MEADVILLE, Pa., Dec. 5, 2007 - Finding the perfect gift for a loved one who's trying to find the perfect college need not be a struggle this year.
Here are 10 fun ideas from Scott Friedhoff, vice president for enrollment and communications at Allegheny College, which are sure to tickle your preoccupied teen and shine a little holiday light on the important journey ahead.
1) A GPS device to help find the many colleges located off the beaten track.
2) An iTunes gift card to help prevent the fines associated with the illegal sharing of music.
3) A bookstore gift certificate from your student's top college.
4) A gift certificate for a major restaurant chain for when your soon-to-be college student tires of cafeteria food—or just needs a late-night snack.
5) A thoughtfully written book about colleges and the college search process. Loren Pope, for example, writes very well about the advantages and disadvantages of particular types of colleges. His “Colleges That Change Lives” and “Looking Beyond the Ivy League: Finding the College That's Right for You” are two must-reads.
6) A text-messaging lesson for yourself. Communication—any kind of communication—is important during the search process and particularly important in that first year of college. Do what you can to keep the lines of communication open, even if it means learning text-messaging shorthand like TTYL (Talk to You Later).
7) A cookbook. A great social activity in college is fixing a meal. You might even practice a couple of recipes with your son or daughter during the holiday break.
8) Boots, particularly if you are looking at northern colleges. Being cool and bootless in high school is no longer cool in college. Plus, late-night sledding parties are much more fun if you are warm and dry.
9) A cardboard box containing a simple message that your student should fill his or her future with knowledge gained through an open-minded exploration of many academic areas of study no matter how unusual the combinations. (To avoid seeing eyes roll, it might be a good idea to paperclip some cash to the message.)
10) Your love and support. The college search can be an anxiety-ridden process; you can keep the stress levels down by affirming choices and keeping communication lines clear and open.
Friedhoff has nearly 30 years of experience in higher education, 21 in enrollment management at private colleges, and a national reputation for using multidisciplinary, research-based techniques to increase institutional visibility, selectivity and retention. He is nationally known in the field of college admissions and education finance and is a regular resource for the New York Times, Chronicle of Higher Education and USA Today, among others. He serves on a variety of advisory boards including US News.
For more information about college searches, contact Friedhoff at scott.friedhoff@allegheny.edu.
