|
For quick reference, here are links to related books we have reviewed:
We
know you have worked too hard getting to this point to
allow a bad first semester or – worse – year to derail your
dreams. Fortunately, there are people who have been down
this road before you, and who have written up their
advice and insights on how to succeed during your first
year at college. The following DVDs and books have received
favorable recommendations from our previous clients.
Where There's
a Will There's an A: How to Get Better Grades
Buy this
DVD series from wheretheresawill.com
This is the series of DVD seminars by educator
Claude Olney on how to get better grades in high school
and college. These videos are especially useful for
students who are new to the college or high school classroom
environment. It gives straightforward tips on 'studying
smart' (vs. studying hard), class selection, note taking
strategies, exam preparation, and writing papers. We
particularly like these DVDs because they provide good
overviews of the academic
environments, and of what is expected of students.
Major in Success: Make College Easier, Fire Up Your Dreams,
and Get a Very Cool Job by
Patrick Combs
Buy this book from Amazon.com
People seem to either love or hate this book. We're among
those who admire it. It treats college as a means to an
end – the end being to get a good start on achieving
your life and career goals. This book can be like having
a good, smart friend on paper who can remind you of
'what it's all about' when things are tough, and help
you keep motivated and working hard. Granted, it is a
self-help book, and is written in a style that will
annoy anyone who just doesn't like that genre. ("Fluff"
is a word that comes up a lot in critical reviews of the
book.) That said, we think that Major in Success
presents a useful outlook on the college experience and
gives useful advice on how to weather the storms that
inevitably come up during those years.
Been There, Should've Done That: 995 Tips for Making the Most of College by
Suzette Tyler
Buy this book from Amazon.com
This is a quick, easy, and very useful read for anyone
heading off to college. It gives quotes from students
and recent graduates on things they're glad they did,
and things they would have done, 'had they only known
then what they know now.' We don't know of a better
source for first-hand advice on how to avoid common
pitfalls of the freshman experience, ranging from the
merely annoying (buy textbooks before classes start, to
avoid unbelievably long lines) to the profound (how to
know when you're in over your head in a course and
better off dropping it).
Navigating
Your Freshman Year (Students Helping Students series) by
Allison Lombardo
 Buy this book from
Amazon.com
Like Been There, Should've Done That, this book
contains information from students, for students.
However, it covers different kinds of problems, and
gives more comprehensive information and advice.
Navigating Your Freshman Year addresses topics like
understanding financial aid, managing debt, living with
a roommate, and managing the academic and social
environment of college. The book has an especially
useful section on the ins and outs of transferring from
one school to another, starting with how to know when
it's time to think about transferring and continuing
with information and advice on how to manage a transfer.
This book is worth both reading and keeping on hand,
throughout your college years. It gets consistently high
marks from readers.
For
Parents
Don't Tell Me What to Do, Just Send Money by Helen E. Johnson and Christine Schelhas-Miller
Buy
this book from Amazon.com
This book is a very informative, comforting and fun read for parents that are worried about how to combine their emotional and financial support for children who are
beginning to more aggressively assert their independence. The authors have personally been through this process and their personal experience really shines through.
Letting
Go: A Parents' Guide to Understanding the College Years,
Fifth Edition by Karen Levin
Coburn and Madge Lawrence Treeger
Buy
this book from Amazon.com
This book, written by a psychologist and
a college administrator, has been a best-seller among
parents for many years. It gives an overview of the
psychological and emotional processes involved on both
the parent's and student's side when a child leaves home
for college. It also discusses issues that have been in
the news and that concern parents seeing children off to
a college environment – drug and alcohol use, personal
security, and eating disorders – and gives guidance on
how to recognize what's normal behavior and what's not.
This book is especially valuable in assuring parents
(and students, too) that what they go through during
this period isn't strange or dysfunctional, and that
they're far from alone in experiencing it.
I'll Miss You Too: An Off-to-College Guide for Parents and Students by Margo E. Woodacre Bane and Steffany Bane
Buy this book from Amazon.com
This book's mother-daughter author team is very similar to Letting Go, in both
the ground it covers and the audience it's written for.
However, it takes a more nut-and-bolts view of the
process than the other book does. Letting Go
talks about the psychological process of separation;
You're On Your Own talks about dismay at realizing
there's no one to leave notes on the refrigerator door
for any longer. The book walks parents through the
seeing-your-child-off-to-school process chronologically,
starting with the high school senior year with many
helpful tips on how to preserve, or even strengthen,
your bond.
Back to
feature content
|
