As the last 12 months tick down until a high school student makes heads off to a college, they have to mentally prepare for college. Parents and students can make life a lot easier by considering some of these pre-college training ideas.
1. Take advantage of as many opportunities as possible to stay away from home. Whether you are a high school wall flower or the tough guy on the hockey team, going away to college and living in quarters that are not your own can really shake you up. There is no shame here. Besides the emotional trauma of separation from parents and friends, going to college means changing your whole way of living. To me the biggest surprise about being 500 miles away from home was the feeling at the end of the day that I wasn’t going back to the security of my house. Coming back to your dorm room or college apartment can be mentally taxing. You will truly miss the down time and familiarity of your own home and the presence of people who already love and accept you just as you are. In time your dorm will become more and more like home and your new college friends may well become friends for life, but to get mentally prepared for college and those first few months of transition it is really worth your while to make some practice runs living for a few days at someplace that is not home, before you take on the long term college rooming situation. Even staying over several nights with friends or relatives can help to loosen you up and show you that you will survive.
2. Spend time in the library and get help learning how to use all its sources. My husband and I both went to college, as did our three children and our experiences have taught us that preparing mentally for college really should include a major overhaul of student study skills. The one thing that the five members of my family all discovered on their own was how little one can actually study in your dorm room. Constant interruptions and the nearness of way too many diversions make regular study in the dorm a less than satisfactory arrangement. Coupled with that is the fact that once in college you are likely to need resources beyond just your regular texts. Gearing yourself to be able to study in the library and getting a handle on available library resources even at your own public library is a good beginning. It may feel strange at first, especially if you are used to studying in your own bedroom with music going or not really studying that much at all. Being mentally prepared for college includes coming to the realization as my son told us that “this is real.” Whatever maneuvers worked in high school to minimize studying are just not going to cut it in college. The better the college the more competitive the class work. Being somewhat acclimated to using a library, any library, will allow you to hit the ground running when it comes to staking out study space.
3. Increase time spent reading My husband, two daughters, a son and myself will all attest to the fact that getting mentally prepared for college should include taking the next twelve months to gradually elevate the quantity and quality of your reading. Certainly you can enroll in any type of private reading readiness program you wish. But if you don’t have the time, money or inclinaiton to add something else to your already overcrowded senior year then just take a personal pledge to work on your reading on your own schedule. It really doesn’t matter what you are reading – novels, biographies, even Sports Illustrated – as long as you are adding more minutes to your daily reading schedule. Of the many changes you will find at college one of the top academic differences is the amount of pages you will be expected to handle on a weekly basis. Slow readers and those unaccustomed to doing more than scanning outlines will find themselves ill prepared for the college curriculum load. Working on your reading skills in advance of college entry is a favor you do for yourself that will continue to have benefits throughout your formal education.
4.Work on note taking and outlining skills. Far too many high schoolers leave for college with insufficient or shaky note taking or outlining skills. For whatever reason perhaps they have been able to get by for four years of high school without putting much effort into the process of recording what others say or concisely organizing an outline of what they are reading on their own. Discovering this at the college level can be truly traumatizing. I can remember as a college junior having friends that were still asking to borrow notes from classmates for lectures they had both attended but for which some were still not capable of taking solid notes. Taking good notes is not about handwriting, it is about mental discipline, paying attention and being able to transform the paragraphs that are being spoken into comprehensible outline form. In both undergrad and graduate school I found that taking good notes was absolutely essential to doing well in any lecture course. High school English teachers will gladly give you assistance and perhaps even resources to help you with your skills if outlining is not part of the school curriculum. You have to be willing to seek out help and to use the materials that your receive.
5. Know what campus guidance and counseling programs are available for Freshmen. An excellent way to become mentally prepared for college is to check out the support facilities that are availalbe at the college you will attend well before you plan to arrive. You might never have visited the school guidance counselor in high school for anything other than a recommendation or a course change, but college could be very different. You have no way of knowing what kinds of difficulties may await you. Rather than stressing out about the potential headaches that may lurk down the road, why not spend the time on line or with your newly chosen college’s catalog to discover the kinds of guidance and counseling assistance programs are on campus. Sometimes just knowing that you are not alone with your problems can give you incredible peace of mind and make you feel mentally prepared to take on what college has to offer.
6. If possible arrange to spend time on your new campus well in advance of going there. The college provided tour you took when you went to interview gave you an overview of the school but it in no way really got you oriented to what lies ahead. You can really reduce your stress level and find yourself remarkably mentally prepared for college by spending extended time on campus, take a summer on campus class, go to a sports event, play or concert. The more comfortable you are with the campus the less mental energy will need to be directed to orientation and can be used for other things. If possible also spend time checking out the local geography and transport system. Many colleges do not allow freshman to have cars on campus. You help keep your head on straight if when you arrive you are already somewhat oriented to the area and have a clue about traveling.
7. Prepare in advance for your on campus spiritual needs. If you are a person who is religious and regularly attends worship services, being mentally prepared for college should also mean being spiritually prepared. You do yourself a favor by checking out how your spiritual needs can be met on campus and discovering what campus organizations are availalbe to help you to contiue living the kind of spiritual life which you can trust to keep your mentally grounded during this difficult transition time.
Going to college is a life altering experience but it doesn’t need to be a traumatic one . As you draw closer to that first day in college you will do all kinds of planning. You will make provisions for everything from spending loot to that special pair of kicks that you just have to have. Don’t sell yourself short. Take time to also become mentally prepared for college and then, filled to the brim with confidence, get ready to enjoy four of the very best years of your life.
