3 Things Students at Top Colleges Wish They’d Known in High School
It sometimes feels like getting into college is the finish line, but we all know that it’s just the beginning. We were curious, so we polled a number of former clients and friends who are currently students at ultra-selective colleges. We asked them what they wish they’d known and/or done dierently before they got to college.
Here are the three top pearls of wisdom:
1. High school clubs and extracurriculars are important for reasons that go far beyond your college applications
University clubs form a huge part of a student’s life and sometimes even aect career prospects. But did you know that some of these clubs are actually pretty selective and kids have to apply to be admitted (think: investment club, debate club, student newspaper)?
Turns out, neither did a lot of kids who ended up at schools like Vanderbilt, Princeton and Michigan.
For example, if your teen wants to join the entrepreneurship club, he needs to show evidence of engagement in this area while he was in high school. This could include participation in high school clubs, involvement in an entrepreneurship program over the summer, or having started an actual business. The same is true for all sorts of dierent clubs like moot court, business clubs, science clubs and more.
The important point: high school clubs are about a lot more than filling in the blanks on a college application. They could impact your teen’s college extracurricular options (which, in turn, could impact summer choices, employment opportunities and more).
2. Learn how to code before you get to college
Pretty much every college kid we asked said: don’t wait until college to get a foundation in coding and computer science.
BUT WAIT: my student wants to study humanities/arts/social science.
Coding is still relevant. We live in the information age, and long gone are the days of executives who never turned on a computer. Computer science and data analysis are relevant to almost every field today, and you’d be shocked how many majors at top liberal arts schools require a computer science course.
Having some foundational knowledge in computer language will make an entry-level college computer science course much less challenging and intimidating. It will hopefully also prevent CS from being a bigtime college GPA-buster.
3. Learn to get YOURSELF out of the bed in the morning
It’s shocking how many extremely high-functioning teenagers need help getting out of bed in the morning. Including when they are in college.
Do your child a favor and force him to learn this essential life skill before he leaves home. It’s true that teenagers need a lot of sleep. It’s also true that teenagers have a lot of trouble shutting o devices. Whether it’s Netflix-binging or poor time management that leads to excessively late night study sessions, the end result is that it’s tough to drag a teenager out of bed in the morning.
THE TRUTH: Pretty much every human being can train themselves to get up in the morning. There is no such thing as a teen who “needs” so much sleep that he cannot learn to wake up on his own.
Final point: parents who wake up teenagers (and allow their teenagers to persist in this pattern) are sending a message: I don’t think you can do it on your own. Or: I’m so worried about you (missing a chem test/getting in trouble/missing a sports event because you were late to school) that I’m going to step in and do it for you. Do we really think this sets up our kids for success? Of course not.
Do your child a favor: FORCE HIM TO GET UP ON HIS OWN IN HIGH SCHOOL.
Wherever your teen ends up going to college, and whatever his area of interest and study, there’s a good chance that these tips are relevant. Keep an eye out for upcoming newsletters and other free resources on the Blue Blaze website. We’ll be sharing lots more like this!