When it’s getting close to time for your teenager to go to college, you may feel that you still need to do some things in order to prepare them. Fortunately, there are some easy things that you can do now to make sure that your teen will be successful when they further their education. If you are wondering whether or not they are ready, here are five tips for preparing your teen to head off to college.
Help Them Develop Better Study Habits
In order for teens to be successful in college, they need to devote plenty of time to their studies, and they need to know how to study effectively. This can be difficult to do for those teens that never learned how to make the time to study appropriately. You can help them develop better study habits now by showing them how to create a schedule and set aside time to study each day. It may also be useful to help them figure out how they learn best so that they can develop study habits that cater to their specific needs.
Go Over Finances
Since this will be the first time that your teen lives on their own, you should go over finances with them. Let them know how much money they will have for living expenses, and create a budget with them. By practicing sticking to a budget before they leave, they’ll be more successful with it while away at school.
Enroll Them in a Private School
There are many private schools that focus on preparing teens for college. These prep schools have rigorous academics as well as clubs and sports to help your child build a well rounded application, which makes them more attractive to many schools. It’s also been seen that teens who attend private school score better on their ACTs and other tests than those at public schools.
Talk to Them About Different Majors
If your teen doesn’t know what they want to major in yet, that is okay. They do have a little bit of time to figure it out. Talk to them about what they are interested in and their career goals. This can help them narrow down what kinds of courses they want to take in college, which can help them figure out which major they are most suited for.
Review Their Transcripts
Your teen will need to meet a whole host of different requirements in order to get into college. This is why it’s a good idea to review their transcripts with them so that you can determine whether or not they need to take any additional classes before graduation in order to get into the college that they want to attend.
If your teen is going to be heading off to college soon, there are some things that you can do to help them be more prepared. By making sure that your teen is as prepared as possible, you will know that you’ve done everything that you can in order to ensure that they will succeed as they make the transition from high school to college.
