9 You’re Going to Need This for College

Andrew Hollinger begins his essay, “You’re Going to Need This for College,” with his own experience of first hearing this advice, but then he picks apart the phrase, questioning its purpose. We invite you to read this essay at the start of your work in this course to consider what you personally need for college. How might it differ from what you expected when you were in high school? How might it differ throughout the semester? Throughout your college experience? From your colleagues?

Read Andrew Hollinger’s “You’re Going to Need This for College.”

Keywords from this chapter in Bad Ideas about Writing

FYC/first-year composition, high school to college transition, threshold concepts, writing pedagogy

Author Bio from Bad Ideas about Writing

Andrew Hollinger is a lecturer at the University of Texas–Rio Grande Valley. A former high school teacher, he is interested in exploring the transitions students make between high school and college. He co-founded/co-edits crosspol: a journal of transitions for hs + college writing teachers. He also researches the (de/re)professionalization of the teaching class. Find him on Twitter: @ashollinger.