How can you graduate with honors, choose exciting activities, build a head-turning resume, gain access to the best post-college opportunities, and still have a life? Based on interviews with star students at universities nationwide, from Harvard to the University of Arizona, How to Win at College presents seventy-five simple rules that will rocket you to the top of your class. These often surprising strategies include:
• Don’t do all your reading
• Drop classes every term
• Become a club president
• Care about your grades, Ignore your GPA
• Never pull an all-nighter
• Take three days to write a paper
• Always be working on a “grand project”
• Do one thing better than anyone else you know
Proving you can be successful and still have time for fun, How to Win at College is the must-have guide for making the most of these four important years—and getting and edge on life after graduation.
Author(s): Cal Newport
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Year: 2005
Language: English
Commentary: improved TOC
Pages: 208
Tags: college;self-help;habits
Contents
Introduction
1 Don't Do All of Your Reading
2 Create a Sunday Ritual
3 Drop Classes Every Semester
4 Start Long-Term Projects the Day They Are Assigned
5 Make Your Bed
6 Apply to Ten Scholarships a Year
7 Build Study Systems
8 Befriend a Professor
9 Become a Club President
10 Read a Newspaper Every Day
11 Do One Thing Better Than Anyone Else You Know
12 Avoid Daily To-Do Lists
13 Learn to Give Up
14 Never Nap
15 Sign Up for Something Your First Week
16 Always Be Working on a “Grand Project”
17 Take Art History and Astronomy
18 Blow the Curve Once a Term
19 Ask One Question at Every Lecture
20 Jump into Research as Soon as Possible
21 Pay Your Dues
22 Study in Fifty-Minute Chunks
23 Schedule Your Free Time
24 Dress Nicely for Class
25 Decorate Your Room
26 Start Studying Two Weeks in Advance
27 Write Outside of Class
28 Eat Alone Twice a Day
29 Find an Escape
30 Take Hard Courses Early On
31 Don't Study in Your Room
32 Don't Study in Groups
33 Join an Honors Program
34 Do Schoolwork Every Day
35 Attend Guest Lectures
36 Exercise Five Days a Week
37 Stay in Touch
38 Tack on an Extra Major or Minor
39 Meet Often with Your Adviser
40 Don't Get a Normal Job
41 Use Three Days to Write a Paper
42 Don't Undersleep, Don't Oversleep
43 Relax Before Exams
44 Make Friends Your #1 Priority
45 Don't Binge Drink
46 Ignore Your Classmates' Grades
47 Seek Out Phenomenal Achievers
48 Learn to Listen
49 Never Pull an All-Nighter
50 Laugh Every Day
51 Use High-Quality Notebooks
52 Keep a Work-Progress Journal
53 Seek Out Fun
54 Inflate Your Ambition
55 Get Involved with Your Major Department
56 Care About Your Grades, Ignore Your G.P.A.
57 Always Go to Class
58 Set Arbitrary Deadlines
59 Eat Healthy
60 Volunteer Quietly
61 Write as if Going for a Pulitzer
62 Attend Political Rallies
63 Maximize Your Summers
64 Choose Goals, Explore Routes
65 Don't Take Breaks Between Classes
66 Don't Network
67 Publish Op-Eds
68 Use a Filing Cabinet
69 Find a Secret Study Space
70 Study with the Quiz-and-Recall Method
71 Empty Your In-Box
72 Relax Before Sleep
73 Start Fast, End Slow
74 Spend a Semester Studying Abroad
75 “Don't Have No Regrets”
Acknowledgments
About the Author
