New Book Targets Potential Postsecondary Dropouts

If you’re asking “is student life right for me,” or “can I really do this,” you’re not alone.

A new book called Majoring in the Rest of Your Life: Career Secrets for College Students helps students sort through these questions before they’re tempted to drop out.

Author Carol Carter feels that not being able to answer seemingly simple questions about your future is what causes many students to drop out after their freshman year.

Her book takes a conversational and anecdotal approach to helping today’s students, and offers advice on issues like:

• Developing a savings plan
• Getting and staying out of debt
• Setting healthy boundaries with technology
• Exploring internships
• Discovering who you are
• Managing your time and study habits

The book is available at Amazon.com and LifeBound.com. The publishers recommend it for holiday reading and say that students who read it between semesters will “learn more about themselves, their interests and abilities, how their passions can lead to careers, and how to seek out experiences that will enhance learning in the classroom and open doors for their futures.”

Statistics Canada reported in 2007 that Canada’s postsecondary dropout rate was around 14%. In the United States, dropping out is even more of a problem, with some estimating the American dropout rate to be in the neighbourhood of 40%.