I expect our DS will choose somewhere either on the other side of the world, or within about an hour of home. He has anxiety and I know that it can help to drop home for a weekend as a kind of break from things. Obviously he won't be doing this if he goes for the other side of the world option.

My high anxiety kid wants a large school within 3 hours of home. He thinks a small SLAC would make him feel more feel exposed than a larger school with more social options and anonymity when he wants it. The geographic range really limits the choices but that can relieve some pressure too.

Anonymous wrote:How has it changed the college search/selection process? My son has pretty severe GAD, although we are doing a lot to manage it through medication and a good psychiatrist. He's a super bright kid, but we're encouraging him to choose a small college within driving distance of our home. I don't want to limit his options, but I also want to keep his mental health and safety in mind.

I'd be interested to hear from other parents how they are navigating mental health issues with their students.

For us, it immediately made our radius small.
Keep him close. I can't stress this enough. Close enough that you can drop by just to say hello sometimes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid with GAD applied to small schools close by and added one very large school that is also near home at the last minute (got accepted and is attending). The rationale is that the large school has so many more choices in activities and friends that even if they avoided 90% of them due to anxiety there would be so many more to take advantage of. It’s working out so far.

OP here. Thanks so much for sharing this. So glad things are going well for your student.

Keep in mind a larger school might also have more mental health supports in place. This isn't a knock on smaller schools at all. Just keeping options open.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have similar limits, but we are including cities with short (~2 hours) non-stop flights from our airport.

We are not focusing on small colleges, because I am not convinced that is necessarily a better environment for *my* child. I think smaller schools can sometimes lead to feeling more pressure - everyone knows you and you can't disappear. It can also be harder to find your place in a small school. I'm not saying every small school is a problem, just be sure to investigate them carefully.

I agree with this. I have pretty severe anxiety and thrived in a big school, most definitely I would have felt too much pressure at a small one.

+1000

A school like UMD would be a much better fit than a tiny SLAC

I think that small colleges are great for kids with anxiety. Also someone will notice when they aren't in class (if that happens) for any length of time and actually do something about it. Even colleges with 2000 kids don't really feel that small. It's not as if you get to know everyone and there are still a TON of clubs, sports, options to get involved in. I actually think it's a little easier to make friends at the smaller schools. That said, one of my kids with GAD went to a big school and really loved it. But they did end up making it smaller by joining a sorority (a mellow one) and joining another club where they spent a lot of weekend time. So even big schools need to be made smaller is my point. And also be careful not to unconsciously undermine your child's sense of independence by being more worried for them then they are. You ultimately want them to be able to function independently even with GAD. Good luck OP.

This is interesting. My DS with anxiety has said he wants a small liberal arts school. These posts make me wonder if that's not the right path.

Anonymous wrote:My kid with GAD applied to small schools close by and added one very large school that is also near home at the last minute (got accepted and is attending). The rationale is that the large school has so many more choices in activities and friends that even if they avoided 90% of them due to anxiety there would be so many more to take advantage of. It’s working out so far.

OP here. Thanks so much for sharing this. So glad things are going well for your student.

My kid with GAD applied to small schools close by and added one very large school that is also near home at the last minute (got accepted and is attending). The rationale is that the large school has so many more choices in activities and friends that even if they avoided 90% of them due to anxiety there would be so many more to take advantage of. It’s working out so far.

OP here. Thanks for everyone's insight. To clarify, by "small school" we're looking more in the 5K-10K student range, so maybe "medium" is a more appropriate description. We will look at some larger schools, but my son has pretty bad social anxiety in crowds. I'm hoping a slightly smaller school will make it harder for him to fall through the cracks.

Again, thanks for everyone's feedback.

Anonymous wrote:We have similar limits, but we are including cities with short (~2 hours) non-stop flights from our airport.

We are not focusing on small colleges, because I am not convinced that is necessarily a better environment for *my* child. I think smaller schools can sometimes lead to feeling more pressure - everyone knows you and you can't disappear. It can also be harder to find your place in a small school. I'm not saying every small school is a problem, just be sure to investigate them carefully.

I agree with this. I have pretty severe anxiety and thrived in a big school, most definitely I would have felt too much pressure at a small one.

We have similar limits, but we are including cities with short (~2 hours) non-stop flights from our airport.

We are not focusing on small colleges, because I am not convinced that is necessarily a better environment for *my* child. I think smaller schools can sometimes lead to feeling more pressure - everyone knows you and you can't disappear. It can also be harder to find your place in a small school. I'm not saying every small school is a problem, just be sure to investigate them carefully.

My teen looked at colleges and wanted a school within a few hours drive away.

My student does not have GAD, but I think you have to narrow school search criteria somehow. Taking health concerns into account seems totally reasonable to me. If he doesn't have other needs or goals you would struggle to meet following those criteria (i.e., specific academic interests or desire to live in a certain part of the country), I wouldn't give it another thought. A successful college experience will set him up to go on to try other things.

How has it changed the college search/selection process? My son has pretty severe GAD, although we are doing a lot to manage it through medication and a good psychiatrist. He's a super bright kid, but we're encouraging him to choose a small college within driving distance of our home. I don't want to limit his options, but I also want to keep his mental health and safety in mind.

I'd be interested to hear from other parents how they are navigating mental health issues with their students.