Students offer advice to peers in book overseen by L&S professor

Undergraduate students guided by UW–Madison professor William Cronon have written a book outlining critical, but sometimes subtle, aspects of student life.

Choose Your Own Adventure: A Guide to UW–Madison For Students, By Students covers academic horizons including study strategies, research, learning beyond the classroom and similar topics. Recreational pursuits such as Madison’s classical music scene, sports, film, restaurants and more have their own chapter. The book also includes recommendations for planning a life after college and coping with technology.

Nine students in the UW–Madison Pathways to Excellence Student Organization wrote and designed the book. William Cronon, UW–Madison’s Frederick Jackson Turner professor of History, Geography and Environmental Studies, and the PSO project’s faculty director, says he believes the book is unique.

“I know of no comparable guide anywhere in the country,” he says. “Many colleges and universities publish handbooks for their students, but none are written entirely by undergraduates for the benefit of other undergraduates.”

At 180 pages, the book is a modest read. Janet Vandevender, associate dean for student academic affairs in the College of Letters and Science, says the guide combines real information with humor and insight. “UW-Madison is full of opportunities. Students are a wonderful wealth of information, and this is a guide to everything from advising to Hoofers,” she says.

The book will be available free to students at 104 South Hall. Others will be able to purchase the guide for $5 at the University Book Store and Canterbury Booksellers.