August 2016 – My College Wisdom

Four Dos and a Don’t: 5 Keys to College Success

It’s go time. Finally. After all the college talk and the endless onslaught of direct mail from every college under the sun. After the campus visits and the standardized tests and the application essays. After the financial aid forms and the housing forms and the health forms. After the icebreakers and orientation trips and alcohol programs and speeches from presidents and deans and too many other people to keep straight. After all the stuff that came before and paved the way for you to go to college. At long last, classes are starting.

Oh yeah, classes. Remember classes? Continue reading “Four Dos and a Don’t: 5 Keys to College Success”

More of This and That: A Few Tips for First Year of College Success

We are right smack in the middle of college opening season and I know that most of you are incredibly busy with all that entails so I’ll be brief. Here are a few thoughts to consider as you (or your child) starts college.

There was an interesting piece by Lisa Heffernan and Jennifer Breheney Wallace in the New York Times last week about risks that new college students face. No doubt, personal health and safety is a fertile topic for discussion. While the tone of the piece is a bit foreboding and heavy-handed for my taste, every one of the subjects highlighted in the article is important. And, I enthusiastically second Heffernan and Wallace’s recommendation that students and families discuss these issues both now and throughout their college experience.

Continue reading “More of This and That: A Few Tips for First Year of College Success”

On Starting College: Reinventing You

One of the most exciting aspects of beginning college is the opportunity to reinvent yourself. It is a chance to start over in a setting where you aren’t limited by preexisting perceptions about who you are as a student, as a friend, or as a person. No one knows about the embarrassing nickname that got pasted to you after that unfortunate lunchroom mishap in ninth grade. Or the poem you wrote to Suzy on your two-week anniversary during junior year that went viral on Facebook after she broke up with you a day before your three-week anniversary. When you go to college, you get to hit the reset button and redefine yourself in a way that is consistent with who you are now – and who you want to be. Continue reading “On Starting College: Reinventing You”

On Starting College: The First Day Parts I & II

Prologue

With the first day of college fast approaching for members of the Class of 2020 I wanted to share a few thoughts that I hope will prove helpful to both students and parents.

To begin, I would encourage you to go into that day understanding that it is going to be hectic and emotionally charged. Students are excited and nervous. Parents and families are excited and nervous. You’re navigating a new place in an overcrowded car that you’ve been wedged into for too long. Someone is yelling that you missed the entrance to the parking lot. Someone else is looking at his watch and sighing audibly because he knew you should have left a half hour earlier. Another someone almost certainly has to go to the bathroom – again. And the guest of honor is rolling his/her eyes because you people are SO embarrassing. Continue reading “On Starting College: The First Day Parts I & II”

On Starting College: You’re Supposed to Make Mistakes

You’re about to start college and you’re excited.

There is a whole new and exciting world that is about to open up for you. You’ll be living in a new place and taking fascinating classes and making new friends. It’s going to be awesome and you’re going crush it.

Really.

But here’s the thing…

You’re also going to make mistakes.

You’re going to do stupid things.

You’re going to do poorly on a homework assignment or a paper or an exam. Continue reading “On Starting College: You’re Supposed to Make Mistakes”

College Application Download

Tuesday afternoon I was sitting in the stately, wood-paneled admissions office meeting room at an upstate New York liberal arts college waiting for the information session to begin when a Facebook message from an old friend pinged onto my smartphone. I was 27 hours and two campus tours into a three day, five state, 982-mile college tour with our son, Henry (a rising high school senior) and the message from my friend – we’ll call him John because, well, that’s his name – was an unexpected and welcome distraction while the other prospective students and families filed into the room.

As it turns out, John, who is also the parent of a high school senior immersed in the college search process, was writing to ask about the relative merits of using the Common Application versus an individual college’s application if they accept both. It’s a great question. Continue reading “College Application Download”

On College Drinking: Be Smart. Be Safe. Be Respectful.

Let’s talk about alcohol.

Benjamin Franklin said, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” He might have been right. Or he might have been full of… well, let’s just say it.

You will hear a lot about alcohol and alcohol policy at your college and some of it will be true and some of it will be full of it. As with most things, more often than not important points get lost in the translation when things get paraphrased and repeated casually. Continue reading “On College Drinking: Be Smart. Be Safe. Be Respectful.”

August “To Do” List: 5 Steps to a Successful College Transition

Okay it’s August and it’s getting real for all you students about to start college. The post-graduation buzz has subsided. Your summer job has moved past “so-so” and is rapidly closing in on “please-make-it-be-over.” You’re done filling out housing forms and medical history forms and course registration forms and every other freaking form they sent you during June and July. And while you are definitely getting excited and anxious for college to please just start already, it’s still too early to begin packing. So at this point all that’s left is to hang out with your friends and wait, right?

Well, sure, you could do that. Or not. Continue reading “August “To Do” List: 5 Steps to a Successful College Transition”