From a Rising Senior to Her Teachers: Things to Never Say or Ask About College

Since the dawn of time (or at least since college admissions became the beast it is today), high school seniors have been pestered with constant questions about their future, chief among them: ‘Where do you want to go to college?’

I have been asked this so many times that I respond from a script: ‘Oh, I don’t know, I’m thinking about going to the East Coast. I like Boston College- Northeastern- Dartmouth- Tufts- Amherst.’ I end with a forced smile and pretend to take a phone call.

The truth is, I don’t know where I’m going to college. I know where I hope to go. But do they want me? Am I good enough? My entire life I have been told, ‘Oh do that, it will look good for college.’ Now I wonder, will it?" …

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-07-08-from-a-rising-senior-to-her-teachers-things-to-never-say-or-ask-about-college

People who work in education will agree that these four questions should not be asked. Well-meaning grown ups don’t really know how to make conversation with teenagers so when faced with talking to the kids of friends, etc., they fall on these ready-made but stressful questions. I encourage kids to turn the question around in a friendly way, to ask the interlocutor where they went to college and what was their experience.