This is the fourth and final article in our series on the life skills every college-bound teen needs. We’ve covered independent living basics, health and safety, and time management and transportation. The last piece is communication: knowing how to talk to professors, landlords, and employers, and knowing how to ask for help before a problem gets too big to handle alone.
Why Communication Is a Life Skill Worth Practicing
Many teenagers already understand the idea of code-switching meaning shifting tone and language depending on who they’re talking to. Kids do this naturally when they move between talking with friends and talking with adults or teachers, and it’s a skill many people from minority communities practice constantly, moving between how they communicate within their own community and how they communicate with the wider world.
College introduces new types of relationships with their own communication expectations. Knowing how to talk to a professor, employer, or landlord takes preparation and practice, just like any other skill on this list.
Communication Skills for Teens: Talking to Professors, Landlords, and Employers
How to Write a Professional Email
Texting or emailing friends allows for casual, loose language. A professional email calls for a different approach, one that sets the right tone from the first line:
- Use an appropriate email address. A message sent from an old, silly address made in middle school undercuts the message before it’s even read.
- Be cautious about hitting Reply All on group emails.
- Double-check the recipient before sending, to make sure the right person is on the other end.
- Include a subject line that’s brief and informative, using keywords that make the email easy to find again later.
- Use the recipient’s name and appropriate title in the greeting, for example, “Dear Dr. Alvarez” or “Good morning, Professor Chen.”
- State the point clearly and include any contact information or details the recipient needs to respond.
- Keep it brief. Clear and concise beats long and thorough.
- Use standard spelling and grammar and skip slang or text-speak.
- Close with a respectful sign-off.
Asking for Help Without Waiting Until It’s Too Late
Whether it’s a big problem, like addiction, a mental health crisis, or an emotional crisis, or something more every day, like financial trouble or burnout, asking for help is hard for almost everyone.
Most people feel like they should carry their own weight without needing help, and even when they do need it, they feel like they shouldn’t ask. At the same time, most of us are glad to help the people we care about when they need it. It’s easy to forget that the same goes in reverse.
Burnout is common among college students and working adults alike, especially while juggling the demands of school with everything else life throws in. If your teen feels overwhelmed, encourage them to ask someone for help.
There’s nothing shameful about needing or asking for help. The fact that this is worth writing about at all is proof that it’s a genuinely hard thing to do. The people who care about a struggling teen want to help; often, the only thing standing in the way is pushing past the fear of asking before things get too big to manage.
Bringing It All Together
Across this four-part series, we’ve walked through the life skills that help a teen go from relying on a parent for nearly everything to genuinely managing their own life: money, food, and home care; health, safety, and mental wellness; time management and transportation; and communication. No teen will walk in knowing all of it on day one, and that’s fine. The goal isn’t perfection by move-in day, it’s giving them enough of a foundation to keep learning once they’re on their own.
More From This Series: Is Your Teen Ready for College? A Life Skills Checklist for Parents
- Part 1: College Prep 101: Money, Meal Prep, and Home Care Skills for Teens
- Part 2: Health, Safety, and Mental Wellness: Preparing Your Teen for College Life
- Part 3: Time Management and Transportation Skills Every College-Bound Teen Needs
Sources
Harvard, Becoming Independent: Skills You’ll Need to Survive Your First Year at College
University of South Florida, 10 Life Skills Every College Student Needs to Know
Harvard Business Impact, Academics Can Only Take Students So Far
