The college application is usually when parents are at their biggest point of distress. Consciously or subconsciously, the parents understand that they’ll most likely be letting their child go. This usually leads to parents having heightened feelings of:
- Anxiety.
- Fear.
- Panic.
- Distress.
- Melancholy.
However, it’s definitely not the time to lose your concentration and give in to your fears in this applicational madness. In the article, we’ll go over how you, as a parent, should set your child on the right path as they enter adulthood.
How to Mentally Prepare Your Child
Today’s generation of applicants are children born in the new millennium. They have long been familiar with computers and the Internet. They rarely ask parents questions because now everything can be found, bought, and tried without the help of elders.
The modern students are already frozen in anticipation (they have been bombarded with “when you grow up, what do you want to do” since childhood) of adulthood away from their parents. Of course, some will say that they do not want to leave and would gladly live further in their hometown, but this is just fear talking.
Try to convey to your child that the new stage in life is great and supports their independence. But remind of responsibility for each action, supporting the story with an example from life. For example, talk about the need to learn how to make money yourself; otherwise, you will have to do what you would not want.
The time before the immediate departure can be devoted to fantasizing about the coming events. You can share your experience, but not from the position “I know, it was like that for me,” but “I don’t know how it will be with you, but with me, it happened like this…”.
Surely many children have already had the experience of living independently. For example, in camps, trips to sporting events, excursions, group tours, and so on. You can remember what they gained from the experiences and what opportunities college offers.
Parting with a child is not at all a tragedy. For the first six months, he will visit his parents almost every weekend, and during the holidays, he may even get bored of the time spent with you. See the child’s departure as an opportunity for parents to remember what it is like to be a young couple in love, spending the evening alone together.
Going on the Right Path
Of course, the most important choice of all when it comes to higher education is picking the right educational institution. Here’s what you, as a parent, want to consider to ensure that your child will have the absolute best time while receiving a higher education diploma.
Listen to Your Child’s Wishes
By no means do all applicants to the graduating class come to a clear understanding of who they want to become in the future. As a result, they choose the specialty that seems to them the most interesting, or they follow “in the footsteps” of their parents because they have not been able to outline the area of ​​their personal interests.
So that by the third year of study at the university, your child does not realize that he is not doing what he wants at all, we recommend that you “probe” him at school for interest in various fields of knowledge. For this, there are various educational and scientific and educational projects within the framework of which a child can, in practice, understand what his work will be connected with if he enters a particular specialty.
It is up to parents to be sensitive to their child’s interest and help light the spark of curiosity. And modern universities, implementing various schools, additional courses, lecture halls, and so on, will always help you with this.
Choose a University With a Good Reputation
If your child has decided on a specialty but has not yet decided in which university he wants to spend the next four or more years, join in the search for an ideal place of study. First, you need to choose a university with state accreditation and an impeccable reputation among other educational centers.
Find on the Internet the data of the annual federal monitoring of universities and pay attention to domestic and foreign rankings of universities. Place your bet on a dynamically developing higher education institution and take a closer look at those universities that participate in government programs aimed at increasing their competitiveness on the world stage.
Choose a Modern University That Prepares Specialists in Demand
We live in a rapidly changing world in which it is not easy to predict which specialists will be in demand shortly. Often, over the years of study at the university, the specialty that a young person has chosen may lose its relevance, or the competencies acquired by him may not be fully applicable in work.
In this case, you need to choose a university that understands the current challenges in education and can predict what professions may be in demand in the future. Moreover, forecasts should be based not on unfounded faith but a thorough analysis of the labor market, taking into account the opinion of experts.
Also, remember that we are living in an age of interdisciplinarity. The traditional understanding of professions fades into the background. If your child is fond of management, he does not have to go to the Faculty of Management. In the 21st century, instead of joining the ranks of general education managers, one can become a unique specialist in the field of innovation management: to promote scientific developments to the market and help develop high-tech startups – a real challenge for an ambitious specialist.
Choose a University Which Offers Non-Academic Self-Realization
First of all, the university is a social institution and one of the most effective tools for socialization. Therefore, the university mustn’t be a place for your child in which they only have to attend early lectures, not get enough sleep before exams and cram the covered material, dreaming of the weekends.
A good university should provide leisure for its student, make it so that he would happily go to the university, realizing that there awaits him not only another boring lecture but also something more. After all, you don’t want your child just to become a full-time college essay editor. Instead, the university should offer some extra activities – creative contests, entertaining extra courses, lectures by popular scientists, cultural events, and more. Moreover, the student should act as a listener and as an active participant in these events.
In a university that adheres to this idea, your child will always find an application for their talent or, more importantly, discover it in themselves. Think, maybe it is in your child that a talented organizer, lecturer, or athlete is “buried.”
Choose a University That Cares Where Your Child Will Work
Even though the labor market is always open for young specialists from leading universities, many students experience difficulties finding a job. To protect your child from a similar situation in the future, choose a university that has well-developed interaction with employers regarding student jobs.
Check if there are special employment services at the university, how closely the university interacts with potential employers, what labor prospects await your child if he graduates from the chosen specialty, whether the university has basic departments and internship programs. You will always find comprehensive information on this aspect and statistics of employed graduates in a good university.
Choose a University With Extensive International Opportunities
Universities have long ceased to be closed organizations. Truly progressive universities go far beyond the walls of educational campuses, spreading their activities not only within their own country but throughout the world. Education is an international phenomenon, and now, when many professions are based on intercultural communication, it is especially important to receive a global education.
That is why, when choosing a university, you should pay attention to how developed the international activities of the university are. Your child should have the opportunity to study abroad for free, at one of the partner universities, internships abroad, and receive a diploma from a foreign university.
Summing Up
Knowing all these aspects of choosing a higher education institution should help you to set your child on the right path easily. To quickly recap, the college you’ll be choosing should have the following:
- A solid background.
- A strong educational culture.
- Rich extracurricular activity options.
- Employer connections.
- International opportunities.
Work with your child, not against. This way, you’ll ensure that your kid will be happy moving forwards with their life.
