Preparing for College
by  Brian Van Brunt, EdD

Adjusting to college is one of the biggest changes you will face in your life. Few other transitions have so many things happening at once. You move to a new city, sometimes a new state. The food is “different” from the home-cooking you’ve grown accustomed to. There’s this other person with their own set of “adjustment issues” sleeping next to you in your dorm room. Money is often tight.  You’re doing your own laundry, sharing a bathroom with 20 people and, on top of everything, you can are trying wade through a pile of syllabi, reading assignments and reaction papers. Overwhelmed yet?

Well, here’s some advice on how to make the transition to school a bit smoother for you. In my years as a college counselor, I’ve talked to hundreds of students trying to make the adjustment between home and college. These five suggestions are common ways students have been successful at college.

1)    Join something. Involved students are the ones who end up staying in school. It can be with the campus radio station, trying out for the latest theatre production, playing indoor soccer or ultimate Frisbee with your doormats, joining the outdoor adventure club or taking pictures for the school paper. Think about getting involved in your student activities organization (you can bring your favorite band or comedian to campus). Students who do well at college are involved in clubs, organizations and/or sports.

2)   College is a time to experiment and try new things. Think about what courses you want to take, what you want to major in, study abroad in Peru. Go to parties and meet new people, but remember to take all new experiences in moderation. There is a big difference between going to a party and having a few beers with friends and ending up in the emergency room with alcohol poisoning because “Potsie” at the frat party dared you to have 10 jell-o shots. Remember---you have four years to perfect your skills at beer-pong, don’t train to hard the first semester.

3)   Stay connected with the ‘rents. Let’s face it, they are either paying for school, doing your laundry when you come home or sending you cookies and candy in the mail to be devoured by your floor-mates. They brought you this far in the world---now they need some of your attention. Pick a time to talk to them each week. It could be Sunday after you get up around 2pm. It could be that free half hour between your 10:40am and 11:10am class on Wednesday. Find a time to schedule a weekly chat in so they don’t call campus safety to come look for you. Maybe they’ll even send you some cash.

4)   Find some key people at school who can be an advocate/mentor for you. This may be your advisor or favorite professor; it may be someone in the housing office or student development. Make a connection with a staff or faculty member who can offer advice or an ear to listen when you have a question. Faculty and Staff have been through what you are dealing with. If they haven’t experienced it personally, they’ve seen the same problems come through our offices year after year. You aren’t the first student to have trouble picking a major, needing an extra day on a paper or fighting with your roommate who hits the snooze alarm 8 times before getting out of bed. We’ve seen it before, let us help you.

5)   Try sleeping once and awhile. Seriously. You can’t function long term on 3 hours of sleep while your roommate is playing HALO 3. Shoot for 7-8 hours a night…you’ll study better, feel better and be physically healthier. Your body needs a chance to recover from all those 8am classes and those late night trips to Walmart because one of your friends needed a haircut and a poster of Brittney Spears at 2am.

Well, that’s all I have for you. This might sound cliché, but college is an experience you can only have once in your life. Take in each part of your college experience with an open mind. It’s been 15 years for me since I’ve been in school, but I still miss carrying a backpack to class, playing video games in my dorm room with 8 other guys and smuggling that bottle of wine past an RA my sophomore year (it’s ok---I then became an RA for my Junior and Senior year and had to search for all those illegal bottles of hooch). What might be overwhelming for you today, may very well be something you feel proud of overcoming years from now.

Brian Van Brunt, EdD, LPCC

When not at Walt Disney World, Dr. Van Brunt works at Western Kentucky University as the Director of Counseling and Testing Services. Brian recently moved on from his position as director of Counseling at New England College in Henniker, NH. Brian has taught graduate and undergraduate psychology classes in Ethics, Counseling Theory, Testing and Assessment and Program Evaluation. He is interested in how college counseling centers work with mandated referrals, offer screening events and what kind of on-line resources are offered. Brian is active in the Association of University and College Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD), the American College Counseling Association (ACCA) and the National Association of Forensic Counseling (NAFC).