BOSTON -- Are parents pushing college-bound students too hard? Are students taking on more activities than they can handle just to look good on a college admissions form?
In recent years, the college admissions process has become so competitive that some parents say it has become a public health crisis, Boston television station WCVB reported.
"We know kids have ulcers, stress disorders, eating disorders, sleeping disorders and where is it coming from? From the need to constantly perform," said parent Marilee Jones.
Jones is the mother of a college applicant and the dean of admissions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
"An MIT applicant has an average of 12 extra-curricular activities, and when you think about that, even if they're an hour apiece, 12 extra hours spent in extra-curricular activities, in addition to their schoolwork and everything else they have. That's insane, insane," said Jones.
Jones said in the escalating arms race that has become the admissions process, everyone -- parents, students, and colleges themselves -- need to disarm.
"It's lost its meaning to an admissions officer. We don't know what any of that stuff means anymore. Colleges are looking back and saying, 'That's not what it is at all. We don't want more 'state's best' anything.' We're trying to figure out who you are as a person," said Jones.
"It was brutal, to tell you the truth," said high school senior Robert Palladino.
Like thousands of high school seniors, Palladino is waiting to hear from colleges. Like most students, he had some pressure from his parents.
"They're on your back, but they want you to get it done because early applications were due Nov. 1. You don't want to be up Halloween night scrawling away. Sometimes I'd be just sitting down and watching TV and they'd say, 'You need to work on this,'" he said.
Palladino's parents said the school guidance counselor served as a strong mediator in helping to get the student organized but also said it's hard to maintain the parent-child relationship with so much on the line.
"It is stressful. We want him to own the process, which the school has advised. He's organized, he's a good student, but you're afraid if you back off and don't check up on everything, you're going to miss a little something to do," said Palladino's mother, Marybeth.
"Then there's the prep in terms of application and interview questions and, like anything else in life, you are selling yourself, you are marketing yourself and try to encourage that," said Palladino's father, Bob.
"It gets tense. They say enjoy it, enjoy the process. That hasn't quite hit me quite yet," said Marybeth Palladino. "Very few people find this an enjoyable process."
Jones urged parents not to be overly involved, because they may send the message that children can't do it on their own. She noted that colleges are responsible as well. At MIT, the application has been changed and they are trying to make the process more open to reduce stress.
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