Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums College Advice for college students

Yikes! Lacking internal locus of control, these kids are clearly not college-ready.

At what point do the scaffolding and interventions disappear?

At what point in their lessons do the "water wings" disappear and they actually learn to float, swim, or tread water by means of their own developing skills?

At what point do these individuals adopt the "no pain, no gain" mentality... and embrace the struggle, sacrifice, and suffering involved in developing the self-discipline to learn, stretch, grow, set goals and attain them?

That should probably be considered an axiom.

LOL! That said, some stuff does percolate through. My college Freshman reported that she went to office hours with her prof and got exercise this weekend. The sleep thing is a little more challenging but two out of three is pretty good in my book.

Students study more in college if their roommates and friends are more studious. Not a surprising result.

Time-Use and Academic Peer Effects in College
by Nirav Mehta, Ralph Stinebrickner, Todd Stinebrickner - #25168
(ED)
NBER
Abstract:
This paper examines academic peer effects in college. Unique new
data from the Berea Panel Study allow us to focus on a mechanism
wherein a student's peers affect her achievement by changing her
study effort. Although the potential relevance of this mechanism
has been recognized, data limitations have made it difficult to
provide direct evidence about its importance. We find that a
student's freshman grade point average is affected by the amount
her peers studied in high school, suggesting the importance of
this mechanism. Using time diary information, we confirm that
college study time is actually being affected.

One of the better things we did as parents concerning our children's college path was to find a couple of college students in the field our children wished to go into of Jr. or Sr. status, take them out for lunch, and have a discussion with them about and our children about their major, what the challenges are, what they'd do differently in HS to prepare for it, what some of the misconceptions they had about the major are, what they've done right / wrong as colleges students in general, and many other questions.

Our children can seldom envision themselves becoming us so they often tune our advise out, however, it was quite apparent that my children listened with great interest and paid close attention as the college students much closer to their own age frankly discussed their thoughts, concerns, and gave real world advise to them that was directly applicable. We had our children prepare questions ahead of time of course but also let the conversation be lead a great deal by the college students who seamed more than willing to speak truthfully despite being embarrassed at times about their own shortcomings and less than optimal decisions.

The Right Way to Choose a College
What students do at college matters much more than where they go. The key is engagement, inside the classroom and out.
By Denise Pope
Wall Street Journal
March 22, 2019

Related site: Gallup-Purdue Index.

This reminds me a bit of old threads discussing Where You Go is Not Who You'll Be (March 2015) and It's the Student, Not the College (June 2015).

While I agree with the overall premise, one must read this mindfully: Correlation does not imply causation. In the case at hand, I would suggest that there are underlying personal skills such as resiliency and positive attitude which led to both:
- ferreting out and/or creating the 6 college experiences listed
- greater satisfaction after graduation.

Info at this link concerns me: Here's why this is concerning: An institution serving up these experiences, is, in my opinion, a bit like giving students an elevator ride to the top floor after it has been learned that those who daily walk the stairs to the top floor enjoy certain health benefits.

Only if the student is exerting the effort, making the sacrifices, and achieving internal locus of control, will s/he gain the lasting benefits.

No one else can get your exercise for you.
No one else can exercise your Do-It-Yourself (DIY) skills for you.

I see a similarity between this trend toward re-allocation of roles & responsibilities, and grading practices under which:
- students may fail to develop "internal locus of control" (but instead take a passive role in their education)
- rather than the onus being on the student for his/her learning, students do not take responsibility for their learning
- the traditional teaching/learning partnership between educator and pupil is replaced with a model in which the responsibility for "learning" is transferred from pupil to teacher. The teacher is held accountable for both teaching and learning.

Therefore my advice for college students might include something like reading Great Failures of the Extremely Successful, and contemplating the potential benefits of a "growth" mindset... in developing resiliency, positive attitude, and internal locus of control.

I think peer group is also key. When you apply to Harvard, MIT, Stanford, you get a different peer group than at Penn State. Like in my DD's HS. There are 2 test levels to get into her school. The only math available is accelerated. There is no lower level type classes that you can get in a regular high school if you are not strong in math. It is not about surviving but thriving. Like that book that talked about kids that were MG hard working, getting perfect SATs, great grades and then getting into a top school and having a nervous breakdown. The peer group is so above what they are used to in their school in the midwest. (using a known example but the situation was in the book) This kid could have gone to Penn State and excelled but went to Princeton and failed physics. After getting a great grade in AP Physics. And not because she didn't try. at DD's HS, they teach math differently. There was that article about top schools teaching math. I mentioned it to a math teacher and he said they do that already. They have always done the curriculum that way, integrating problem solving. So does it matter, yes, I think it matters what school, what peer group and that can make a difference. In DH's core freshmen housing group, the success rate was very high to achieve an upper class income and job satisfaction. There was the one guy who became a manager at Sears, but otherwise, highly successful 7 out of 8. That was Harvard. And it doesn't seem unusual for that school. I don't think you get the same statistics from Michigan State, taking 8 kids from a housing group and seeing how they ended up. Would 7 of 8 end up as corporate lawyers and doctors? Why they show starting salaries are higher for those graduates. We can argue whether making money makes you happy, but I am not saying you have to be a billionaire. But I find financial security is calming for the nerves.