Q:  Our Harvard tour guide compared Harvard to Hogwarts five times during our tour.  Is this a trend?

A:  Yes.  It is replacing excessive mentioning of a cappella groups.

Q:  Should my eighth grader begin tutoring for the new PPSAT?

A:  Sorry – It's too late.  She should have started in fifth grade. 

Q: It seems as if the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times each have an article every day about how difficult the college admissions process is this year.  Or am I just hyper-aware because I have a rising senior?

A:  This is NOT your imagination – 76% of the reporters for the Journal and the Times also have rising seniors who will be competing with your child.

Q: Will you help my son with his essay?

A: I would love to, especially because my own son won't let me.  Please email it to me.  But remember, I overuse parentheses and the verb "to be".

Q: I have heard that admissions officers look down on high school community service trips to exotic impoverished places.  Yet just about every college website shows a photo of students surrounded by orphans in Swaziland or Bolivia.  Why is it okay to go on these trips in college, but not in high school?

A: Hmm.  That's a good one.  The Neurotic Parent Institute has commissioned an emergency study and has come up with these preliminary results:  They're hypocrites.