Book aims to advise, inspire college students
"The Real World" is not just an MTV reality show: it's what all of us must face after we leave Tech. The change from college life to real world life is quite different from the transition students make from high school to college, and a lot of new graduates find themselves unsure about their futures.
If you're (finally) about to graduate and you feel like you have no idea where you're going on the road of life, it might prove helpful to have a map-in the form of a self-help transitional guide.
Dr. Victoria Pilate's Dorm Rooms to Boardrooms: A Guide For All Majors In Making The Transition From College To The Real World, is one book that aims to offer helpful advice and insight into personal and professional life after college. Though the author is not a guidance counselor, career coach or psychologist (or anything that has to do with, well, transitions, careers, or
decision-making), she does provide solid information that new graduates may find useful, on topics ranging from drug-addict roommates to various religious customs one might encounter in the workplace.
Dorm Rooms to Boardrooms contains information on interviews, resumes, office politics, business travel, meetings, presentations, appropriate dress, manners-you name it and it is probably here.
In fact, the book contains so much information that unless you are really worried about making it in the real world, you will probably want to use the table of contents (the book doesn't contain an index) to get to whatever's most relevant at the time.
Be aware that although much of Pilate's advice on basic subjects is not new("don't blow your nose at the table during a power lunch," "don't wear revealing clothes to the office," etc.), many of her tips are still imporant issues today.
Sprinkled on every page are quotes and tips from well-known and obscure professionals, as well as anecdotes from the many survey respondents Pilate interviewed. Although some are appropriate, many seem out of place, and some quotes are downright strange. One "survey respondent" said in Chapter 4: "Office Politics", "Young people need mentors when they start out. They should seek out someone for this. Females should have both a male and female mentor." Huh?
Although the book is intended for an audience of current college students and recent graduates, it seems as though Pilate is writing for older readers-older as in middle-aged. A few times she mentions how she "was appalled" about this or that that she encountered a young person doing. A reader might get the feeling that Pilate is writing to his or her parents instead, or at least a semi-seasoned professional. But despite the misplaced tone, the information that Pilate presents is quite relevant for her target audience.
If you don't mind the author occasionally jabbing young people, the book should not pose a problem. While Dorm Rooms to Boardrooms is not as bad as it sounds (or looks, with the cheesy smiling students and people in business suits on the cover), I would recommend first trying to borrow a bookfrom the library before shelling out $13.
