Gryffin, when my son talks about going to college in New York, as he sometimes does, NYU is the school I think of. I didn’t realize it was super international. That sounds good for him.
But really, I hope we can skip the entire chapter. Not college—I think he will love college! But US applications are so crazy these days. You are doing all the right stuff, which is very intimidating to me. Seriously, I’m the worst at hiring people-I’d probably get a counselor that would make bad choices or something.
Germany’s process (as far as I know—Joha, Astrid, and others who know better can certainly correct me) seems a lot more sane. If you go to a school on the college track (it is entirely possible not to, and go to trade school or whatever), then there is a test at the end of secondary school that determines where you can go to university. Within that, you have some choice. The test itself, and the prep leading up to it, are very stressful, of course, but I don’t believe Germans put in the kind of hours with evening classes and tutors and late night studying, etc you hear about in East Asia. There is school, where you do your best, there is a prep period, and there is the test. All fairly orderly, rational, and transparent.
My kid hates not knowing what’s happening. The stress of the US decision process, where you really aren’t sure if they’re going to even look at your essay, much less what they’re looking for, or whether you need to do an interview, and some kids have really great, well-connected private counselors who “get” them and others don’t, would just about kill him, and his stress would drive me nuts. If he wants to go back to the US, of course he may do so, but my hope is that we’ll be happily enough settled here that he won’t.
Good luck to you and your son through this process! It sounds like you are doing all the right things for him. Knowing Mama’s got his back is key. I wish him much happiness where ever he lands.
