The deepest fears — and hopes — parents harbor about their kids applying to college

Parents Forum
1

“In the next several months the 2016-17 college admissions season will play out, with the majority of students who have applied as freshmen for this coming fall learning which schools have accepted and which haven’t. Parents will be waiting too, many of them wrapped in fears about the future of their children. In this post, Brennan Barnard, director of college counseling at the Derryfield School, a private college preparatory day school for grades 6-12 in Manchester, N.H., addresses parents’ fears around the admissions process, sharing some that he hears from students’ parents every day. Do you see yourself in any of these?” …

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/01/04/the-deepest-fears-and-hopes-parents-harbor-about-their-kids-applying-to-college/

2

That article contains a list of unnecessary angst, but followed by plenty of healthy positive hopes for their kids. Focus on the positive.

3

My greatest fear is that my son will return from college as a mime…I have nightmares about being stuck in an invisible box, and French berets will “trigger” me… :frowning: :-t

4

Maybe he will major in mannequin posing, @Gator88NE

5

Pleasant drivel. The best point made is that college applications are the beginning of less parental control over what happens to our kids, hence the angst. WE know our kids are (fill in the blank) smart, creative, compassionate, hard-working, etc. but will their applications make the colleges believe it too?

I have two major worries:

  1. Will my D be able to successfully handle the organizational / executive functions demands of being a college student, and specifically a student athlete?
  1. Will D be able to obtain internships and eventually a job that can provide financial independence? A corollary to this one is a worry about companies' growing interest in asking applicants to provide videos. D is not strong in anything that resembles public speaking.
6

I worry about my son being an outcast at a primarily liberal LAC.

7

I think that this was covered by the great Robin Williams, RIP:

You have two dreams about your children speaking in public. The first is: “I’d like to thank the members of the Nobel academy.” The second is “You want fries with that?”

You will love them either way.