<p>Well I'm a rising college freshman and at orientation was given a book to read before the school year begins, apparently everyone is reading it, including upperclassmen. I'm not complaining or anything, it's just one 400 page book, it's just that after graduating high school I thought I was done with summer reading.</p>
<p>Does anyone else have some sort of summer reading for college? or if not that some sort of assignment?</p>
<p>Yes, we have a freshmen reading program. The end result was a group discussion during orientation week and nothing more.</p>
<p>Seriously? lol.</p>
<p>I haven’t had something like that since grade school.</p>
<p>I had something like that. All in all the book was good, but I enjoy reading.
None of my classes covered it because I tested well out of Introductory English.
Basically, it’s a waste of time if you go to a big school like I do. Not sure how it would affect you if you attend a small LAC with a class size of >40. One of the main things I’ve learned from my college is that nobody really cares what you do because of the size.</p>
<p>Yup, apparently we have summer reading too :(</p>
<p>I think there was a book we were supposed to read, but no one did. They ran out of copies before my orientation anyway. And I skipped the activity where it was discussed.</p>
<p>I have to read a book for orientation in August too. We will have a discussion in small groups at orientation, and then those small groups are actually our “Gateway Colloquium” course, which is like some freshman writing course. We have guided reading questions we have to complete for it too. I don’t know if we do anything more with it in those courses later, or if we get some sort of grade for it or not.</p>
<p>Ugh, I’d hate that. I can never bring myself to do that stuff.</p>
<p>Here are some more colleges that have summer reading requirements.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1160898-summer-reading-freshmen-2011-a.html#post12765853[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1160898-summer-reading-freshmen-2011-a.html#post12765853</a></p>
<p>I don’t have anything like that since I’m in community college, but being the weirdo I am, I always make myself a summer reading list in April and end up finishing it by July.</p>
<p>I don’t like being assigned books to read, though most of the time I don’t mind the book except for once where I had to read The Last of the Mohicans…which is a terrible book. That was in high school though, I have not heard of it happening in college yet…at least not with people I know.</p>
<p>yeah… I skipped that ****. at orientation when we discussed it, it was still fine because the orientation leader dudes told us what to talk about and I already read the back cover so I knew what the book was about. it’s fine if you don’t read it, because other people will. and it’s a general discussion sort of thing. the readings colleges assign for freshman all have some sort of important meaning, message, lesson, or moral and are supposed to build community, and that’s what you generally talk about. so figure out what that is and you’re fine. it’s not going to be some english literature novel discussion.</p>
<p>if you want to be a good student before class even starts or if you’re somehow being tested on it, read it. your school might invite the author to come speak and it may or may not seem like a waste of time.</p>
<p>I didn’t know that USC did that when I chose it, but they have the freshman Reading Experience.</p>
<p>We have to read No Impact Man this year and apparently the author will be our keynote speaker when we actually have our “discussions”. Apparently we won’t be using the summer reading for English 101 (I’m not even taking English in the fall), but we’ll be using it for our University 101 class (which I am taking.) So yeah…</p>
<p>I thought I was done with it, but then they gave us the book at orientation and told us about it being a part of Welcome Week.</p>
<p>We just got a summer reading book at orientation, but we only have to read them if we’re taking a freshman seminar, which is like 4 credit hours of pointlessness. They also have a couple of discussions you can attend about how the book relates to this or that major, but they’re all optional.</p>
<p>I was mailed a book that I’m supposed to finish by orientation. Something about cholera? My mom already read it and she seemed to like it. I’m waiting to read it because I have many more books that I’ve been wanting to read for awhile, and I don’t want to forget all the details before orientation.</p>
<p>My summer reading so far:</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Kaplan GMAT 800: Advanced Prep for Advanced Students (Kaplan Gmat Advanced) (9781419553424): Kaplan: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-GMAT-800-Advanced-Students/dp/1419553429/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1298564133&sr=1-1#reader_1419553429]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-GMAT-800-Advanced-Students/dp/1419553429/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1298564133&sr=1-1#reader_1419553429)
[Amazon.com:</a> Jim Cramer’s Getting Back to Even: James J. Cramer, Cliff Mason: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Jim-Cramers-Getting-Back-Even/dp/B004AYCWXK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308676287&sr=1-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Jim-Cramers-Getting-Back-Even/dp/B004AYCWXK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308676287&sr=1-1)
[Amazon.com:</a> Known and Unknown: A Memoir (9781595230676): Donald Rumsfeld: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Known-Memoir-Donald-Rumsfeld/dp/159523067X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308676437&sr=1-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Known-Memoir-Donald-Rumsfeld/dp/159523067X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308676437&sr=1-1)</p>
<p>cristiline, Love in the Time of Cholera?:)</p>
<p>I had summer reading as well. My book was a short, historical fiction book about Japanese Internment during WWII. We also had to write a short, one page essay on any theme from the book and turn it in. We weren’t graded, but the best essay from each dialogue (small groups where we met with part of our hallway and part of the guy’s hallway directly below us to talk about college, classes, adjusting, etc…) was given a $15 bookstore gift card. They claimed it was just something to get our minds going and to introduce us to college writing, but I certainly never wrote a paper that was only one page long.</p>
<p>
i think i’ve got the same book. the ghost map, right? i haven’t started reading it yet for the same reasons you’ve stated. i’ve been trying to finish infinite jest for a while and i don’t really like reading two books at the same time.</p>
<p>I also have summer reading. “Better: A Surgeon’s Note on Performance”. We’re having the author visit and we’re having a discussion about it the 1st day of school. People say there may also be an assignment… It doesn’t seem that bad actually, but I’m having trouble bringing myself to read it. 
And the sad thing is I hoped to eliminate my procrastination in college. What a hopeless dream lol.</p>