| Five Tips To Ease College Application Panic | | | | Much of the frenzy over college admissions stems |
| | | | from the belief that name-brand schools provide the |
| Recently, I returned to my old high school to follow | | | | best education and most direct stepping-stone to |
| students throughout the college application process | | | | success. This is a myth. Studies have shown that |
| for a book about the pressure on today's students | | | | earnings do not increase with a degree from an elite |
| (and parents) to succeed. What I found there | | | | school, and in 2005 the number of S&P 500 CEOs |
| mirrored what I saw in schools across the country, | | | | who had graduated from Harvard matched the |
| from Vermont to New Mexico: widespread panic | | | | number who had graduated from the University of |
| over admissions. After speaking to hundreds of | | | | Wisconsin. |
| students, parents, admissions officers, and | | | | 5. Accept That Admissions Aren't Personal |
| counselors, I've compiled some tips that can help | | | | Too many families view admissions letter day as |
| families through this often stressful time. | | | | judgment day, as if an acceptance or rejection |
| 1. Ignore The "Rankings" | | | | offered some sort of personal commentary. In |
| Several publications claim to rank colleges in precise | | | | reality, admissions are a numbers game that most |
| order on a yearly basis, lists that often influence | | | | students can't beat. The competition is so stiff that |
| students' decisions about where to apply. These lists | | | | the difference between a "Congratulations" and an |
| are a sham. The rankings have been fixed since they | | | | "Unfortunately..." can be as simple as the fact that |
| began; when the algorithm for the first U.S. News | | | | the school orchestra needs a French horn player. |
| ranking produced a number-one school that was not | | | | Admissions officers told me that every season they |
| Harvard, Princeton, or Yale, the magazine dumped | | | | have to turn down large numbers of students who |
| the formula (which rewarded diversity) and the | | | | are exceptionally qualified to attend their school. |
| statistician who created it. The factors that many | | | | The bottom line is that there are more than 2,500 |
| publications use to rank schools today do not | | | | four-year colleges in the U.S., in addition to many |
| necessarily have any bearing on the actual | | | | fantastic schools abroad. Most of these schools |
| undergraduate experience - and many colleges cheat | | | | would fall over backwards to admit a decent student. |
| on their data, anyway. | | | | The idea that the quality of education at name-brand |
| 2. Don't Talk | | | | schools is leaps and bounds ahead of other schools is |
| Frequently, students and parents are happy with their | | | | wrong. So relax. It's okay not to get caught up in the |
| grades, SAT scores, and college application lists . . . | | | | frenzy. Focusing on individual interests and spending |
| until they talk to other students and parents and find | | | | time doing things for happiness' sake rather than for |
| themselves playing the comparison game. Several | | | | résumé lines will ensure that everything |
| students told me they decided not to apply to a | | | | will work out just fine. (Many more tips, and the |
| certain school they loved only because it wouldn't | | | | stories of the students I followed, can be found in |
| sound impressive when other people asked where | | | | THE OVERACHIEVERS). |
| they were applying or going to college. Not talking | | | | ** To book Alexandra Robbins for a lecture or |
| about your own or your children's statistics - and not | | | | moderated discussion, or for more information on |
| asking about others' - will take an enormous weight | | | | THE OVERACHIEVERS: THE SECRET LIVES OF |
| off your shoulders. | | | | DRIVEN KIDS, please visit |
| 3. Pare Down Activities | | | | Author |
| Many student pile on extracurricular activities to add | | | | New York Times bestselling author Alexandra |
| lines to their college résumé, sacrificing | | | | Robbins has written for publications such as Vanity |
| sleep and leisure time in the process. But admissions | | | | Fair, The New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, and the |
| officers I spoke with said they would prefer that | | | | Washington Post, and has appeared on television |
| students commit to only one or two activities that | | | | shows including Today, Oprah, 60 Minutes, and The |
| truly interest them. | | | | View. |
| 4. Understand That Name Does Not Reflect Ability | | | | |