[jyl]

My daughter is graduatnig from high school this fall, so for the past year we have been immersed in the whole college application and selection thing.

Matters certainly are different than when I went to college, far too long ago.

My observations:

1. The college industry has done a great job of whipping kids and parents into a frenzy of desperation and status-driven anxiety. Many think that what college their BA/BS comes from is actually going to determine their life.

2. There are a lot of kids out there with very high numbers and even higher expectations piled on them. I know kids with 4.0 GPAs (unadjusted) and excellent SATs, extracurriculars who are getting rejections from their dream schools, and crestfallen about it.

3. College is, or can be, very tough on kids today. A friend who was a counselor at a small, good school told me that an alarmingly high percentage of the students she counseled had at least one serious mental health episode in school.

4. College is, or can be, very tough on families today. Spending $250,000 aftertax ($340,000 in pre-tax income) for four years of school is not uncommon. The income/asset hurdles for need-based financial aid are very high. Merit aid is more available than you might think.

5. Too many choices and analysis paralysis is a real pitfall. Even after applying some reasonable filters, a kid will have a hundred colleges to consider. Far more than anyone can actually research, visit, and assess.

6. The regular-timing acceptance notifications come all in a rush right about now. Lots of drama.

Anyone going through this too? Comments?

My daughter got into her three safety schools, one of which we'd actually be okay with (Fordham in Manhattan). She also got into the Clark Honors College at University of Oregon, which would be a great school for her (selective, only 700 kids, but with the campus, course selection and social life of a 30,000 student university), and is also accepted at UC Santa Cruz (she loves the campus, but the art program is not well-reviewed). Waitlisted at UCSD, to get in as an out of state applicant that one will be a stretch but we'd seriously consider it (apparently very good biology and art programs). Still waiting to hear from most of her schools.

As a diversion, she and I have been starting to think about her college computer system (something that didn't even exist when I went to school - back then we agonized over the kid's calculator). Thinking a 11" MacBook Air for the classroom, a Mac mini w/ dual monitors for the dorm room. A far cry from the TI-52 I took to college.