Tips for Parents

Read your student’s High School student handbook

• Visit the college/career center and scout out the resources there
• Help your student understand and calculate their GPA
• Attend the school’s Open House where you can meet counselor/teachers
• Encourage your student to get extra help before academic problems arise
• Read the school newspaper/website
• Seek enrichment opportunities
• Encourage, support & prod student to get involved
• Visit colleges with your student beginning sophomore year
• Insist your student join something not everything
• Encourage positive peer relationships

Unique Problems that Multi–potential Students Face

• Hamlet’s fatal flaw: “Indecision” due to “Overchoice”
• Perfectionism increases the fear of making mistakes, a necessary part of learning
• Finding purpose is the one problem that’s not easier to solve if you’re smarter
• Limited exposure to the “real” world of work blurs real options
• Professional student syndrome, especially manifested by GT students
• Fear of failure
• All or nothing fallacy: “I’m a Hero or a Zero.”
• Myth of adulthood as a static end state
• Myth of having only one “perfect” or best possible career choice
• Narrow self-image
• Lack of realistic information about the world of work
• Lack of awareness or consideration of the creative possibilities of how multiple majors and skills can be combined in a particular profession
• A choice made too early can rule out other possibilities prematurely
• Fear of loss of freedom
• Fear of too much structure
• Lack of personal exploration of potential careers or knowledge of how to obtain this information