By Julianna Parker

Transcript Staff Writer

College is more than just attending class. It’s a whole new lifestyle for which many students fresh out of high school aren’t prepared.

So a new company is trying to help high school seniors bridge the gap to success on the university level.

Nick Robinson and Max Rhodes, both 2005 Norman High School alumni, started Oklahoma College Solutions because they saw many of their friends struggle in college, regardless of their academic success in high school.

“A lot of college students, especially freshmen, never really find that niche,” Robinson said.

Then they began to see that it’s a national problem. One study showed that the drop out rate at the University of Oklahoma is 48 percent, Rhodes said.

The whole format of university life is different, with more emphasis on personal responsibility and time management.

The public schools in the area do a great job preparing students academically for college, Robinson said. But there’s more to it than that.

“What they can’t teach you is how to manage your time,” he said.

So the young men hosted a seminar for seniors at NHS last spring. They talked about how to achieve academic, social and financial success in college.

“The level of interest in it was really strong,” Robinson said.

So Rhodes and Robinson took the responses from that seminar and created an improved curriculum for their seminars. This spring, the company will host seminars at several area high schools, including another one at NHS this past week.

There possibly will be another one at NHS later this summer, depending on the interest level.

The three-hour seminar features a PowerPoint seminar as well as discussions and a question-and-answer time. The cost to attend the seminar is $29, and parents can attend the seminar for free.

“It’s actually probably less than the cost of some of the (college preparation) books out there,” Robinson said. But the seminar has another edge, too.

“You can’t ask a book a question,” Rhodes said.

Thus, the company is growing, and Rhodes and Robinson hope to expand it even more next year, perhaps to other major cities in the region.

It will be tough though, because both men plan to graduate next spring, and the seminar circuit begins only a few days after the college semester ends.

The most challenging thing about organizing this company has been trying to plan everything out long-distance.

Rhodes attends Yale University in New Haven, Conn., and Robinson attends Willamette University in Salem, Ore., so they do a lot of the organization over phone calls and e-mails.

Neither had much experience starting a company.

“It’s pretty much figuring it out on the fly for the both of us,” Rhodes said.

But the two men believe Oklahoma College Solutions has a lot of potential even after their own graduations.

“We think the market and the need is really there,” Rhodes said.

High school seniors need help making a smooth transition into college.

“Our goal is to maximize the college experience and really help students reach their full potential,” Robinson said.

Julianna Parker

366-3541

jparker@normantranscript.com