How To Survive Your Freshman Year - Guest Authors

As graduates of the class of 2008 anxiously wait to enter their freshman year at college, few will have a clue as to how to survive their first year. To make it easier the dynamic non-fiction author duo of Mark Bernstein and Yadin Kaufman have written the ultimate guidebook for first year college students titled, “How To Survive Your Freshman Year.”


Mr. Bernstein, a native of Knoxville, TN, is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania and New York University's School of Law. He was an attorney with the King & Spalding law firm in Atlanta, served as senior legal counsel at Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and was a senior vice president of CNN and general manager of CNN's digital content division, CNN Interactive.

Yadin Kaufmann, a native New Yorker, is a venture capitalist, and is a Founding Partner of Veritas Venture Partners, co-founder of MainXchange Ltd., an Internet company that delivered financial and business content to the teen market, and founder of Tmura, a not-for-profit Public Service Venture Fund. He has served as a board member of numerous successful venture-backed companies. He received his B.A. from Princeton University, M.A. from Harvard University, and J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.

How to Survive Your Freshman Year was compiled from interviews with hundreds of students at over 120 colleges across the country, and includes the latest advice and tips straight from students. The book is sure to help freshmen get off to a great start in college, armed with the experience of hundreds of others who have "been there, done that." The book also helps parents better understand how their teens can survive and thrive in college, and makes for a great high school graduation gift.
The book’s Special Editor, academic advisor and instructor Frances Northcutt, adds expert advice, guidance and insightful commentary.


How to Survive Your Freshman Year gives students great advice on:

• Getting off to a great start in college
• What to take
• Where to live
• How to get a good roommate
• Dorm Life
• Choosing classes
• When and where to study
• Exams secrets
• Filling free time
• The dating and party scene
• Finances, and
• Choosing a major



A few years ago, I, Yadin was thinking about how best to help my oldest son, Dov prepare for college. My own college experience (at Princeton) was a bit stale . . . and Dov wasn’t likely to listen to his father anyhow! Sure, I could introduce Dov to my circle of friends and acquaintances – but that’s a narrow group too.
It occurred to me that it would be great to find a way to give Dov – and everyone else who’s about to start college – input about what college life is really like, from thousands of kids who are in college today, and have something interesting to say about it.

So, with an old friend (Mark Bernstein), we put together a team of journalists whom we call “headhunters.” These headhunters went out and interviewed many hundreds of students at over 120 colleges all across the country - big schools, small schools, Ivies, and state universities; Greeks, geeks, and jocks. They spoke with students at the college newspapers, kids hanging out in the library or in the rec center, kids on their way to class or lounging around in the dorm. One headhunter in Pennsylvania offered free pizza for students willing to share their advice. The interviewers asked the students questions about every aspect of college life – about what they would advise incoming freshmen, and why. We also collected tips at our web site, www.hundredsofheads.com.

We then compiled the best material that we felt gives our readers direct, informative and humorous advice they might not get, even from their best friends.

We also recruited a terrific Special Editor for the book: academic advisor and instructor Frances Northcutt, adds expert advice, guidance and insightful commentary. Fran is an academic advisor in the Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New York at Hunter College. She has advised students at Wesleyan University, the University of California, Berkeley; and the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, where she also taught classes on college skills and professional development. Frances is active in the National Academic Advising Association, and was selected as the Outstanding Advisor (Primary Role) for the Mid-Atlantic region in 2006.

The resulting book - How to Survive Your Freshman Year – has become the sort of “bible” of college life for entering freshmen, and we just published its 3rd edition. The book offers hundreds of the best practical tips and fun stories to help entering freshmen better navigate their way through this challenging period.

How to Survive Your Freshman Year gives students great advice on:

• Getting off to a great start in college
• What to take
• Where to live
• How to get a good roommate
• Dorm Life
• Choosing classes
• When and where to study
• Exams secrets
• Filling free time
• The dating and party scene
• Finances, and
• Choosing a major

The book reflects today’s new freshman lifestyle and experiences, with new chapters covering:

• Social networking and Facebook
• Wireless & digital devices
• Student expectations vs. reality
• Changing the world and environmentalism
• Diversity
• Food, fashion, the party scene - and much more

A new appendix provides useful checklists for incoming freshmen.

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HOW TO SURVIVE YOUR FRESHMAN YEAR VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR '08 officially began on August 4, 2008 and continue all month. You can visit the authors' tour stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com in August to find out more about them and their book!


As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author with a recent release or a $25 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors' blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they come available. The winners will be announced on this blog on August 31!