It is All About Setting the Right Expectations
Searching for colleges can be a frustrating endeavor for everyone involved. You want to help your student with their college search. They want to go at their own pace. It can drive you nuts. Don’t worry, you’re not alone in your frustration but hopefully, we can provide some tips for helping you better cope with the process.
As you are well aware, students are individuals and will respond to differing expectations. If your student has known what career they want to pursue from a very young age you can set very specific expectations about the college search. If your student is unsure of what they want to study or where they want to go, you will need to have much more general expectations.
One important thing to remember as you and your student begin to search for colleges: it is perfectly fine and normal for a student to not know where they want to go to college or what they want to study when they get there. While most parents see this as indecision and it drives them nuts, don't let it bother you. Just change your perspective a little. Don’t view this as indecision, see it as flexibility – and that is a great thing to have when you're searching for colleges.