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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
The Calm College Method by Dr. Lisa Rouff and Lynda Doepker redirects readers from chasing admissions results they cannot influence, and moves them toward completing things they can finish and verify. Most college stress comes from two errors: treating admission to elite schools as the goal, and misunderstanding how pricing, aid, and debt actually work. The authors want families to secure real options in advance by building an affordable, balanced college list, understanding loan exposure, and breaking applications into manageable tasks. Rouff and Doepker also aim to expose how rankings, application platforms, and marketing practices profit from parental anxiety and distort decision-making. Success, as they frame it, is finishing the work that produces choices, not waiting on institutions to confer validation.
The Calm College Method: A Stress-Free Guide to College Admissions for Parents and Students by Dr. Lisa Rouff and Lynda Doepker is the book I wish I had five years ago for my eldest college graduate. Like many other households, we fell into the trap of the admissions frenzy. We even went so far as seeking out an intensive ancient Greek and Latin language tutor, despite Oxford and Cambridge no longer requiring fluency. What makes this book so effective is its outright acknowledgement of how colleges operate as businesses, and how rankings distort perception. Rouff and Doepker are transparent throughout, writing in clear and accessible language. I love that there is no judgment on the families sucked in, and how the authors treat anxiety as a byproduct of bad incentives, not personal failure, and we are taught how to course correct. Everything they offer readers is useful, and while this came a bit too late for me, it will undoubtedly have a massive impact on others.
