How to Win at College by Cal Newport
The book I wish I had written about college, and a gift I’ve given to over a dozen friends.
My review (2007)
How to Win at College by Cal Newport is the book I wish I had written about college. It has been an inspiration to me and also a gift which I have given to over a dozen of my closest friends. If you are a college student, know a college student, or plan on being or knowing a college student, please stop by the library or bookstore and pick up this book. I have found it to be extremely helpful in preparing for and succeeding in college and I think it has just about everything you need to know. Do yourself a favor and check it out. I promise, you'll be glad you did.
The big ideas
Cal Newport wrote How to Win at College while he was still a student himself, after interviewing star students at schools from Harvard to the University of Arizona. The book is 75 short, practical rules. A few of the best:
- Don’t do all your reading. Top students are strategic about what they read closely and what they skim. Time is the scarce resource, so spend it where it counts.
- Never pull an all-nighter. Sleep-deprived work is worse work. Steady effort across the week beats heroic effort the night before.
- Take three days to write a paper. Spread the work out: research one day, draft the next, revise on the third. The paper gets better and the stress goes down.
- Drop classes every term. Sign up for more than you need, then drop the ones that aren’t worth your time. Be picky about where your energy goes.
- Care about your grades, ignore your GPA. Do your best in each class without obsessing over the number.
- Become a club president. Leadership, not just membership, is where you learn the most and stand out.
- Do one thing better than anyone else you know. Depth beats a long list of activities. Be remarkable at something.
- Always be working on a grand project. Have something ambitious going that isn’t for a grade: a business, a book, a cause. It’s what makes college yours.
Newport went on to write How to Become a Straight-A Student, So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Deep Work and Digital Minimalism, and his thinking on focus has only grown more relevant.
Resources
- Cal Newport’s website
- More book summaries and reviews on Books I Love