7 Books Every University-Bound Student Should Read

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1. Admission – Jean Hanff Korelitz Every student who has applied to university has faced, or will face, rejection. Korelitz explores the mysterious admissions process and its change through time through Portia, a college-admissions officer at Princceton. “A pretty good student, pretty good soccer player, pretty good writer, all around nice person, Portia knew exactly what would happen to her own college application if it arrived, through some warp of time and space, in this room today.” She explains what they are looking for now are “Olympic athletes, authors of legitimately published books, Siemens prizewinners, working film or Broadway actors, International Tchaikovsky Competition violinists…national judo champions” not the well-rounded students. The main thing to understand is that whether you are accepted or rejected from a university doesn’t define their capability, value or merit.

“Admissions. Admission. Aren't there two sides to the word? And two opposing sides...It's what we let in, but it's also what we let out.”

   

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2. An Abundance of Katherines – John Green Quirky and funny, this book follows Colin, a washed-up child prodigy, right after graduating from high school as he tries to recover from his break up from 19th Katherine. Convinced by his Judge-Judy loving, overweight best friend Hassan to go on a road trip to Gut shot, Tennessee to cure Colin’s depression. In Gutshot, Colin sets on proving a mathematical theorem hoping to predict the future of any relationship. Green explores the powerful theme of not being good enough and dealing with the pressures that are piled upon today's young students. This coming of age novel is light, funny, and has just the right amount of math!

“You matter as much as the things that matter to you. And I got so backwards trying to matter to hi. All this time, there were real things to care about: real, good people who care about me, and this place. It’s so easy to get stuck. You just get caught in being something, being special or cool or whatever, to the point where you don’t even know why you need it; you just think you do.”

   

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3. Guns, Germs and Steel – Jared Diamond In Guns, Germs and Steel, subtitled, The Fates Of Human Societies, Diamond discusses the differences in societies across the globe and how inequality persists. He vehemently argues that any advantages that Europeans have had in conquering the world were geographic rather than genetic and goes on to elaborate upon the three tools in the colonialist arsenal, Guns, Germs and Steel. Though this book was first published in 1997, we feel like this book is still an essential read for any student going to university. It will give you a background on global politics and help you be capable of holding your own in conversations about politics, history, economics and sociology.

“It invites a search for ultimate causes: why were Europeans, rather than Africans or Native Americans, the ones to end up with guns, the nastiest germs, and steel?”

   

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4. How To Be A Person – Lindy West, Dan Savage, Christopher Frizzelle, Bethany Jean Clement and the staff of the Stranger You may have read every university guide available, but none of them will teach you tips on flirting with film nerds, how to turn a crush into more, how to write a great sentence, and other actually useful things for adapting to university life. This book is a must for any university-bound student. It is a no-bullshit advice book on the realities of university and the complicated situations you will inevitably find yourself in. With authors from different backgrounds and universities, this guide for university life is crucial for every student who is afraid of this transition.    

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5. Starter for Ten – David Nicholls With a little drama, some hope and a lot of confusion, Starter for Ten explores all the insecurities we all will face, whether it be unrequited love or the fear of never being as good as you were. This book shows how complex and fascinating each person is, and yet how limited they are. It shows the struggles to remake oneself. Leading to some cringe-worthy moments and a lot more relatable moments. A must read for university-bound students to truly understand and bring light to insecurities and how to overcome them.

“All young people worry about things, it's a natural and inevitable part of growing up, and at the age of sixteen my greatest anxiety in life was that I'd never again achieve anything as good, or pure, or noble, or true, as my O-level results.”

   

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6. The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark – Carl Sagan Carl Sagan is known for his many contributions to making science accessible to everyone. Let's be fair, science isn't every student's cup of tea, and the universe is too vast to grasp. This book is recommended for both students who love science and those who can't don't know a neuron from a neutron. Sagan does a wonderful job of explaining the scientific method to laypeople and help them distinguish pseudoscience from science. If you love this book, check out the original (or reboot) of Cosmos.

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”

   

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7. Free Food for Millionaires – Min Jin Lee Four years at Princeton, and what Casey Han has to show for it is “a refined diction, an enviable golf handicap, a popular white boyfriends, an agnostic’s closeted passion for reading the Bible, and a magna cum laude degree in economics. But no job and a number of bad habits.” This book is about an American-Korean woman who battles between her parent’s choices for her future and what she wants for it. It shows the culture clash between parents and children of different generations, as well as the pressure on graduate to deal with the expectations of everyone around them. This is especially recommended for students studying abroad or dealing with a conflict in cultures.

“She was honest enough to admit that her privacy cloaked a fear: the fear of being found as a hypocrite.”