Getting Ready for College is the ultimate easy-to-use guide to success for college-bound seniors, first-years, and their parents. Polly Berent answers the questions you didn't know you would need to ask:

• What's the deal on financial aid and cash management?
• Should I bring a flashlight to school? Do I really need a microwave and a vacuum cleaner?
• Should I call Mom every time I'm homesick? Will my boyfriend/girlfriend wait for me?
• Will having a credit card help me? Do I need quarters for the laundry?
• When should I lock my room? Where can I fill my prescriptions in my new town?
• Should I take intro classes or harder classes? Should I join a frat/sorority?
• How could I possibly have time to figure all this out and keep in touch with my old friends?

This essential manual includes day planners, notes on how to take notes, tips on how to make a "real life" file, and advice from scores of college students in the trenches as well as campus health-care professionals, college counselors, administrators, and financial-aid advisers. This is everything you need to know about getting ready for college, from students and parents just like you.

"First-year students, in my experience as a dean, have an awfully hard time getting organized. Polly Berent has the answer: a readable and down-to-earth guide to help students organize everything from living space and wardrobes to time, priorities, finances, social life, and much more. Indispensable summer reading for the soon-to-be freshman."
   ROBERT J. GROSS, DEAN OF THE COLLEGE, SWARTHMORE COLLEGE