Stress-less College Success
Stressed about the college application process? Don't worry, you're not alone!
According to a Princeton Review 2022 survey, 74% of of high school seniors reported high levels of stress over applications. Their biggest worries?
Financial - Cost, Debt and not getting enough aid
SAT/ACT exams - Not getting high enough to get into dream school and judgement associated with score comparisons
Acceptance to "dream" school
This stress is one reason why nearly 30% of high school seniors who want to go to college never enroll.
Here are 5 things students can do to knock that stress level down a few pegs, and parents can help as well!
Dispel the myths around "dream school" and the social/emotional idea of "fit" and reframe your college expectations.
Essentially, according to the Princeton Review survey, student's stress and anxiety are due to worries over finances (cost, debt, aid, etc.), testing (scores), and their expectations not being met. However, the stress over testing was really about not getting high enough scores to get into the "best schools" or "dream school". So worry over testing is largely rooted in stress over acceptance into the best school or dream school.
Key Insight: Additionally, and this is really important, when pressed, students said getting into their dream school was actually more important than affordability!
What that means is that worrying about getting into the best schools or their dream school is the root source of most of the stress experienced in the college applications process! But, and this is even more important, the truth is - how you college is much more important than where you college!
Research shows that simply attending an elite or ivy college has no impact on student learning, job satisfaction, or long-term well-being, unless neither parent of the student had any college experience or the student identifies as Black or Hispanic. There's also no benefit to job performance. In most cases, there's little to no impact on earnings, except for identities noted above and some non-science majors.
Students can get just as good of an education from a regional state school, a small private, or a large research university as they can from any of the elite schools often revered as "dream schools". Because what the student does while in college matters much, much more than the college itself.
Don't believe it? Check out this video (transcript included), and here's a summary of the research.
The first lesson in how to college like a pro is - reframe the purpose of college. If a student sees college as a means to a better job, which a majority of students in the Princeton Review survey did, then they tend to focus just on the outcome, not the process. They'll cram for tests, unconcerned whether they've just memorized information temporarily or if they've actually learned it and will retain it months or years later. But if they see the purpose of college as a means to develop a toolbox or portfolio of knowledge, skills, and problem-solving strategies that can be applied in any job or career and in their personal life, then they're going to focus more on the process of learning - developing and applying knowledge, skills, and strategies.
Focus the search on quality performance indicators and where they student will be most attractive.
A student with a 3.8 unweighted GPA, ACT of 30, 2 AP courses, common extracurriculars, and no ability to pay full price will rarely, if ever, get into Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc., let alone get enough aid to make it affordable. But that same student would be a very attractive student to a school where incoming students averaged 3.6 GPA, ACT of 27, few AP courses, and common extracurriculars. That student is also likely to get more aid from the school compared to students who are closer to the average GPA and test scores.
Additionally, despite all the marketing slogans, reputation hype, sports brands, etc., schools that retain less than 70% of their first year students, graduate less than 50% in 4 years, have a high debt to earnings ratio, and/or discount (on average) more than 1/2 their "sticker price", are probably not great choices and will almost certainly result in unnecessary debt. Those that graduate less than 60% in 6 years may mean the student will never graduate and still have significant debt!
So focusing college decision on quality performance indicators is critically important to making smart, informed choices regarding where to go to college.
College outcomes that tell you a lot about a college!
Be intentional about time management, even if it's difficult.
The application process takes time and involves multiple, incremental steps to compile a complete application, and some schools require additional information or writing products.
Key Insight: There's an added benefit to practicing and improving a student's time management skills now. They'll NEED them - "week 1" - in college no matter where they go! So improving them now can save them some, or even a lot, of headache and bad outcomes at the start of their college experience!
Another time management tip is to start early. Students should begin researching and preparing for the application process well in advance. This will help them avoid the last-minute rush and the stress that comes with it.
Organize efforts ahead of time with strategic focus on complimenting time management.
Given there are multiple, sometimes sequential, steps and pieces of information students may need to shepherd from and between parents, counselors, teachers, employers, etc. to the college application or to the colleges themselves, organization can complement - even improve - time management.
Two key organization tips to help a student's time management are (a) break things down into manageable micro-efforts, and (b) use a tracking list (spreadsheets are good!), not just a checklist.
Break the process into smaller, manageable steps to make the process feel less overwhelming. For example, research an essay for 30 minutes for 2 days, outline it over 3 days, then the next week, write your intro one day, 1/2 of your body the next day, and so on. Their essay is complete in about 2 weeks spending only 30 minutes a day.
Use a spreadsheet to create a tracking sheet, not just a checklist. For example, they can track each step in getting a recommendation letter from submitting the request, providing information needed, sending reminders, receiving it, adding it to their application or mailing it, and receiving confirmation the college got it. That's pretty hard for a simple checklist to do, and knowing exactly where things are in the process can help everyone stress less as well.
Expect that you’ll need or want support along the way and plan for it.
We're all human, so there's almost inevitably going to be a time when you miss something, you're sick, or something else unexpected happens and you need some help. Students should build breaks into their time management plan, especially if you can't break things down into micro-efforts. One small but powerful trick is to build in a little stress-free time where you have time to relax and concentrate on something else, like reading a book, exercise to work off the stress, etc. You should also (ahead of time) identify people in your life that can support you. That friend that can always make you laugh or forget about things for a bit. That friend or parent that can help you think through things or see things in a different way. That parent that can help you focus and solve problems when you're too stressed to think straight. That friend or teacher that believes in you and can help recharge your motivation. You're going to need support, everyone does! You can make things easier by identifying supports ahead of time, and parents can help by guiding students in these 5 strategies.