In the coming weeks, after high school graduation ceremonies and family celebrations, many parents and students could easily be thinking: Now what?
Indeed, many of today’s graduating high school seniors spent the past two years navigating remote schooling, completing college applications and attempting to emotionally process a truncated and complicated high school experience.
And yet, one of the underdiscussed impacts of the pandemic is that even the most motivated students are academically, socially and emotionally underprepared for the rigors of college life.
I have now spent nearly two decades working with students and consulting with schools on executive functioning skills – organization, managing distractions, cognitive flexibility, self-regulation and resilience when something doesn’t go as planned. These skills are fundamental to learning, setting and achieving goals, and seeking help as needed; however, they also have been underemphasized in today’s learning environments. That means the skills crucial for success in college and in the workplace are often seen as of secondary importance, and students need extra time, structure and support as they transition from high school.
Over the past year, we have had an increasing number of families contact our Los Altos office after seeing their students struggle to manage college expectations. As students move into their college experiences, here are a few ways we have identified as effective in supporting students in their transition.
• Identify campus resources early. When students first come to work with us, we collaborate to discover what academic, social and mental wellness resources exist on their school campus, and how to best access those resources. For instance, some students were unfamiliar with how to sign up for tutoring services or schedule an appointment with a career center staff member on campus.
• Find community outside of dorm life. Some students find their best friend living down the hall from them during freshman year, but that isn’t always realistic – and may put unnecessary pressure on their housing situation to provide built-in friendships. Many students admit that their in-person socializing skills have become rusty during the pandemic, and the routine exercise and camaraderie from high school or PE classes often ends when some students begin college. We find that students who proactively seek out new interests and activities within the first six months of school – and actively decide where and how they want to spend their time – have a better sense of fulfillment and connection.
• Create a sample workweek. Students typically don’t realize that when they use their time effectively during the day – going to the library between classes, for example – they can greatly reduce or eliminate the need for late-night studying and weekends feeling overwhelmed. And it can be easy to deprioritize the importance of exercise and sleep as key to mental wellness. At the beginning of the semester or quarter, noting important dates and times on a calendar, along with regular times for class, lab work, exercise, office hours and sleep, is the first step in creating what we call a “40-hour workweek.”
• Practice written communication. Texting, Snapchat and Instagram direct messages have created a shorthand of communication that means many students are heading off to college without learning the proper way to compose an email or message to a professor or instructor. Even the most well-meaning student can come across as demanding or insincere without the proper written communication skills. (Dear Professor Stills, Hope you are doing well! I was wondering if … ).
• Attend office hours. Being a college student can feel transactional and lonely, especially as some classes are still taught online or in a hybrid format at colleges across the country. Encouraging students to find ways to use office hours to meet professors and instructors in a less formal way and get general questions answered can be another step in actively building community at college.
Ana Homayoun is an author and the founder of Green Ivy Educational Consulting, 302 Main St., Suite 201, Los Altos. For more information, visit greenivyed.com or anahomayoun.com, and follow her on Twitter at @anahomayoun.
