getting answers on abc seven. every day we talk with experts about issues important to the bay area and we get answers for you in real time. the college application season is officially underway. whether your child is applying to a state school or a private college, a lot has changed due to the recent

supreme court decision banning affirmative action and the fallout from it. we'll get some guidance from bay area college counselor lauren cooke. but first, the fda has approved the first ever pill for postpartum depression. but there are lots of things you need to know about it. plus, cal fornia is confronting a potty training problem as the state expands early childhood education and transitional kindergarten. joining us live now to share some important and useful information for moms and kids, dr. yvonne maldonado, professor of pediatrics at stanford medicine. dr. maldonado, thanks for joining us. >> thank you for inviting me. >> i would love to start with this new fda approved pill. how common. but before we talk about the pill, how common is postpartum depression itself? >> well, there are pretty wide ranging estimates and a lot of people don't report. but we think as many as 1 in 8 to 1 in 10 women in the united states and globally. it's also a problem as well, clearly underreporting. so it's really quite common. and when we say that phrase, what do we mean?

>> what are the symptoms associated with it? >> so postpartum depression is more than just what we think of as baby blues, where people just feel tired or they're they need a break or they're feeling inadequate because maybe their first baby or the first one in a while this is really true. depression where women are feeling overwhelmed. they can be very anxious and actually, we know that people who have a history of family history, of other psychological issues can actually have a more higher risk of developing this. and it can last more than just a few days. it can last a long time. it can be quite severe. and in very occasional cases can even lead to suicidal thoughts. so it's it, even though there is a stigma around mental health. so they are supposed to be happy about having this welcome bundle of joy in their life. kristen: i remember mom friends

who felt guilty. i know i should be overjoyed, but i am feeling sadness. now we recognize it a medical condition, so the fda has approved this new pill. tell us about it. >> it works with transmitters the brain. so, that is one of the basic ways it can work. and there is another version that's similar, already available for postpartum depression, but it is very expensive and have to be given in a diffusion, and it has significant side effects. it's not ideal. what's exciting about this pill is in the studies done for the drug, the symptoms of postpartum depression were measured with a

rigorous psychiatric angle, and responses were rapid. within three days in some cases come up to 45 days for additional responses. but other drugs can take weeks, if not a month, to take effect. so this is a fairly rapid response to taking the medication. kristen: when do we think it will become available? >> i do not really know. i have not seen that information. but i am hoping with the fda approving this so recently, that we should have the drug available soon. unfortunately, i do not have that information, but we are excited that there's actually attention being paid to this high-risk group because everybody feels guilty. so this might be a way for women and family members to feel they are more supportive during this exciting time.

kristen: could it be prescribed or used for other forms of depression? >> well, i think that there were studies on going for other types of depression, not just postpartum. but it has not been approved for those yet, so i imagine the fda is considering discussions with those companies. they would like to see something that works in other populations as well. kristen: thank you for the information. i want to switch gears. we do not talk about potty training every day, but it is on the front page of the l.a. times today because california now requires school districts to offer transitional kindergarten, which is great for early childhood education, but it needs some four-year-olds will be in school, rather than preschool. that is causing a worry for teachers and parents, will the child be potty trained? let's normalize

is it ok for a four year old not to be fully potty trained yet? >> i am a pediatrician and i have taken care of lots of kids over my career, and i can tell you speaking of stigma, this is another area where families feel the stigma -- how quickly can my child be potty trained? is my child behind? what i'm i doing wrong -- am i doing wrong? there is no particular answer. there is a general guideline that children between 18-24 months are usually getting ready or about ready to potty train. some kids can. but not all kids do. this is something that families should talk to their health care provider about, to get resources on it. it is important not to rush the children. and i think that when you bring up the school issues, that is what we saw during the pandemic where the schools are being

asked to provide a lot of services they may not be prepared to do. that came out in the article as well. kristen: that this is not something teachers have been trained to do. if you are a parent, i wonderfully understanding that children have their own timelines and not to pressure anyone. but say you are looking at training them over the course of the next few months, give us tips to success and how to encourage them. >> i think that certainly for the transitional kindergarten situation, those children will be about four, so you should be in that range where you can communicate with your child. this is a matter of understanding what are they physically able to do. can they tell you they need to go to the bathroom? can they help themselves? you know, with their underwear or pull-ups. can they clean themselves? those are the kinds of things the school will need to know.

it is important to remember that in a day care setting, licens daycare care centers are supposed to be helping with this, but schools may or may not be ready to help. so it will be a really situational decision whether the school district or the school itself has the capacity to help or not. this will have to be integrated within each family's individual plans on returning to school. generally, not stressing out the child. using pull-ups. making sure the child can learn how to communicate in a calm way when they have to go, how long they can go before or in between potty breaks. all those things that are calm, environmental things. and because you are talking about four-year-olds, and children can start getting ready for this around one or two, you should have develop mental skills available. for those who have trouble, they

should seek out there may be children who do not communicate well for other reasons, and there should be support for those children. and schools will have support for that. kristen: can you touch on your latest vaccine recommendations for this fall? now we have rsv, covid and flu. what do you think? >> there's a lot going on. this is an opportunity for us to keep our kids healthy, keep them out of the clinic or emergency department. so, we saw last year a big surge in influenza, we remember that. it was horrendous. this year we have exciting opportunities to vaccinate pregnant women against rsv, that can prevent highly effective -- infectious diseases. and there will be also a

antibody preparation that will provide protection for babies, newborn babies, through their first rsv season, so they can stay healthy and not wind up in the emergency room door hospitals. and finally -- or hospitals. and finally, we always recommend the flu vaccine. and covid recommendations have not been issued yet. we are not sure whether they will be recommended for all ages or just older people, 60 and over, or those with chronic conditions. so, we may not see covid recommendations for another few weeks. kristen: thank you for the information. we appreciate it. we'll be right back with an expert on college admissions. some students have not even started their senior year yet, but they are already thinking about

kristen: college application season is underway. application portals have opened for the u.c. system and may be more confusing this year because of the supreme court decision banning affirmative action. with top colleges revising applications and admissions practices. joining us with relevant information for his closing years and juniors, lauren cook, the dean of college and gap advising at a community high school in the bay of san francisco. thank you for joining us. >> good to see you. kristen: it is your favorite time of year, busiest time of year. i want to talk about things for this fall, where will students notice the changes?

say they are applying to u.c. 's, may be stanford, where will they notice the difference? >> as far as the supreme court decision is concern to, they will see at most with private schools like santa clara, usf. back in the 1990's, the state of california outlawed having race conscious affirmative action, so the csu's and u taken into consideration for decades. it is private institutions where we will see a different, especially on -- difference, especially on the common application, where you could see changes to questions. and there are things we will not see internally at colleges where they have also made shifts. kristen: can you define the common app for those who are not familiar? >> the common application or common app,

one standard application form that has around 1000 colleges signed onto it. the bulk of them are private institutions, but there are public institutions as well, outside of the state. so you fill out the form one time with most of your biographical data, that goes out to any of the colleges you select within the application to send it to. there might be a little bit of additional information that that specific school requests. a supplemental question or some questions around if they are test optional, do you want testing considered, that kind of thing. but the bulk of the work you do once, so the goal is to make it more humane to apply to a number of colleges. kristen: for the california kids, cal state and u their own system, but for the private universities, what has changed on the app? there has always been a box for race and gender, are those still there? lauren: they

all of the demographic boxes have been optional for quite some time. you do not have to fill them out. i usually advise students to do so because it's helpful for colleges contextually, whether that is about your gender expression, whether it is about parent information that could be optional. i usually advise students if it is there, required or not, think about leaning towards answering it. there are new gender options, so that students can be more expressive and bring their full self to the application. it is more flexible rather than just the binary we are used to. in terms of race, you will see the same racial and ethnic options on the standard common application. what could be different is how the colleges choose to import the information. colleges still need to report to the state and federal government some racial identity breakdown numbers, once they have the students enrolling.

but whether or not they are showing it to their admission officers when they review applications will be a college by college decision. kristen: what about college specific essays? after the ruling, some universities are changing up their essays are or asking this that gauge diversity. lauren: to all the students who may be watching, i encourage you to still bring your full self to your application. you do not need to self censor in some sort of way to feel like you are complying with the law, that is the college's responsibility. answer questions authentically and earnestly. yes, we are seeing more language in the supplemental questions. a lot of them have changed to talk more about your background, your lived experience, to comment on how it may have shaped you. some institutions, i know one

the first ones out with the new supplemental question was sarah lawrence, literally putting a quote from the justices in the decision and asking students to comment on that. yes, i think that they are trying to collect different kinds of information very intentionally this year that complies with the ruling from the court. kristen: i want to know that since affirmative action was banned, there has been more pressure to drop legacy admissions where the colleges can give a boost, sometimes quite a bit, to the children of alumni. donors are part of the conversation as well. do those advantages still exist? if your parents went to harvard, do you get a boost when you apply? lauren: i would s i think it is evolving. there's lots of places outside of race and ethnicity where certain categories of students receive preference.

legacy admission, to defined that clearly, that usually means if you have a parent or sibling that are attending or have attended the institution. those family relations may receive some preference i the admissionn -- in the admission process. we have seen some colleges come out and outright say that they are now going to release that as part of their practice and they will not consider legacy admission anymore. again, for california residents, that has not been part of the process. again, not relevant to them, but there's hundreds of institutions and that very much say this is something that they consider. so, we will see if those policies evolve, what other announcements are made as we continue into the fall. kristen: do not go away, we will be back to talk more with lauren about how you can

kristen: we are continuing our conversation on college admissions and joining us once again as lauren cook from jewish community high school of the bay in san francisco. we covered at the impact of the supreme court ruling, now let's offer guidance to individual applicants. let's start with how to make applications stronger. what is your biggest tip with regard to essays? on their essays now. the long essay required for the common application requires a lot of review. and several passes of editing. if you have not started your common application essay yet, now is the time. you can get work done before classes start. and i think it is important to have a couple of select folks on what you might want the thing about your application a board

of directors, that you can consult with about your essay. your english teacher might be one of them. if you have a college counselor at your school, they are a great person to read it over. and may be a parent, good friend. but one of the common foibles is to share it with your friends and say what does everybody think? that kind of waters down your voice a little bit, so be selective. kristen: they are no experts either, right? what about for the kids applying to u.c.'s, many ask does what you put down for major impact your chance for admissions. what is the truth? lauren: for the vast majority of majors it does not make a difference, they do have undecided as a category in most colleges. what is more important is choosing a college, like the college of arts and sciences, college of engineering, selecting when that feels like it has a number of majors you would be interested in, because

once you are enrolled it is not as difficult to move within your own college. but there are exceptions. i think across u.c. you're interested in computer science or engineering, those are going to be more competitive. that will push you into an even more competitive place than just for general admission. and it is important to see campus by campus if there are programs that are popular. some of the performing arts, film programs at ucla could be more competitive. so, the u.c.'s are pretty transparent, you can go on their website to see which majors are impacted. that's typically the language they use, it is more competitive, more interested students than spots available. kristen: some of the top u.c.'s are down to 10% admissions, so many great children will be left behind. given that, how do you form a college list. a list of schools to apply to?

lauren: the advice i give is to think about around 10 schools on your list. at some people are going to have less, that's fine. i would not want to more than that because it is a hard -- it's hard work and you have to show sincere interest in those schools. but you have to have a range of types of schools in terms of selectivity. if you are applying to very highly selective places, that have the 10% admit rates, you also have to have places for which you are in their wheelhouse and you think you have a good shot at admission, and them places that are a likely school, a safety school, a place you are confident you will be admitted into. because you want to have at the end of the day options next spring. kristen: talk about financial applications or financial aid, the fafsa forms should have been

simplified this year. is it happening? lauren: it is, but will happen is fafsa is usually available, and i will say that that is the application for federal student aid, what any student would want to fill out if they want to be considered for need-based aid. it opens up typically on october 1 of each year. you have a couple months, even if you are applying for the early deadline, to get it done. certainly for regular deadlines. but because of this big overhaul of the fafsa, they are bringing everyone hundred questions to 36, it should -- bring it down from 100 questions to 36, it is delayed. so families should be looking for updates on that and as soon as it opens and they should be trying to get it completed and submitted to all schools to which they are applying. kristen: a little less than a minute, so we will end it with

your final wisdom for people who are starting to feel the panic, looking at the big picture? lauren: do not panic. if you try to think about the big picture at once, it will stress you out. the most important thing is to think about the next step i need to take, keep your head down, do one thing at a time and you will get there. and you will have great options. kristen: what if you start to fight with your kid, as a parent? lauren: i would see if there is a teacher or college counselor, or someone who can work a little bit as an intermediary to help provide some perspective to the situation. remember the big picture, this is also some of the final time you have at home with your kids before they leave for college, so you want it to be as pleasant as you can possibly make it. kristen: thank you so much for joining us. we will take a break.

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kristen: thank you for joining us. we will be h