Call it Pre-College Traumatic Stress Syndrome: the debilitating illness that causes Mom and Dad to take leave of their senses for months at a time. You may be suffering from PCTSS if you:

(9) Propose the Fiske Guide to Colleges as your book club's selection of the month.

(8) Put the high-school college counselor's home number on speed dial.

(7) Dig out old report cards to calculate daughter's GPA to .0001 accuracy.

(6) Revive old friendship with obnoxious in-law who graduated from Duke.

(5) Send flowers to phone receptionists at Amherst, Wesleyan, and Carleton.

(4) House-hunt in Wyoming to enhance child's "geo" appeal at Ivies.

(3) Tell friends that "we" are applying to Stanford and Berkeley.

(2) Wake up daughter each morning with CD of Ivy League fight songs.

(1) Put vanity license plates reading "730V / 770M" on family S.U.V.

If any of these sound familiar, read the Parent's Pledge. Parents aren't the only ones who get stressed out over the college search. By late fall of twelfth grade, the whole family may be losing its grip on reality. Check out some warning signs.