If you've got kids who are getting close to the age where they'll need to apply to college, you should start figuring out a plan for getting them into the place they'll want to go. Ideally, you should start this before they even get into high school – you can wait if your kids want to go to less competitive schools, but if you're shooting for places that are harder to get into (or even for the less competitive ones if your child has been getting poor grades) you'll need to plan ahead.

First, around the beginning of high school, you need to help find your teen something to do as far as an extracurricular activity. Colleges want students who have in depth commitments to a couple of activities that they really like doing. These days, it's not as good to be a member of fifteen different clubs – you'll want to pick one or two and focus on them.

Which ones will depend on how you child is planning to get in. If he or she is a sports star, you'll want at least one academic activity such as drama or debate that balances out their application – preferably one that doesn't take up too much time. If they're an academic all star, it's often best to stick with that anyway – you're not going to get a sports scholarship unless you're both good and dedicated, but you could look at volunteer work as a way of making the application look better.

Keep on your kids about their grades – this is not the time to let them slack. Find out what they will need on average to get into the schools they like, and push them to keep their grades above that level. Plan on studying for the SAT at least six months beforehand – it can be a make or break, even for the athletes. Finally, get on top of the applications period – many times, your kids won't. So you'll need to make sure they're doing their essays and filling them out.