What does ‘college ready’ mean?

I love guiding high school students through the college selection process and helping them become “college-ready.” Teens and young adults are fascinating human beings and I’m fortunate and grateful to be able to guide them to colleges that match their personality preferences, academic capabilities and personal interests. I find it very rewarding when finding the right college that fits the family’s budget also.

 

I come across many high school students who are academically prepared for college and adept at getting top grades. They are astonishingly good students, naturally gregarious and at ease among peers and adults. Others have opposite personalities, drawn to studying by themselves, yet enjoying peaceful but focused solitary sessions.  

 

College life is typically a seemingly unorganized experience, which comes as a surprise to most students. They may feel they have much free time on their hands since they meet a teacher in person for only a few hours a week. But before they know it, along come the midterm and final exams. Students not being proficient at independent learning, parents may hear some whining; this whining is a rock-solid foundation of freshman year. 

 

I am very sympathetic to these students’ tribulations since I experienced them firsthand when I was a first-year student. I had no routine for studying, nor did I devise a schedule that worked for me. Whenever I threatened to quit, my mother would say: “Smettila” which meant “Stop whining.”

 

Following are a couple of ways that parents can help their high school or freshmen in college reach their goals and beef up emotionally.

 

Rule #1 - Self-advocacy: The time to practice self-advocacy is in high school. Did your child get a bad grade that seems inappropriate or unfair? Don’t as a parent pick up the slack! Provide emotional support and understanding, but then let your child go to bat for themselves. “Self-advocacy” was a term originally used for kids with disabilities who needed to ask for special services themselves. It is what every student needs to do. If they hope for a better world, they need to advocate for it themselves. If parents intervene and students don’t get a grade change, it’s obvious whom students are going to blame. Let the students advocate.

 

Students with learning disabilities need to reconcile that these disabilities don’t go away magically in college. If they need additional services and they qualify for them, they need to utilize them. 

 

Rule #2 - Schedules and calendars: Help your child establish a calendar that prioritizes study time, exams, papers and sleep. Students regularly lose sleep because of online activities. I recommend that parents write down everything that they do for their child over the course of one week. Include any outside learning support that the teen relies on. Then review the list and discuss how these tasks could be accomplished in college solely by the student. By emotionally freeing students in this way we make them independent. Without this independence, many young adults, ages 18-28 are in therapy due to “failure to launch.” 

 

Claire Law, IECA Certified Educational Planner, has been providing educational services on Daniel Island since 2004. She helps teens identify their best-fit colleges, boarding schools, or therapeutic programs. Email claire@eduave.com.