I Gave Him a Timeline.
After all the prior visits, Dylan has now been to two colleges overnight. He’s got one more on the horizon.
Dylan is taking into consideration his best fit – financially, emotionally and for his future. He’s been pretty gung-ho on one college the whole time, but the finances have thrown him for a loop. So, overnights are important.
What’s interesting to me is how close he’s coming to the national deadline without making a decision. He needs to announce his decision by May 1. But he’s still considering all of his options.
Dylan is even considering a gap year – still, even though he’s already dropped out of one amazing opportunity. He’s applied for a couple more amazing opportunities, and has even considered living at home and working for a year to save some money.
His time and energy, however, are still spent on his phone, chatting with friends, and wondering if he should go to this concert or that concert. Yesterday he announced a spectacular, totally amazing deal: three concerts for only $60! It didn’t matter to Dylan that the concerts were taking place more than an hour from home, or that they were happening during the summer when he has no idea where he’ll be living or what he’ll be doing.
Last summer, I gave him a timeline. The deadline for deciding on whether or not to take a gap year was January (three months ago). And the deadline for deciding on college was last week – although I expected that decision to be made sooner, as well.
But my timelines are irrelevant. Dylan is not a fan of deadlines. This is likely to be his lifelong challenge.