Product Description

In a guide to college life that is a little more realistic than Felicity and a little more fun than Stanley Kaplan, Jennifer Hanson charts a course through the dips and bends of freshman year. Written with the collective "wisdom" of twelve college students from across the country, THE REAL FRESHMAN HANDBOOK is the only one of its kind — a "handy and humorous book that will fit in any first-year"s backpack" (Harvard University Gazette) and that offers an inside look at the real deal on college life from those who have been there — and survived. Hanson gives readers a crash course in avoiding freshman year follies, from filling out roommate questionnaires and evaluating putative hangover remedies to writing papers and studying for exams. College-bound students will relish the down-to-earth advice, and parents can rest assured that they won"t have to fund a new wardrobe because Junior didn"t separate the colors from the whites. The advice throughout is insightful, smart, practical, entertaining, proving that "Hanson has really done her homework" (U Magazine).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64963 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780618163427
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Jennifer Hanson, a proverbial professional student, is a graduate of Harvard University and a second-year law student at the University of Michigan. She has sought the advice and experiences of friends at colleges and universities all over the country to ensure a guide that will speak to all freshmen.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Introduction Welcome to college!!! You're in for the ride of your life--enough '70s parties to wear down the seat of those vinyl camouflage pants your dad gave you for graduation; all-night rap sessions about men, women, and Pat; moonlight kisses on the football field after the lights have been extinguished. If you're especially photogenic, you may even find yourself having an animated conversation with a professor in front of a blazing maple tree and, later, in an admissions brochure.

In the above endeavors you don't need much guidance; just follow your libido and the fashion dictates of Abercrombie & Fitch. But college isn't all Felicity-style hangin'; as the stacks of forms colleges send incoming freshmen attest, there's a lot of practical stuff to deal with. How do you go about choosing four classes from a catalog of three thousand, let alone how do you survive them? How do you get a vomit stain out of your comforter and the neighborhood cockroaches out of your Tupperware? What should you do if your roommate develops severe stomach pains and is too weak to get to the infirmary? How can you avoid spending more on books than you did on plane fare? How do you build a loft? How can you maintain fullbody fitness without leaving your Barcalounger? And, most important of all, how can you ensure that your nocturnally foraging roommate is out cold, his coonskin cap covering his face, by midnight the evening before your rocks for jocks exam?

We know the solutions to these and other pressing problems because we've been there; we've been through freshman year and the memory is still fresh as dog doo. You see, my friend, we're college students just like you, only a little older (juniors), a little wiser, and a little more obsessed with corn. We know that you could find out everything in this book by yourself if you had to and that many of your less literate classmates will, and more. But there is just so much fun to be had . . . why reinvent the wheel when you could be out burning up the road?

We come originally from Minnesota, where we rose out of the cornfields of our youth to attend high school in the lovely but unfortunately cropfree city of Minneapolis. There we lived in friendship, gossip, and a pizza restaurant called Sydney's; there we parted, each bound for a different part of the country and a different type of collegiate environment. Two years later we came together again, possessed by a mission to spread the lessons we learned from our mistakes and experiences, and the gospel of grain. The result of our reminiscences, Jolt-fed brainstorming, and piety: the book you now hold in your trembling hand.

From our class, our campuses, and our fields to yours, then, our gift. Copyright © 1996, 2002 by Jennifer Hanson. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company.

Customer Reviews

Great Disappointment
After surveying many books to purchase in preparation for college, I bought this book. I would not recommend this book for the following reasons: continuous sarcasm creates constant confusion, regular sexual innuendos get old fast, irrelevant page-fillers line book, but leave for an empty mind, and grammar and writing are much lower quality than expected of a Harvard graduate. The only suggestions, which I actually thought were helpful and relevant, of which there were some, were all too obvious and things I learned my freshman year in high school. Overall, I would not suggest a student, or anyone, buy this book, I regret that I did.

A bit disappointing
There were chunks in this book that I just could not apply to my situation. For example 1/4 of the book dealt with cars and I cannot even drive in Boston so I had to skip that part. Another 1/4 of this book is filled with lists and while the author is helpful in explaining why we might need the items the author doesn't realize that colleges send lists to freshman about what to bring.

This book is also based of a female point of view which is a bit of downer for those of us guys trying to find out more about how it will be like to live in a new enviorment. The psychology asserted in the book is of females and the "dialoges" which take place in another quarter of the book are between girls and discuss futile things.

I wish the author would have saved me my money and just used the last 1/4 of the book which was loaded with useful information. I learned that I should not microwave my socks because unlike a dryer they might actually burn them. The author has a good way with wit(however it is based off a female point of view). At any rate there is some useful stuff and it is worth buying if one is willing to skip 3/4 of the book because of the futility it holds.

Eh... Its just OK...
[...]BR>I liked that it was written by a college student and all her friends. There were some interesting tips and stories that I truly found helpful. However, I hated all their inside personal humor which ran rampant through every single chapter. This point made, the text got a bit annoying and exasperating at times. I liked the lists they provided of things to pack. I believe someone else pointed out that your college sends you a list of such... The lists in the book however remind you of the things I definately would have forgotten. Also there is a lot of information on a wide range of topics, however these are not very in-depth accounts usually. I feel kind of indifferent to this book. Its [inexpensive] enough to give it a try.