 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||
 |
|
||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||
 |
|
||||||||
 |
|
|
College & Career center Updated 2/12/08 Westview Students and Parents, Welcome to our College/Career page! I add information to this page periodically, so please check back again. As always, feel free to call or email me at any time. Warmest regards, College/WorkAbility Advisor
2/12/08--A NOTE FOR SENIORS: Slacking during your senior year can mean a difficult freshman year of college. What you don't bother to learn in your senior year you will have to relearn in order to move forward. Almost 30% of college freshmen are taking at least one remedial class (according to the National Center for Education Statistics). Senioritis can even effect freshman year long before your orientation day because poor grades in your senior year can cause a college to revoke your admission offer! Your scholarship or financial aid packages can also be rescinded because of poor senior-year grades. (Adapted from an article on www.nextSTEPmag.com, a good source of info about college life.) For information about the SAT or to use "College MatchMaker", visit www.collegeboard.com. To compare Cal State Universities or to find detailed information about one in particular, visit www.csumentor.edu. To research all California Community Colleges and find ones that offer dorm facilities, visit www.cccco.edu. A useful online career exploration tool is California Career Zone at www.cacareerzone.org. Anyone can log onto this site for interest/vocational assessment and career research. And Westview students can check out www.careerlocker.com. With their user name and password, students can access this fabulous website from school or home to:
AND MUCH, MUCH MORE! Every student has access to this program at school and home as it is internet based. All they need to log on is their user name and password. If they have forgotten their user information or have any questions, they can ask Crystal. This is an excellent way for you as parents to participate in your child’s college planning and career research at your convenience! Encourage your child to explore and “play” with all of its possibilities! For more information, please contact Crystal. FEATURED ARTICLE This article added 2/12/08 Self-care for Parents of College Students (provided by the Cal State University Monterey Bay Housing Dept.) Carve out time for yourself. If this is your first child going off to school, or your last child, they have taken up a certain amount of your daily time up until now. Replace that time with activities for YOURSELF, such as classes, movies, massages, etc. Get involved with something that really interests you or you have passion about. Doing this may assist your student in getting involved with campus activities, as well. Develop a support network for yourself. Have friends to call when you feel worried, anxious, or have an emotionally charged conversation with your student. Seek out parents who have been through this experience and talk with them. If reading or learning through written material is useful to you, then seek it out. There are books, organizations and websites that parents have found useful, including resources targeted to specific populations and parents of students with special needs. Be calm. Go elsewhere to process your worries and concerns. Don't put your anxieties on your student. They have enough of their own. Don't get on your student's rollercoaster. Students may call home during the first several weeks with alternating feelings about school. They either love it or hate it, and sometimes both during the same phone call. Remember to BREATHE while listening to them, because they won't be! Resist calling your student too frequently. Set a goal of calling them once a week and stick to it. Let them call you. Become aware of your self-talk and self-defeating beliefs. What we say to ourselves about ourself and others affects how we feel and what we do. Stay away from "shoulds" and "oughts." Take resonsbility for your on emotions and reactions. If upon reflection, you think you have overreacted when communicating with your student, clean up your mistake. This modeling of behavior may be more useful than any advice you give. Focus on your own growth. As your student goes off to pursue their goals, think about what you wanted to do that has put on hold, and go do it! Remember to keep a dialogue with yourself that supports your new relationship with your student, such as "I have to let go," "She can figure this out," and "I don't have to be a hovering parent." START NOW. Use the summer between high school and college to begin your new relationship with your student. Begin treating him or her as the independent person they will have to become once school starts.
This article added: 12/6/07 So Your Child is Off to College...Now What? (from the Cal State Monterey Bay website, adapted from MacKay, J.K. et al, Let the Journey Begin) STRATEGIES FOR PARENTS ASK OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS. Remember, the goal is to keep communication open. Try not to sound as if you are preaching. When you are trying tto make a point, use "I" phrases rather than "you" phrases. BE OPEN AND HONEST about your values and expectations on sensitive subjects such as alcohol, drugs and sex. State your views without coming across as judgemental. REMEMBER THAT LISTENING IS A PART OF COMMUNICATION. Being a good "sounding board" is an important part of your role now. EXPECT TO DISAGREE on some key issues. Keep n mind that your student is working toward independence and autonomy, not co-dependence. TAKE SOME EXTRA TIME to communicate your support and encouragment. POSITIVE FEEDBACK is especially important for your child at this time. DISCUSS THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN ALCOHOL, DRUGS AND SEXUAL ASSAULT. Emphasize that in order to make safe decisions, a person must be in control. If your child is going to a party, encourage them to arrive and leave with the same friends and suggest that transportation plans be arranged in advance. STRESS TO YOUR STUDENT THAT ALCOHOL IS TOXIC AND POTENTIALLY FATAL IS CONSUMED EXCESSIVELY. Discourage binge drinking and drinking games, and encourage your student to have the courage to intervene when they see someone else putting their life at risk through participating in dangerous drinking. DON'T OVERREACT to those first frantic telephone calls! Listen carefully and try to determine how best to assist your child, but don't panic! DON'T BE SURPRISED if your son or daughter expresses strong emotions one day and then those feelings disappear the next. It is not unusal to receive a call that "nothing is going right" or "I want to come home" and then the next day, "everything is great." BRAINSTORM OPTIONS and possible courses of action with your student as problems arise. Generating choices with your child conveys that you still care but also puts the responsibility on them to follow through. ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILD TO WORK THROUGH PROBLEMS WITH THEIR ROOMMATES. Misunderstandings may erupt into a major confrontation is tensions are allowed to build. IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT STUDENTS NEED TO FIGHT THEIR OWN BATTLES. Situations just become more complicated when parents get involved. REMEMBER THAT TIMES CHANGE! Be careful about giving advice about your own experiences from college. What worked for you some years ago may not be relevant to the your son or daughter's current situation. PLACE RESPONSIBILITY FOR CONNECTING WITH RESOURCES AT THE FIRST SIGN OF TROUBLE ON YOUR STUDENT. Students should learn how to reach out to campus support services such as tutors, advisors and deans independently. ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW YOUR CHILD IS SPENDING FREE TIME and with whom! The way your child spends time can give clues as to whether he or she is engaging in risky activities. REMEMBER THAT YOUR STUDENT NEEDS TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR MANAGING THEIR OWN TIME. Attempting to organize your child's time can often complicate matters and doesn't help them learn the skill of time management. However, as a parent, you can provide some helpful tips. EVEN IF YOU CHILD HAS MADE SOME POOR DECISIONS, TRY NOT TO PLACE BLAME DIRECTLY ON HIM OR HER. Using "I" statements rather than "you" statements allows you to express how you feel without sounding accusatory. WORK ON CONTROLLING YOUR EMOTIONS. Feelings of anger and disappointment will come through even on the phone. CHOOSING A MAJOR IS A PROCESS THAT TAKES TIME. It may be difficult not to step in and try to force the issue. Encourage your child to explore academic programs, but do not project your own views into the process. Remember that a student's choice of major is based on his or her abilities and interests, not yours. PARENTS SHOULD BE AWARE WHEN FINAL GRADES ARE AVAILABLE. However, FERPA law dictates that parents are not informed of grades, judicial records, etc. This information is provided directly to students only. WHEN YOU DISCUSS CHANGES, remember that your student "owns" the plan. Your role is to share your expectations and provide support, not to assume responsibility for decision making and follow through. That is up to the college student. IF THIS IS NOT YOUR FIRST CHILD GOING OFF TO COLLEGE, remember and respect the differences between each of your children!
******* 10 Things You Should Consider When Choosing a College (excerpted from www.petersons.com) Sure, you know that the best schools enroll students with the best grades and the highest test scores. You also know that there are some college names that impress more on a sweatshirt. But how can you figure out which school is right for you? Consider the following: 1. SIZE -- Colleges come in all sizes, from a school in California that enrolls only 26 students to schools like Penn State, which can enroll 30,000 or more. Which one is better? Well, that depends on you and what you're comfortable with. Did you like the size of your high school? Do you like being places where everybody knows you, or do you like the anonymity of a crowd? 2. TYPE -- All colleges are not the same. Some have large graduate programs and devote much of their time and resources to research. Others enroll only undergraduates and focus their attention on teaching and learning. Some schools have a specialty in one specific area, like engineering or writing, while others are best known for giving their students a broad education. Other differences include whether schools are single-sex or co-ed, if they have a religious affiliation and whether they are public or private. 3. LOCATION -- There are colleges in every living enviornment imaginable, from tiny towns in Minnesota to the middle of New York City. Think about where you grew up and how much of a change you want from that when you go to college. 4. DISTANCE FROM HOME -- Closely tied to location is the issue of how far from home you want to be. For some peole, going to college is a chance to explore a totally different part of the country (or world). For others, they want to make sure they can have dinner with their family once a week and go home to do their laundry. When you decide how far you want to be from home, think about how likely you are to get homesick and how much money you can afford to spend in travel. 5. COST, SCHOLARSHIPS & FINANCIAL AID -- Cost is one thing that most parents think about when the topic of college comes up. Public universities often offer much lower tuition rates to in-state students but their fees to out-of-state residents are usually pretty similar to private schools. Private institutions charge everyone the same high tuition but they often have more privately funded scholarship monies available so it's worth applying to them even if the price tag seems too high. 6. STUDENT POPULATION -- Some schools, particularly large schools and those in big cities, tend to have students from a wide range of ethnic, socioeconomic and religious backgrounds. Other schools, especially small schools and those in very rural locations, tend to have a fairly homogeneous student body. 7. MAJORS & REQUIREMENTS -- If you know what field you want to go into, it's important to make sure you go to college somewhere that will prepare you for your chosen profession. If you're like most entering freshmen, and not so sure what you want to do, you should choose a school that will give you plenty of options. 8. ATHLETICS & EVENTS -- Are you a sports nut or does the sound of a marching band and the sight of a football uniform make you cringe? At some schools, sports are the order of the day, the main school activity on most students' calendars. If you're really into live concerts, you probably won't be happy at a small school in the countryside where few musical acts stop on tour. If you love nothing better than hiking in the woods, a campus in a natural setting can give you just the kind of balance you're seeking. 9. ACTIVITIES & SPECIAL PROGRAMS -- You'll want to make sure you go to a school that not only fulfills your academic goals, but your personal ones, too. Some schools pride themselves on giving students a chance to be involved in extra-curricular activities outside of their majors. Other schools focus all their attention on great classes, not much else. 10. YOUR GUT FEELING -- Trust your instincts. If a place feels right, that's important. Similiarly, if it just feels wrong, no matter who wants you to go there or how good it looks on paper, it probably is wrong. College is a very personal choice.
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||