<p>Agree it depends on the kid. As it stands today, I 'd love DS who is a HS junior to have a college life that SOCIALIZES much more than he does now. He has friends, but his social hour is usually working on a group school project, or jazz band practice. He has no skills for making small talk or the almighty water cooler schmoozing. I don’t want him living in Animal House, but he certainly needs to learn networking and how to recharge with down time. My younger son - he was born with social skills. I don’t expect my list for him would start with social time.</p>
<p>My college social life was the BEST years of my life. Academics were challenging. Few skipped class. Weekend parties were great. Plenty of parties in high school, but those friends were just sloppy drunks. College friends were drunk philosophers. </p>
<p>Career prep is way down on my list. Yes, I want my kids to be employable, but having watched the tech age develop, I’m sure there are plenty of career paths that I can imagine that will open up for my kids. I’d rather see them confident and unafraid to change paths as the “cheese” is moved.</p>