Adjusting to College Transition
Facts about transitions
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Transitions are times of change that usually involve both loss and opportunity.
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Entering college is one of life’s most demanding transitions and is arguably the most significant transition since starting kindergarten.
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College students face many challenging transitions, including graduating and entering the work force.
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The changes inherent in a transition produce stress and challenge a student’s coping resources.
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Students commonly experience a decline in functioning (academic, social, emotional) during transitions.
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Transition stress can be compounded by counterproductive coping mechanisms such as avoidance of stress-producing situations and people, excessive partying and alcohol abuse.
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Transitions can pose greater problems to students who have existing psychological problems or difficult life circumstances.
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Students going through a transition may benefit from counseling to enhance their coping efforts or to prevent the onset of serious problems.
Signs that a student is having transition problems include:
- Anxiety symptoms such as nervousness, irritability, tearfulness and sleep problems.
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Depression.
- Difficulty managing responsibilities or relationships.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
- Convey to the student that transition stress is normal and often brings a temporary decline in performance.
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Encourage the student to use positive coping strategies to manage transition stress, including regular exercise, social support, a reasonable eating and sleeping regimen and pleasurable activities.
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Refer the student to Counseling and Psychological Services at 828.227.7469 if performance problems persist beyond a reasonable amount of time, or if the symptoms are acute or if the student feels he/she could benefit by talking with someone about it.
AVOID
- Assuming that the student understands the impact of transitions and is aware of the source of stress.
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Minimizing or trivializing the student’s feelings and reactions.
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Discounting or overlooking factors that put the student at risk of more problems.
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT
Many of the resource/support offices you may want to reference as you work with first-year students in transition, may be accessed on the First Year Experience Web site Faculty/Staff page at www.wcu.eu/27933.asp.
You may also want to contact our Residential Case Manager at 828.227.3498.