Adams Media - Study Skills: Get the most out of college life

Avon, Massachusetts

The Everything College Survival books are concise guides, focusing on only the essential information you need. Whether youre looking for information on dorm life, need advice about choosing a major, or want to know how to manage your time, theres a College Survival book for you!

Your time in college will challenging, interesting, and if youre like most people, the best years of your life so far. You will make lifelong friends and perhaps meet your soul mate. You will try new things, learn valuable skills, and be challenged to figure out who you really are and what you stand for. You will fall in love with some of your classes (and perhaps classmates), deeply discuss serious issues with peers and professors, and enjoy many moments of quiet reflection.

You have achieved a lot and have done well to graduate from high school. You have learned what teachers want and how to succeed. However, college classes will move faster and your professors will be more demanding. Youll read thousand of pages and process dense information for class discussions and presentations. Youll also write hundreds of pages in essays, reports, and exams. To do so, you will spend many hours researching in the library and online, as well as many more hours studying in your room, in quiet places around campus, and even in the cafeteria.

As you are working harder and smarter than ever before, you will also be having more fun than ever before. There will be more concerts, parties, and cultural events than you have time to attend. You will have a full range of athletics to watch or participate in, a new local community to explore, nearby exercise facilities to work out in, and perhaps even natural resources such as hiking trails, beaches, or ski mountains to enjoy. You will meet and live with interesting people, some from places you have never visited, with very different backgrounds and experiences than yours. By developing these new friendships, youll learn more about yourself and what you want out of life.

By the time you finish college, youll be prepared for a job in a field that may become a career. Youll also be prepared to change jobs if necessary, and you will still have college resources available to help you make that change. Your education in the classroom will be represented by your degree, but your education outside of the classroom will shine on your resume and in job interviews. Leadership experiences, internships, and semesters spent abroad will all help shape your approach to life and your contribution to the adult world.

The experiences you have at college, in and out of the classroom, will not only help you personally and professionally upon graduation, but will also help you determine your place in the world. The education and the great memories you leave with will be yours forever. Regardless of your background or future plans, you are about to embark on a priceless journey. Good luck, and enjoy every minute!

If youd like to learn more about college life, check out The Everything College Survival Book, 3rd Edition , available in print (978-1-4405-1207-0) and eBook (978-1-4405-2495-0) formats.

College will be a completely different experience than high school, both in and out of the classroom. In addition to social changes, you will find that classes are more difficult and move more quickly, that professors expect more from students, and that your old study habits wont be adequate if you want to earn good grades. At the same time, you are more mature, more flexible, and more goal-oriented than you were in high school, so with a little preparation these challenges will all be manageable.