frankly, we were ALL stressed out by eldest’s application process because SHE was a mess about it. I think our son actually benefited from it. He watched his sister do everything right and still not get into her dream schools BUT go off to a wonderful college lower on her list and thrive. It relaxed him. Let him be who he wanted to be and not try to twist himself into something he thought colleges wanted. As if turned out, he faired much better acceptance wise despite not filling every second with activities and choosing a high school that didn’t believe in AP and such. He even decided to attend his big sisters college and is thriving as well.