<p>I think most of Northstarmom’s advise is excellent, but I do think it’s an ongoing debate about how much students should do for college apps. Sometimes in an area of high stress it’s hard to function, and that doesn’t mean the student isn’t ready for college. For instance, everyone wonders why I’m not more proactive in getting my voluminous writing published. I honestly don’t see the path there, though others do. If my H took responsiblity for packaging said work for agents/publishers and writing cover letters it would be great. I don’t think it means I am not ready for publicaton. YMMV.</p>
<p>I think the Americorps gap year is a wonderful idea if your son wants to do it. It’s clear that NSM’s really benefitted from it. My son would not have been willing to do this. He wanted to go to college; he just was no where near as interested as I in the process.</p>
<p>Things he wouldn’t do:
Read mail from colleges
Peruse college websites
Look up schools in ratings guides
Contact profs at college</p>
<p>Things he would do:
Fill out common application
Write a really good essay and edit it
Get recommendations</p>
<p>Gray areas:
Showing any interest in finding good safeties
Being proactive on college visits</p>
<p>The only real initiative he showed was contacting people and meeting people at music department of the school he really wanted to go to. He is too immature to understand the importance of having this level of interest at other schools and contacting those profs. His interest was in going to school X, and I must say, he did make an effort to make this happen. Repeating the process with schools Y,Z,A,B, and C was all on my shoulders.</p>
<p>The happy result was that he was accepted at school X (and Y,Z, and A but not B and C) and is attending. He seems to be doing fine and thriving. He got himself into school symphony, choir and a by audition student a cappella group. He got a wonderful on campus job (in Music Department) and is excited by his classes. He called on night at 11:15 to say he had just completed his first college paper on the metaphysics of a movie they needed to screen.</p>
<p>So, I think dragging one’s heals in the college process doesn’t necessarily mean the child isn’t ready for college. (jmho) I hate job hunting much more than I hate working. One of the wonderful perks of being a tenured college professor is that I’ll never have to look for a job again.</p>