Anxiety and College Prep

[rando1000]

I'm a life-long anxiety sufferer, and I have a lot of mechanisms for getting through my life. My child, who is now 17, has had anxiety issues, and was in therapy for a while to develop coping mechanisms. I feel like she has as good a grasp on her disorder as I did at her age, but she just doesn't seem like she's in a place to move forward into college life. All our friends generally give us advice like, "oh, she's just nervous, you have to make her do it," etc. But they don't have experience with mental disorder like I do first hand. The stress of making big changes she's not ready for could be harmful to her mental state.

I'd like to let her take a gap year or maybe go part time and live at home as a compromise, so the move into this next phase is more gradual. But the rush to make the right choices NOW for college doesn't really allow for much indecision at this point; a lot of good opportunities will be passed up if she doesn't take them.

[Hidden]

I think taking your time is a very wise thought. What type of opportunities would be lost? I think taking a gap year is much more common now. I think you can still get scholarships. You'd have to look into it.

[rando1000 in reply to Hidden]

problem is she's currently in competition for some VERY lucrative scholarships that are only for HS students. If she lands one in particular, it could result in a full ride to a tier 1 school. But all the deadlines are hitting RIGHT NOW. Yes, she has lots of other opportunities that wouldn't go away; she's got another full ride lined up at a State school due to a program she participated in, but it's full ride at a top tier school vs. a full ride at State. That choice can change a person's life. But, the wrong choice here if she's not ready for it could change her life for the worse, too.