About this item
The first practical guide of its kind that helps students transition smoothly from high school to collegeThe 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.
About the Author
Andrea Malkin Brenner, PhD consults with colleges who wish to create their own first-year transition courses. She created and directed the nationally-recognized first-year experience course at American University. In this role, she represented the Office of Undergraduate Education at American University, speaking about the program at local and national conferences.Previous to that, she was a faculty member in the Department of Sociology at American University for 20 years. She also served as the Faculty Director of University College, AU's oldest and largest living-learning community. Dr. Brenner holds a BA in Sociology from Brandeis University and a MA in Curriculum, Instruction and Administration in Higher Education from Boston College. She received her PhD in Sociology from American University, where her research focused on the complexities of white professors teaching about race and racism to students of color (see Chapter 2 in African Americans and Whites: Changing Relationships on College Campuses, University Press of America) . She has researched and written about the sociology of education, teaching introductory sociology, sociology of sport, and on the life course. She has received a number of awards including Professor of the Year, the Ann S. Ferren Curriculum Design Award, and The Cutting-Edge Curriculum Award from the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry.https://www.facebook.com/howtocollegeproject/