It’s fall. The leaves are starting to change, temperatures are cooling off, and the stress levels of high school seniors are rising. As college application deadlines approach, many teens and their parents are working themselves into a frenzy. Amidst all the pressure that surrounds this process, sometimes it helps to take a step back and just laugh at the craziness of it all.
I hope that’s exactly what you’ll do when you listen to this story that recently aired on NPR’s This American Life. The show’s host, Ira Glass, interviewed Georgia Tech’s director of undergraduate admission about mistakes students and parents make in the college admissions process. The takeaways? Students should contact admissions offices, rather than having their parents do it; students should avoid overused essay topics and proofread essays carefully; and, best of all, if parents are going to contact admissions on their children’s behalf, it’s probably best to wait until your kid is at least in middle school. Enjoy!
