From High School to College: How To Transition Smoothly and Successfully
The leap from high school to college is a milestone. For many, perhaps most, it will be the biggest single transition they ever experience. It can impact on every aspect of your life, as you move home and area, change your daily routines, and transform your relationships. And factors like the institutions themselves, your background and family, and status will all affect how that transition goes.
Together, it means that everyone has a unique experience. For some, going to live in college accommodation with on-site catering might seem like a holiday, free from their usual chores at home. But for someone from a family with no history of college education, and a family that has never moved from their hometown, it might be a scary leap into the unknown.
But people have been successfully transitioning to college life for hundreds of years, and you can too. But to do it really successfully, you have to assess the changes you will encounter, and the practical, emotional, and academic dimensions of those changes. Like anything in life, good preparation is a key ingredient of success.
Prepare for the practical changes
For many, going to college means crossing a threshold. Becoming an adult is no longer a legal formality, you may find yourself living away from home and free from the constraints of parental supervision for the first time. But it brings new duties too, like paying bills and maintaining your new home. And this all happens in a new environment where people will not be as unconditionally forgiving as your family.
Your college will have plenty of support and guidance for things like your accommodation and even finances. But also think ahead about how you might manage the practical effects of those changes on you. Managing your new home alongside your studies will require time management.
And think about how you might react to your new situation and the limits you might have to set. High school and family life naturally create boundaries, from school timetables to house rules and family schedules. You might find that you need to set yourself limits to manage the temptations of late nights out or discovering a new city.
Making sure you are organized and disciplined may seem boring in the context of an exciting new chapter in your life, but will pay quickly pay dividends.
Don’t underestimate the emotional changes
Everyone reaches a stage in their life when they leave their family home. And if it’s to go to college, it comes whether they are emotionally ready for it or not. If you are moving to your college, even if you are still relatively close to your family, or have a sibling already there, don’t underestimate the emotional impact it might have on you.
For most people, their family are a constant throughout their lives. A source of both encouragement and consolation, the first people they turn to when in need. Your family, and friends, will still be there for you, of course, but college can mean distance. Chats over meals might be replaced by phone calls or instant messaging. And your oldest friends might be busy navigating their own new college life.
Remember, although colleges never show pictures of sad students, everyone will experience some sense of homesickness, and it will manifest it in different ways. Don’t fall into the trap of being ‘strong’ for your family, they will be missing you just as much. Pay attention to your feelings, and never be afraid to ask for help.
Get ready for a shift in your academic studies
Going to college is the reason behind all these changes in your life, but it also means an enormous change in the way you will have to approach studying. And is one of the transitions that you will have no choice but to master.
In general, education becomes less and less directive as you progress. Most people’s first days at school will have been highly structured, with a timetable and instruction that focused on knowledge. As you progress through school, and especially high school, the focus shifts more to you learning for yourself. Instead of being a mere recipient of facts, students will increasingly be expected to research and discover facts for themselves. While this shift may be so gradual it’s imperceptible in high school, the change between high school and college is unmissable.
It will differ from course to course, but some students might find themselves with a minimal schedule of a few lectures and seminars, and the expectation they will spend a lot of time in the library. And this will be accompanied by a more flexible approach. You will have deadlines, but largely expected to manage them yourself, and without the constant reminders of due dates. Combined with the new-found freedom of college life, many students are caught out.
Make sure you are ready by thinking carefully about how you manage your studies. Many find it useful to simply copy what worked before, a timetable and homework routines worked in school, why not simply carry on at college?
Develop strategies that work for you
Whether big or small, any successful change needs preparation. You are best placed to know not just what this change might bring, but also the personal challenges it might present. Research how other people found the move, and imagine the scenarios you might face that might be difficult.
If you know you find it hard to resist a party invite regardless of your outstanding commitments, think about how you might impose restrictions on yourself or stick to limits. If you are always handing in school assignments at the last minute, you might want to research college organization tips. And if your room is always a mess, perhaps work at developing better habits before you meet new roommates!
Think carefully about the situations you will face and have to manage. From that, you can plan the strategies that will help you with the transition. And knowing that you have done all that work and don’t have to deal with challenges when you encounter them, you can focus instead on enjoying your first few days and weeks of college life.
