Editor’s Note: This is the first part of a two-part series that will explore how prepared freshmen are when they come to college. Wednesday’s story will cover whether graduating seniors are ready for “the real world.”

Making the jump from high school to college can be difficult at times, but there is help for those students who need it.

“In general, students are prepared, but some things are unexpected,” said Patricia Anderson, psychologist for the Student Counseling Service. “One thing they need to do is to go to orientation.”

She said it is best to solve any problems before they get out of control.

“I think the vast majority of the students are very well-prepared,” said Phil Caffrey, associate director of Admissions.

Caffrey said 90 percent of incoming freshmen have met all of the course requirements to attend Iowa State, and he said that is a good indication that students are taking the right courses in high school.

Heidi Saikaly, an academic adviser in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said many problems occur when students arrive at college without adequate study skills.

“Some students are not accustomed to studying at all, so they do poorly initially,” Saikaly said.

Caffrey said the best prediction of how freshmen will perform in college is their ACT scores and class rank.

Larry Zwagerman, counselor at Ames High School, said students who focus on the “core courses,” such as mathematics, English, social studies and science, are generally well prepared for college.

Ames High’s open-campus concept may prove beneficial for seniors making the transition from high school to college, Zwagerman said, because they become used to being “on their own.”

“It is best is to start giving them some freedom to help them with that transition,” he said.

Zwagerman also said Ames High students may have an easier time adjusting to college life, since they live in a “university community.”

However, the university provides different services for students who have trouble adjusting to college. Some of the services include academic advisers, the Student Counseling Service, the Academic Success Center and tutorial services.

“[ISU] offers all kinds of academic support services,” Caffrey said. “At a major university, students have to take the initiative to get help.”

Although many school officials said students are well-prepared, some freshmen said they were not quite ready for college.

Tara Payne, freshman in journalism and mass communication of Rock Rapids, said her high school education did not prepare her because she never had to study in high school.

Larry Rochau, freshman in computer science of Tipton, also said he was unprepared for his education at ISU.

“Coming from a small school, I feel I wasn’t as prepared,” Rochau said. “I wish I went to a big high school. [It would] be more like college.”

To help students adjust to college, Payne suggested that students start learning good study habits during high school.

Caffrey recommended that students take as many college preparation courses as possible, like a fourth year of math or science instead of less-challenging courses.

“The first and most obvious [way to prepare for college] is to take as many college preparation courses as [you] can,” Caffrey said.