4 Things No One Told Me Before My Oldest Applied to College

By all indicators, my son, Will and I were both as prepared as we could be for him to apply to college. He knew what he wanted to study, which made creating a list of choices easy. He also had the start to a compelling essay written.

While he focused on his ongoing science research and studying for classes, I made a spreadsheet that tracked due dates, requirements and if schools would accept his numerous AP credits. We toured schools, he narrowed the list and I paid the application fees as t...