How to College ― What to Know Before You Go and When You're There

A crucial guide that helps students transition smoothly from high school to college

The transition from high school—and home—to college can be stressful for students and their families. Students and parents 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 students have to do what they call “adulting.” Nothing in the college admissions process prepares students for these new realities.

As a result, first-year 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. Andrea Malkin Brenner and Lara Schwartz guide first-year students and their families at any point in the transition process, during the summer after high school graduation and throughout the school year, to prepare to succeed and thrive as they transition and adapt to college. The first practical guide of its kind, this book draws on the authors’ experience teaching and working with thousands of first-year college students over decades.

Andrea Malkin Brenner consults with colleges who wish to create their own first-year transitions courses and created the American University Experience (AUx) Program for American University, designed the curriculum for AUx1 and AUx2, and served as the Program's Director from 2016-2018.

Lara Hope Schwartz teaches in the Department of Government at American University School of Public Affairs (SPA) and is the Director of the Project on Civil Discourse. She came to the School of Public Affairs at American University after a career as an attorney, civil rights advocate, and strategist.