Helping Students Individualize Their College Search

Project Success Executive Director Adrienne Diercks recently contributed her thoughts helping students individualize the college search process on LearnmoreMN, a blog that looks for solutions to ensure that more Minnesota students succeed in school and move on to college, hosted by the Minnesota Private College Council.

Over the past decade, the number of students choosing to go to college after high school has increased significantly. This increased interest in attending college has also created an environment where college is no longer seen as a choice but an expectation. She writes, “while college access services help with completing the steps to apply and gain acceptance, those services are not helping students ask and answer the most critical question in the college selection process: WHY do I want to go to college?”

Adrienne goes on to write that “as adults supporting young people, one of our roles is, of course, to help them get into college. I would argue that another, more important role, is to help them visualize how they will be successful in that experience and to help them access the tools they need to make that vision a reality. When a student sees college as an option, that student should also have a good sense of why they are pursuing that college degree. When that happens, young people are more likely to fully embrace the college experience and be on the right path to creating the futures they have envisioned.”

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