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In college, there’s a surprise around every corner… The #1 Student Handbook; Updated 3rd EditionBut that doesn’t mean you can’t be prepared! From sharing a bathroom with 40 strangers to sharing lecture notes, The Naked Roommate is your behind-the-scenes look at EVERYTHING you need to know about college (but never knew you needed to know).From sharing a bathroom with 40 strangers to sharing lecture notes, The Naked Roommate is the behind-the-scenes look at everything students need to know about college (but never knew they needed to know). Completely revised and updated, this essential guide used by hundreds of thousands of students is packed with expert advice on everything from managing money to managing stress—plus hilarious, outrageous, and telling stories from students on over 100 college campuses:College Living# Dorm do’s, don’ts, and dramas# Lying, noisy, nasty roommatesFinding Friends# Facebook and MySpace# Friend today, gone tomorrowClasses# To go or not to go?# How to get an A, C, or FDating# 16 kinds of college hookups# Long distance = BIG concernsThe Party Scene# The punch in the “fruit punch”# Sex, drugs, and the truthMoney# Grants, loans, and loose change# Credit cards and online gamblingThe Naked Roommate is the #1 bestselling college life guide, and Harlan Cohen is the top voice on college life. Through his speaking engagements, college tour, music, and website, he has reached thousands of students with his message of relaxing, being yourself, and making the most of the college years.With calendars, planners, and The Naked Roommate being used as the first year experience guide at colleges across the country, The Naked Roommate is the top name in college life advice.PRAISE FOR THE NAKED ROOMMATE”If The Naked Roommate existed when I went to college, I would have devoured every page before I stepped foot on campus.”Linda J. Sax, Associate Director of the Higher Education Research Institute and Director of the CIRP Freshman Survey”The most useful guide [on college life]. (Five stars)”The Daily Orange, Syracuse University”The Naked Roommate is one of the best and most practical college advice guides I’ve read.”Andrew Tinnin, administrator at the University of MichiganFrom Publishers WeeklyA syndicated columnist for teens and young adults and the author of Campus Life Exposed, Cohen dishes commonsensical wisdom in “the first of what will be many editions of this book.” Presumably, forthcoming editions will address the ever-evolving challenges of campus life (cyber-classrooms, perhaps?), but what’s in this one will feel pretty familiar to anyone who attended college within the last 25 years. Tips include: be yourself, lock your door, set boundaries with your roommate, don’t drink too much and be sensitive to others’ differences. Cohen tackles the ins and outs of residence halls, student organizations, friendships, dating, drugs and money-oh, and he considers classes, too, though with perhaps with less enthusiasm (and certainly fewer pages) than he devotes to sex. Though he lists interesting statistics, additional resources and plenty of first-person letters from students seeking his advice, Cohen doesn’t offer much that a reasonably intelligent college kid couldn’t figure out on his or her own-but that may not be a weakness: “everything’s going to be okay” could be just what a nervous first-year student needs to hear most.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.From School Library JournalGrade 11 Up–A hilarious and truthful book that gives high school students a look at college life, beginning with “Arriving on Campus” and ending with “It’s Almost Time to Say Goodbye.” In between, Cohen covers homesickness, laundry, Greek life, sex (“Having It, Not Having It, Hearing Other People Having It”), alcohol, cafeteria food, roommates, making it to class on time (and what happens if you don’t). The author talks frankly about “Hook Ups,” “One-Night Stands,” and STDs. Each topic includes a “Harlan Tip,” accompanied by a true story from a college student. The advice is sound; the tone is light.–Marianne Fitzgerald, Severna Park High School, MD Harlan Cohen is an advice columnist and speaker for college campuses. The Naked Roommate is one of the best and most practical college advice guide’s I’ve read. The tips are based on questions actual students have asked, actual students have provided real-world advice on, and Cohen has added his professional perspective on as well.Cohen and Sourcebooks are launching an on-line companion site, http://www.thenakedroommate.com/, that I look forward to visiting.The first, very crucial tip (and a staple in Cohen’s campus addresses) is: “Relax. Have fun. Enjoy it all. Your job is simple: be your best, meet lots of people, make new friends, make smart decisions, possibly find a career, possibly find love, and take risk after risk after risk so that you can figure out what you love and what you don’t love. If you do this, you’ll leave college with more than a degree. You’ll leave knowing what it takes for you to be happy.”Harlan Cohen is an advice columnist and speaker for college campuses. The Naked Roommate is one of the best and most practical college advice guide’s I’ve read. The tips are based on questions actual students have asked, actual students have provided real-world advice on, and Cohen has added his professional perspective on as well.Cohen and Sourcebooks are launching an on-line companion site, http://www.thenakedroommate.com/, that I look forward to visiting.The first, very crucial tip (and a staple in Cohen’s campus addresses) is: “Relax. Have fun. Enjoy it all. Your job is simple: be your best, meet lots of people, make new friends, make smart decisions, possibly find a career, possibly find love, and take risk after risk after risk so that you can figure out what you love and what you don’t love. If you do this, you’ll leave college with more than a degree. You’ll leave knowing what it takes for you to be happy.”Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you?  Yes No (Report this)The author, Harlan Cohen, gives advice on the hard issues, like dating, sex, alcohol and drugs, plus tips on going Greek, getting involved, skipping class and dealing with roommates and the stuff we tend to overlook, like avoiding the ‘freshman 15′ and doing laundry without losing your unmentionables. And yes, there is a tip on how to deal with a naked roommate (tip #16). My all time favorite advice is what to do if your roommate enjoys having sex in your presence. First he suggests you talk to her and let her know it bothers you and if that doesn’t work then invite friends over to watch. She might move her lovemaking to somewhere a little more private if she realizes she has an audience.There are so many things to love of about this book, but let’s start with humor. Harlan doesn’t spend over 400 pages preaching. Instead he writes as if he’s sitting around chatting with his friend [and that friend is you, the reader]. He cracks jokes. He invites you to check out his mySpace and Facebook pages. And he never once talks down to you. This is great considering the target audience is teenagers and I think we all know how hard they are to get through to.Another great thing about this book is the testimonials. Each tip begins with a comment from a real live college student. And the tips come from students all over the U.S., even Iowa. It was great to hear from students who are living it, have learned from their mistakes and are willing to share [anonymously]. It made the advice feel more credible since we’re hearing it from all different types of students from all different kind of schools.But what I love best about this book are the chapters on the tough stuff; sex, alcohol and drugs. I’m one of those who thinks we can [and should] preach abstinence and `just say no’ to drugs and alcohol, but we also need to make sure our kids understand the consequences and know what to do if they don’t listen to our preaching. Some of our kids will experiment and they need to know what to do in those situations. Harlan does a great job of giving both sides.In the sex section, his advice is to not have sex until you are absolutely ready and in love and won’t be ashamed of it in the morning. Several times he states you must feel comfortable enough with your partner to discuss both of your sexual histories. He discusses different birth control options plus what to do if you make a mistake. And he pounds home the point that you need to make sure you aren’t doing something drunk that you wouldn’t do sober.In the alcohol and drug sections, he makes it clear that not everybody on campus is getting drunk and high. Kids come in to college thinking everybody gets drunk four nights a week, but the reality is more than half of students are there to [gasp] get an education. But he also has advice for those students who do decide to drink or do drugs. He suggests they figure out how to balance it all; drinking and making it to class so they don’t flunk out. He also has some suggestions for dealing with druggie roommates or alcoholic friends.This is the stuff our college students want to hear about. They don’t want to hear their parents preaching “be safe.” They want real advice about what to do when they find themselves in these situations and Harlan gives them those answers.I could go on and on about the great tips offered in this book, but instead I’ll just leave you with one last tip; finding your place on campus (tip #3). Throughout the book Harlan emphasizes the need to be involved. Several tips talk about joining sporting clubs or religious clubs or political clubs or starting your own club. This is one of the most important tips in the book. Too many kids spend their first few months holed up in their room not making friends. College is such an amazing experience. Not one second should be wasted and I think with the help of this book kids will be able to dive right in and make the best of it. If you have teenagers get a copy of this book. If you have toddlers, put this in your Amazon wishlist so you’ll remember to buy the latest edition when they are teenagers. I can’t wait for my teenagers to read it. ContentsBook Orientation: The Stuff before the Tips. . . . . . . . . . . 1Welcome Students. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Welcome Parents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Welcome High School and College Educators. . . . . . . . . . 9About the Editorial Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15The Third Edition: 13 Percent More Nakedness. . . . . . . 16Third Edition Notes to Specific Readers. . . . . . . . . . . . . 17A Final Note to All Readers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20First Page, First Tip, and First Days of College. . . . . . . 23Chapter 1Arriving on Campus:So Real You Can Smell It, Touch It, and Taste It. . . . . . 251. Expect the Unexpected. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272. Patience, Patience, and More Patience. . . . . . . . . . . . . 293. Finding Your Place on Campus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324. When Lost or Confused, Ask. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375. Be Yourself: Not Me, Not Him, Not Her. . . . . . . . . . . 406. About Your Parents. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427. Homesickness: Breathe Deep, It’s in the Air. . . . . . . . 458. Technology: The Fifth Wall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Chapter 2Residence Halls: Living, Eating, andBathing with Hundreds of Strangers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579. Residence Halls: A Cruise without the Water. . . . . . . 5910. Meet People without Even Trying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6211. Resident Assistants: Your Personal Assistant . . . . . . 6412. Not All Residence Halls Are Created Equal. . . . . . . 6713. The Ugly Side of Residential Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Chapter 3Roommates: Good Ones, Bad Ones, andEverything in Between. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7514. The Ultimate Roommate Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7715. The Random Roommate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8016. The Naked Roommate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8317. The Best Friend Roommate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8618. The Gay, Lesbian, or Bisexual Roommate(pick one). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8919. The Noisy, Naughty, and/or Nasty Roommate. . . . . 9320. The Your Girlfriend/Boyfriend Doesn’tLive Here Roommate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9621. The Lying, Stealing, Klepto Roommate. . . . . . . . . . . 9922. The Drunk and/or High Roommate. . . . . . . . . . . . . 10123. The Roommate in Need. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Chapter 4Finding Friends: Your Social orAntisocial College Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11124. The Snow Globe Factor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11325. Shopping for New Friends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11626. Why College Friends Are Different . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11827. Friend Today, Gone Tomorrow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12128. High School Friends, Cows, and Cats . . . . . . . . . . . 124Chapter 5Getting Involved on Campus:An All-You-Can-Do Buffet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12929. Getting Involved: What, Where, When, How, andWhy (but not in that order). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13130. Clubs and Organizations:A Smorgasbord of Opportunity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13431. Sports and Athletics:Buckets of College Sweat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13832. Academic Organizations:Where Smart People Gather. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14033. Religious Activities:Your Prayers Answered and the Culture Club(no Boy George). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14334. The Perks:Travel and See the World for Free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Chapter 6Greek Life: Behind the Doors, Windows,and Walls of Fraternity and Sorority Life . . . . . . . . . . . 15135. Greek Life: Getting In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15236. Greek Life: The Good. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15637. Greek Life: The Bad. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16038. Greek Life: The Ugly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Chapter 7Life Inside the Classroom:Assuming You Wake Up and Go to Class. . . . . . . . . . . 16939. To Go or Not to Go. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17140. Nice Professor, Nice Professor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17541. How to Get an A (or almost an A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17842. How to Just Pass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18243. How to Fail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18544. The Cheat Sheet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18845. The Art of Reading (or not reading)the College Textbook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19246. Take Notes Here. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19547. Do It in a Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19848. Old Exams, Sharing Notes,and Mostly Legal Ways to Pass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20149. The Major Issue: Picking One. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20350. Advice on Your Advisor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20651. Pick a Number, Any Number. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20952. Time for Time Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21153. Wine Tasting, Bowling,and Other Important Electives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215Chapter 8Dating and Relationships:Your Higher Education in Lust, Love, and Loss. . . . . 22154. The Rules of College Love (or just lust). . . . . . . . . . 22255. The College Hookup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22656. Close-Distance Relationships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22957. Long-Distance Relationships (LDRs). . . . . . . . . . . . 23258. High School Bitter Sweethearts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23559. Imaginary Relationships and Online Dating. . . . . . 23860. The Friendly Relationship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24161. Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual Relationships. . . . . . . . . . . . . 24462. Cheaters, Users, and Abusers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24663. I Have No Life Other Than My Relationship. . . . . 25064. I Got Dumped and No Longer Have a Relationship… 253Chapter 9Sex:Having It, Not Having It,Hearing Other People Having It. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26165. Deciding to Do It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26366. Deciding Not to Do It. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26667. Doing It Way Too Much. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26868. The One-Night Stand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27169. Pimps, Hos, and Reputations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27370. Sexual Souvenirs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27671. The U of Birth Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28472. Possibly Pregnant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292Chapter 10Drinking on Campus:Tapping the Keg of Truth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29973. Drinking on Campus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30174. Slow Down, Don’t Drink Too Fast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30575. Not Everyone Is Drinking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30876. The Social Lubricant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31077. Safer Unsafe Sex and Alcohol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31378. Sexual Assault and Alcohol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31679. Don’t Be So Stupid That YouAccidentally Kill Yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31980. Drinking and Driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32281. Still Hungover. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32582. You Might Be an Alcoholic If. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328Chapter 11Drugs on Campus:The Smoking, Snorting, and Pill-Popping Truth. . . . . . 33383. About Drugs on Campus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33484. How to Avoid Them. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33785. Why Not to Do Drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33986. Just Don’t Accidentally Die. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34287. College Smoking Butts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chapter 12Money, Laundry, and Cheap Eats:Assuming You Have Enough Moneyto Eat and Do Laundry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35788. Loans, Grants, Scholarships, and Loose Change . . 35989. Your Financial Aid Advisor: Money, Money, Money,Monnnnneeey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36290. Part-Time Jobs, Big-Time Benefits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36591. The Credit Card and the $600 Candy Bar . . . . . . . 36892. Bad Checks, Bad Credit, and Bad Ideas. . . . . . . . . . 37293. Checking Out the College Checking Account. . . . . 37594. Sorry, This Book Is Now “Used”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37895. Cheap Strategies for Eating (or barely eating). . . . . 38196. Laundry Tips: This Page Is Not Fabric Softener . . 384Chapter 13Things Not Mentioned in the College Brochure:What They Don’t Tell You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39197. The Freshman 15…or, Um, 45 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39398. The Student Body Image. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39699. Exposing the College Eating Disorder. . . . . . . . . . . 399100. Depression: The “Other” Major. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402101. Sexual Assault. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408102. To Transfer or Not to Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411103. Safe, Schmafe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415104. Commuting? Words to Take with You. . . . . . . . . . 418105. Diversity: Sexual, Religious, Racial—It’s All Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421Chapter 14College: A Higher Education: It’s Almost Timeto Say Good-bye…. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427106. The U of No Regrets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429107. Your Tip Goes Here…. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431About the Naked Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447