Why doesn't the other side of the fence feel better?

I’ve been helping a good friend and her daughter whom I also know very well with their BS application. Had lunch with another friend who sent off all her son’s stuff as well. I do feel thankful that the whole application for Disneykid went so smooth. But it seems that there are always things to fret about!

Disneykid is struggling with a term project in social studies… Will he come through or will he fail? Past history has been 50/50, though the more important the task, the more likely he comes through. But the anxiety… Sigh.

And course selection, especially with which AP science courses he should choose. He does well in all and his preference depends on the teacher. He is already slated to take a language, computer science and calculus, so he can’t do all the sciences. And we are firm not to load him with AP only, but let him have some fun electives in digital arts and video production. Career and college choices play a role in determining what he should take and Disneykid is pretty vague about what he wants to do… Using technology to help people in developing countries, and lately, creating technology to help kids with learning disabilities (he tutored a boy with dyscalculia this summer and hated the software the kid was using.)

But he is also interested in physical therapy, actually being a trainer on an NBA team, is a dream job… DH thinks a career with a professional certification like being a pharmacist or accountant… So biology or chemistry?

I guess my struggle on being the other side of the fence is that I don’t want to put a damper on what is a really exciting time for these families. They have all these dreams about how wonderful and enriching BS will be. And while BS has been everything we had hoped it would be for DS, there are still struggles we would have been sheltered from if he had stayed home.

Being international students will create even more challenges for these kids. My son is far more academically gifted than them so I worry about how they will fare. Our nationality makes it easier for them to enter which increases the chance of them being overwhelmed… The boy has been working with an army of tutors prepping him which is not a good thing because he won’t have the same access to help at BS. In fact, he is applying as a 9th grader when he is the same age as Disneykid cuz his SSAT were really low…
My son actually moved ahead half a grade in keeping with his age group, but now he is bummed about having to make college choices before his friends. But we remind him that he will be finished before them as well.

And we begin our college tours this summer… I have a daughter and husband here but they are low maintenance, so I am preoccupied with DS away on another continent… Sorry to vent but parents here will know that life isn’t always peachy and everyone around me thinks I am so lucky and DS is such a star. “He’s so mature now!” My friend’s daughter giggled when we had dinner while he was back… Another friend asked me whether he would be applying to MIT, I almost spit out my latte!!! Not even close… she has no idea…