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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of IHeart Radio.

Good morning.

This is Laura.

Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

Today's tip is to come up with some better option B's.

When your fallback option is good enough, you become a lot less attached to option A.

This tranquility can prevent a lot of anxiety and unhappiness.

So over the past few weeks, a lot of high school seniors have heard back from colleges

on whether they have been accepted or rejected.

When young people apply to very selective schools,

counselors usually advise them to apply to a safety school. This is a school that

you know you will get into. If you choose this option B, well, knowing you will get a good

education regardless of any other acceptances or rejections, can make the whole application process

less stressful.

I will add, having been through this now with my family,

that having an option B that you know about early is even better.

One of our flagship state schools here in Pennsylvania does rolling admissions.

So my son sent in his application in September of his senior year,

and we knew in early October that he had a very good option for the next year,

regardless of how everything else turned out. Now, as adults, we aren't necessarily thinking about

...