Synopses & Reviews
Everyone knows that getting into the college of your choice is tough, but few realize that getting out of college what you want (and need) can be even tougher. Going beyond basic study skills, GETTING THE BEST OUT OF COLLEGE explains everything freshmen orientation doesn't, such as how to develop rewarding relationships with professors, choose a major and create a narrative through your transcript that will move you toward your long-term goals, use lesser-known campus resources to your advantage, manage relationships back home, and more.
This insider's guide shows ambitious students how to optimize their college career. Draws on the authors' triad of experience as professor, dean, and recent graduate. Addresses the goals of today's students and their parents with concrete strategies for getting the best return on their financial investments in education. ReviewsWashington Post 5/4/08 Authors wrote articled for the Outlook section-5 Myths About Coping With College.Publisher's Weekly, March 24th 2008: Included in test prep/college feature article.
Synopsis
Handy advice on how to maximize the college experience is uniquely told from the combined perspectives of a professor, a dean, and a recent graduate, in this insider's guide on optimizing one's college career.
Synopsis
YOUR REAL FRESHMAN ORIENTATION GUIDEAfter years of standardized tests, group projects, community service, and high school woes, youve finally made it to college. So, what now?
Answering the all-too-familiar groan “I wish Id known that as a freshman,” a prof, a dean, and a recent grad distill more than fifty years of expertise at top colleges into this crash-course guide to success. Proving that it matters less where you go than what you accomplish while youre there, they reveal secrets that most undergrads learn the hard way (if at all), such as how to impress professors, live with roommates, select the best courses, plan your major, prepare for life in the real world, and more.
College is a huge investment of time, money, and yourself. Getting the Best Out of College is essential to making the most of that investment.
About the Author
Peter D. Feaver (PhD, Harvard, 1990) is the Alexander F. Heh-meyer Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Duke University. He has over twenty years of teaching experience-as a teaching fellow at Harvard and as a professor at Duke. He won the Harvard Certificate of Distinction in Teaching (1985—86 and 1986—87), the Trinity College (Duke) Distinguished Teaching Award (1994—95), and the Duke Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award (2001). He has published numerous scholarly books and articles on national security issues, and he has served on the National Security Council at the White House, first as Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control under President Bill Clinton and most recently as Special Advisor for Strategic Planning and Institutional Reform under President George W. Bush. As long as his knees will let him, he can be found waddling up and down the basketball court-or more often these days, cheering his daughter and two sons from the sidelines.
Sue Wasiolek (more commonly known as Dean Sue) is assistant vice president for student affairs and dean of students at Duke University. She was premed at Duke (she never got into medical school), completed a Masters of Health Administration at Duke (only worked in health care for eighteen months), completed her JD at North Carolina Central University and her LLM at Duke (only practiced law for nine months), and has been working at Duke for the past twenty-eight years. Sue loves the classroom both as a teacher (she teaches edu-cation law) and as a student (she plans to complete her EdD in 2008). Sue encourages students to study what they love and base their careers around what they love, even if those two are totally different things. Her time with students is not a job but a way of life. In her free time, Sue can be found jogging around Durham or working out at the gym with students.
Anne Crossman studied at both Stanford and Duke, earning a BA in English and a Certificate in Education. After teaching for public high schools, colleges, and the military for five years, she gave up her day job to pursue authorship and motherhood. A poet by trade, her work has been published in journals such as Nimrod and Margie, and she is currently finalizing a book of poems about Alzheimers disease entitled Trying to Remember, which is due to be published the summer of 2008. Her third book, a humorous educational series addressing life as a high-school student, is on deck and, if all goes well, will be hitting shelves by the end of the decade. Anne currently lives with her husband and sons in Seattle, Washington.
Table of Contents
ContentsAcknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
1 "You Expect Me to Live with a Stranger?"
Managing Life in the Dorm 1
2 Leaving Home, Phoning Home, and the First Trip Back to the Mother Ship
Maintaining Relationships Back Home 30
3 "I Have the Perfect Schedule--All My Classes Are on Wednesday!"
Writing the Personal Narrative Called Your Transcript 54
4 Alliances, Fellows, and Clubs, Oh My!
Engaging in Extracurriculars 71
5 Memories Youll Want to Remember
Maneuvering the Social Scene with Aplomb 93
6 What Professors Wish You Knew
Paying Attention to the Man (or Woman!) behind the Curtain 123
7 Getting What You Came For
Studying Smarter (and Why It Shouldnt Be All That Hard) 159
8 "Ive Never Needed Help Before . . ."
Navigating Campus Resources 182
9 So What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?
Choosing Your Major vs. Your Career 199
10 Itll Be Over Before You Know It
Preparing for Life after College 218
Index 244
About the Authors 248