College is a singular opportunity to rummage through and luxuriate in ideas, to give your brain a vigorous workout and your soul a thorough investigation, to realize how very large the world is and to contemplate your desired place in it. Some parent's only focus on which college they want their child to attend. The parents have a first choice and sometimes an only choice in mind for their child. The children are then pigeonholed into only considering one school. 

     Life is something that happens slowly, and whether or not they go to their first choice isn't that important. It's not the difference between Yale and Jail. It's the difference between Yale and Mississippi Valley State University or some other school where they can get an excellent education.

     They should be thinking more about what they're going to do with their lives. College should allow your child to live more fully in their time. It's suppose to prime them for the next chapter of learning, and for the chapter beyond that. A university education should put you in touch with yourself, so that you know more about your strengths, weaknesses and values and can use that information as your mooring and compass in a tumultuous, unpredictable world.