School Smarts: De-stressing the college application process

Christine Duvivier of PositiveLeaders.com knows that first hand.

She helped her two daughters thru the process, and along the way learned some valuable lessons.

She says, "It doesn't need to be a stressful process, but for a lot of parents it feels like a stressful process because they hear that it's all about the scores, or the right G.P.A, or the right activities. And if they don't get into a good college, they're not going to have a great life.

Christine says the first thing to do to take control, "So number one: Recognize that it's a game, and unless you change the rules that you play by, the odds are in the college's favor. What I mean by that, is don't judge a college by its ranking. A better ranking does not mean a better education for your child.

She recommends having your college bound child come up with a list of 10-15 schools where they think they could be happy.

"There are over four thousand colleges in the United States and many of those are places where your child could thrive. So the key is to figure out where your child could thrive and don't worry about the competition."

When you child does decide on a school, Christine says stay away from early admission. "And the reason I say that is that applying early puts pressure on your child to make a decision eight months sooner than he or she would have to if he went through the regular admissions process. Applying early helps the college because the college now has a seat filled, guaranteed for them."

And Christine says never rank schools by terms like "safety" or "reach".

She says. "Leave the implication out, the implication that one school is better somehow than another. Make the choice on better based on all the research that you've done about the schools and what's the environment in which you're going to do best, what's the environment that's going to bring out your gifts and your skills."

CHRISTINE DUVIVIER http://www.positiveleaders.com/

*Watch the full interview with Christine Duvivier in our School Smarts flash player.

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