College feels overwhelming because it’s abstract. For years, we tell high‑achieving students to prepare for a place they’ve never lived, with people they’ve never met, doing work they’ve never done. No wonder “college” becomes a source of stress instead of a plan.
Here’s the fix: make college concrete.
I don’t mean another recruiting camp. Camps can help with exposure, but they rarely show the daily reality of being a student or a teammate. The fastest way to lower anxiety and build readiness is simple: spend real time on a real campus doing real life.
What “real” looks like
Sleep in a dorm. Set your own wake‑up. Do the laundry.
Find your classes without a tour guide. Get lost. Get un‑lost.
Eat with new people. Make new friends.
Sit in on a class if possible. Notice the pace, the note‑taking, the questions.
Residential, multi‑day programs are perfect for this. A week on campus builds the muscles that matter most: agency, time management, communication. These aren’t abstract “skills.” They’re practiced behaviors that get less scary every time you do them.
If you’re also considering a high‑school transfer, use the same approach. Ask to shadow a student for a day. Don’t just read the course catalog—watch a history discussion, see how math class starts, and experience the hallway and walk ways between periods.
The point isn’t to chase a perfect school. It’s to build confidence and competence so any good‑fit college becomes a place you can actually live and learn. When college is concrete, it stops being a vague fear and starts being a specific experience.
Make college concrete, and the stress drops. The readiness rises. And the decision gets clearer—not because you guessed better, but because you practiced what most of your non-athletic downtime would actually be like. You practice at your position, why not practice at being a college student too?
Brendan
PS If you’d like to work together, schedule a discovery call with me today here.