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High School / College

Researching Colleges: What to Ask Current Students

When researching colleges to apply to, your student may already be reading college websites and contacting the admissions office.  Another major source of information is current students at the colleges of interest.  After helping your student with gathering the...

Career

Is Your College Student Feeling the Sophomore Slump?

“College sophomores are in a tough spot,” a mental health counselor recently told me. “The reasons are many, but they often revolve around making decisions about their future and they feel conflicted.” It makes sense: The newness of college has...

College

To Work or Not to Work? That Is the Question for College Students

Conventional wisdom goes something like this: Some work is good for college students, but too much work can make it harder for them to focus on their classes and ultimately graduate. Most colleges and universities stick by the recommendation that 10-20 hours a week...

College

What Students Say about the First Year of College: Part II

In my last blog, I wrote about what students say about the first year of college based on the themes that I have discovered in their written responses over my past four years at a university.  These themes–seven in total–have come from careful reading of...

College

What College Students Say about the First Year

Recently, I was invited to present at a conference for academic administrators and was told that I could speak on anything that related to my work with first-year students. I realized that over the past 20 years, I have had a unique opportunity to listen to what...

High School / College

Are You Raising a Resilient Young Adult?

It is the end of another school year and your student’s next academic steps are most likely far from their minds. Instead, they are thinking about sleeping in, starting a summer job, or just enjoying the lack of a schedule for now. I am sure that developing...