74. How to Support Your Graduating Senior With Their College Applications With Maggie Kang, MD

Parenting Post-Wilderness: Parenting a Struggling Teen Before, During and After Treatment

How can you support your teen with their college applications without writing every single essay for them?

If you have a graduating senior in the house, this question has probably crossed your mind.
Are they actually writing their essays?
Are they putting in enough effort?
How much should you bug them about it?

Today’s guest, Maggie Kang, MD, found that the more she bugged her son about it, the more counterproductive it became. It can lead to more fights between you and your kid, damaging your relationship and they still won’t put more work into it.

Often it’s just us parents putting our own fears and anxieties on our kids. Yes, college essay anxiety is a real thing among parents.

So what then? Should you just let them figure it out by themselves? Yes, and no.

I absolutely love the solution Maggie Kang came up with. By reframing the questions she asked her son, she was able to spark conversations with him that inspired ideas for college essays without it forming a wedge in their relationship.

Have a listen to today’s episode to learn more about this mindblowing yet simple technique!

In this episode on how to support your graduating senior with their college applications, we discuss:

• Feeling college essay anxiety as a parent;
• How much should you get involved in your kid’s college application?;
• How to spark conversations that inspire ideas for college essays;
• How not to trigger our teen when asking about their progress;
• And more!

If you’d like to connect, you can find me on Instagram (@bethhillmancoaching) or go to my website www.bethhillmancoaching.com. And if you’re interested in working with me, you can learn more about my private coaching here or my group coaching here.

And remember parents, the change begins with us.

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More about Maggie Kang, MD

Dr. Maggie Kang is a board-certified radiologist trained at Yale, mom of two kids. She was the radiologist who was the first to see her nine-year-old daughter’s horrifying brain MRI in the ER. Her daughter was diagnosed with a rare disease, neuromyelitis optical.

The ordeal motivated Maggie to shift her focus from radiology to mental well-being. Now a certified Life Coach, Maggie dedicates her time to supporting parents of kids in the rare and chronic disease communities. She also works with physician moms of kids with chronic needs one-on-one in her private coaching practice, MaggieKangMD LLC.

Maggie told her story on the TEDx stage, sharing her powerful message that you can choose to accept pain or create suffering.

Learn more about Maggie Kang on her website or connect with her on Instagram or Facebook.

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Ps. Are you getting great value out of this podcast? It would mean the world to me if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This way, you will help me reach and help more parents of struggling teens develop healthy responses and boundaries instead of acting out of fear and anxiety. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much!

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