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Countdown to College: The Essential Steps to Your Child's Successful Launch
After all the testing and touring and applying, your child has been accepted to college. Congratulations! Now what?
Every new student grapples with making a successful transition to college—with remaining healthy, happy, grounded, and in school. Indeed, the national statistics are One in three freshmen will not come back for sophomore year, and less than 50 percent will graduate on time. A student’s adjustment is key, especially during the period starting with the lazy summer months before move-in and ending at the dizzying close of a student’s 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
• assessing the right fit among your child’s who and what to ask to get the real scoop on campus and academic life
• understanding actual considering hidden expenses, financial-aid and scholarship fine print, loans, and work-study opportunities
• parenting through the senior slump so that students don’t 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 letting go of your anxieties about your child’s autonomy and seizing this opportunity to reinvent your life in new and intentional ways
“A 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
Every new student grapples with making a successful transition to college—with remaining healthy, happy, grounded, and in school. Indeed, the national statistics are One in three freshmen will not come back for sophomore year, and less than 50 percent will graduate on time. A student’s adjustment is key, especially during the period starting with the lazy summer months before move-in and ending at the dizzying close of a student’s 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
• assessing the right fit among your child’s who and what to ask to get the real scoop on campus and academic life
• understanding actual considering hidden expenses, financial-aid and scholarship fine print, loans, and work-study opportunities
• parenting through the senior slump so that students don’t 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 letting go of your anxieties about your child’s autonomy and seizing this opportunity to reinvent your life in new and intentional ways
“A 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
272 pages, Paperback
Published March 5, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 10, 2019
Many books exist that espouse various ways to make sure your child's college application stands out so they get into their dream schools and how to ensure your child aces the scholarship competition. These books seem to stop at the application stage and do not address the important questions of how to navigate the time between receiving acceptance letters, move-in day, and even through the end of the first semester. Countdown to College: The Essential Steps to Your Child's Successful Launch by Monique Rinere tackles these questions and so many more. Monique Rinere speaks from experience as she has served as dean of advising, residential dean, and a myriad of other positions at Ivy League schools. She is currently Associate Vice President at The New School in Greenwich Village, New York City. Her experience with countless students allows her the opportunity to share first hand the questions that you never thought to ask but now will know are important to consider.
Countdown to College is divided into three parts. Rinere begins with the questions of how to choose the college your child will attend after the acceptance letters have been received. She proposes numerous questions to explore to help you decide between choice A and B or more. Questions include items about financial aid and deciding whether a college is a good "fit" for your child. After deciding on the one school, Rinere then turns to the questions and concerns that arise over the summer such as housing, medical, registration, orientation, and more. She also provides helpful hints on how to prepare your child for the changes in schedule they will find when heading to classes that meet a few times a week instead of the day-in and day-out schedule of high school. The final part focuses on the all important first semester. Rinere does not advocate helicopter parenting at all but does raise items that you as a parent can suggest your child look into or do on campus, particularly if they hit a snag. My favorite part of the book are the wonderful lists of questions and summaries that pepper the pages. In addition to addressing concerns related to your soon-to-be college freshman, Rinere does a wonderful job of exploring not only the questions pertaining to your child's future but also including questions and suggestions concerning what you as a parent, and potentially an empty nester, will do with all of the new found time you have. She encourages parents to use this time to re-engage in previous hobbies and discover new interests or to further dive into your professional life.
Countdown to College is a great resource to guide parents through the send-off time period. While not quite there yet, I look forward to having this book handy during that time period. This is a book I highly encourage purchasing as a print copy instead of digital. You will find there are sections you wish to underline or highlight or add a post-it note to so that you can find a portion when needed.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the book Countdown to College via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Countdown to College is divided into three parts. Rinere begins with the questions of how to choose the college your child will attend after the acceptance letters have been received. She proposes numerous questions to explore to help you decide between choice A and B or more. Questions include items about financial aid and deciding whether a college is a good "fit" for your child. After deciding on the one school, Rinere then turns to the questions and concerns that arise over the summer such as housing, medical, registration, orientation, and more. She also provides helpful hints on how to prepare your child for the changes in schedule they will find when heading to classes that meet a few times a week instead of the day-in and day-out schedule of high school. The final part focuses on the all important first semester. Rinere does not advocate helicopter parenting at all but does raise items that you as a parent can suggest your child look into or do on campus, particularly if they hit a snag. My favorite part of the book are the wonderful lists of questions and summaries that pepper the pages. In addition to addressing concerns related to your soon-to-be college freshman, Rinere does a wonderful job of exploring not only the questions pertaining to your child's future but also including questions and suggestions concerning what you as a parent, and potentially an empty nester, will do with all of the new found time you have. She encourages parents to use this time to re-engage in previous hobbies and discover new interests or to further dive into your professional life.
Countdown to College is a great resource to guide parents through the send-off time period. While not quite there yet, I look forward to having this book handy during that time period. This is a book I highly encourage purchasing as a print copy instead of digital. You will find there are sections you wish to underline or highlight or add a post-it note to so that you can find a portion when needed.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the book Countdown to College via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
August 29, 2019
This is a very helpful book for a very specific type of parent for a very specific area. The book offers in depth advice to middle or upper class parents of teens who have been accepted to college and will be leaving for college for the first time, living away from home in dorms and working very little if at all.
The author worked extensively in colleges and seems to have had quite a lot of experience with helicopter parents who were trying to help their kids through their first semester of college, and that's really what this is for.
Rinere clearly has experience working on many campuses (including Ivy Leagues) and has helped parents who have tried to help their kids for years. She touches on topics like why kids shouldn't work much if any, what to do if your child has medical or psychiatric needs that you want to stay involved in since they will be 18 and you're suddenly out of the loop (there are lots of examples of kids who went off meds, had breakdowns, etc.), how to help your kid renegotiate a better grade, why your child should regularly meet with professors, how to handle roommate issues, etc. There is a great deal of very specific information on all the details of what your child should do in preparation for moving into the dorms, how they should handle time management, etc.
I found myself cringing at much of it, and so glad that none of my kids have chosen this kind of college path. Rinere talks about parents who take out second mortgages to pay the outrageous cost of their kids' tuition and put off their own retirement, talks about discussing with kids how much of their lives you're going to finance for the next 4+ years (Will you be paying for all of their tuition, books, food, clothing, shopping, recreation, etc. or just the majority? What standard of living will you be supporting for the next 4+ years? Ski vacations are mentioned.)
This is not a book for kids who want to take care of their own planning, or for kids who will be paying their own way through college, living at home and going to community college, doing distance learning or part time enrollment, going back to school later in life, balancing family and college, none of that. It's for young people whose parents will be paying for them to live at college and whose parents want to hold their hands as well as possible "launching" them there. The book does an excellent job of all of this for people in this situation.
My rating system:
1 = hated it
2 = it was okay
3 = liked it
4 = really liked it
5 = love it, plan to purchase, and/or would buy it again if it was lost
I read a temporary digital ARC of the book for the purpose of review.
The author worked extensively in colleges and seems to have had quite a lot of experience with helicopter parents who were trying to help their kids through their first semester of college, and that's really what this is for.
Rinere clearly has experience working on many campuses (including Ivy Leagues) and has helped parents who have tried to help their kids for years. She touches on topics like why kids shouldn't work much if any, what to do if your child has medical or psychiatric needs that you want to stay involved in since they will be 18 and you're suddenly out of the loop (there are lots of examples of kids who went off meds, had breakdowns, etc.), how to help your kid renegotiate a better grade, why your child should regularly meet with professors, how to handle roommate issues, etc. There is a great deal of very specific information on all the details of what your child should do in preparation for moving into the dorms, how they should handle time management, etc.
I found myself cringing at much of it, and so glad that none of my kids have chosen this kind of college path. Rinere talks about parents who take out second mortgages to pay the outrageous cost of their kids' tuition and put off their own retirement, talks about discussing with kids how much of their lives you're going to finance for the next 4+ years (Will you be paying for all of their tuition, books, food, clothing, shopping, recreation, etc. or just the majority? What standard of living will you be supporting for the next 4+ years? Ski vacations are mentioned.)
This is not a book for kids who want to take care of their own planning, or for kids who will be paying their own way through college, living at home and going to community college, doing distance learning or part time enrollment, going back to school later in life, balancing family and college, none of that. It's for young people whose parents will be paying for them to live at college and whose parents want to hold their hands as well as possible "launching" them there. The book does an excellent job of all of this for people in this situation.
My rating system:
1 = hated it
2 = it was okay
3 = liked it
4 = really liked it
5 = love it, plan to purchase, and/or would buy it again if it was lost
I read a temporary digital ARC of the book for the purpose of review.
May 11, 2019
Parents of high school juniors and seniors will benefit greatly from reading this book, especially if this is their first child going to college. The author has a multitude of information about many aspects of preparing for college, and presents helpful lists of questions to ask. She highlights aspects of college that most parents would never think to ask about, but that may greatly enhance their student's experience. She explains the REAL cost of college and how not to be caught by surprise, as well as how to help your child find the best college fit for them. After the college has been chosen, she explains all the things that will come up in the summer before your student leaves, and helps the parents think about how to step back at the appropriate time and let the student find their place. She even provides support for the parent who is being left behind! And finally she addresses what to expect when that college student comes back home for the holidays. It is a very through and useful book. Rinere has convenient summaries at the end of each chapter to remind you of the main points, which I found very helpful.
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for an e-copy in exchange for an impartial review.
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for an e-copy in exchange for an impartial review.
November 14, 2018
Countdown to College includes lots of useful information about the college application process and the beginning of college life. As I read I found myself wishing there were bullets or checklists at the beginning of each chapter to highlight the key points coming. I enjoyed the examples of real students used to illustrate many of the ideas in this book.
One thing that bothers me some is that Countdown to College is geared towards parents. I know that the parents will most likely be paying for at least a good portion of their child's college education, but I think the student should be one driving the process. Maybe each section could include student and parents to do lists.
I received an ARC from thepublisher through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.
One thing that bothers me some is that Countdown to College is geared towards parents. I know that the parents will most likely be paying for at least a good portion of their child's college education, but I think the student should be one driving the process. Maybe each section could include student and parents to do lists.
I received an ARC from thepublisher through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.
July 11, 2019
A good book for any parent having a high school student prepare for college. Weather college is right for the student or not. How to prepare for the applications, filling out forms for finical aid and many other questions that come up. Once your student is accepted the book goes over classes choosing them and such. This I can say my daughter starting college this year just went to her freshman orientation and saw her advisor and she was given classes and found out that her sophomore year she will be able to choose her classes, so each school is different. The author talks about campus life and meeting with their advisor and professors. Also speaks of the parents and being empty nesters if that is the case for some. Overall a very good book and great information. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 5 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com
October 10, 2019
This book was fluff. Waste of time, in my opinion. And a (predictably) SUPER privileged perspective. Even though it does discuss financial aid, there are several other indicators that their intended audience is not just any parent of a college age student.
The gripping advice includes suggestions to check out which museums and galleries are in the area, and how to help your child plan goodbye events.
Not worth the time.
The gripping advice includes suggestions to check out which museums and galleries are in the area, and how to help your child plan goodbye events.
Not worth the time.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews