Planning for College:
Reading Your Way to Academic Success
By Danielle, age 16, New York
If you're like me and many other high school juniors, you're planning for college. You may have already taken your SATs and gotten teacher recommendations and a part time job to raise some cash. And you've already begun volunteering and all of that other wonderful stuff to help reach your dream of going to college and becoming successful later on in life. What else should you do?
I personally enjoy reading. It's always been a hobby of mine, and I always take time in my busy day to sit and read, even if it is only for half an hour or so. Reading helps me relax. It may also have to same effect on you.
If you enjoy reading and you want to be academically ready for college, I recommend the list of 101 Great Books to read before you enter college. Now you may not be able to read all 101, so don't feel bad, because so far I've only read about 15 of them! You also should not worry because you still have some time left until you enter college. But this summer is a perfect time to get going.
Reading books like the ones on this list will help you prepare to write papers and connect to books your professors may mention, enabling you to pick up on their lectures. You can also write a better essay if you are able to connect the topic to books you've read previously.
To give you a taste, by author, here are just the A's and B's:
Achebe, Chinua - Things Fall Apart
Agee, James - A Death in the Family
Austen, Jane - Pride and Prejudice
Baldwin, James - Go Tell It on the Mountain
Beckett, Samuel - Waiting for Godot
Bellow, Saul - The Adventures of Augie March
Bronte, Charlotte - Jane Eyre
Bronte, Emily - Wuthering Heights
The complete list is on collegeboard.com, but here is the direct link to the list of 101 Great Books. I hope I've helped make your preparation for college easier by giving you a great list of books to help you with your academic success.
Good luck!
