The pre-college visit is a terrific opportunity for your young person to talk with the pediatrician about a whole variety of health behaviors and issues. And it often marks the beginning of your adolescent taking on the adult responsibility and decision-making about her own healthcare. Because the college health service will be acting as your child's health provider when she is away at college, it is very important that the student and the pediatrician provide as complete and as accurate information as possible.
Colleges also require evidence that the entering student's immunizations are complete.
Hepatitis B immunization is not required but is very strongly recommended. The meningococcal vaccine does not provide protection against every form of the meningococcus bacterium, but it is still recommended. All entering students in a boarding college must also demonstrate that they are free of tuberculosis. But there is so much more to the pre-college visit than filling out complicated health forms and giving shots, as important as those are. Dr. Carole A. Stashwick is a pediatrician and an associate professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School, where she also director of the pediatric residency program.