#014 – The College Decision Dilemma: What Happens Once Those Admission Letters Arrive?

The college admission process begins earlier and earlier and sometimes seems to go on forever. When those highly anticipated acceptance letters begin to arrive, the process enters a new phase. The ball is now in your student’s court to make a decision. What is your role as a parent at this stage? In this episode Vicki and Lynn unpack some of the emotions and practical steps you and your student can take as your student looks for the school with the best ”fit,” perhaps moves to their second choice of school, or copes with being on a Waitlist. As your student makes this final decision, everyone’s roles begin to shift.

Subscribe to our podcast: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn Radio


In this episode, Lynn and Vicki talk about the decision that students face once those college admission letters arrive. There’s a lot going on at this time for both students and their parents. It’s not always easy as a parent to watch your student wrestle with what for many students is a difficult decision.

As we discussed students who might not feel they are ready right now to make the transition to college, we mentioned our earlier episode about taking a Gap Year or doing a Post-grad year of high school. If you or your student think this might make sense, be sure to listen to episode #011 – Should You Student Take a Gap Year Before College?

Vicki mentioned a book in this episode about making the most of your experiences in college, however she named the author incorrectly.  The book is It’s the Student Not the College by Kristin M. White.  The book by the author she mentioned, Kat Clowes, is also a great one about using college experiences fully.  That title is Put College to Work.  A third book that looks at the college experience in this way is Making the Most of College by Richard Light.  We recommend all three books for both parents and students.

If you’d like to follow up on some of the topics we discussed in this episode, here are some articles that may help.

The College Decision: Why Your High School Senior May Be Stuck

The College Decision: Taking Action – Making the Leap

It’s Time to Love Your Second Choice College

Should My Student Participate in an Overnight Admission Visit?

Has Your Student Found the College with the Best Fit?

Why Your Student Should Attend Accepted or Admitted Student Day

Admission Waitlist: Helping Your Student Cope with Limbo

Your Student is Going to College! What Do You Do Now?

Don’t forget that you can listen to all of our previous podcast episodes here or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also go to followthepodcast.com/collegeparentcentral to add our podcast so that you’ll receive each new episode as we release it.

Let us know what you’d like to hear about on future podcasts! Leave a comment here or email us at podcast@collegeparentcentral.com.

And finally, a request for your help. Podcast ratings and reviews are important to help our podcast become visible to more people who might want or need the information we share. We’ve made it even easier for you to leave us a review! Simply go to lovethepodcast.com/collegeparentcentral and leave us rating or review.

Note: Some links in our post are for affiliate products. If you use our links, College Parent Central receives a small percentage of your purchase price. This does not change the cost to you.  We think it’s only fair to let you know that.


Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Log In

or

Log In to Favorite articles and Post listings

Enter College Name to See Local Results

Log In

Contact Us

Forgot your password?

Your new password has been sent to your email!

Logout Successful!

Find Your School

You just missed it! This listing has been filled.

Post your own housing listing on Uloop and have students reach out to you!

Upload An Image

Please select an image to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
OR
Provide URL where image can be downloaded
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
Please enter First Name Please enter Last Name Please enter Phone
Please enter Email
Please enter Message

By clicking this button,
you agree to the terms of use

Please enter Email

By clicking "Create Alert" I agree to the Uloop Terms of Use.

Image not available.

Success, your registration has been submitted

An email has been sent to you with a link to verify your registration
Image not available.
By clicking Get Started or Sign In you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service