Predicting College Success: Answer These 12 Questions

(MoneyWatch)  Is your teenager going to succeed in college?

A killer grade point average and terrific SAT scores aren't always a guarantee. Even teenagers who win a spot at an Ivy League school or other elite institutions aren't immune from academic meltdowns.

Some bright kids thrive in college while others end up tearfully calling their parents day after day as they struggle with whether they should pack their bags and go home. As a mom who knows a lot of college students, I've been surprised at some of the incredibly talented teenagers who have temporarily dropped out of school.

As the mother of a high school senior, I am especially interested in learning if it's possible to gauge which students will thrive and who might need extra help. I'm attending the annual conference of the National Association for College Admission Counseling this week and one of the intriguing handouts that I stuffed into my bag addresses this very issue.

What I got was a list of questions that access a student's college readiness that was compiled by the Landmark College, which is a two-year college that's known nationally for working with students who have learning disabilities or other educational hang ups. Landmark gets students who have left schools like Dartmouth and Cornell and many other universities. Landmark helps patch these kids up and gets them back to their institutions after equipping them with skills that they never picked up in high school.

Why do parents have trouble identifying issues that might trip their children up in college? Sometimes teenagers mask their problems by simply working harder. Parents might marvel that their child is incredbily studious for studying into the early morning hours to maintain that 4.0 GPA, but the teenager might really be drowning. Some students have self confidence problems that don't surface until they reach college and they are no longer the brightest kids in the class. And sometimes parents are just in denial.

If a teenager can answer yes to the following 12 questions in five critical areas necessary for college success, chances are he or she will be able to do just fine.

Academic Skill
Can you read up to 200 pages a week?

Do you have a system for taking notes?

Can you clearly summarize a college-level reading assignment?

Can you write a 10-page paper that refers to two or more sources?

Self-Understanding
Do you know your academic strengths?

Do you know which academic tasks give you the most difficulty?

Self-Advocacy
When you run into difficulty, do you ask for help?

Executive Function
Do you have a system for keeping track of your projects, books and papers?

Are you able to ignore difficulties and focus on the task at hand?

Do you have a strategy for completing tasks that you find boring?

Motivation and Confidence
Do you know what you want to get out of your first year of college?

Do you know that you can succeed?