Tips on preparing your teenager for college

Time seems to fly so fast in the lives of parents. Most of you can probably remember vividly walking your children into the kindergarten room.  They may have been real excited or cried because it was the first time you had to leave them. The next thing you know, they’re in high school and before you know it, you’re at their high school graduation. As a parent, you want to make sure that the many memorable moments in your child’s life as it relates to education is a positive one. In this blog I want to give some tips to make sure your child is on the right path for preparing for college.

The first step in preparing your child for the future is to find out what occupation he or she wants to go into. In the earlier stages of a child’s life, you will find that they don’t know what they want to be when they grow up. Many children go through 4 years of high school and don’t know what career path they want to pursue. Unfortunately, the mentality of some teens today is “think about today and I’ll worry about tomorrow later”. In my experience as a Principal, many children that don’t have future goals are typically the at-risk youth that often get suspended. On the other hand, you have those who want to be a professional athlete without a plan B for an occupation.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 9,380 professional athletes and you have a .00565% chance of becoming a professional athlete. If your child wants to be an athlete, you don’t want to discourage them. However, they need to know the percentage of those who actually make it as a professional athlete and then choose another career in the case sports don’t work out.

The second step to help prepare your child for college is to guide them to an occupation. What I mean by this is to expose them to various professions and allow them to discover what they want to be. For example, have a simple conversation about various occupations with your child. You can even have them do research online about certain jobs. Try having them Google search “career survey” and do an occupational survey. After finishing the survey, various careers will be displayed based on their answers. You may also discover what kind of jobs would best suite your children by observing the things they like to do as hobbies. Whatever you do, don’t limit them to one occupation. There are thousands of different kinds of jobs in the world and sometimes what you think would be best for your child may not be what they want to be. Allow them to explore the many opportunities that this world has to offer.

The third thing you need to do in order to prepare your teen for college is to make sure they are well prepared for the college entrance exam.  Along with preparing for the exam, they need to research the various colleges and scholarships that institutions of higher learning have to offer. It’s so easy for a teenager to wait until the last minute to take the test and look for scholarship opportunities. I suggest that you have your child see their school counselor and ask about scholarships. There are so many institutions and organizations that are giving money away for many reasons. From being left handed to being short, there’s money out there that your child can get today! If you think I’m joking go to this website: http://www.collegeandfinance.com/32-weird-scholarships-almost-anyone-can-get/

The final step you need to take in preparing your children for college is to make sure they’re involved in extracurricular activities, school/church clubs and community service. Colleges not only like to know that you’re smart, but that you are an active participant in your school and community. For example, it’s looks good on a college application to know that your child was on the basketball team, member of the debate team, and volunteered at the homeless shelter. This shows colleges that your child is a team player and cares about helping others.

These are some but not all the things that will help prepare your child for college and ultimately a future career. Don’t wait until your child’s senior year of high school to do the things mentioned above. And don’t expect them to do these things without your guidance. Once they graduate and out of your house then they will have to handle all the responsibilities that come with being in college. That’s of course until they ask for money. College kids tend to call home for money sometimes. Oh how I remember those days. LOL

Jesse Duckworth