Mary Braselton
Director, Associate of Arts in Teaching Program
Midland College
Students take countless tests before graduating from high school, but there is not a test that determines if a teen is ready for the culture shock of college.
The college environment is dramatically different from high school; thus, the term culture shock. Students move from a grade book with many grades to a system where there rarely will be more than two or three grades per term. Suddenly, the environment shifts from monitored safeguards to absence of oversight. Students now have to seek out a compatible advisor; otherwise, time and money can be wasted.
To help students who do not have the experience or knowledge to successfully navigate college, Midland College provides that gateway through freshman seminar-type courses. These courses provide students with information that generally leads to student confidence in pursuing their hopes and dreams for a college education.
Test your junior or senior student by opening a dialogue about college culture by using these terms: semester hours, core courses, catalog as a contract/resource, study skills, degree plans, advisement, college calendar, syllabus, three-hour versus four-hour courses, CLEP, transcripts, transfer hours versus elective hours, GPA, office hours, adds-drops, library resources, IT labs, and student services.
Each student enrolled on a college campus will have a significant and personal relationship to these terms before graduating from college, so if your college-age student needs help with these terms, perhaps Midland College can provide the necessary help.
To prepare your student for the culture shock, focus on the following areas: paying for college, location, friendships, expectations and goal-setting.
-- Financing college. It is very rare to receive outright offers of financial assistance from colleges. Families have seek to research grant and scholarship opportunities with great diligence to make it happen. Financial aid departments at most colleges offer information to families including lists of scholarships and application deadlines. Some years ago, the financial aid director at Texas Tech University said the worst present a senior in high school can get is a new car if the recipient takes a car payment and insurance premiums to college with him. Burdening kids with these financial issues is a critical mistake.
-- School location. The typical high school senior just wants to get away from home. I have been struck by the fact that most teenagers think that no matter where they are, somewhere else is better. This universal application became clear at a Texas Association of Future Educators conference when I facilitated a large group of students from the far ends of Texas who shared their plans for college.
The consensus idea of a good college was one that was far enough away that their parents couldn’t tuck them into bed anymore. The irony is that lack of sleep (time management and self-control) is often the culprit for poor performance in college. Distance also adds to college expense.
-- Friendships. Once a college is selected, cliques that have been together for years will be separated by distance and goals. Even if close friends go to the same college, divisions still occur because unless they choose the exact same major, students will be in different parts of the campus. Students must rely on their upbringing to find new and stable friendships based on the values they have been taught. If positive values are lacking, students will make new friends based on a lack of values. Failure to integrate within the college system and to make new friends can be a very isolating event for students.
-- Expectations. Changing expectations also factor into college adaptation. Family expectations can range from don’t get in trouble to we expect stellar performance. Individual expectations of academic success can be dashed with the first semester’s enrollment if a student fails in some way. Many students are truly shocked by their first semester grade report. It often is the first reality check in choosing a future career.
-- Goal-setting. Tentative to concrete short-term and long-term goals should be discussed before students ever put a foot on a college campus. College counselors and professors are happy to work with students and families to help set realistic goals. Too often, students appear in a college counselor’s office without any career goals. The process is much easier and the path to graduation much straighter when the student has given some thought to four or five years from now.
High schoolers nearing graduation begin to think seriously in the early spring about where they are going to college. Some already have made college plans, but most students and families put off making decisions partially in hopes of getting scholarships or offers from colleges to make the financial issues clearer.
For more information on MC’s courses to help minimize students’ college culture shock, contact Mindy Flowers at mflowers@midland.edu or 685-6885.
This column first appeared in the January 17, 2012 edition of the Midland Reporter-Telegram, and appears here, in its entirety, with the MRT's permission.
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