Preparing Your Child For College: Dealing With The Stresses And Pressures

It seems like just yesterday they were small enough to pick up and carry in your arms, and now they are ready to go off to college. It doesn’t matter whether they are going to college straight away, or have taken a gap year (or several), it never gets easiest to see your child grow up and fly the nest.

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[ctt template=”4″ link=”9m2Fo” via=”yes” ]Preparing your child for college can be nerve-wracking and it can hold a lot of uncertainty. Your child will need you for support and guidance more than ever.  If your teenager is the first of the family to embark on this journey, read this for a few useful tips to make it easier.[/ctt]

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It is an extremely nerve-wracking and hard time for both you and your child, and it can hold a lot of uncertainty. Your child will need you for support and guidance more than ever,  so as much as the whole process may stress you out, you are going to need to keep a level head for their sake. If you went to college yourself, most of the following points will be extremely familiar. However, if your teenager is the first of the family to embark on this journey; you will find some helpful tips below.

Start The Application Process Early

Many universities will not open up application admittance until mid to late 2018, but there is no reason why you can’t start preparing now. Sitting down with your child and looking through colleges and courses to see what they like the look of, and penciling in some dates for tours and open days, will take some of the stress off. You can even encourage your teenager to start working on their personal statement now, so they can take a draft to their current teacher or a private college counsellor to get some feedback. This will make the process a lot quicker when applications do open up, and a lot less stressful for both you and your child.

Take As Many Campus Trips As Possible

It is a good idea to be open to visiting every campus they want to see, and the more of a grasp your teenager has on what they want and expect from their future college will help them to make an informed and appropriate decision on where to apply.

Talk To Lecturers And Other Students

If you have a confident teenager, it is a good idea to let them do their own thing and ask as many questions, and talk to as many people as they can on campus tours and open days. However, if they need some encouragement, you may want to open up conversations for them, so they feel comfortable getting the answers that will help them make a decision on where they want to study.

Buy Home Comforts

Moving day is a lot of pressure without having to rush out and buy essentials on arrival. Even though it is tempting to wait and see what other students have brought with them to save money, you can be sure of a few things your child will definitely need. A bedside lamp, an alarm, clock, pillows, duvet and sheets, plates that are distinguishable as their own etc. This will also lessen the chance of early-set homesickness, and help them to settle in their student life smoothly.

Hopefully, this has eased any worries you had about the upcoming application season and helped you to feel prepared to help your child through this process.

This is a contributed post.

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