Actually Zero, you are entitled to your opinion, but basically it is my opinion that you're flat out wrong. (Hopefully you didn't neglect proper grammar when you were busy preparing your kids how to pick a college in 6th grade.)
To answer your question....yes, the conversations regarding college attendance when a child is growing up are definitely influential. But you seem to mis-understand the mindset of attending college and being able to adequately and knowledgeably understand the criteria to make the decision on which college to attend. Are you advocating that your 12/13/14 year old daughter understood the pros and cons of a large public university vs. small private institution because you had "discussions in your home with siblings"?
College attendance was never a option for my kids, as evidenced by the 529 accounts set up on their first birthday. College was always a priority, and, over the years, many visits were made to our alma maters, and other colleges for sporting events, plays, and other community events. They grew up in that environment, but that in no way made her ready to pick a school in her freshman year of high school. Maybe my kid is just stupid, but I don't think setting a tone/dream/aspiration makes them able to understand the difference between Stanford and Samford.
Remember, you're the one saying to prepare your child in 6th grade to pick a college. My ill prepared daughter was too busy deciding what to watch between Lizzy McGuire or High School Musical...but that is because I'm a bad parent that "chose to see where the cards would fall". Excuse me if I didn't educate my player when she was 12 on the differences between urban/rural campus, geographical settings, majors offered, cultural considerations, and a plethora of other criteria necessary to make an informed college decision. Her decision to commit in early in her 10th grade year followed an accelerated program of campus visits, lists of pros/cons, and hours of reviews of academic majors offered at each institution. She elected to choose a campus that offered the largest catalog of available majors, so that she would have plenty of options when she was old and wise enough to fine tune her education specialty.
I tend to think that Hank has it right, compared to Zero...
Good luck to you and your player!