How many students are carefully considering the idea of going to college?

Hello again,

I have spent the past week on a college road trip with my teenaged daughter.

It was one of the best trips I have ever taken.  I learned how much my daughter has grown up, and how carefully she is considering the idea of going to college.





She kept notes on each of the colleges we visited, asked questions during the tours, shared her opinions of each visit with me and tried to envision herself in each college setting.  I gained an appreciation for how difficult it is to envision oneself in such a familiar but totally different experience that college can be.


The week reconfirmed for me how important it is for high school students and even first year college students to practice those new experiences.  My games address distraction, roommates and the new scenarios that college students face.  Those things are just the beginning to taking the important steps (small steps go places) toward living apart from ones family or home.

DISTRACTION ACTION
ENTER THE CAVE
RISK IT

Wouldn't it be nice if students would play DISTRACTION ACTION, identify what distracts them, process those distractions and then use what they have learned to deal with the distractions when they come up?  Wow!

Wouldn't it be nice if students had the chance to put a room together for themselves, ENTER THE CAVE,  and then have to sit down and talk about what is important to them with their future roommate?  Wow!

Wouldn't it be nice to have a leg up on the types of scenarios one might find in the first year of college, to RISK IT?  Wow!

....how carefully she is considering the idea of going to college.

How many students are also carefully considering the idea of going to college?

I have just finished listening to Harlan Cohen's Naked Roommate Mini Course about how to pick the perfect college.  If you haven't registered on his www.nakedroommate.com site and someone in your family is involved in the college search you should (and I do not use "should" very often).  His presentation, knowledge and experience is priceless and right-on.  But, it leads me back to the same question:  How many students are CAREFULLY considering the idea of going to college?  I think I have to come up with an easier way for those of you who have been reading my blog to communicate with me.  But, in the meantime go to the bottom of this post and check off a reaction!

NEW QUESTION:

How do students who have not grown up in American culture deal successfully with attending American colleges?