| DD has been treated for anxiety since 4th grade. She's now in 10th grade and just starting to think about colleges. She gets good grades (her lowest grades are A-) and excels in English and History. I'm curious to know which colleges/universities may be particularly good (or bad, for that matter) for students with anxiety. Thank you for any insights. |
| CTCL schools |
| Not to diminish in any way the anxiety suffered by your DD, OP but I believe there was an article in the NYtimes recently that most kids her age are suffering from some degree of anxiety. It would follow then, that most colleges have kids attending who deal with this, and I expect some support systems in place for that. |
| OP here - yes, I saw that NYTimes article. I would hope that all colleges have support systems in place, but still there must be some schools that are better suited than others for a kid with anxiety. Looking for a great, academically rigorous college or university for a very bright and thoughtful kid, with an atmosphere that isn't totally pressure cooker. |
| Two of my kids had anxiety, one attended a big ten school and the other attended a CTCL school. The child that went to a LAC had a much better experience, but stilll struggled while attending. i would recommend therapy for coping before attending. It can be a lot at the beginning. |
| I don't want to hijack the thread but it would seem like there also needs to be a plan (hopefully a college could help with this) to handle medical level anxiety after graduation and on the job. |
| An extremely large university may be more challenging than a smaller university or college. |
Yes, although social anxiety could be exacerbated in a small environment. |
| Avoid Swarthmore at all costs! |
Could you tell us more? |
| Could someone please post a link to that NYT arcticle? |
here it is https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/magazine/why-are-more-american-teenagers-than-ever-suffering-from-severe-anxiety.html?_r=0 |
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When we visited Swarthmore, our tour guide describing being involved in a rather astounding number of campus activities (and he was just a sophomore). When someone questioned this, he said that he had learned his lesson after freshman year and now made it a point of getting to bed by 3 am on school nights (vs 5 am the year before). One mother asked whether any kids just come home for the summer to relax and he said, "Swatties don't relax."
The atmosphere seem very unhealthy and competitive to us. |
Or how about we just let kids play, have fun, and just be kids. Even thru college. Stop micromanaging them, stop putting them in daily sports or other structured classes. Stop giving them tutors, test prep, and fighting the school for more things - making them think their idiots. Focusing on college. Who cares? Happiness and laid back fun should be what kids need to learn growing up. Ending the helicopter tiger parent generation will help so much more than medicating them all of their lives. |
Disagree |