Top 10 Questions NOT to Ask a High School Senior

Where are you applying to college? You must be excited to graduate high school, aren’t you? Isn’t senior year the best time of your life? What is your GPA? What are your SAT scores? Why do you want to apply there? (referring to a particular college) My son/daughter/nephew/co-worker’s daughter’s boyfriend’s cousin went to _____ (fill-in-the-blank…

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The Chronicles of Procrastination

Bravado When first given an assignment, especially a project due beyond the end of the week, we’re often overly confident that we’ll complete the assignment in stages, so there won’t be a last-minute-panic-tear-streaked-temper-tantrum-tazmanian-devil-whirling-dervish kind of effort in the 24 hours before the deadline. We pridefully chalk up previous “all-nighters”, as “all in the past”, determined…

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College Admissions Is Not a Race

When choosing colleges for application, the first criteria considered is often, “Where can I get in?” Students are really asking, “How do I measure up?”, creating a competitive mindset.  Then, in comparing the strength of their application to those of other possible applicants, students can generate unfounded or stereotypical conclusions, building nervous energy and aggravating…

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The Emotional Side of Applying to College

Most students expect that completing college applications will be a short-term effort, temporarily inconvenient to the rest of their schedule, but generally able to be subsumed within their daily lives.  In reality, the challenge of opening one’s life to analysis, in order to write autobiographical essays required in applications can create an unexpected emotional response,…

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The Growing Pains From Applying to College

Completing college applications challenges the patience and confidence of any applicant.  However, given a lack of experience, many applicants don’t expect to be tested.  Applying seems simple–fill in a few boxes, write an essay quickly and painlessly, then click “submit.”  Unfortunately, the actual experience is more complicated.  Writing an autobiography, which summarizes seventeen years of…

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