To all of the mothers shuttling their kids to sports practices, finding tutors, and even more importantly, building their children up, reinforcing their confidence, and helping them discover who they are along the way, a very happy Mother’s Day!

As the competition to earn admission to many of the most selective universities in the US skyrockets, we are confronted with the present reality: many students need support to earn admission.  Colleges now seek specialists to build a well-rounded class.  Student do not need to excel in every field they are involved with. To the parents reading this, remind your children to focus on what matters most in this process: their passions.  Not only will this help them stand out, it will provide students a reason for working so hard to earn admission.

As the norm for staying up later and later each night to work on homework becomes more prevalent, remind your children that in college, students take four or five classes a term, and it is not necessary to take six college level classes each semester in high school to get into their dream college.

As students search for some magic bullet and confront the pitfalls of group think, remind them to forge their own path in this process.  Admissions officers value unique perspective and want to understand what makes each applicant tick as part of the admissions process.  Encourage your child to tailor the college admissions process to their personal growth.  This will make the entire process more rewarding and result in more authentic and compelling applications.

Finally, as students are bombarded with homework, sports practices, music lessons, community service commitments, and all the other pressures of being a teenager, help them prioritize what matters the most at each stage in this process. Serve as a sanity check for a stressful process and provide guidance when needed. 

Thank you for being your children’s biggest advocates in this process.