"Where you go is not who you'll be" - An antidote to the college admissions mania by Frank Bruni

As a parent to a rising senior, this book is one of the most timely interventions that happened for me.

⠀

There is so much hype around the college admissions process, so many myths, so much prestige around just a few names of the 2500 odd 4-year undergraduate institutions around the country, it's difficult not to get caught up in this swirling current of anxiety and fear. As a first time parent of a college bound kid in a country where I didn't go to college, I've had to make several conscious choices, the biggest being: not to talk to too many other parents. The penchant for buying in to the mania is strongest among this community of anxious parents of high schoolers where FOMO (fear of missing out) is very real. ⠀

⠀

Instead, I resorted to doing my own quiet research, reading articles and the famed US News Report ratings where all Google searches seem to point to, listening to podcasts and webinars, following Facebook groups where I could read and learn from others and finally, books like these. It truly changed my perspective of what could be a good college fit for my kid. It revealed stories of so many famous personas and where they went to college and how that served them. It drove this point home : that more than where a kid goes to college (which we think of as a free ticket ride to success, once they get in!), It is what he/she does with the resources and the opportunities, how he/she Crafts his/her own unique experience out if it, that determines the trajectory of their success; and there are more than enough institutions around to offer these melting pots of experiences to the student, the seeker, the adventurer, the crafter; and more than enough schools that will willingly pay for you to be a part of their student body and one day be a glowing member of their alumni. ⠀

⠀

It fiercely dialed down all the paranoia that had built up in me and allowed me to breathe into the possibility, that perhaps, my kid will do great wherever he goes, and there will be enough schools that will want him on their campus, and that perhaps his education can even be funded by one of them. And possibility is always a good thing, it opens to doors to opportunity, doesn't it!