Do you have college stress? If you have a son or daughter who is a senior in High School, then you know what I’m talking about. This time of the year is just as stressful as when applications were due on January 1.
In the fall prior to January applications, you stress about which schools could work for you. Should your son or daughter apply to a small school, large school, a school in an urban environment or one with a sprawling campus?
Then once the applications are in, it’s the waiting game.
This is my second time around. My daughter selected three schools she was interested in and we visited Boston, Washington, DC and Syracuse. She selected Syracuse.
This time, my son applied to 35 schools around the world including Ivy league schools. He did amazingly well on his SAT’s and received grades of high 90’s in every class. And yet, we’re on edge every day waiting for the letters to come in, wondering if he will be accepted, rejected or wait listed. It’s ridiculously stressful!
It’s gotten to the point we can’t wait to see if he got accepted into the Ivy’s because the timeline is too short. We need to look at colleges now. He only has a month to make a decision. So, next week, I’m flying with him to Nashville, Los Angeles, San Francisco and back to NYC in four days. It’s going to be a ton of travel, rental cars and hotels but we’re determined to get it done. I almost feel like we’re going on an adventure like the amazing race.
Tell me your college stress story… Love to hear it…
I know what you’re talking about, Hilary! Many of my customers are high-school students entering college (I help them with SAT/ACT prep and college applications) and I can clearly see the stress in them and their parents. But in my experience, and after working with literally hundreds of students, things work out well in the end. It’s important to be flexible. Some of my students went to Ivy League schools, but others went to a community college and transferred later…And they all did well in the end!