Originally Posted by HowlerKarma
... and I'm coming from the perspective of not only parenting a high school junior right now, but also from a point of believing that there is much, MUCH more at stake than having a child who gets into an Elite College.

Yep. Me too. My other thoughts on the matter, since I do have but an 8 year old, is that college degrees ain't what they used to be, and they continue to change. The very large company I work for is hiring software developers without degrees, for example... So who knows what I'll be thinking in a few years. But it is WONDERFUL to teach perseverance as early as possible.