The first practical guide of its kind that helps students transition smoothly from high school to college The transition from high school—and home—to college can be stressful. Students and parents often arrive on campus unprepared for what college is really like. Academic standards and expectations are different from high school; families aren’t present to serve as “scaffolding” for students; and first-years have to do what they call “adulting.” Nothing in the college admissions process prepares students for these new realities. As a result, first-year college students report higher stress, more mental health issues, and lower completion rates than in the past. In fact, up to one third of first-year college students will not return for their second year—and colleges are reporting an increase in underprepared first-year students. How to College is here to help. Professors Andrea Malkin Brenner and Lara Schwartz guide first-year students and their families through the transition process, during the summer after high school graduation and throughout the school year, preparing students to succeed and thrive as they transition and adapt to college. The book draws on the authors’ experience teaching, writing curricula, and designing programs for thousands of first-year college students over decades.

The first practical guide of its kind that helps students transition smoothly from high school to college The transition from high school—and home—to college can be stressful. Students and parents often arrive on campus unprepared for what college is really like. Academic standards and expectations are different from high school; families aren’t present to serve as “scaffolding” for students; and first-years have to do what they call “adulting.” Nothing in the college admissions process prepares students for these new realities. As a result, first-year college students report higher stress, more mental health issues, and lower completion rates than in the past. In fact, up to one third of first-year college students will not return for their second year—and colleges are reporting an increase in underprepared first-year students. How to College is here to help. Professors Andrea Malkin Brenner and Lara Schwartz guide first-year students and their families through the transition process, during the summer after high school graduation and throughout the school year, preparing students to succeed and thrive as they transition and adapt to college. The book draws on the authors’ experience teaching, writing curricula, and designing programs for thousands of first-year college students over decades.

The college-preparation experience can be fraught with questions and uncertainties. But Pamela Ellis, MBA, PhD is here to offer advice, insight, and counseling that will ease rather than raise your anxiety levels. What to Know Before They Go is an effective tool to help parents guide their teens toward preparing for college before high school even starts. From choosing a high school to understanding how academic skills and activities will influence future college opportunities, Dr. Pamela encourages parents to develop a forward-thinking plan as early as possible. Dr. Pamela then breaks down the high-school years, offering achievable goals to focus on throughout each year. These goals include developing self-awareness during freshman year, exploring and discovering personal interests during sophomore year, connecting with and visiting colleges during junior year, and applying to colleges during senior year. Then, once college is on the immediate horizon, Dr. Pamela walks readers through what to expect when paying for college and gives parents resources and helpful hints for understanding, applying for, and accepting scholarships and financial aid. With anecdotes about her own experience sending her child to college, Dr. Pamela offers reassurance and encouragement for parents as they shepherd their teens into their next stage of life.

Getting Ready for College is the ultimate easy-to-use guide to success for college-bound seniors, first-years, and their parents. Polly Berent answers the questions you didn’t know you would need to ask: • What’s the deal on financial aid and cash management? • Should I bring a flashlight to school? Do I really need a microwave and a vacuum cleaner? • Should I call Mom every time I’m homesick? Will my boyfriend/girlfriend wait for me? • Will having a credit card help me? Do I need quarters for the laundry? • When should I lock my room? Where can I fill my prescriptions in my new town? • Should I take intro classes or harder classes? Should I join a frat/sorority? • How could I possibly have time to figure all this out and keep in touch with my old friends? This essential manual includes day planners, notes on how to take notes, tips on how to make a “real life” file, and advice from scores of college students in the trenches as well as campus health-care professionals, college counselors, administrators, and financial-aid advisers. This is everything you need to know about getting ready for college, from students and parents just like you.

Read award-winning journalist Frank Bruni's New York Times bestseller: an inspiring manifesto about everything wrong with today's frenzied college admissions process and how to make the most of your college years. Over the last few decades, Americans have turned college admissions into a terrifying and occasionally devastating process, preceded by test prep, tutors, all sorts of stratagems, all kinds of rankings, and a conviction among too many young people that their futures will be determined and their worth established by which schools say yes and which say no. In Where You Go is Not Who You'll Be, Frank Bruni explains why this mindset is wrong, giving students and their parents a new perspective on this brutal, deeply flawed competition and a path out of the anxiety that it provokes. Bruni, a bestselling author and a columnist for the New York Times, shows that the Ivy League has no monopoly on corner offices, governors' mansions, or the most prestigious academic and scientific grants. Through statistics, surveys, and the stories of hugely successful people, he demonstrates that many kinds of colleges serve as ideal springboards. And he illuminates how to make the most of them. What matters in the end are students' efforts in and out of the classroom, not the name on their diploma. Where you go isn't who you'll be. Americans need to hear that--and this indispensable manifesto says it with eloquence and respect for the real promise of higher education.

PARENTING NEVER ENDS. From the founders of the #1 site for parents of teens and young adults comes an essential guide for building strong relationships with your teens and preparing them to successfully launch into adulthood The high school and college years: an extended roller coaster of academics, friends, first loves, first break-ups, driver’s ed, jobs, and everything in between. Kids are constantly changing and how we parent them must change, too. But how do we stay close as a family as our lives move apart? Enter the co-founders of Grown and Flown, Lisa Heffernan and Mary Dell Harrington. In the midst of guiding their own kids through this transition, they launched what has become the largest website and online community for parents of fifteen to twenty-five year olds. Now they’ve compiled new takeaways and fresh insights from all that they’ve learned into this handy, must-have guide. Grown and Flown is a one-stop resource for parenting teenagers, leading up to—and through—high school and those first years of independence. It covers everything from the monumental (how to let your kids go) to the mundane (how to shop for a dorm room). Organized by topic—such as academics, anxiety and mental health, college life—it features a combination of stories, advice from professionals, and practical sidebars. Consider this your parenting lifeline: an easy-to-use manual that offers support and perspective. Grown and Flown is required reading for anyone looking to raise an adult with whom you have an enduring, profound connection.

College is about way more than just frats and finals. It's a time to learn new skills, encounter different cultures, test out potential careers, and take a stab at something new just because it sounds cool. To leave college a better, smarter, and more interesting person than you were when you started, all you need is an open mind, a willing spirit, and (of course) this book! These 77 entries cover everything from negotiating the terms of an apartment rental to attending a school-sponsored lecture event to hosting a movie marathon—and supplemental sidebars provide tips for doing everything cheaply and well. (But remember: The most important thing to do? Graduate!)