Your College Experience

Authored by three of the nation's leading experts on the first-year experience, this Concise Edition of Your College Experience continues a 20-year tradition of straightforward, realistic, and intelligent coverage of the skills students need to succeed in college. Each edition is revised based on information uncovered during exhaustive research, surveys on the First Year Experience, and course outcome measurements. Gardner, Jewler, and Barefoot outline the strategies students need to sharpen their skills in note taking, reading, memorizing, writing, and test-taking; enhance social relationships; get to know themselves better by exploring their values; learn vital information about staying healthy; connect to information on career planning; and more!

For many, the college experience is defined by drinking, sex, impulsive decision-making, and a journey of self discovery. It's packaged as a consequence-free zone to have the "best time of your life." But the reality is that what happens in college doesn't stay in college. There are real, lasting consequences to your decisions. Student ministry leaders Ben Trueblood and Brian Mills have seen this firsthand. With decades of student-ministry leadership under their belts, they have seen too many lives fall apart because of the world's view of what the college experience should be. You don't have to have that kind of college experience. Fortunately, just as the gospel redeems all of life, the gospel redeems the college experience. It tells us there is another way. In this book, Ben and Brian provide a biblical and practical guide for how you can have a fun, joy-filled, and spiritually enriching college experience while avoiding the pitfalls that have captured so many before you.

Going to college brings a time of discovery. Are you ready for what lies ahead? How will you fare going to college – leaving behind the safety of home, community, and church? How will you keep your faith in college? Drawing on their own experiences and years of ministry to young men and women during this transition of going to college, Nic and Syler provide a game plan you can follow to survive and thrive, to live out your faith in college. “Game Plan has the potential to equip our college students (and soon to be college students) with an anchored, informed, buoyant love for God that can breathe through every corner of their lives.” -Mark DeVries, president of Youth Ministry Architects and author of Sustainable Youth Ministry “This wise, straight-talking book offers much practical advice on the many challenges that Christian students face when they step onto the university campus. I highly recommend it.” -Paul Copan, Professor and Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics, Palm Beach Atlantic University “Get this book into the hands of your college bound students and children! Too many students go off to college unprepared to face the spiritual, moral, intellectual and practical challenges they will face and I see the negative effects in their lives on campus. With practical wisdom and real life stories, this book hits all the big topics a young student needs to not just survive college but mature and grow a dynamic Christian walk.” -R. Shannon Marion, National Field Director, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship “For every student headed to college, this is a must-read. Gibson and Thomas have written a practical, spiritual, timely book that addresses real concerns of those who are continuing their education at a college or university, secular or faith-based.” -Bishop Larry M. Goodpaster, President, Council of Bishops, The United Methodist Church

The most thoroughly revised edition yet! Featuring extensive revisions to the Learning chapters and a new chapter on memory, YOUR COLLEGE EXPERIENCE, 7e continues its 20-year tradition of providing straightforward, intelligent coverage of the skills students need to succeed in college today. New co-author Betsy Barefoot has updated and added new research materials throughout, and worked to streamline the text. Now only 16 chapters, the book presents more current information in fewer chapters than ever before. Also new to this edition: iLrn College Success! Available with new copies of the book, this innovative teaching tool lets instructors create assignments that students can use to assess their mastery of topics covered in the book. Assignments are automatically graded, providing instructors and students with immediate feedback on student performance. iLrn gives students the power to prioritize and strategically use their study time, while it gives instructors the power to tailor their in-class time to meet their students' most pressing needs. Author John Gardner is a well-known proponent of the first-year seminar and was instrumental is creating the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition at the University of South Carolina. He and co-authors Jewler and Barefoot continue to write, research, and travel to support the First-Year Experience.

Why higher education in the United States has lost its way, and how universities and colleges can focus sharply on their core mission. For The Real World of College, Wendy Fischman and Howard Gardner analyzed in-depth interviews with more than 2,000 students, alumni, faculty, administrators, parents, trustees, and others, which were conducted at ten institutions ranging from highly selective liberal arts colleges to less-selective state schools. What they found challenged characterizations in the media: students are not preoccupied by political correctness, free speech, or even the cost of college. They are most concerned about their GPA and their resumes; they see jobs and earning potential as more important than learning. Many say they face mental health challenges, fear that they don’t belong, and feel a deep sense of alienation. Given this daily reality for students, has higher education lost its way? Fischman and Gardner contend that US universities and colleges must focus sharply on their core educational mission. Fischman and Gardner, both recognized authorities on education and learning, argue that higher education in the United States has lost sight of its principal reason for existing: not vocational training, not the provision of campus amenities, but to increase what Fischman and Gardner call “higher education capital”—to help students think well and broadly, express themselves clearly, explore new areas, and be open to possible transformations. Fischman and Gardner offer cogent recommendations for how every college can become a community of learners who are open to change as thinkers, citizens, and human beings.

If your child aspires to play competitive college soccer, this book is a must read.The college soccer recruiting process can be, at once, mysterious, imperfect, and frustrating. Perhaps the ultimate U.S. soccer insider, Steve Gans provides parents with a roadmap and gameplan for navigating the process from youth soccer to recruitment to a college soccer program. In this book, Steve explains each step in the college recruiting process as well as the ways that players and parents should prepare for them. Topics include:?Engaging recruiting coaches?Creating highlight videos?Selecting Identification Camps?Evaluating Showcase tournaments?Considering MLS Next (boys) or ECNL (girls) options?Weighing MLS Next vs. High School?Dealing with Recruiting Coach movement?Understanding College Draft Boards?Realizing the impact of playing out of position?Using club recruiting services?Appreciating Pros and cons of college coaches at your club?Dealing with unpredictability in the processThis book includes 7 interviews with top college coaches to help you understand the particular recruiting criteria and processes of each of them.The book begins, and is interspersed, with Steven's personal soccer journey and the recruiting challenges faced by his sons Noah and Josh. As Steve will attest, each soccer recruiting story is personal, and each player and their family should prepare for, and hopefully embrace, the journey

With hilarious insights, observations, and personal anecdotes on everything from partying all night, to learning to do laundry, to falling asleep in class, Aaron Karo has captured the college experience like never before. It took college freshman Aaron Karo only one week to realize that college was a joke -- an especially funny one that he could share with his friends in a regular email newsletter about life on campus. By his senior year, Ruminations on College Life had become an international phenomenon. Now, for the first time in print, here is the best of the original ezine, previously unpublished material, and brand new introductions to each section by the author. Share in the absurdity and insanity of the college experience with Karo as you read his outrageous inside account of scheming students, crazy professors, confused parents, and rowdy frat boys. Perfect for anyone who is destined for college, currently surviving it, or already a veteran, this book is a cult classic readers can enjoy alone or read out loud at their next party for tons of laughs.