Often, we focus on the key hurdle in a teenager’s life as getting into college, but what happens after their acceptance letter arrives? What else needs to be considered? The truth is that getting into college isn’t the hard part - the most difficult part is actually going off to college and ensuring success.
As a parent, naturally you want to give your child the very best chance of academic success, which is why it’s essential that you take the time to prepare them for what their future holds. You need to get them ready for all of the challenges that they will face, both inside and outside of the lecture hall.
Once your child heads off to college, that’s when it falls on them to be responsible and make good choices. You are no longer able to influence their decisions in the same way that you once were - they’re grown up and should be treated as such. Whether they want to become a builder, do a Massage Therapy Degree or train to become a lawyer, this is their chance to head out into the big wide world.
However, there are a few simple things that you can do before they head off to college, to help boost their chances of success. Keen to know what these are? Have a read of the useful tips and ideas below!
Prep for college learning
College learning is extremely different to high school learning, and it is important that your teen is aware of that. College learning is far less pressured, with students having the choice whether or not to attend lectures. There’s also a different way of learning - in large lecture halls instead of smaller classrooms. To help your teen prepare for college learning, perhaps you could consider looking into pre-college student education programs. There are plenty to choose from, so whatever your child is going to be studying, there should be a suitable course for them.
Encourage them to read regularly
At college, students are required to do a lot of reading, so it’s a good idea to encourage your teen to improve their reading skills beforehand, to help boost their chances of college success. The more your child reads, the more advanced their reading skills will be. Teach them how to skim read as well as how to read books properly, as skim reading is a key skill at college level. If your child isn’t a strong reader, encourage them to take advantage of alternative methods, such as using audiobooks, for instance. Most college books are available as audiobooks, so if they’re not a strong reader, there’s no need to panic.
Teach them key skills
It’s essential that when your teen arrives at college, that they are fully equipped with a number of useful life skills, to make managing their time there, easier and less stressful. If your child is yet to learn how to cook, now is the time to change that. Does your teen lack key finance skills? If the answer is yes, now is the perfect time to encourage them to learn how to better manage their finances. In order to thrive at college and not just survive, your teenager needs to have a number of useful life skills in their pocket.
There you have it, a few simple ideas for helping your teen to have the chance of success when they start college.
