By Terese Corey Blanck and Peter Vogt

Does your son or daughter need to go to an "elite" college or university?

That question goes much deeper than simply trying to identify which of the Ivy League schools or other highly regarded institutions your child might want to eventually list on his/her resume. Indeed, your son/daughter - with your help - has to ask himself/herself a couple of very fundamental questions where picking a college is concerned:

• "What school is best suited to help me achieve my goals and aspirations?"
• "Does the achievement of these goals and aspirations depend on me attending an Ivy League school or another elite institution?"

The truth is that, in most cases, there are many academic avenues that will help your child pursue his/her desired career path. But for certain career fields - for instance, international affairs and diplomacy - your child may well give himself/herself a distinct advantage by getting into and graduating from an elite college or university.

Admission into the elite institutions in the United States reached an all new level of competitiveness in 2002. Thousands of high school students are of the academic caliber to gain acceptance into elite schools, and often the distinction between the students who get in and those who don't is intangible and vague.

If you and your son/daughter truly believe that he/she must get into an elite institution, then you need to begin planning early. Elite schools use more than test scores, class ranking, and grade point average (GPA) to make their admissions decisions (though all three of those factors are important). They'll look at your child's total academic and extracurricular performance and rank your child's activities and involvements. More specifically, they'll evaluate your child's:

• Leadership activities - for example, was your son/daughter class president? editor of the student newspaper? chair of the homecoming event planning committee?
• Recommendations from reputable people in reputable positions.
• Level of commitment to a cause or community service - e.g., teaching the poor or new immigrants, starting a student-run soup kitchen.
• Unique achievements - e.g., having his/her photographs included in a regional or traveling exhibit, having his/her poetry published in a national magazine.
• Fluency in a foreign language - particularly an off-the-beaten-path foreign language like Arabic or Swahili.
• Application essay(s) - Is your son's/daughter's essay well written? Did he/she actually write it? Does the essay tell a personal, moving story or is it merely formulaic?

So...what can your high-school-age son or daughter do now to improve his/her chances of gaining acceptance into an elite college or university later? Here are a few specific ideas. Encourage your child to:

• Work toward his/her "uniqueness" - the sooner the better! Elite institutions are looking for young people who have something special to offer to the campus, the community, and the world as a whole.
• Read, read, read! The more your son/daughter reads, the better his/her vocabulary and communication skills will become.
• Take at least one foreign language like Arabic or Swahili and become proficient in it.
• Get involved in out-of-class activities that speak to their passions. And help them see that it's not how many activities they pursue that's most important; it's the quality of their impact that matters most. Better to make a profound difference in one or two activities versus having little or no real impact in five or six.

As a parent, you know that the road ahead for your son/daughter will be difficult and unpredictable. You also know that there is no "for sure" strategy your son/daughter can employ to get into an elite institution if that's the academic path that seems necessary; there are no guarantees. But you can help your child improve his/her odds of success - so that whatever college or university he/she wants to attend, it will be one that helps your child achieve his/her career dreams.

Copyright © 2003, Terese Corey Blanck and Peter Vogt. All rights reserved.