<p>A psychologist comments on the college admissions process and the still-developing adolescent brain.
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...parents, teachers, and high-school counselors are "neurosculptors" of teenagers. What adults say and do to adolescents will shape who they grow up to be. So, Ms. Deak said, they have a responsibility to help students manage their anxiety about college. "A big part of your job is to keep stress levels in bounds," she said. "Stress isn't bad, but pervasive stress literally starts killing neurons."
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In other words, helping a teenager apply to college is not only an admissions issue -- it's also a developmental issue. As such, there's much room for teaching. Guilt and punishment typically won't help a teenager remember to turn in his application materials on time, Ms. Deak said, but helping him develop a plan for remembering to meet such deadlines just might.
<p>Nice to hear this from an expert. My D and her classmates are all just full of stress about college apps. It is NOT healthy! Half of what I think about as I look through CC is how to keep the stress down.</p>
<p>goingivyleague thanks for the suggestions! But as someone who detests menial work, I can’t really force myself to start my essays yet and do so many drafts… maybe a fourth of what you suggested… thankfully, I will apply to a school early action so I will have gotten many things out of the way.</p>
<p>Am happy DD only applied to ONE college, where she happily matriculated & will soon be graduating! This is not to say she hasn’t had stress along the way, but it definitely didn’t turn out as projected for us or D!</p>
<p>my brain was COMPLETELY fried senior year thanks to college apps.
i didn’t get into my first choice (early decision) and it basically turned into a snowball effect until graduation. it was a really traumatic experience.</p>
<p>i have really good memory but lately (post-hs graduation) i’ve been slipping. now that i’m attending my transfer school (top choice) i’m finally getting on track again. college applications will seriously screw with your mind.</p>
<p>I think the whole process is strictly what you make of it. If you treat it like a chore that’ll never get done, it’s gonna be a major headache. Instead, I tried my best to twist it into a bit of a journey that would help carve out my future for wherever I would end up. I applied to 11 schools this past year and I really liked all of em. (Some more than others of course, but I was surprisingly content with my safeties.) There was pretty much no pushing or prodding from my parents; I was motivated to finish my apps because I really wanted to find out where I was going to end up living for the next 4 years. Altogether the college admissions process was a really fun ride for my mom and I, sure it had it’s ups and it’s downs, it’s joyful moments and it’s headaches, but that’s life, and why dwell on the bad things when you can focus on the good? </p>
<p>(Wow, I sound annoyingly optimistic, sorry about that, haha.)</p>
<p>Personally I never really had much stress over college; I wanted to maintain my degree of focus, since that would help me think about USAMO problems=). Isn’t this why many people have some sort of ADHD nowadays? I don’t know, but when you do things for college, you start to think less and less about what you’re actually doing, hence the quote “Don’t count your eggs before they hatch.” I wouldn’t know each person’s motivation for a passion, whether it would be for college or just pure interest. I don’t even care really. But what I do know, is that doing it for college will slow you down.</p>
<p>How stressful are the essays? I’m applying to like 6 or 7 schools, one of which will be early action… how much time should I expect to spend on essays, including supplements?</p>
<p>Most of the advice in the “going ivy” column is pretty good; I think, though, that the suggestion that the Common App essay requires 20 drafts is silly. There is no minimum or maximum number of revisions that can guarantee a good essay. But yes, you should start early, and I agree with her advice to have others read your drafts. Friends/peers are not usually the best at giving feedback. Parents can be OK, but not always. I think the most valuable help comes from teachers or other mentors who actually know something about what constitutes good writing, but aren’t likely to be either too hard OR too easy on you… you want constructive criticism, but you don’t want to lose your essay’s personal “voice.”</p>
<p>@Interficio: It really depends on what schools you’re applying to and what their supplements are like! Many of the top ranked schools have no supplemental essays at all; many others, including Stanford and most of the Ivies, have supplements that are so long that one wonders how the admissions officers can possibly find time to read them. So, take a long hard look at your list of schools, their supplements (or non-Common App essay topics), and start early. I would suggest drafting 4 or 5 short essays on several different topics or themes - whatever you’re interested in, or whatever best defines you - and then setting them aside until you have a firm list of schools and their essay prompts. Usually, many of the essay prompts are similar, and you can “recycle” your best essays to fit the topics. Good luck!</p>
<p>I recall the stress of the application process and dread the upcoming fall when we get the pleasure of helping child #2 through it… The learning curve will not be as steep, so perhaps it won’t be as awful.</p>
<p>I had created a list of colleges that D. has put in preference sequence. We did not have very selective schools, since she was planning to go to Med. School, and UG name was not important. She visited them all, applied to all, was accepted to all, got Merit awards at all. However, she did not get into her special program at some of them. She did not get into #1 program on her list (accepted to UG in general with the largest Merit award), she just happily went to #2. It was no stress whatsoever, done with the smile, being happy and proud to be accepted to the program that was accepting only 10 kids. Well, looking back, has worked great. Has graduated in May with award for most outstanding pre-med in her class, starting Med. School in few days…at the school of her original #1 choice.</p>
<p>Do not need to go thru any stress. College admission stress is artificially created, it is not the real one. Nobody is sick and nobody is dying, they are getting ahead in their lives. Take it easy and enjoy. BTW, since my list was so successful first time around, D. has asked me to compile the list of Med. Schools to apply. Again, has worked just fine, great choices at the end.</p>
<p>I think a lot of my neurons died in the process. I was the one who told my parents about deadlines. Deadlines deadlines DEADLINES. Whenever they see me on the computer for hours searching up scholarships my dad would tell me “get off the computer now and go study. You can skip a whole semester for all I care but you have to get the grades for a damned scholarship”. YES I UNDERSTOOD HIS POINT but universities don’t give out much scholarships during the Spring semester “due to limited funding” or whatever. I made that clear. But anyway, I gave up on applying early and now I gotta miss a year if I wanna study in Texas.</p>