High school seniors have made or are making their decision as to where they are going to college next year. They are excited. Freedom at last! But will this freedom work for or against them once they get to college. For the ADHD student the freedom will work against them. Going from the structured life of home and high school to the unstructured life of a college student hits many ADHD students very hard. The college graduation rates for ADHD students are much lower compared to non-ADHD students.
Why this lack of success? In order to thrive ADHD students need to maintain a certain level of structure. College is full of unstructured time and also full of temptations of time sucking activities. Activities like hanging out, drinking, partying and then sleeping it off. It is hard enough for an ADHD student to get to class on time without issues of lack of sleep and daily routines but add that into the mix and you have a disaster in the making.
That is why coaching or some other support system is so valuable to the new ADHD college student. Regardless, some of the lifestyle issues they will learn about the hard way through the consequences of their actions (or non-actions.) One of the first things an ADHD college student should do upon arriving on campus this fall is to check into the disabilities center at their college and see what kind of support systems are available. If the college does not have enough support, fight for! If that doesn’t work look outside your campus for coaches and other experts to help you. You can have fun, have ADHD and be in college successfully but it takes planning and support.