Customer Reviews

How to Survive Your Child's College Education: From Application to Graduation

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I have to disagree with the reviews that have been posted for this book, which purports to be a complete guide to what parents will experience as their children prepare for and go through college. The author, a university professor and parent, would seem well equipped for the job. Unfortunately, he's taken on too big a task and his cynical humor muddles the picture.

How to Survive covers the process of selecting a college, the freshman year and parent weekends, housing choices and more. Despite this challenge, more space is devoted to holidays and vacations than to topics like filling out applications and visiting campus. Some subjects are overlooked, such as Advanced Placement exams.

The book tries to cover so much territory that it is difficult for any one person to be expert in all the areas covered. For instance, SAT/ACT equivalence is misstated and the author tries to correlate the ACT composite with the individual halves of the SAT. When it comes to financial aid, much of the information provided is inaccurate or outdated.

Last, and perhaps most critically, the author seems to think that he can duplicate Bill Cosby's success in writing a humorous parenting guide. In the early pages, the reader is encouraged by the light tone and facetiousness. Quickly, though, the author's cynicism about teenagers, parenting and the collegiate experience becomes tiresome. This caustic tone is pervasive.

The attempts at humor sometimes make it difficult to ascertain whether the advice given is a joke or not. Some advice, if serious, is dangerous. Consider this advice, for instance: "First and foremost, never, never, never pay out-of-state tuition!" (p. 18). This is horrible across-the-board advice.

His disparaging remarks about higher education are troubling. Regarding the school bill, he writes, "What a system--robbery without a gun! Consequently, it's easy to feel betrayed, especially by that little snot-nosed recruiter who convinced your child to attend this college . . . . They've got you, big time, and they know it" (pp. 96-97). This is typical of the book's tone.

It is incongruous that parents are encouraged to send their students to Daytona Beach for Spring Break but elsewhere Baack spends half a page on the dangers of tanning. It is jarring to read the author's well-written sermon on the immorality of cheating when he elsewhere adopts a "kids will be kids" attitude toward underage drinking and substance abuse.

In the final chapters, despite frequent dips into cynicism, the book begins to hit its stride. The author offers some thoughtful and helpful advice about parent-child relations and the conclusion of the college experience. He softens his tone somewhat. An unintimidating, no-nonsense guide for parents is a good idea. Unfortunately, the many shortcomings of How to Survive Your Child's College Education overwhelm the occasional good counsel.

As the mother of a senior (Class of 2000) this book really provided insight into what can be expected of my child and of myself as a parent over the next 4-5 years. It had humor yet answered your questions and then some. It seemed I highlighted something on every page. I will refer back to it many, many times. That I am sure of so it will be placed in a dominant place on my bookshelf. I had my daughter and husband read all of the "highlighted" areas.

I loved it! Very helpful especially for those parents of first-generation college kids. If you are unfamiliar with the whole academia process, this guide is for you. We used the content to steer our oldest son through undergraduate and graduate programs. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.

This book is a funny and witty guide for college parents. A quick and funny read, it is also full of important information. I recommend it!!