Ten Strategies for College Success
John Bader
You've gotten into college. This is the book you need to succeed.
All of your hard work in high school has paid off: you have a solid GPA, numerous extracurricular achievements to your name, and an acceptance letter from an excellent college. Now what? What can you expect from the college experience, and how can you get the most out of it? This book will answer your questions and help you find real and lasting success in college.
Deans at America's top institutions—including Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, and Columbia—join John Bader to tell you what you need to know to have a rich and…
Deans at America's top institutions—including Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, and Columbia—join John Bader to tell you what you need to know to have a rich and rewarding college experience. With wisdom, reassurance, and an insider's perspective, this lively and timely guide will help you develop strategies such as:
• Focus on learning, not on grades
• Build a new relationship with your parents
• Explore your academic choices
• Learn from diversity at home and abroad
• Cope with failure
• Plan boldly for life after college
A complete reworking, this second edition includes information on managing workloads and faculty relationships, as well as new material focused on first-generation challenges and international students. Dean's List offers a thoughtful, commonsense approach to higher education that allows students to make the most of their four years on campus—and beyond.
Joseph O'Shea
Shortchanged
Annie Abrams
Reparative Universities
Ariana González Stokas
Universities on Fire
Bryan Alexander
Metrics That Matter
Zachary Bleemer, Mukul Kumar, Aashish Mehta, Chris Muellerleile, and Christopher Newfield
The second updated edition of Dean's List: 10 Strategies for College Success is a 'must' for any new student who would excel in college, and gathers the latest thoughts of deans at top schools across the country, who share insights on what makes for a superior college experience.
— Donovan's Bookshelf
Dean's List: 11 Habits of Highly Successful College Students should be recommended to any person who is facing college for the first time or is working with first-year college students. This book offers useful tools in decision making that enable students to have successful college career. Bader organizes the chapters of his book extremely well in order to find and explore the answers to all the questions an incoming student may have while including the all important advice from college deans.
— NACADA
In Dean's List, John Bader draws on advice from deans at leading universities—including Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, and Columbia—as well as over a decade of experience as a dean at Johns Hopkins University to present strategies designed to help new college students succeed. From "focus on learning, not grades" to "learn from diversity at home and abroad," the 10 approaches outlined in Bader's book will aid graduating seniors, first-generation, and non-traditional students alike in having the most productive and rewarding college experience possible.
— Rutgers University Libraries
Many books will tell you how to get an 'A' in class, but this book encourages you to do more—to explore college life, embrace new challenges, and become independent.
— Book Bargains and Previews
Should be recommended to any person who is facing college for the first time or is working with first-year college students.
To achieve success in college (and it is not as easy to be successful as simply knowing the habits) there is nothing better I need to say to you other than just: Get the book!
— Biz India Magazine
Focusing mainly on American high-prestige colleges and universities, this book points to factors that contribute to the success of undergraduate students. Bader, an undergraduate dean, with the assistance of colleagues from a dozen or more schools, distills key knowledge.
— International Higher Education
Curriculum & Pedagogy
Education (General)
Introduction: Facing Freshman Year
Featuring Guest Essays by
brenda bretz, ph.d., Senior Associate Provost for Academic Affairs, Dickinson College
Strategy #1. Focus on Learning, Not on
Strategy #1. Focus on Learning, Not on Grades 13
thomas a. dingman, ed.m., Dean of Freshmen, Harvard University
leah blatt glasser, ph.d., Dean of First-Year Studies and Lecturer in English, Mount Holyoke College
Strategy #2. Build an New Relationship with Your Parents
kathryn stuart, d.m.a., Dean of Studies and Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, Oberlin College
matthew lazen, ph.d., Director of Studies, Butler College, Princeton University
raima evan, ph.d., Assistant Dean, Bryn Mawr College
Strategy #3. Work the System by Understanding the System
margaret bruzelius, ph.d., Dean of the Senior Class and Lecturer in Comparative Literature, Smith College
michele rasmussen, ph.d., Associate Dean and Director, Academic Advising Center, Duke University
cole m. crittenden, ph.d., Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students, Princeton University
Strategy #4. Approach the Curriculum Like a Great Feast
anya bernstein bassett, ph.d., Director of Undergraduate Studies and Senior Lecturer, Committee on Degrees in Social Studies, Harvard University
marcy kraus, ph.d., Dean of Freshmen, University of Rochester
george levesque, ph.d., Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, Yale College, Yale University
Strategy #5. Understand That Majors and Careers Are Not the Same Thing
m. cecilia gaposchkin, ph.d., Assistant Dean of Faculty for Pre-Major Advising and Assistant Professor of History, Dartmouth College
joseph holtgreive, ed.m., Assistant Dean and Director of the McCormick Office of Personal Development, McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, Northwestern University
Strategy #6. Don't Just Work Hard—Work Smart
leora brovman, ed.d., Advising Dean, Columbia University
adina glickman, m.s.w., Associate Director, Center for Teaching and Learning, Stanford University
Strategy #7. Learn from Diversity at Home and Abroad
janet a. tighe, ph.d., Dean of Freshmen and Director of Academic Advising, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania
Strategy #8. When You Are Failing, Understand Why
john t. o'keefe, ph.d., Director of Advising and Academic Support Services and Class Dean, Wellesley College
Strategy #9. Cope with Failure by Rebuilding and Forgiving 202
thomas n. chiarolanzio, m.a., Associate Dean, Georgetown College, Georgetown University
Strategy #10. Plan Boldly for Life after College
andrew n. simmons, Assistant Director for Pre-Health Advising in the Honors Program, University of Rhode Island
John Bader, the executive director of the Fulbright Association, served Johns Hopkins University for more than a decade as a dean of academic advising and of undergraduate academic affairs. He is the author of Dean's List: Ten Strategies for College Success.
John Bader's book talk at Rutgers University
John Bader's website