Originally published on August 22, 2022 (Episode 276)
Introduction
New college students never lack advice, particularly from people who haven’t been on a campus for years, maybe decades.
“Go to office hours.” “Ask good questions.” “Declare a major as soon as you can.” “Take some time to figure out who you are.” “Sit in the front row.” “Avoid procrastination.” The problem? Most of this advice is obvious, contradictory, or simply bad—and rarely explains why it matters or how to act on it. Unsurprisingly, students tend to ignore it.
In The Secret Syllabus: A Guide to the Unwritten Rules of College Success (Princeton University Press, 2021), Jay Phelan and Terry Burnham strip advice down to its foundations and build upward. The result is a guide that might be the single best book to hand to a first-year student—or to a senior finally ready to “get it together.”
About the Guests
Jay Phelan is Professor of Biology at UCLA.
Terry Burnham is Associate Professor of Finance at Chapman University.
For Further Investigation
Jay Phelan & Terry Burnham, The Secret Syllabus: A Guide to the Unwritten Rules of College Success (Princeton University Press, 2021)
Daniel F. Chambliss & Christopher G. Takacs, How College Works (Harvard University Press, 2014) — discussed in Episode 56
💬 Listen & Discuss
If you could give one piece of advice to a new college student—based on your own experience—what would it be? Share your thoughts in the comments, and consider forwarding this episode to a student (or parent) in your life.
