Is your student college-ready?

Your student is about to graduate from high school, so they must be ready for college, right? Not so fast. College may be their next step, and they might be excited about it, but that doesn’t mean they’re ready for it.

You’re probably learning a lot of new terms as your student explores and prepares for college, and here’s another one: college readiness.

College readiness is the skill set that your student needs to have to thrive in college. What’s so important about college readiness? Well, the transition from high school to college is a big one; it can be jarring for a lot of students. But if they possess the necessary college-readiness skills, they’ll be in a much better position to be successful throughout college.

Think of it as a boxer spending months training for a prize fight. That’s sort of what your student is doing — instead of getting into fighting shape, they’re getting into college shape. So let’s start training.

How your student can get ready for college

If your student starts preparing now, they should be in a good position to be college-ready (or close to it) by the time they start their first semester. Here’s their training plan.

Build their academic skills

Some students might think their senior year of high school is a time to coast, but this is when they should really buckle down, make sure they are understanding their work and completing it all. If they can, they should take honors or AP classes. These will help them prepare for the more rigorous academics they'll experience in college.

Learn how to learn

Your student should be doing more than just rote memorization of facts and then forgetting it all once the exam is over. Critical thinking skills become super important in college, so your student should start honing those now. They should be mindful and present while studying, and truly digest their readings and assignments — take their time with things, and make sure they really understand.

Explore their interests

You might be surprised, but a lot of high school students still aren’t really sure what they’re interested in. Or they’re so interested in one particular thing, they don’t take the time to consider any other activities. Your student should spend some time really exploring their interests before they go to college. This will help them start thinking about major and career opportunities to pursue as well as college student clubs they may want to join.

Take advantage of opportunities that come along

How many opportunities have come your student’s way that they automatically rejected? Probably many. But they should stop and consider them, as a new opportunity could contribute to college readiness. For example, travel opportunities, extracurricular activities, a high school capstone project, a volunteer opportunity, an event or seminar — all these things and more can open a new world to your student and help prepare them for college in ways they never considered before.

Work on time-management skills

Time management is going to be hugely important in college. Your student will be responsible for getting up on time, getting to their classes on time, and balancing studying with other activities and possibly a job. Now is the time they should start figuring out a good calendar system and begin practicing how to prioritize tasks, get an early start on projects and say no to some things.

Practice team collaboration

Your student will likely find themself on a lot of team projects in college. If they are skilled at working in groups, they will already be ahead of the game. Having a job, working on a project with friends, or even doing something with family members like making dinner or cleaning up the yard will help them build their teamwork skills.

Stay on top of grades

Of course, in addition to all this, your student should make sure they are taking all the required coursework necessary to be admitted to college, and keeping their GPA up. If they need help or aren’t sure they’re on track to be college admissible, they should talk to their high school guidance counselor.

What if your student can’t get college-ready in time?

If your student doesn’t have enough time to really start getting ready for college, don’t panic. Once they enter college, they’ll build a lot of these skills fast — they won’t have a choice. It’s sink or swim in college and the fact is, most students swim. So start working with them on these college readiness skills now and help them practice as much they can in the time they have. Then trust that they’ll be fine.