What are some tips to make the transition from high school to college easier?

Hi Shelby,

The transition from high school to college is an exciting, but potentially nerve-racking time in one's life. You are moving out of your parent's house into a dorm where everything will be new to you. To ensure a smooth transition into college life and all of its challenges, I have got a few recommendations:

1. Discipline

At college you are not going to have your normal support network nor your parents to watch over you to ensure that you are brushing your teach and doing your homework. How you handle the pressure of college and how well you perform is largely up to you. Sure, your university has many resources to help students who are struggling, but at the end of the day it is going to be you who has to write that paper and you who is going to have to study for final exams. You are going to have to learn to hold yourself accountable and focused on your school work. There will be times when there's a party, a sports event, a club events, or a birthday the night before an exam and you are going to have to decide between studying or doing something social. There are pros and cons to both choices and you need to ask yourself what is more important to you.

Procrastination is something that I struggled with in high school that I had to unlearn in college. You will likely be taking 5 classes a semester (full course load at my university) which means lots of readings, lots of assignments, and TONS of essays. Completing these in a responsible manner, on time, and not the day before its due is something that I had to really learn and it was not easy. While it may not have been easy, my life was so so so so SO much better by completing things early. There were so many times during college where I would be relaxing at a Starbucks watching fellow students cry over the fact that they began their essays the day before it was due.

2.Personal Independence

Similar to the point above, you are not going to have your parents around and you are going to have to learn how to be responsible for yourself. By this I mean you are going to have to do things yourself: pay for things, select classes, schedule medical appointments, clean, do laundry, buy groceries etc. My mom really did everything for me growing up and I had to learn to do things for myself when I was in college. It's easy to rely on someone else for things and at first it was hard for me to do things for myself. But I quickly learned after I got sick the first time in college that I had to get myself together.

I hope this helps and I wish you the best of luck!! College is a great time and you will do great!!

Best,

Austin