“I didn’t realize that NMF/ NMS came with great scholarships at some schools.”
I’m not sure if the intent of the OP is ways to reduce stress, but if you’re going for a NMF or other scholarships, there’s no way to avoid stress and pressure, unless you can just ace the PSAT and SAT/ACTs without studying, which a few kids can for sure, especially the math section. While other scholarships like say the Coca Cola scholars, are not test focused, they look closely at community service, ECs, and if you see the application, you better have a whole bunch of leadership on there.
“Don’t let your kids spend their high school years looking at acceptance to a prestigious colleges as the only way that they can validate their worth, and the worth of all they accomplished in high school.”
I think we all agree on this, however adults telling other adults how to view college acceptances, which is what this thread is about, is not going to change anything. Kids at this age still look at peer validation which means, for most competitive students, what college they get in will determine their worth.
Researchers looked at why all the anti-drug, drinking campaigns in the 80s and 90s didn’t work or actually made things worse and they realized those programs did not understand the teenage mind, they assumed the teenager and adult would react the same to the message.