicing vocabulary at the dinner table. Good teachers will offer good advice specific to their discipline. If the advice is counter-intuitive, it is probably bad advice. Consider a new teacher.

High school curriculum is nearly as important as GPA. While most universities require that the GPA be factored on a 4.0 scale (which means the student gets no GPA bonus for honors or AP courses), universities still consider the difficulty of the curriculum. Most selective universities require four years of English and math, three years of science and social studies, and two years of foreign language. Four years of science and foreign languages is a plus. It is generally better to have your child earn slightly lower grades in harder classes, than slightly higher grades in less challenging classes, so encourage your child to take as many advanced courses as he or she can reasonably handle. However, if your child is earning a C or below in honor's courses, he or she might be better off taking regular courses, assuming that he or she would then earn higher grades. There is nothing wrong with taking some non-academic electives (band, shop, P.E.) but don't overdo it. Perfect grades in four years of P.E. will not help your child get into Princeton, and soon will not count towards the 3.0 GPA necessary for the HOPE scholarship in Georgia.

Finally, your child must take standardized exams, and my recommendation is to have them take the exams early and often. The best practice for the exam is taking the exam. I recommend that children take the exam in the fall and spring of their junior year, and again in the fall of their senior year. Most selective schools want an SAT score in the 1,200 range or higher. Every time your child takes the test, he or she can expect a 100-point increase (individual results will vary).

Jack Simmons is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Savannah State University and has published many academic articles pertaining to higher education issues.