There’s a scene in the movie Good Will Hunting where Skylar, a brilliant Harvard student (Minnie Driver), explains to Will, her brilliant non-student boyfriend (Matt Damon), that he isn’t helping her by giving her the answers to her pre-med homework. She needs to learn it for herself, she explains, so she’ll know it when she needs it later.
That type of personal and intellectual independence is one of the most important qualities for college students, regardless of their major or the university they attend. In fact, it’s something they need to develop long before they arrive on campus.
When I spoke recently with several experts from the Sam M. Walton College of Business about the best ways high school students can prepare for college, opinion converged on the importance of ownership – students, they said, must own the process that gets them there and the development of the skills they need to succeed.
High school students can take early ownership of their college experience by making sure they know and meet all the requirements for things like admission, scholarships, grants, and housing. But they also can own it by investing in the skills they eventually will need even when those investments aren’t part of some official checklist. For high school students interested in a business degree from the Walton College, for instance, that means proactively developing at least four key skills.
- Time Management Skills
- Communication Skills
- Math Skills
- Technology Skills
Jeff Hood, assistant dean for undergraduate programs for the Walton College, used a sports analogy to describe the difference between the academic demands in high school as compared to college.
“It’s like high school football players who move into college football and don’t understand the speed of the game,” he said. “Some students show up and do not understand the speed of college and how fast courses move. They get behind and never catch up, and it is much less about their intelligence and much more about their ability to manage their time.”
Ryan Sheets, director of the Walton College Business Communication Lab, recommends that students start using tools like a daily planner while they are in high school just so they can get accustomed to planning their schedule. And, he said, they should expect to spend much more time on coursework in college.
“However much time you think you’ll need to spend on a writing assignment,” said Sheets, “you will probably need to spend double that in college. The questions and problems that college faculty asks you to solve are much more complex and trickier than what you do in high school.”
Some students can get by without much planning in high school or they have parents who help manage their time. In college, not only are the courses more challenging, but students have more control over their time. They decide how much time they will spend hanging out with friends or playing video games, and they must live with the consequences of their choices.
Written and oral communication are essential skills for a career in business, and they also are essential for navigating life in a top-tier business college. Yet, many high school students come unprepared in these areas. Karen Boston, senior assistant dean for student success, said it’s often because they were smart enough to earn exemptions from taking classes that might have given them many of the practical skills they need to speak and write more effectively.
What to do?
For starters, take electives in high school in subjects like English, journalism, speech, political science, or creative writing.
“There is a course at your school that is writing focused,” Sheets said, “and keeping your skills sharp is more important than getting to go home early.”
Sheets said assessments done of freshmen business students consistently show a need for improvement in two key areas: The professionalism of their communication and the organization of their content.
“Start thinking about and observing how professionals sound and start trying to sound like a young professional as early as possible,” he said. “Pay attention to your tone in your writing style. What we often see is that students are too casual in their writing.”
Organizing content in a clear, effective manner often ties back to time management, he said, because younger students don’t always allow enough time to think through complex topics and edit papers so that the content is logically ordered and clearly presented.
Math is obviously a skill that comes in handy for business majors, especially in certain disciplines like accounting and finance. But as with English, many top students complete their math requirements by their junior year of high school, said Autumn Parker, director for undergraduate recruitment and enrollment management.
“They don’t want to take math as a senior because they don’t need it,” she said. “But then they struggle with math when they get here, and that’s incredibly important to their progression through our business courses.”
Hood recommends that students complete at least college algebra, either through AP credit or concurrent admission options, before they finish high school.
“That will more accurately set you up to start taking the math you need in your first semester,” he said. “We have too many students who show up here who are not math-prepared in their first semester.”
It might seem that technology is the one area where high school students would arrive with a high level of mastery, but those skills don’t always transfer when it comes to using software common to business and higher education.
In particular, high school students should begin learning as much as possible about programs in Microsoft Office. Google Docs, for instance, is used far less at universities and businesses than Microsoft Word. And proficiency in spreadsheets, especially Microsoft Excel, is essential.
“Those are all going to be skills that they’re going to need,” Hood said, “and they’re going to need to develop them on their own because we only have so much room to teach it.”
Sometimes students know how to use a platform or program but doing so just isn’t part of their routine. Email might not be popular among their peers, for instance, but it is the standard platform for communication at most colleges and businesses.
“They have to check their email,” Parker said. “It’s how we communicate with them from the time they’re admitted until they graduate.”
If you are a high school student who aspires to earn a business degree and all of this sounds a bit overwhelming, take heart. There are resources that can help you prepare before you get to college and succeed once you get here, provided you are willing to own the process.
Parker said one of the most important first steps is to visit the campus and talk with faculty and staff who can answer questions and provide specific direction.
“You can find lots of stuff online,” she said. “But it’s even better to come here and let us talk to them about what’s available. You are choosing a place to live and to get your education for the next four years, so seeing the environment and figuring out if it’s really a fit is really important.”
Links, Contacts and Deadlines
General admission questions or Walton College information: Megan Garland, undergraduate recruiter, megang@uark.edu
To schedule a campus visit: visit.uark.edu
Business writing resources: bizcomm.uark.edu/home/business-writing/
Apply for admission: apply.uark.edu (opens July 15 between junior and senior year; priority deadline November 1)
Freshman scholarships (priority deadline is November 15; final deadline February 1)
Walton College departmental scholarships (January 1 - February 15 of senior year)
Note: Take the ACT/SAT early and often. Although test scores may or may not be optional for admission, they are required for scholarships and entry to many programs like the Honors College, so they are still important.
