Get stories and expert advice on all things related to college and parenting.
The Smart Off-Campus Housing Search
CollegiateParent
→ A first-year student doesn’t read his history textbook and only takes notes on the lecture. He fails his first test and thinks he is not cut out for college.
→ A sophomore hasn’t made many friends and spends most of her time in her room on social media or texting with her family. She wonders if this will last until she graduates.
→ A senior uses AI to write his thesis on Jane Austen. His thesis committee discovers the use of AI and now he may not get to graduate because of academic dishonesty.
While I share these extreme examples, what they all have in common is that each student wasn’t prepared for the expectations of college. What my 30 years’ experience has taught me about college success is that these students are grappling with some fundamental, and common, concerns:
→ “Can I do the work?”
→ “Will I make friends?”
→ “How do I meet college expectations?”
When we look at each student’s actions through this new lens, we have a better sense of what they could have done differently. With a little knowledge of how to prepare for these challenges, each student could have made better choices, which in turn could have made them feel less stressed and more capable.
If I had had a chance to counsel these students ahead of time, I would have shared the three strategies that can make a huge difference in any student’s college experience:
I have students who confessed they didn’t read a single book all the way through during high school and are nervous about the reading load they’ll have in college. Others shared they haven’t written an essay before. I also see students who worry that their notetaking and study skills aren’t going to be good enough to help them succeed in their classes. All these concerns are normal — almost everyone feels this way initially and many find that with some help, their skills do improve.
To be truly “college ready” academically means you may need to brush up on your reading, writing, notetaking, and studying skills. The only way to improve is to practice and get feedback. If you want a better jump shot or backhand, you’d put in time at the gym, on the court, or with a trainer. The same is true for academic skills: To meet college expectations, you’ll need to set aside time to work on those skills, get feedback from professors or tutors, and use what you learned (even mistakes) to make changes. Highly-skilled athletes spend a lot of time working out to succeed in their sport; academic superstars do the same with learning.
“I’m lonely” is a common statement of new students during the first few weeks. Until students really get to know their roommates, classmates, peers, and professors, college can feel like being on a tiny boat in the middle of the ocean without any land in sight. It doesn’t help when you see others on social media apparently having a great time hanging in college.
While it may seem hard at first, introducing yourself to others, making small talk with classmates, and finding events to attend are simple steps in the right direction. It can be scary putting yourself out there, but it gets easier. And if you realize that there are many others who feel the same way you do — they want to make friends but are nervous about it — then it may make you feel more
confident in reaching out first. Once you get more comfortable with connecting, challenge yourself to get involved in organizations, — take on a leadership role or help run a group project or event.
Over the past few years, I’ve had more students admit that they cheated at least once in high school by submitting work that was not their own. While I’m not completely shocked by these confessions, I am concerned that without making changes to behaviors, many of my students may find their college careers in jeopardy.
If you cut corners in high school, for example, and copied your homework from a friend or turned in assignments that you didn’t do yourself, then you will want to take a serious step back and rethink your approach to learning. Maintaining your integrity in college means that you do your own work (unless you are directed to use resources as part of the learning process), meet deadlines and appointments, and are honest and forthcoming in conversations around your learning process.
Maintaining your integrity also means that when using Artificial Intelligence programs, such as ChatGPT or ClaudeAI, you do so within the parameters of your professor’s or institution’s policies. While AI has been a ground-breaking tool that can be used ethically, it can also be abused by students who want an easy route to academic success. If you find yourself leaning on it to start or complete work, you may be robbing yourself of the brain development that comes from authentic learning. Would you want a doctor operating on you who asked ChatGPT moments before she cut you open how to remove an appendix? Yeah, I didn’t think so. You may also find that your professor takes these lapses in integrity very seriously and your college career can be damaged by your actions.
Even after three decades of teaching and the enormous shifts in student readiness over the past few years, I still believe college is an opportunity for transformation. Those three examples that I shared earlier? I can gladly report that each one of them approached the setback with honest self-reflection and made significant changes to how they approached their college experience. At the end of the day, we professors really don’t want “perfect” students who already know everything about succeeding in college. We want students who are willing to do the hard work to rise to higher expectations — even if they stumble a bit along the way.
