The Ethos of the Overinvolved Parent
Stacy G’s daughter was having a meltdown. Her daughter, a sophomore at a prestigious private college, wanted an internship at Boston Children’s Hospital, a plum job that would look great on her applications to graduate school. After four weeks of frantically waiting for the school to arrange for an interview at the hospital, Stacy called her daughter’s adviser at the internships office to complain.
“For $65,000 [in full attendance costs], you can bet your sweet ass that I’m calling that school ... If your children aren’t getting what they’ve been promised, colleges are going to get that phone call from parents,” Stacy said. “It’s my money. It’s a lot of money. We did try to have her handle it on her own, but when it didn’t work out, I called them.”
Whether Stacy is representative of the majority of parents of students at four-year, selective colleges on the subject, , and even a new . Checking in with their children daily and occasionally contacting school administrators, a contingent of parents of students at these schools have stepped up their involvement levels in recent years, sources told me, because of , employment concerns, and the high price of college. And colleges themselves have responded by creating new channels to communicate with parents.
