My S14 is definitely going through a sophomore slump. I don’t know if the article below has been posted anywhere on CC yet, but I thought that it did a good job describing the basis of this phenomenon. My son found it helpful to realize that he’s not unique or alone experiencing a bit of a letdown.
Well done article. I keep reminding freshman and sophomores who write in College Life that college done well is really hard for the mere mortal students. Rewarding if you persevere, but hard nonetheless, for all the reasons this young author writes about.
Rings very true! Thank you for posting link.
Great article! Sounds just like leaving “the honeymoon” stage after you get married.
Once again great advice from the great advisor.
My current sophomore son had a pretty smooth freshman year, but as described in this article his freshman dorm buddies are now scattered across the campus, his courses are much harder (and it’s his critical semester in terms of trying to get admitted to the undergraduate business program), and after a wonderful summer internship while living at home he is quite homesick (is three-thousand miles away). In addition, most of his friends go out and party on Saturday nights, and he feels like he’s now done with the drinking/alcohol culture, but hasn’t yet replaced it with another activity/group. He’s called in tears a couple of times over the last week. Painful for a parent, and I do explicitly elicit from him that he’s not so disconsolate that he’d think of hurting himself. We’re trying to get him to go talk to a counselor at school. I think that all of this is within the range of what a lot of kids go through, but nonetheless we’d love to see him turn it around.
So sorry to hear about your son@asleepatthewheel. I’m sure it is difficult when your support is so far away. He sounds like he has a good head on his shoulders . Hopefully talking to someone can help get through this rough patch.
Our D had a fairly good freshman year but is now very stressed by many of the issues cited in the article, especially work load and focus on securing an internship. Meanwhile our S’ s freshman year was rocky and caused parental angst but now he seems just fine. Hoping junior year provides ballast for both. Must confess I was not prepared for how much of a roller coaster post admission would be.