Getting my Sophomore Focused on College
I don't have any answers or advice today...just questions.
The main one is how to get a reluctant sophomore (most importantly my own) to focus on and get more serious about the college admissions process? We're now halfway through the sophomore year and his dad is starting to feel some time pressure. But he isn't. I ran into a neighborhood dad whose son is also a sophomore and he's struggling with the same question.
Fortunately my son Greg is taking challenging classes and making good grades. The challenge I'm finding is re-allocating his free time away from computer games to meaningful extracurricular activities. We've discussed the importance of this several times. His ever helpful dad has even provided a number of great suggestions. But so far, nothing. My neighbor is in a slightly worse spot. His son, who's very smart, is having trouble with both grades and extracurriculars.
I haven't had a chance yet to research this. But when I do, my specific questions will be:
- is this normal? are (most) sophomores too focused on today, and not enough on tomorrow?
- is there a time when the focus shifts? when?
- what should parents do? what's the right amount of pushing and what's too much?
I'll be looking for answers in the coming weeks and will post what I find.
Technorati Tags: college admission, college admissions, college, admissions, admission, extracurricular activities, GPA
posted by Matt Cobb at 1:39 PM
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3 Comments:
First of all, this is absolutely normal. Asking sophomores to focus on the future is...well...ineffective. They don't have a good sense of what the future holds and they are pretty well overwhelmed by high school as is.
Here are a few things you CAN do:
1) Get them involved in a club, sport, or activity that they like. I highly recommend Scouting, as the organization enjoys a great reputation and I personally had a good experience. Oh, and kids love it! Kids that are involved tend to work harder across the board, including on grades and test scores later!
2) Let them pursue other passions. If your kid loves video games, then have him do an internship, or design his own video games, or write video game reviews. Don't focus on college...focus on things they think are fun and the college application help will come later.
3) Travel. Take him to schools. Show him campuses. Don't pressure him to pick anything, but open up the possibility of freedom!
Wow Mark, you’re down deep in the archives! Thanks for the insightful comment. I’ll use it on my freshman ;-)
Weird! Somehow I stumbled across this again and thought it was new...
Glad my advice is still useful!
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