Countdown to College

After all the testing and touring and applying your child has been accepted tocollege. Congratulations! Now what? Every new student grapples with making a successful transition to collegewith remaining healthy happy grounded and in school. Indeed the national statistics are sobering: One in three freshmen will not come back for sophomore year and less than 50 percent will graduate on time. A students adjustment is key especially during the period starting with the lazy summer months before move-in and ending at the dizzying close of a students first semester. Distilling lessons and sharing stories (some cautionary some entertaining all helpful) from her long college advisory career three-time Ivy League dean Monique Rinere presents a unique month-by-month road map to a college experience that is rich rewarding and successful for teens and parents alike. Taking parents from the moment the acceptances arrive to the end of the first college semester her expert advice covers: assessing the right fit among your childs options: who and what to ask to get the real scoop on campus and academic life understanding actual costs: considering hidden expenses financial-aid and scholarship fine print loans and work-study opportunities parenting through the senior slump so that students dont jeopardize their hard-won college spot talking to your child about freshman culture shock and their new freedoms around parties food finances and sleep what your child needs to know about working with an academic advisor interacting with professors and creating their own community of advisors how to help your rising freshman create a conceptual bridge from what they are a graduating high school senior to what they want to be a college alum time-management and class-scheduling tips to help your child pick an appropriate class (and extracurricular) load advice for parents facing the emptying nest: letting go of your anxieties about your childs autonomy and seizing this opportunity to reinvent your life in new and intentional waysA valuable and comprehensive guide for parents of college-bound students . . . The months between high school and college are a critical time but Dr. Monique Rinere gives you confidence that everything will be all right.Marvin Krislov president Pace University