Athlete's Aha! "I know how to win at college!"

Parents, learn from the insight this student came up with. Use it with your student.

I recently coached a student who was a top-notch ball player in high school. He was so good he got a scholarship to play ball in college.

He went off to school, got injured playing ball, and flunked his first-year courses. Then he went back home.

When a student has this kind of experience, he comes home thinking of himself as a failure. His self-esteem is non-existent. He’s lost and doesn’t know what he wants to do. This former high school all-star had lost his identity as a winner and a standout.

I know what it’s like when your student drops out of college. Our son went that route. That’s one reason I do what I do.

As I was working with this athlete, he was bemoaning core classes. “They’re boring. I don’t care about ________ (history, science, whatever). Core classes suck.”

“That may be,” I said. “But you have to take them and pass them. That’s your ticket to studying what you’re really interested in. And to getting a degree.”

The young man, now 20, thought a moment and had this blessed Aha. 

“I had to learn a lot of basics to play ball. I had hours of practice throwing, catching, and running before I really got to play ball. Those basics were like core classes. If I can do that, I can win at college!”

Amen! He realized that he could endure the boring, routine stuff in order to play the fun stuff.

What a great lesson he learned that day.

If your student is struggling with core courses, talk to him about his successes and how he got to them. I’m willing to bet there was a lot of practice somewhere.

For more on dropping out, read this. #coreclasses

Disaster! Dropping Out, in Debt & Depressed

Two big stories broke this week.

For those of you who are considering majors and student loans, a great report is just off the presses. The Hamilton Project launched an interactive calculator that cites earnings data on about 80 different majors, allowing people to look up typical debt burdens by major, over the first decade after college graduation. The link above is to the NYT article, which has a link to the full report.

Another new report focuses on the students who go to college and drop out, and what happens if and when they go back. I spend a lot of time coaching students who dropped out of college for any number of reasons: money, health, wrong school, etc. But the biggest reason students drop out is that they don’t know what they want to do.

The effects of that decision to drop out are long-lasting and far-reaching. Read this report on those who leave college early.

One Mom's gifts

Right after reading that report, I was really touched when a mom, Susan, called me to work with her son, who has been in and out of college. She also hired me to help two other students she knows. Here is what Susan wrote. God bless her for caring so much about these young people.

“Consider this opportunity part of your Christmas gift, but it is really a life gift.  At the end of this exercise and counseling with Pam, I just know you will have some ideas and be excited about a college curriculum to follow and how to pursue a career that will make you excited about every day. 

“Pam Scott helps people find their dreams by narrowing down their likes and dislikes and discussing college and career options that will suit your strong points and desires.  She will also introduce you to people who have similar personality traits, drive and interests for you to talk about what they do in their professional worlds.  She will guide you through an analysis of yourself.  I went through this analysis after [my son] was born; I think of how much it would have helped me as a younger person.”

If you know a young person who has had trouble finding his or her way in college, follow Susan’s example. Help that student find the right path and graduate from college. Our city, our state, and our country need these young people to find their calling.

You can always reach me at 404-248-9475 or pam@whats-your-major.com.