For a perfect example of how not to choose a college, look no further than the fact that applications to St Andrews increased by 40% when Prince William was accepted there.

With so many institutions and over 50,000 courses to choose from, how do you help your teenager select six?

Firstly, your teenager should do the choosing... not you!

Heavy-handed attempts to steer him toward 'approved' institutions will be resisted, while nostalgic anecdotes about your own university days can irritate.

Setting priorities
However, you can help by clarifying the priorities - tactfully. Most importantly, will he be happy? This has a bigger impact on future success than the university's image, reputation, or position in the rating tables. Depressed students are unlikely to achieve academically. Look at course-content, location, and the university's atmosphere and facilities. Research is key.

Check out the course
Be clear about what the course covers. Will it lead to the qualification required? Read the prospectus carefully and if in doubt contact the department. Most admissions tutors are very helpful and responsive. If really keen, you can obtain inspection reports on teaching quality from the Quality Assurance Agency, or investigate lecturers' publication records.

How far away?
How often will he want to come home? Long-distance travel in term time is financially crippling for most students. 1 student in 4 now lives at home - worth considering if money is tight. Is your child hungry for a radically different environment, or would a familiar one be reassuring?

Campus or city?
If you suspect a romanticised image of certain universities, visit to get a realistic feel for them. Remember that some universities (such as York) are on campuses outside the city. It's easier to make friends on a campus as you keep coming across the same people, but escape is difficult if life gets claustrophobic.

Metropolitan universities are less artificial, but potentially isolating. Remember accommodation varies and some urban students can be stranded in bleak suburbs. Some are happy in squalor, others become depressed. You know your child.

Practicalities
Research needs to start in the first year of the sixth form.

UCAS applications need to be made by October for entry in the following year for entry to Oxbridge, medicine, vet school or dentistry with early January the next deadline for all other courses except for Art and Design.

The standard application fee is £15 for a maximum of six choices and £5 for a single choice and the easiest way to make an application is to use APPLY - the online application system run by UCAS.

If they don't receive an offer from the first six applications - there's the option to use Extra. This operates from mid-March to the end of June. Universities and colleges with vacancies will list them on the course search area of the UCAS website. Applicants who are eligible will be able to refer themselves electronically/

If after all this, your child still doesn't have a place, they'll need to use the Clearing system. Courses with vacancies will be listed in The Independent newspaper and on the Clearing section of the UCAS website, from the day that A level results are published (usually the third Thursday in August).

Remember: even if your child's exam results are disappointing, it's always worth contacting the university to see if your teenager could still be accepted.