collegeJennifer Delahunty calls the college admissions process “the last dance of parenting,” and she should know because she has seen it from both sides. As the dean of admissions at Kenyon College in Ohio, she has watched thousands of parents navigate the college application process with their children. And as the mother of two girls, she has also experienced it first hand. Now she has put together a new collection of essays on the topic entitled “I’m Going to College, Not You! Surviving the College Search with Your Child.”  http://amzn.to/99kRd9 The essays are by such well-known writers as Anna Quindlen, Jane Hamilton and Janet Maslin, as well as some “insiders” like admissions directors from Colby and Smith Colleges and Delahunty herself.  Available on September 1, the book promises to answer such essential questions as: “How can a parent help but not take over?” “How can a parent be less of a ‘helicopter’ and more of a ‘booster rocket?’ ” and perhaps the most important of all…. “How will you keep from wanting to kill each other?”  Delahunty observes that acceptance by a top college has become the equivalent of a “good parenting” stamp of approval, leading to parental obsessions over SAT scores and essays at the same time that their children are wanting independence. In a Q & A on the web site Jungle Red (http://bit.ly/9XYHB6) , she explains some of the reasons behind the college admissions madness.

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