Back in the day, Abe Lincoln had to walk over four miles each way to and from school, but we doubt he had to belabor over college applications very much.

And though our own kids’ routes to school are not nearly as arduous as Abe’s, their college admissions plans would probably stress out even him. Comparing our kids’ journeys to college to Honest Abe’s is silly, as is even comparing theirs to ours.

Admissions strategies differ from century to century, family to family, and even child to child. In Applying to College Isn’t Like When Mom and Dad Applied, a former admissions officer advises how to approach the process as a separate project for each individual student.