College Life: A Down-To-Earth Guide to Dealing With...

I purchased this book from Allegheny College's bookstore for approximately 2 dollars. (It was discounted.) I thought the book was relatively interesting and presented some good points about overcoming prejudices and adjusting to college. The best chapters were probably Chapter 1: New Beginnings, where the author reminds incoming freshmen that college is a time where one can redefine oneself. If you were a particular type of student in high school, you can change and no one will know. Other interesting chapters were: Chapter 13 on Sex, Chapter 14 on Alcohol and Drugs, and Chapter 15 on Academic Expectations. For example, in Chapter 13, the author reminds college freshmen: "Preejaculatory fluid contains viable sperm that can cause pregnancy. So even if the male withdraws from inside his female partner prior to ejaculation, it's still possible for pregnancy to occur" (Rosenberg, p.225). This same chapter also addresses numerous sexually-transmitted diseases, including syphilis, genital herpes, genital warts, and AIDS. It also references the importance of condom or birth control pill usage. While all this same information may also be found on the Internet, it is well-organized in Rosenberg's book. In total, the book is 334 pages. However, because the book was written in 1992, electronics (cellphones, ipods, emailing, etc.) are not topics discussed. Therefore, if those are important topics to you, I would recommend purchasing a more modern book. Also, the book assumes that college students have alot of free time. I do not know whether this is true or not in community colleges or state schools. However, some of the suggestions that Rosenberg makes about forming close friendships in college would not be as practical at Allegheny College, where considerable homework on the weekend is typical.