My original post for today lost the final two paragraphs somewhere between last night’s queuing and today’s posting. I don’t have an explanation, but it made for an abrupt ending. Here’s the complete post.
I received an email from a parent yesterday that described how she’d been contacting alumni interviewers to set up the interviews for her daughter. Regular readers won’t be surprised that I responded with a gentle reminder that the person hoping to attend those colleges—her daughter—was the one who should be scheduling the interviews. I’ll admit that I took it at first as yet another example of a parent hijacking the process instead of allowing her student to do what she was perfectly capable of doing for herself.
But then I remembered my life at age seventeen.
Before I went to college, I never once scheduled a doctor or dentist appointment. In my house, everything from orthodontist visits to driver’s tests was handled by my manager. Her name was “Mom” and she did an excellent job.
I did schedule my own college interviews (and did all my applications myself). I don’t remember how or when we made the management hand-off, but somehow, we got that right in the McMullin household. I’m sure my mother deserves all the credit for that part, too.
Most of the teens I’ve met at Collegewise are lucky enough to have similar in-house management teams. It’s normal, and parents make it look deceptively easy.
But the college admissions process is their time to show you and the colleges that they’re ready to start managing their own lives.
You don’t need to abandon all of your previous management responsibilities. Parents can advise, encourage, and even provide some organizational support. But don’t take over the parts that kids should be doing themselves. Let them start learning how to do your job.