| We will be doing this next year but will definitely not quit our jobs. However, our son is pretty dyslexic and we will probably have him a) dictate some of his essays to us, because he finds that the least stressful mode of writing relative to pen, typing and speech recognition; b) help in identifying schools where the kids are as smart as he is but the curriculum is flexible enough for him to thrive; c) find someone to handle some of the clerical filling-in of information if there is a lot of it (don't know how much the Common App simplifies things; and d) assemble the application materials. He can do all of the steps, but they would be much more draining and would take away from substantively meaningful things he would otherwise be doing (e.g., completing his novel). We'll probably get some help on the logistical portion because we may be too busy to help ourselves.
We lived in Manhattan when my wife was pregnant with him and she was asked by friends if she'd put the yet unborn child on the waiting list for the right pre-schools, which was our best chance to get him to go to Harvard (these were serious, concerned friends and were not joking). Now, they'd be telling us to quite our jobs. I understand the pressure that the mother in NY is facing -- the kids are going from 6 AM to midnight with classes, homework, ECs in school, volunteer stuff, and assorted resume polishing activities so when do they have time to do 8 Tufts essays? But, what a bizarre world we live in. |