Daughter with cold feet. Please help

shawbridge
Sun, 14 Oct 2007 23:38:23 +0000

A close friend’s daughter did not get into the school she wanted to go to (Brown) but got into all the others she applied to. She started saying she didn’t want to go to college that year. Her freshman year was miserable – the people were not interesting, everybody only wanted to drink, … She called home at least once a day. We suggested to her parents early on that she take the year off. They thought she should try. She did, but they now agree that the year off would have been better for her.

I had the same feeling after finishing college. I got in to the best grad school in my field and by the summer just didn’t want to go. I think I was burned out from working really hard in college and sensed that it wasn’t the right program for me. I left after the first year, worked for a year, and started again at my second choice school the following year.

I don’t know if the source of your daughter’s anxiety, but if she is feeling burned out, then maybe a year off would be a good idea.

Life is not a race (or if it is, taking a year off will not matter for the way the race is judged).