Students today are under extraordinary pressure—much of it completely unnecessary. (I’m an academic strategist—I know what I’m talking about regarding “completely unnecessary.”) Today, let’s look at three ways parents can relieve pressure for students ages 12–26, and give them the best chance at happiness in college and career.
1. To relieve pressure for students, please stop saying toxic, untrue things about education.
The worst, most toxic, most untrue thing students hear is, “If you don’t get into a good college, you won’t be able to get a good job when you graduate.”
You know this isn’t true. You know people personally who went to so-called “bad colleges,” and they have great jobs. Stop saying this.
For more on this subject, don’t miss my article The Top 5 Lies We Tell Kids About College.
2. To relieve pressure for students, please stop pushing them to exhaust themselves with frantic extracurricular activity.
You might think that being busy and exhausted all the time will help your son “look good on his college applications,” but this isn’t true.
Busy, exhausted college applicants are a dime a dozen. Even the Harvard Admissions office told the New York Times: “A lot of the applicants we’re getting are like dazed, bewildered survivors of some lifelong boot camp.”
What’s really impressive? I tell students, “Pick one thing you love and go deep.”
3. To relieve pressure for students, make a way for your child to access quality career assessments early on.
Not the computerized, robotic assessments given at the high school—I’m talking real, gold standard career and personality assessments administered by a real human being.
In chapter 13 of my book—and in-depth in the online course I teach to my TRIBE Members—I tell parents exactly which assessments to get, where to find them, and what year in school is the best time for students to take them, (Don’t worry too much about timing, though. Even 12th grade or older is not too late.)
Help us spread the word—that parents and professionals have power to greatly relieve pressure for students.
Copy all or part of this article and paste it right into your school, business, or homeschool newsletter. Put a link to it in your Facebook group! All you need to do to credit me is include the words “By Jeannie Burlowski.”
And if you’ve found valuable info in this article on how to relieve pressure for students, please help by tweeting it out to the people who follow you.
[Tweet “Students ages 12-26 are feeling extraordinary #stress and #pressure. Here’s how you can help—and speed them on toward #college and #career success at the same time.” #careersuccess #collegedebtfree]
For clear, step-by-step help getting your kids through college debt-free without scholarships, get your copy of my book:
It’s a reference book, so nobody reads the whole thing cover to cover. Pick out what you need to read in it using the fast-paced, 10-minute video instructions here.
You can see hundreds of reviews of this book on Amazon by going to:
You can see why financial advising professionals love LAUNCH, here.
You can see the top 9 questions parents are asking me about LAUNCH, here.
Read just one chapter of LAUNCH every 1–3 months while your child’s in middle school and high school, and you’ll know every viable strategy for debt-free college at exactly the right time to implement it.
And if your child’s already well past middle school? That’s OK; you can run to catch up. But the process of getting your kids through college debt-free goes more smoothly the earlier you start it—especially if you’re not planning to save up any money to pay for college.
Take a step on this right now. Get regular, inspiring help from me—every Monday morning.
Subscribe to my free weekly email newsletter here. (You’ll especially want to do this so I can alert you to important FAFSA changes that will affect you in the future.)
Do you have very specific questions for me about debt-free college and career for your kids?
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Who is Jeannie Burlowski?
Jeannie is a full-time academic strategist, podcast host, and sought-after speaker for students ages 12–26, their parents, and the professionals who serve them. Her writing, speaking, and podcasting help parents set their kids up to graduate college debt-free, ready to jump directly into careers they excel at and love. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Huffington Post, USA Today, Parents Magazine, and US News and World Report, and on CBS News.
Jeannie also helps students apply to law, medical, business, and grad school at her website GetIntoMedSchool.com. You can follow her on Twitter @JBurlowski.