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Whether they lived on campus or commuted from home, first‑year students spent the past nine months inside an unusually dense social world. New classmates, neighbors, and daily routines created a steady stream of interactions that shaped their perspectives and expanded their sense of who they were becoming. Summer interrupts that rhythm. The social world that felt so immediate during the academic year pulls back, and even students who never left home for school feel the shif

Last week I wrote about life skills and work. What interests me about this topic is to debate the claim that the world is divided between something real (work, family, etc) and something less so (often school is a good contrasting example). I have written many times about this as a false divide because many of the workaday skills to succeed in school overlap with the so-called “real world.” My reflections generated thoughtful responses as well as some very helpful pushback.

When I was in high school and college summer jobs seemed plentiful. I could work even during the “year” in high school at a series of meaningless jobs such as movie theater usher, low-end department store worker and so forth. Our student had a much more difficult first go around. First of all, there is the all consuming nature of high school activities. As a runner on the cross country and track teams there is no time with meets on weeks and weekends and daily practices for a

That first summer break is an odd experience. What kinds of changes have occurred in one’s identity, one’s friendships, and one’s perspective on the world? For the majority of the previous nine months (give or take) the routines, social experiences, and life in school have been the norm and being home has been “special.” While this may feel especially real to those who have “gone away” to school, I am inclined to think that commuter and part‑time students experience a version

A few weeks back I wrote about reflecting on the upcoming end of the academic year and how students might, or might not, think about what kinds of changes they experienced. Now that, that particular ending is upon us (or nearly for some schools on the quarter system), the ending of that first year can be disorienting: not in a negative way necessarily, but all the same the person who started the academic year is changed at the end of it. I remember standing in the hallway o

I don’t want to get too personal in these essays. I’ve tried to avoid that. But as summer approaches it is difficult not to be nostalgic. My favorite summer was long enough ago that I’m reluctant to share the year. But in that time I had a fun job as a furniture delivery driver and it was one of the last times I can remember when I clocked out I forgot work until the next morning. What I remember (and misremember) so fondly was the way I learned responsibility (safe driving),

What a difference a year makes! Or is it what difference does a year make? After a first year, or first transfer year, it’s challenging to put oneself through a self-assessment. Was that year in school a continuation of what had come before? A series of classes pulling together the strands of a hoped-for future? Is that transformative enough? How do all the pieces of the previous academic year come into a coherent view? Given the large number of reflection papers or critica

Final exams are looming. For students each set of finals holds different challenges. For the fall term there is the feeling of compression from Thanksgiving to the winter holidays. And for spring there is the changing weather and the expanse of summer. And yet, I would propose from both sentiment and years of working with students, that spring final exams have a different feel that draws from the experience and from the fatigue built up over an intense first year. The upcom

By late April, many first‑year students begin to sense something they couldn’t have articulated in September: college is not a single, uniform experience. It is a dynamic set of propositions that are academic, social, financial, and emotional. These fit some students well, fit others unevenly, and leave a subset wondering whether this is the right path for them right now. Lately I’ve been speaking of things ramping up. But simultaneously this can be a period of quiet in the

By mid‑April, many first‑year students hit a wall they didn’t see coming. The early‑semester excitement has faded, the novelty of college has worn off, and the final stretch feels both too close and too far away. At this point students often try to power through on their own concerned that asking for help means they’ve fallen behind. This desire to fly under the radar and manage on one’s own is completely normal, but also deeply unhelpful. Really, the last weeks of the seme

As we move toward the end of the academic year, it’s easy for college to feel like the only story unfolding with its deadlines, pressures, and the sense that everything depends on the next few weeks. But this moment in the year is also a chance to widen the frame and remember something essential: young people are building futures along many paths, and each of those paths deserves support, dignity, and real encouragement. At Fall Compass, we work with college students, but w

College letter season is in full swing! Some students are receiving the letters that they hoped for, but others are finding themselves disappointed. After all, they likely put a great deal of hard work into their applications, and it can be hard to accept that this disappointment doesn’t have implications for the future. In the moment, or its immediate aftermath, it is hard to realize that a particular rejection is not a verdict on a student's worth or potential. The admiss

We’re getting deep into college acceptance letter season. High school seniors are trying to create a picture of their future with very little information and with a great deal of ambiguity. What does each letter and school mean for them? For their short term future (whether cross town, cross country, or cross oceans), for their high school relationships, their families and themselves? For many seniors, this period brings a mix of confidence and doubt. They are evaluating op

As spring unfolds, students begin to look ahead towards summer work, housing for next year, course registration, or possible shifts in major. These forward‑looking tasks often collide with the reality that many are still consolidating the routines and academic practices needed to manage the present term. The tension between planning and coping is developmentally typical: students are asked to make decisions with incomplete information about their interests, capacities, and em

At what point does a student stop being new? That feeling probably starts to creep in during the spring term. Whether your student is in a semester, trimester or quarter system, as the trees start to re-leaf the recognition begins to settle: I’m not at the beginning anymore. However, there is much to remind them that they are still newcomers to school, just maybe more seasoned and dealing with a mix of ideas and feelings. Early assumptions about college begin to fray, early s

For almost everyone connected to higher education winter break is behind us. Fall grades have arrived and were a cause for celebration or concern. It is the concern that I want to address, especially for those students whose grades were middling. The role that higher education and majors play as promissory notes for the future has led to the encroachment of what might be termed corporatized thinking about the meaning of grades – especially in terms of ROI (return on investmen