Eight Ways College Preparatory School Preps Students Before College

When students and parents hear the term “college preparatory” associated with a particular school, they may pause and consider the meaning. They may, at first, have the misconception that all high schools prepare students for college.

While this notion may have some truth to it, college and high school are two vastly different experiences.

Understanding how these experiences vary can help you to understand why a Christian boarding school for a student’s secondary education is a smart choice.

Students Often Live On Their Own

The living situation is a significant way in which high school and college differ from one another. In the latter type of school, many students live away from home, which comes with its own set of responsibilities.

Attending a boarding school helps students to adjust to this experience earlier on. The academic rigor of college, coupled with living away at home for the first time, can prove overwhelming, and students who attend a boarding school focused on college preparation, have already accomplished the latter feat.

Students Are Accountable For Their Own Work

In a traditional high school experience, parents often make sure that their children complete homework assignments and essays on time. College students are entirely responsible for their work.

A college preparatory program helps students to better understand this responsibility early on. Students in these schools can become better at using planners, adhering to strict deadlines, and organizing material for multiple classes.

Parents Can’t Confer With Professors

Federal regulations generally prevent parents and professors from speaking with one another about how students are doing in the class. In other words, the school protects the privacy of students as they are with adults. While these conversations certainly do happen at the high-school level, having some distance from their parents can encourage teenagers to take more of an initiative. For example, if they have concerns about a class, they may be more likely to speak with the teacher than to ask a parent to do so.

Parents Don’t Entertain

When kids come home from school, some of them are in the routine of asking their parents what the family is doing for the rest of the night. Having time with the family is important, but so is learning how to entertain one’s self. A young adult who has always had activities planned might struggle when going into college. This person might not have the confidence to participate in extracurricular activities or to socialize without the support of childhood friends. A college-prep program can encourage students to better advocate for themselves.

Students Must Make Wise Decisions

While attending class and receiving an education is at the center of the college experience, and this time is also one in which students frequently socialize. In these social interactions, others may tempt them into trying dangerous substances or harmful activities.

Attending a Christian boarding school can help to better instill morals and ideas about appropriate behavior into young adults. They can carry these lessons with them as they move on to college.

Students Must Spend Money Wisely

Young adults who are living at home may ask their parents for money every time that they need it. While students in a college-preparatory program are generally still supported by their parents, they will likely need to wait at least a couple of days for their mothers and fathers to send them funds.

Therefore, they can better develop their skill to save money and learn to spend it wisely. Learning these skills will benefit them when they are on their own in college.

Students Tackle More Difficult Assignments

When students leave traditional high schools and go into college, they are often shocked by the demands of the academic program. They may not know how to balance having several papers due on the same day, or they may discover that they need to study for virtually the first time in their lives to do well.

College-prep schools acclimate students to this workload earlier on. These students often have more discipline are ready to take on college-level assignments.

Students Can Have A Clearer Focus

Many youngsters enter into college with a strong idea of the program that they would like to pursue. However, as they begin to take classes, they may get caught up in missing assignments, struggles with organization, learning how to live on their own and other such issues.

Students who have already been in a college-prep program have the advantage of staying focused on their chosen path or exploring alternatives.

A Christian college preparatory school has many benefits to offer to its students. These young adults can enter into their chosen colleges or universities with a strong level of preparation. This preparation is a stepping stone that only helps high school students along their path of long term success.