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