Why Are Students Struggling To Succeed In College And Beyond?
Have you ever started a complicated task and needed to ask for advice only to find out it was simple? That’s the boat many high school students and their families are in as they approach the inevitable transition from high school to college. A seemingly complex task that, when broken down into a few easy-to-follow steps, can help any student develop a career vision that includes the right major, college, and success strategy. Yet, the solution is not to simply point the way.
Factors That Impede Student Success In College
Throughout my 30 years of teaching at 3 separate universities and coaching thousands of students, I can guarantee that most students will not independently move through a proven process to select their major, college, and career without a coach.
Additionally, while many families expect high school counselors to fulfill this role, most school counselors lack the time for college counseling. School counselors have a counselor-to-student ratio of 1-to-455, with 1-to-250 being recommended. They are overwhelmed by the current mental health crisis in American high schools and fill labor-intensive roles like scheduling and crisis management.
Finally, as the saying goes, “Times have changed.” College does not have the same return on investment that it did for parents, it is exponentially more expensive to earn a bachelor’s degree, and typical entry-level jobs for college graduates have been replaced by technology, making it more difficult to convince employers you are the right candidate.
What is My College Max?
While at the University at Buffalo, I created their first-ever career readiness class and wrote the textbook for students. While the class was useful to students, most lost valuable time and missed opportunities to prepare for college and career success.
When I left the University, I decided to create a program that parents and students could use to select their major, college, and career direction. That program, MyCollegeMax.com, is an online portal that provides high school students with everything they need to successfully transition from high school to college and then from college to career (or graduate school).
However, most students didn’t do it, and parents couldn’t make them. The reason for this is more complicated than a simple blog has the space to explain, but let me simply say students have intrinsic motivation taught out of them through no fault of teachers but by a system that focuses on “teach-test-repeat” rather than “purpose-autonomy-mastery.” I highly recommend the book Drive by Daniel Pink to learn more about this concept. It masterfully explains why students and adults are no longer intrinsically motivated.
So, the million-dollar question becomes, How do you get students to transition from unmotivated to motivated learners? The answer lies in the role of the college success coach.
If you would like to learn more about becoming a My College Max college success coach, visit: Be an MCM Coach.
