As a counselor at Montclair High School (New Jersey) for the past eleven years, the author worries about the best and the brightest of U.S. high school students who are suffering from anxiety, depression, anorexia and panic attacks. The author suspects that the common thread among these students is the obsessive desire to obtain admission to the…

Suggests that a successful college-admission process depends on mutual trust and open communication between college counselors and college-admission officers. Suggests that high school counselors should make sure that their school policy is consistent with state and federal statutes and that admission counselors should be sensitive to legal…

Argues trend toward benign and homogeneous college promotional materials/presentations makes college selection process more difficult. Feels tactic of deemphasizing importance of college board scores to increase applicant pool and thereby enhance "college profile" is unethical and deprives college applicant of ability to make informed choices. (CM)