Top 5 Books That Every Freshman Should Bring to College

Life Skills 101: A Practical Guide to Leaving Home and Living on Your Own by Tina Pestalozzi

Forgot how to do your laundry? Know when to change the oil? Worried that you might be damaging your credit Solid practical advice without the lectures!

College Cooking by Megan & Jill Carle

At some point you're going to get sick of the fast food that passes for food service at most colleges. You're going to need to good fresh food. Something that you can cook quickly, easily, cheaply, and using not much more than a microwave and your dorm's kitchen. Megan and Jill will show you what to buy and teach you how to cook it. Yum!

The Core Performance by Mark Verstegen & Pete Williams

The right kind of exercise will certainly help you fight the freshman 15. But this workout will keep you healthy and happy. People who exercise regularly feel better, enjoy life more, can concentrate longer, and get better results at school and work. This quick and fun workout can be done using equipment found in most college fitness centers or better yet done in your room using body weight and basic, inexpensive, and easy-to-store equipment.

Writing Analytically by David Rosenwasser & Jill Stephen

In every class you'll have to do analysis. But almost none of your professors will teach you how to do it. But David Rosenwasser & Jill Stephen will. They offer a fool-proof step-by-step method for conducting analysis of complex materials that will work in any discipline. Don't miss the "Reading Analytically" chapter. It'll help you get more out of your reading and prepare you to do more with it than just remember facts. Great writing advice too.

They Say/I Say by Gerald Graf & Cathy Birkenstein

Although they don't often realize it, college professors use formulaic sentence patterns to express complex ideas every time they write. With easy-to-use sentence templates Graf & Birkenstein teach you how to make the intellectual "moves that matter" in academic writing. You'll learn how to write sophisticated papers that professors will appreciate from the first day of college.