How to Be an OverachieverMaking the Most of College: Students Speak Their Mind

By Richard J. Light

Harvard University Press

256 pp.; $24.95

By Patrick S. ChunContributing Writer

Every Harvard student is provided with copies of the CUE Guide and The Unofficial Guide to Life at Harvard--just another example of how students at Harvard are constantly spoon-fed opportunities to "maximize their potential." For overachievers, here's the next in the series: Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds, a new instructional book written by Richard J. Light, a professor at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, based on interviews with Harvard students.

Light writes in the introduction that he is "struck by how much of what students on other campuses say is similar to what Harvard students say." But no matter how much other students can relate to this book, references to the residence system, foreign language classes, and dining halls are uniquely Harvard. Thus this book is more instructive to Harvard students than anyone else.

Light does not claim to be groundbreaking and he is not. However, Light's observations are successful in doing what they promise: helping you make the most of college. Rather than concocting revolutionary theories on studying, Light stays in the bounds of reasonable, sometimes even pushing the self-evident. Certain chapters of this book seem to focus more on how professors can help students, with hints given on how to make classes more effective. "Faculty who make a Difference" gives suggestions on how teachers can make class more reciprocal. The chapter titled "Diversity on Campus" is something designed for Professor Harvey C. Mansfield '53 to read. While these sections are not directed strictly towards students, they do give readers a multifaceted perspective on how both students and professors are involved in making class rewarding. The most helpful chapter of the book is probably "Suggestions from Students." Rather than completely explicating the plethora of suggestions, Light concisely summarizes them into bite-size morsels.