Hello Fellow Parent, and Welcome!
The main thing you need to know is that back-to-school can be more exciting than stressful—even if your child is a junior or senior dealing with college admissions pressure.
Parents of seniors, here’s what you need to know about applications and deadlines:
You are not behind. Until the night your kid misses a deadline for a college application, you’re fine. I would never lie about this.
The updated Common Application was released August first with a spiffy new redesign of its look. Otherwise, the application is (almost) exactly the same as always. Same personal essay prompts as last year verbatim. The word allotment for the Additional Information section did decrease from 650 words (last year) to 350 words (this year), but that should leave your kid with plenty of space, so no harm, no foul.
The pressure has increased for students to apply earlier. I am just the messenger, not an advocate of this practice, but here we are. If you cannot commit to a binding Early Decision application because you need to consider financial aid offers, you’re in the majority. If any of the prospective colleges on your child’s list offer an Early Action option, your kid can still apply early somewhere without making a firm commitment until you can compare financial aid offers from multiple schools.
If you have no idea what ED, EA, ED2, RD, etc. stand for, no worries—all is clarified in College Admissions Cracked.
Parents of juniors, here’s what you need to know about starting to visit colleges:
For students who want “all the things”
At the extreme, these students have it all figured out (and have since second grade). They probably have a dream college. We are grown-ups who know that no college will have every single thing they seek (including admission to that dream college). If your kid wants “all the things,” encourage them to give every college a chance and consider what each colleges has instead of what it doesn’t have because every college will have something promising.
For students who have no clue what they want in a college
It can feel overwhelming and stressful starting senior year clueless, but these students begin in a more flexible headspace than those who seek everything. Other kids’ parents might consider this moment a make-or-break affair with the clock ticking, but not you. Do everything in your power to make “college shopping” low-stakes and fun. Try scheduling a weekly “movie night” with popcorn or cookies to accompany an online college tour. By the new year, you’ll have “visited” over a dozen colleges and your child will know a lot more than they know now.
Use my month-by-month advice and checklists in College Admissions Cracked for more guidance.
Sanity Saver for us all
This is a sneak peek from my new book, College Essay Confidence: Conquer Blocks, Free Your Voice, and Write a Knockout Application Essay, forthcoming January 20, 2026. Preorder now!
Use this empowerment technique to recalibrate when the tsunami of others’ stress heads your way.
Invoke Your Inner SuperheroInstructions:
Now you have the power of the sun radiating from you to do anything. Seriously, anything. You’ve got this.
Stand (literally, stand up).
Strike a pose like a superhero with perfect posture, feet firmly planted on the floor, fists on hips, and an expression that says, “Do not mess with me. I will prevail.”
Hold that position until your Inner Superhero takes over your body and mind and you feel your power. (Harvard social psychology professor and best-selling author Dr. Amy Cuddy featured the practical benefits of striking a “power pose” in her book Presence. Go for it. No one’s watching.)
Warmly,
Jill
