Patrick Combs Self-Help Guide for Needful College Freshmen

If there is a recipe for self-help books, two of the needful ingredients are an endorsement from a name self-help or motivation guru/ reason and trotting out the old Teddy Roosevelt man in the arena mantra. Combs has some(prenominal) Tom Peters kudus on the cover and The Roughrider on page 28. Whats deficient is a touch of truth and reality.Nowhere does Mr. Combs describe his own advantage (perhaps I knew Id never be happy until I got a self-help book published) or many pupils real world (perhaps a chapter on majoring in the success of your impaired family, lack of money for traffic fines, broken or stolen personal property, drugged-out roomy and boy/girl friend issues). Instead, Mr. Combs supplies his readers with 154 pages detailing and expanding on a iodin maxim figure out what you want to do it manner, and do it. major(ip) in succeeder has some major flaws as well as some great advice. Nonetheless there is a great fate to be gathered from Major in Success, but probably non in the manner Mr. Combs planned. Some great lessons can be learn from understanding not just what is in the book, but what it is that makes the book successful, disdain its shortcomings. in that location are several flaws in Mr. Combs advice. First and foremost, the textbook is plentiful with anecdotal evidence and devoid of meaningful, quantifiable facts and statistics, and those subroutined are sooner disingenuous. In the chapter Never Mind the Grades he cites a recent analyse by the College Review Board indicating GPA is below ten other(a) factors considered by employers (47). He uses this fact to buttress his argument to never chief the grades. He fails to mention that in a real competitive business organisation market when ALL of the applicants have those first ten factors, it will potential be factor 11GPAthat makes the difference.The abet glaring departure relates not nevertheless to grades but also his contradictory attitude towards the conditional relati on of grades. His theory college is for developing your talents to learn and do, so that you can learn and do anything you like (20) begs the question then how is that measured? Most people, including employers, will use grades as the yardstick for learning ability. Mr. Combs fails to address the significance of a students focus or major in college.He claims if sentence spent on extracurricular activities is having a negative impact on your grades, dont panic (50). He advises telling the prospective employer to the lay out sure my grades were mediocre, but various club memberships and internships were my priority. Ask yourself if you would like to severalise that on a job interview, or I managed to knock win a 3.7 GPA with a major in math and a minor in history while working 25 hours a week to help pay tuition and board?Throughout the text Mr. Combs offers a follow your inner voice, go for happiness, not money philosophy. Goals change, life events come unexpected and being prepa red to shift gears quickly is a key asset. A student may regret having used his college clip to develop his knowledge and skills in an area of particular interest only to be caught short later when his interest, income needs, or location changes.The follow your fondness regardless of income theory works well for those without monetary needs, retirees, and even second or third life adults capable of turning a rocking horse into a profitable business. However, the practicality of the theory may come into question long time later, when either a more fundamental education (liberal arts) gives flexibility or a mainstream certificate program (nursing, teaching) provides job security.There are no less than three actually good reasons to read this book. Mr. Combs has filled the margins with hundreds of sizzling tips and quotations. Included are a large number of references to other texts and sources. He also provides an excellent chapter entitled Classes Worth Their Weight in money, detailing almost a dozen courses with universal value. A engrossment on these classes will do wonders for marketplace flexibility. The chapter Really Get Into It provides a detailed list of seventeen items designed to turn interest into expertise.There are less obvious lessons to be learned from Major in Success that are arguably just as important as the ideas expressed in the text. Mr. Combs has a Special Thanks page tilt probably a hundred or more persons who assisted him. Success is usually a team sport, and the value of associating with mentors and goal-oriented people is invaluable. The book is very well organized the Table of Contents lists three major sections dissever into twenty-nine succinct chapters. If there is ever a life lesson to be learned, particularly for a college student, it is the value of organization.Additionally the text is filled with lists. qualification lists is essential for planning, organizing, and tracking in college and throughout life, for anyone . Finally, the format of the text is very effective, with graphics, margin notes, and lists in a unique and out of the box manner. identity cannot be overemphasized. Today there is no typical college student, and whether the reader is an eighteen-year-old freshman or an older adult returning for a second career they will find something in Major for Success applicable to their ad hoc situation.Works CitedCombs, Patrick. Major in Success. California Ten Speed Press, 1998.