What if a Parent Went Back to College in 2025?

In 2025, I had the opportunity to re-experience the major life transition of going back to college 🤯 at Yale University. This time to teach entrepreneurship to global teens as part of the ISSOS International "experience of a lifetime."

In the first 72 hours on campus, I experienced A LOT:

• Moved into a tiny dorm with no air conditioning during a heat wave 🔥 

  
  

• Made new friends from around the world 🌍 

  
  

• Figured out how to juggle my personal, professional and academic responsibilities ... as well as align on a shower schedule with my suitemates ‼️ 

  
  

• Navigated all-you-can-eat dining halls which pushed me to the limits of rational decision-making 🥗 

  
  

• Advocated for myself when my busy schedule got the best of me 🤔 

IT WAS HARD WORK (especially considering I've done it before 😳 ... albeit a "few" years ago). There were no "wiser, older students" to help me out.

July 2025: GapWell co-founders taught 75 teens from around the world the skills they need to thrive in college and in life.

We launched the GapWell Guide in 2024 to support young adults as they successfully transition from high school to college. Going back to campus regularly to teach -- and occasionally to live -- like young adults is a critical reminder of how much work we all need to do to set up our sons and daughters for success in college and life.

As I once again walked slowly up the five stories to my small dorm room on a hot summer night, I kept reminding myself what our wiser, older students like to tell our first-year student subscribers when they get overwhelmed during their first year of college: "YOU GOT THIS."