Reply to How do kids find colleges to apply to? Help

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "How do kids find colleges to apply to? Help— senior won’t search!"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]Just dumping some thoughts here as a parent of a very happy college freshman.

DD got stuck w/the list because she was overwhelmed with the options, didn’t know how to sort schools based on what her friends might approve of (just being extremely honest here), and sort of wanted to fall madly in love with a school. She had these romantic ideas of what college could be like, and nothing seemed to match that.

I really worked on: college can be fun with a pretty campus, but mostly it is going to be functional. Where can you get the degree you want, maintain your mental health, and have a reasonably positive social experience. At some point it clicked for her, but it was really a struggle, because she wanted a college that would make her swoon.

I think I said you need to apply to at least 4 non-reach schools, with two of them safeties. I made a mock list, categorizing the schools, and said “feel free to make changes.” Like, swap them out as much as you want, but you need safeties and here’s the budget.

Something really important to consider: what currently brings her joy? What are her current best coping skills? If she really loves football games with friends and releases stress with yoga classes, then only look at schools that have both.

I would definitely intervene/help her over this hump, though. DD had several acquaintances who sort of flopped during this process. One is very unhappily taking classes while living at home, and one has no plan AT ALL. Keeps saying she’s going to do a gap year abroad, but her mom can’t get her to complete any applications. And her mom wants her to be independent, so she’s stepping back while her daughter is totally stuck.

Don’t do this! If she is really stuck, help her out. It’s early and she does have more time, but if you hit October 1 and she doesn’t have a list, it’s time to step back in.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics