The eleventh hour is quickly approaching and parents everywhere are loading their cars with dorm gear. Now's the time for some last minute advice for college freshmen - five quick tips to help them navigate that first year as college freshmen.
- Find a balance: Everything requires balance. Encourage your child to supplement his academic life with exercise (inner tube water polo, anyone?) and healthy leisure activities. While you want him to spend plenty of time with his textbooks, you also want him to be healthy and happy. These days, college rec centers offer a tantalizing array of intramural sports, outings and classes ranging from kickboxing to tango. These are great ways to stay in shape, work off stress and meet people.
- Don't just go to class: Of course it's important to go to class, but it takes more than a sponge-like attitude to learn. So go to class, read the syllabus and sit near the front. If it’s a huge lecture hall, tell your child to sit so in the center of a row at eye-level with the professor. He'll find he's more alert and engaged in the material. Plus, it's really difficult to fall asleep in class when the professor is looking right at him.
- Find study buddies: Encourage your child to make a new friend in each class, or join a study group. These can be a huge help during exam crams, but it's also important if your child falls ill or misses class. Plus, it's a great way to meet people and make friends.
- Go to office hours: Your child's professors and academic advisors are the best study buddies of all. Professors don't hold office hours for their own enjoyment, they do it to give students additional help. So tell your child not to let his professors feel lonely - go in, say hello, ask questions and get help. And if your child has dreams of graduate school and is attending a large undergraduate university, this may be the only way he will get to know a professor well enough to ask for a letter of recommendation down the road.
- And hang onto that laptop: The most common campus crimes involve stolen laptops and swiped bikes. So tell your child, don’t leave the laptop in the library carrel while you zip to the restroom. Don’t rely on other people to watch your laptop while you do said zipping, and don’t leave the laptop on your bed or atop your dorm desk, unless you lock the door. Speaking of which, lock the door every time you step away, even if it's just for a shower down the hall. Got a bike? Register it with campus security and lock it – with a decent lock. You may want to consider dorm insurance too, especially if your child plays a musical instrument.
