Parents, this post is for you. I know you love your kids and want the best for them. You want everything for them that you didn’t have. Good for you.
But, being too involved in the college admissions process, and with BS/MD programs in particular, hurts your student. It doesn’t help.
I have worked with several families over the years where there has been parent over involvement. Now let me make this clear. I regularly have parents that listen in on every phone conversation and participate in every skype call. That is not the problem.
The problem is when the parent starts writing the essays. The problem is when the parent is the only contact person a college has ever heard from. The problem is when the parent is choosing which colleges to apply to, not the student.
All colleges are concerned about the maturity of the students they are admitting. The students maturity is a big factor in BS/MD admissions. Having the occasional phone call from parents on procedural issues like scheduling a visit is no problem.
But parents calling and asking a BS/MD program details about their admissions, calling and asking them about interviews and what is covered is a BIG red flag for most BS/MD programs. Almost always this is a parent that is too involved and when the admissions people suspect this, the chances for admissions can disappear almost over night.
Once in a while these students will get in but in my experience their chances of admissions is less than the student who personally handles all, or most, of the contact with admissions.
Don’t be that mom or dad that says in April when there are no BS/MD admissions coming through, what did my kid do wrong. It may have nothing to do with your kid, it may have to do with you.
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