Let’s not talk about backs, ok? Four months of doing back exercises faithfully every night is obviously not a complete cure for back woes.

Recently I have been reading students’ college essays, helping them fine tune their college applications a bit. Between that, and writing recommendations for them, I feel that I am doing my small bit to help them get into the best colleges possible.

Unfortunately, some parents have unreasonable expectations for their children, not satisfied unless they get 2200 on their SATS and are accepted into an Ivy League university. Some of those parents only want the best for their offspring, but the most prestigious colleges are not necessarily right for every student, nor do they necessarily provide the best undergraduate education since many of them have achieved their reputations because of their graduate programs. Many better students are better off attending top-ranked undergraduate programs such as TCNJ, Ithaca, Villanova, Providence or Fairfield, then getting their graduate degree at a more prestigious school where they can attract top-paying jobs.

And, of course, there are always some parents who are only interested in “bragging rights.” How can they look down their noses at their friends and relatives unless their son is attending Cornell or their daughter is at Brown? What good is Villanova if one’s nephew can wear his Yale sweatshirt to family reunions? It’s a shame when youngsters become pawns in parents’ status games.