Holiday letter: Lavin family best of 2024

Reading (your?) holiday letters inspired me to speed-write this. Given how late this is and the cat-herding-esque nature of getting other family members to write and/or approve an official family letter, this is a solo effort / personal letter. Here are my (very unofficial) 2024 Lavin family awards… Most stressful process 2024 began in the middle of college application season. The stress and exhaustion is real. While taking a full slate of high school classes and extracurriculars, Daryl was simultaneously writing and editing a bazillion school-specific essays asking him to explain why University XYZ should admit him (and traveling to audition for trombone studios)....

January 2, 2025

The lonely, helpless angst of post-high school parenting

2024-09-28 update: I still remember how stressed my dad was the morning he drove me to college 37 years ago. He must have been experiencing the same insane mix of pride, joy, loneliness, and sadness I described in this post. The day I posted this, an interesting article – titled “Lighthouse Parents Have More Confident Kids: Sometimes, the best thing a parent can do is nothing at all” – appeared in The Atlantic by Russell Shaw....

September 22, 2024

College Admissions Insanity

Before the pandemic, Christopher Rim’s average client would apply to 12 schools. This application cycle, the college admissions consultant said, 90% of the students he works with are applying to 20 or more schools. “It’s an unprecedented number,” he said. “At some level, it’s becoming a lottery, and these kids just decide to cover all their bases. They’re just applying to as many schools as possible,” Rim, the CEO of Command Education, told The Post…...

May 20, 2024