<p>Syracuse U is making all freshmen read Mountains Beyond Mountains by Dr. Paul Farmer...i guess i gotta get back to work before aug 23..lol</p>
<p>NYU College of Arts and Sciences has assigned Anil's Ghost as the summer reading. There will be discussions during orientation week. Already got it here. But I'm sure he's looking forward to Harry Potter more :-)</p>
<p>Rice has sent "Field Notes on a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change", by Elizabeth Kolbert. They also having discussions during orientation week and the book is related to the composition test required prior to registration. It is listed as optional but recommended however. DD is also looking forward to Harry Potter more :)</p>
<p>^ Yup, not looking forward to reading that book. I'll probably end up reading it at some point this summer if/when I'm bored enough. Looking at the linked article, I'd much rather read any of those other books. But a book about global warming? That's just not a book I'd pick up and read for fun!</p>
<p>Now Harry Potter... I can hardly wait!</p>
<p>THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!</p>
<p>I took Honors/AP classes to the hilt when I was in high school, and only one class (AP US History) had mandatory summer homework. I majored in electrical engineering in a Top-3-ranked program (according to US News and World Report), and we were NEVER required to do summer homework for regular school year classes.</p>
<p>I'm glad I'm not a high school student or undergraduate student today. Even though I was salutatorian, National Merit Finalist, and AP Scholar with Honor back in the early 1990s, I'd be like Nicole Richie in a mosh pit in today's academic environment.</p>
<p>D has had required summer reading (1 a summer in middle school, 4 in high school) with papers or tests since 6th grade. She was thrilled that her college had no required summer reading.</p>
<p>Mountains Beyond Mountains (about Dr. Paul Farmer, but written by Tracy Kidder) was one of 3 on Stanford's list last year for incoming freshmen. The others were The Kiterunner and How to Breathe Underwater. All of the authors participated in a presentation during Freshmen orientation.</p>
<p>This year's books are Jealous-Hearted Me, by Nancy Packer; Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir, by Lucille Clifton and The Way to Rainy Mountain, by N. Scott Momaday.</p>
<p>Mount Holyoke College has been having a common read since the class that entered in 2000. This year's book is also Field Notes from a Catastrophe by Elizabeth Colbert, who will speak on the campus a few weeks after school starts. Last year's book was also Mountain beyond Mountains.</p>
<p>Seems that many similar books have made these college's Freshman "hit" parade!</p>
<p>Carleton is also doing Mountains Beyond Mountains this year. Last year they chose a graphic novel series - Persepolis and Persepolis 2. Interesting selection and the freshmen were quite grateful.</p>
<p>I aready Field Notes from a Catastrophe already...lol..it wasn't that bad.</p>
<p>I'll echo fireflyscout, the Carleton common reads for freshmen didn't bother my son. It was actually novel for him to be in a discussion group with kids who did actually read the book. It was also a nice break from the "forced fun" of orientation. :p Generally the summer reads assigned in high school were read by one or two people out of an entire classroom and he had to carry the discussion, what little ensued.</p>
<p>The high school my younger two attend have several summer books assigned for reading and annotating. The summer books are collected on the first day of school for a major grade. It actually helps the classes move forward when they get to those assigned books during the school year. Reading the book in chunks for the first pass is too disjointed, and waiting for kids to catch up is frustrating.</p>
<p>Smith had Mountains Beyond Mountains last year (so it doesn't surprise me that Mount Holyoke also read it - the author was already in the area to speak at both schools) and this year it's Persepolis.</p>
<p>Stanford is requiring three books this year, although I can't find the list anywhere. The authors of the three books are part of a discussion during New Student Orientation.</p>
<p>All high school students at our public HS have to read "1776" over the summer....</p>
<p>UPenn has picked Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.</p>
<p>Cornell has chosen "The Pickup" by Nadine Gordimer for the class of 2011.</p>
<p>UNC-Chapel Hill's summer read is The Death of Innocents by Sister Helen Prejean. (Much activity and discussion about the death penalty are planned across the curriculum for the coming year.)</p>
<p>^^^If that isn't slanted toward a certain political direction I don't know what is.</p>
<p>No kidding, Doubleplay.
A few years ago the summer read was Approaching the Qur</p>
<p>Otterbein's 2007-08 Common Book: "This year's book has been announced! The Class of 2011 will have Under the Feet of Jesus by Helena Maria Viramontes as your Common Book."</p>
<p>My daughter just finished reading "Mountain Beyond Mountains" which was Otterbein's common book several years ago; it really does seem a contender for most-read by freshman across the country!</p>
<p>College of Wooster is reading "The Riverkeepers", the writers of the top ten essays will get to have dinner with Kennedy when he comes to campus in September.</p>