Pre-College

Prior to the day your student heads off to college, it’s important to have some conversations to explore the expectations and assumptions you and your student have regarding various aspects of the college experience.

Students and parents attend Becoming a Scot Day at Alma College

These discussions may include your expectations regarding grades and financial obligations as well as renegotiating family relationships and house rules as your student gains more experience as an independent decision maker.

You may also find it helpful to clarify your assumptions about the sorts of social choices your student will face in the college environment, including drugs, alcohol, religion and sexuality. This also is a good time to demonstrate your desire to emotionally support your student and to act as a sounding board should she or he need a caring ear.

Finally, the weeks before your student heads off to his or her new environment is a good time to talk specifically about that environment—particularly the living situation—and help your student recognize the advantages and avoid the pitfalls of living with a roommate.

 

Thirty-four percent of Alma students participate in intercollegiate athletics. Alma College competes at the NCAA Division III level as a member of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the oldest existing athletic conference in the nation. Alma offers 22 varsity sports—11 for the women and 11 for the men—including four sports that debuted in 2011–12: women’s lacrosse and bowling and men’s lacrosse and wrestling.

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Student Profile

Zahra Hussain

Zahra Hussain
Graduation: 2013
Major: Integrative Physiology and Health Science

With a passion for people and problem-solving, Zahra Hussain’s symptoms can only mean one thing: a lifelong dream of being a doctor. She says she has known she wanted to pursue this career path since she was 4 years old.

“My dad is a doctor, and so is everyone else in my family: aunts, uncles, cousins,” she says. “Growing up in that atmosphere, it was easy to figure out that it was what I wanted to do as well.”

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