Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds - Book Review

College Student Journal, Dec, 2003 by Alyson Kienle

Author: Richard J. Light, book review by Alyson Kienle Harvard University Press. 2001 Hardback $24.95, 242 pages

Making the Most of College is intended for a wide collegiate audience that includes college students, faculty members, administrators, and parents. The author, Richard Light, attempts to explain why some students make the most of college while others struggle and look back on years of missed opportunities. This book is composed of nine chapters, each focusing on suggestions to improve a different area of the college experience. In chapters one through eight, Light gives advice ranging from how faculty members can effectively incorporate writing into their classes, to how students can take advantage of rich opportunities such as diversity in residence halls settings. The concluding chapter focuses on how' college leaders and policy makers can shape campus cultures and integrate the in-class experience with the out-of-class experience.

Light encourages students to think about the big picture when planning their college education, and he offers tangible strategies to make college more meaningful. The main recommendations to students include: make strong connections with faculty members, become an intention learner by choosing an academic course of study that relates to your personal interests, and seek diversity in living arrangements and social opportunities. The primary suggestions lot faculty members include: build relationships with students, advise students to connect their personal lives to their academic plans, interact with students on individual research projects, encourage study groups, plan service learning activities, and work with students to strengthen their writing skills.

Undergraduate students who read this book will benefit from the insightful strategies for navigating an academically challenging collegiate environment. The volume is similarly useful for both faculty members who endeavor to teach and advise college students and administrators who shape policy decisions and influence campus cultures.

Although the perspective in the book is that of a veteran Harvard professor, most of the suggestions are applicable for a variety of institutions and students. Readers should not be deterred by the decidedly Harvard slant evident in the text. Instead, students and others should seize this opportunity to glean and employ those strategies that are most appropriate for their own endeavors. Light illustrates his recommendations with numerous anecdotes from a qualitative research study done with 1,600 undergraduates at more that ninety college campuses over a ten-year period. These student voices serve to personalize the findings of the study and exemplify the salience of the specific college experiences mentioned. However, the most glaring weakness of this volume is the lack of data to support the generalizations and enhance the power of individual student stories. The author purports that the results of his qualitative research study are representative of student experiences in higher education; however, the findings and resulting recommendations would be strengthened with accompanying percentages reporting the numbers of students who share sentiments corroborating Light's conclusions.

The author succeeds in producing a thought provoking and insightful work that has potential to transform teaching and learning in college. Light presents valuable advice amidst colorful and inspiring stories couched in a straightforward approach that elucidates the most effective means of teaching and learning in college. The onus, therefore, is on the reader to incorporate these strategies into everyday practices to create more meaningful college experiences.