
Hacking College
Why the Major Doesn't Matter-and What Really Does
Johns Hopkins University Press
Published on 22. April 2025
Book
Hardback
240 pages
978-1-4214-5075-9 (ISBN)
Description
How college faculty and staff can help students "hack" their college experience through a proactive, personalized approach to success.
College is a complex, high-stakes game, according to authors Ned Scott Laff and Scott Carlson, but students can learn how to win it. Hacking College offers college advisors, faculty, and staff in student and academic affairs a groundbreaking guide to rethinking higher education so that students can succeed in an increasingly complex world. Drawing from extensive research and real student experiences, this essential book exposes the hidden challenges and bureaucratic traps that undermine student success, from convoluted transfer processes to a single-minded emphasis on majors.
Each chapter provides actionable strategies to help advisors lead students to tailor their education to their aspirations. Through vivid case studies, Laff and Carlson advocate for a proactive approach to education-encouraging students to "hack" their college experience by crafting a personalized field of study. This method challenges the traditional focus on declaring a major and empowers students to link their personal interests with academic pursuits so that their education aligns with future career and life goals.
Enriched with insights on how to find underutilized institutional resources and foster meaningful mentor relationships, Hacking College encourages students, educators, and institutions to transform passive educational experiences into dynamic journeys of discovery and self-fulfillment.
College is a complex, high-stakes game, according to authors Ned Scott Laff and Scott Carlson, but students can learn how to win it. Hacking College offers college advisors, faculty, and staff in student and academic affairs a groundbreaking guide to rethinking higher education so that students can succeed in an increasingly complex world. Drawing from extensive research and real student experiences, this essential book exposes the hidden challenges and bureaucratic traps that undermine student success, from convoluted transfer processes to a single-minded emphasis on majors.
Each chapter provides actionable strategies to help advisors lead students to tailor their education to their aspirations. Through vivid case studies, Laff and Carlson advocate for a proactive approach to education-encouraging students to "hack" their college experience by crafting a personalized field of study. This method challenges the traditional focus on declaring a major and empowers students to link their personal interests with academic pursuits so that their education aligns with future career and life goals.
Enriched with insights on how to find underutilized institutional resources and foster meaningful mentor relationships, Hacking College encourages students, educators, and institutions to transform passive educational experiences into dynamic journeys of discovery and self-fulfillment.
Reviews / Votes
The authors, a veteran college adviser and a reporter for the Chronicle of Higher Education, deploy compelling anecdotes of students (mostly from marginalized backgrounds and attending noneliteschools) finding pathways through college into productive and rewarding lives by pursuing goals that emerge from their genuine concerns.-David Perry, Washington Post
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Baltimore, MD
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 163 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
472 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4214-5075-9 (9781421450759)
DOI
10.56021/9781421450759
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Ned Scott Laff spent 35 years in academic affairs at a range of public and private institutions, working toward curriculum development and student success. Scott Carlson is a senior writer for the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Author
Director, Center for the Junior Year - retiredGovernors State University
Senior WriterThe Chronicle of Higher Education
Content
Introduction, by Scott Carlson
1. The Blank Spaces
2. The Curricular Maze
3. The Wicked Problem
4. The Hidden Job Market
5. The Liberal Arts and Field of Study
6. Hacking College
7. Visible Students and Agile Institutions
Acknowledgements
Index
1. The Blank Spaces
2. The Curricular Maze
3. The Wicked Problem
4. The Hidden Job Market
5. The Liberal Arts and Field of Study
6. Hacking College
7. Visible Students and Agile Institutions
Acknowledgements
Index