Over the years, I’ve seen many students successfully navigate the transition from high school to first year of college. I’m not saying they’ve all done so without some bumps and bruises along the way, but in general, they’ve done well handling all of the normal “firsts” of living away from home.
That got me wondering about how to know if a student is truly “college ready”? And what that means, exactly.
And apparently, I’m not the only one wondering. I’m starting to notice articles like these popping up on college websites. And even though some may still lead with academics as their benchmark, they are also dipping into more of the emotional and social aspects, which is extremely important. Because even before the pandemic, the demand for mental health services has exceeded the resources available on college campuses. And data has shown that this continues to increase.
That’s why it is key that students are equipped with the skills and tools before they begin college to do things for themselves, recognize when and if they need support and ask for and find the resources they need.
They need to know what it means to be truly “ready for college”.
What is college readiness:
I love definitions that break things down to the simplest, most easily understood terms. And it doesn’t get simpler than the one Dr. William Stixrud advises parents to tell their teens:
“I need to see that you can run your own life at home before you go off to college”.
He then breaks it down into these four key areas:
Academic readiness: These are the ones most often talked about by colleges and include managing due dates and deadlines, turning in assignments on time, checking and responding to emails, texts or other communication, overall time management of assignments and willingness to take advantage of available resources if needed.
Emotional readiness: Everything from ability to problem-solve to managing stress and overwhelm and can include a teen’s level of ability in recognizing when they need help and asking about available resources.
Ability to self-regulate: This includes the “self-care” mentioned in emotional readiness such as getting enough sleep, eating well and exercising as well as the ability to keep track of their own schedules from waking themselves up and getting to class to scheduling time to do their laundry and making their own appointments for doctors, dentists, haircuts or nails.
Motivational readiness: This can include both their own desire to attend college as well as the timing that works best for them. Often, just feeling they are “college ready” in all the ways described can help students feel more motivated, while sometimes, it’s about being able to know that they have other options. It’s important for teens to know that there is no “one size fits all” pathway and recognize if they aren’t quite ready yet, that there are a variety of options and multiple pathways to get there.
How to begin:
There are lots of articles on and information on the subject and you can easily go down a google “rabbit hole” if you’d like.
I suggest beginning by sitting down with your teen and asking them to think about all of the things they ALREADY do for themselves every day, or every week WITHOUT being constantly reminded. Starting with what they already do well provides the motivation and confidence to build on their success. Some examples could be:
1. Keeping track of due dates and deadlines for homework
2. Waking themselves up for school
3. Getting to school on time (can be driving themselves or being ready to leave at the appropriate time)
4. Checking and answering emails
5. Keeping track of their extracurricular activities
6. Making their own appointments for self-care, such as doctor, dentist, haircuts
7. Doing their own laundry or cooking a meal
8. Keeping track of their own spending
The next step is to add in additional tasks that they don’t already do on their own or do but have to be reminded. This is where having a way to measure what constitutes successful mastery that you both agree on is key. As each task is completed, they can then pick 1 or 2 additional things that they want to start doing on their own.
It can be preparing a family meal each week, making their own appointments, or just setting the alarm and getting up and out the door to school without being reminded. You can let them choose what they want to focus on. One of my favorite examples was a student who was nervous speaking on the phone to strangers who set a goal of placing the take-out order for their family’s “pizza Fridays”.
It doesn’t matter if you consciously begin this process the summer before high school or the summer before college, the key word is “consciously”. Just by having the discussion about what college readiness truly involves and the ways to prepare will help you and your teen to recognize all that they’ve already accomplished and the things they want to work on that will support them to know that they have the skills, tools and confidence to know they are truly “college ready”.