Get college ready: The Woodlands LearningRx suggests building mental skills needed at universities

THE WOODLANDS, Texas - It’s never too late to make sure your high school graduate is prepared to excel in college and flourish as an independent adult.

Kim Bellini, owner and director of The Woodlands LearningRx, explains that success in college is not just based on intellect or academic ability.

“New college students find themselves with a lot of freedom -- and without daily life skills,” she said. “Even the smartest students may struggle to succeed.”

Bellini said acquainting children with the following skills can help them thrive in college:

Time management: Managing a range of responsibilities including going to class, preparing for tests, working and a social life can be tough for any student who doesn’t have good time management skills.

“Keeping a planner or creating a calendar to hang up in your dorm and understanding how to assess priorities will help you keep track of every assignment, study group and campus activity,” Bellini said.

Organizing: Solid organizational skills are essential. With the increasing popularity of smartphones and tablets, most college students can use apps or online programs to help them stay organized. This may include text reminders (“English paper due in two weeks”), cloud storage for papers, tests, and syllabuses and typing notes into a laptop.

“Color code your notes for each class with folders, notebooks or highlighters, buy your books in advance to prevent from playing catch-up and develop a routine for waking up and going to sleep every day,” Bellini suggests.

Self-advocacy: Let your college students know that they can ask for help whenever they need it. Whether it’s falling behind in a class or dealing with emotional issues like depression, it’s important for them to understand that it is okay to ask for help.

“Make sure your child knows where the academic advising office is as well as the counseling office,” Bellini said. “Write down professors’ office hours for those times when you don’t understand an assignment. There are people all over campus who are willing to help.”

Compromise: Sharing a bathroom with their roommate, understanding everyone’s role in a group project or determining who cleans what in their dorm are a few things that might happen that your freshman isn’t used to. Teach them to share, negotiate and evaluate and seek the middle ground with win-win outcomes.

“Learning how to compromise with roommates or classmates can reduce stress levels tremendously by not having to deal with unnecessary drama,” Bellini said.

Confidence: Recognizing your good qualities, skills and talents will boost your sense of worth. “A confident student is a happy student,” Bellini said. “I recommend that college freshmen attend as many events as possible so they can make new friends.”

Strong cognitive skills: IQ is a measure of intelligence – and relies on cognitive skills like spatial reasoning, problem solving, creating useful associations and planning.

“Brain training and assessments can enhance strong cognitive skills and increase performance in the classroom,” Bellini said.

If students are still struggling to build cognitive skills, The Woodlands LearningRx can help. Located at 4840 West Panther Creek, the brain-training center transforms a student’s ability to learn at a core, cognitive level – developing individualized programs to strengthen attention, memory, processing speed and problem solving. To learn more about The Woodlands LearningRx, visit learningrx.com/the-woodlands.

To learn more about The Woodlands LearningRx, visit their web site www.learningrx.com/the-woodlands.