29 Best books for College Seniors

Make the most of your college years with these 175+ unique activities for the ultimate college experience.

From finding the perfect friend group to succeeding academically to exploring your newfound freedom, there’s a lot that goes into making your college experience a success. Instead of getting trapped in the myth that you can “do it all,” 175+ Things to Do Before You Graduate College will help you figure out what’s most important to you…and how to make it happen.

With this college-themed bucket list, you’ll find everything you need to do before you graduate. Whether you’re trying to make sure your four years in college are the best they can be or preparing for next steps post-graduation, you’ll learn exactly how to set yourself up for success (and fun!) with activities like:
-Becoming a TA as an undergrad for a subject you’re truly passionate about
-Heading off-campus with your friends to snag the first fresh donuts of the day
-Paying it forward by buying lunch for the person behind you in the dining hall line, even if you don’t know them
-Getting creative and starting up a campus-wide game of hide-and-seek
-And much more!

It’s easy: first, check out the 175+ unique and interesting activities you can do to add some fun, excitement, and maybe even a few impressive accomplishments to your life. Then, use the journaling space to create and update your own personal college bucket list. From there, just gather some friends and get started on making sure your college experience is as happy, healthy, and successful as possible!

From syndicated humor columnist Marc Acito comes a wildly inventive and hysterically funny novel that is equal parts Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Fame, Risky Business, Dead Poets Society and The Catcher in the Rye. It’s 1983, and 17-year-old Edward Zanni wants to study acting at Juilliard, but his newly remarried father – who earns too much for Edward to claim scholarship money – refuses to pay. So, Edward enlists the aid of his creative theater pals to swindle the money from his father.

The popular TODAY financial editor Jean Chatzky helps you navigate through the critical challenges and potential catastrophes of personal finance.You’ve just lost your job. You’ve got a baby on the way. Your parent has had a stroke. Most people seek financial help not because they’re planning for the future but because they need it . . . right now! If you have money problems or are seeking immediate help to solve a dire, unanticipated financial emergency, then you need Money 911. In this invaluable guidebook, financial expert Jean Chatzky provides answers to today’s most pressing financial questions and concerns, including: * How do I get out of debt? * How do I avoid foreclosure? * How do I set up a monthly budget? * How can I improve my credit score? * How do I get my health insurance to pay a claim? * What should I do when I lose a parent?With Money 911, you can prepare for retirement, buy or sell a home, pick up the pieces of your personal finances, and get back on your feet–and stay there!

The Mental Toughness Advantage is an action-oriented, 5-step program to develop mental toughness and achieve your life goals.

Mental toughness enables us to get up when we want to give up, but it’s a skill that takes practice. To develop mental toughness for everyday life, The Mental Toughness Advantage offers a practical 5-step program to boost resilience and overcome every obstacle.

From drafting a mission statement to executing it successfully day after day, this training program provides effective tools and strategies to apply mental toughness in your home, work, and recreational life. Complete with success stories from Navy SEALs, CEOs, and others, The Mental Toughness Advantage teaches you how to boldly advance towards success and meet your greatest potential.

Mental toughness marks the difference between setting a goal and achieving it. Learn how to incorporate mental toughness in your everyday life with

an introduction that explains the qualities and benefits of mental toughness, and includes an exercise to assess your current level of mental toughness;a 5-step program to identify your core values, create a mission statement, harness the power of positive thinking, learn to recover quickly from setbacks, and reach your goals with mental toughness; andreal stories that include everyday examples of mental toughness from successful CEOs like Elon Musk to Navy SEALs.

Soldiers, athletes, and entrepreneurs succeed in every situation by practicing mental toughness. Stand up from the sidelines and start achieving what you set out to do with The Mental Toughness Advantage.

Overcome toxic thoughts and negative thinking with Tim Storey’s easy-to-follow instructions and simple guidance.

During challenging times, toxic thoughts can drag you into a mindset that’s mundane, messy, and mad. Negative thinking can undermine all aspects of your life, from family and romantic relationships to career satisfaction, financial stability, and physical and spiritual health.

In The Miracle Mentality, life coach, speaker, and author Tim Storey provides you with a road map to transcend negative thinking, leading you to bigger adventures, more opportunities, and deeper meaning.

In this book, experience a miracle mentality transformation with:

• Tim‚Äôs honest and powerful testament that will strengthen your perspective, positivity, and personal?choice
• Essential coaching that will help you navigate friendships and romantic?relationships?¬†
• Tips on establishing a fulfilling work-life?balance
• An encouraging and practical approach to physical, mental, and spiritual health
• The discovery of a new mindset and freedom that can be applied to your personal?finances
• Honest talk about the influential role of a parent and information to help you improve your parenting?skills

To overcome these obstacles, you need a new mindset–a miracle mentality–where dreams are achievable, hope is actionable, and spiritual healing is possible.

Let The Miracle Mentality guide you there with Tim’s tips that will magically transform your life.

Have you ever asked yourself why some people seem to get everything easily and others don’t?

Everything you have in your life today is a direct result of your thoughts, beliefs, and expectations. Nothing happens “just because”.

Find out how to take control of your life and how a couple of small steps every day can change everything. 30 Days is not just a book that you listen to. To make it work, you have to work and do the exercises it proposes consistently over time.

In this simple, fast-paced audiobook, you will be learning what it takes to create the life you want. 30 Days is for people who are struggling, wanting to change their lives, but they feel powerless and think change comes from the outside. They also keep doing the same things over and over expecting a different result, which Albert Einstein considered to be the purest form of insanity.

If you want to change your life, you have to change your habits and start doing small things differently every day. Discover your enormous potential and:

* Stop being a victim of circumstances
* Stop suffering and start creating the life you want
* Improve your self-confidence
* Improve your relationship with your spouse, colleagues, boss, etc.

30 Days is based on science, neuroscience, positive psychology, and real-life examples. Don’t believe a word I say! Try it out for yourself. You already know everything that you will see in the book, but you have to put it into action. Some of the benefits that working through the book can bring you:

* Fall in love with the most important person in your life – you
* Lose your fear of your emotions and learn to manage them
* Become wealthier, healthier, and happier
* Find the job of your dreams
* Start your own business
* Have an extraordinary life

A business classic endorsed by Dale Carnegie, How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling is for anyone whose job it is to sell. Whether you are selling houses or mutual funds, advertisements or ideas–or anything else–this book is for you.

When Frank Bettger was twenty-nine he was a failed insurance salesman. By the time he was forty he owned a country estate and could have retired. What are the selling secrets that turned Bettger’s life around from defeat to unparalleled success and fame as one of the highest paid salesmen in America?

The answer is inside How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling. Bettger reveals his personal experiences and explains the foolproof principles that he developed and perfected. He shares instructive anecdotes and step-by-step guidelines on how to develop the style, spirit, and presence of a winning salesperson. No matter what you sell, you will be more efficient and profitable–and more valuable to your company–when you apply Bettger’s keen insights on:

* The power of enthusiasm
* How to conquer fear
* The key word for turning a skeptical client into an enthusiastic buyer
* The quickest way to win confidence
* Seven golden rules for closing a sale

GROWN-UP SOLUTIONS FOR A GROWN-UP WORLD

Do you rise to the challenges of adult life with confidence and capability — or allow these challenges to trigger familiar childhood emotions of insecurity, helplessness and fear?

Even the most intelligent and sophisticated of us can have difficulty avoiding childlike responses to the pressures and anxieties we face as adults. Now, psychotherapist Helen Kramer offers a pioneering method for eliminating those unwanted stress reactions by learning to deal with their cause — the condition she describes as “emotional dyslexia,” a common syndrome that interferes with our ability to respond in a thoughtful, adult way when we experience stress.

With enlightening anecdotes and use of dialogue, and key words and phrases, Kramer goes beyond traditional psychotherapy to teach you how to identify your childlike response, recognize its adult counterpart, and move on to change your behavior. Whether your stress is caused by your boss, spouse, parent or any other source, you’ll learn the tools you need to discover the strength, power and calmness with which to handle any situation.

A nationally recognized business etiquette specialist, Professor Robert A. Shutt of Binghamton University reviews the strategies, guidelines, and appropriate behavior that can help people excel in a variety of professional environments. During the course of these lectures, Professor Shutt examines etiquette in situations such as the business dinner and the job interview. He shows how etiquette functions in the workplace and discusses such features as electronic-communications and sales etiquette – all while providing fascinating commentary on the history of etiquette and including examples from Ancient Egypt, Renaissance Italy, and Colonial America.

The bestselling self-help classic that has helped millions—promoting positive mental attitude as a key to personal success.

Your mind has a secret invisible talisman. On one side is emblazoned the letters PMA (positive mental attitude) and on the other the letters NMA (negative mental attitude). A positive attitude will naturally attract the good and the beautiful. The negative attitude will rob you of all that makes life worth living.

Your success, health, happiness, and wealth depend on how you make up your mind!

When motivational pioneer Napoleon Hill and millionaire CEO W. Clement Stone teamed up to form one of the most remarkable partnerships of all time, the result was Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude, the phenomenon that proposed to the world that with the right attitude, anyone can achieve his or her dreams.

Now this remarkable book is available for the twenty-first century. You, too, can take advantage of the program that has brought success to generations of people seeking — and finding — a better way to live.

Expanding on her viral post that has become an international phenomenon, a psychotherapist offers simple yet effective solutions for increasing mental strength and finding happiness and success in life.

As a licensed clinical social worker, college psychology instructor, and psychotherapist, Amy Morin has seen countless people choose to succeed despite facing enormous challenges. That resilience inspired her to write 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do, a web post that instantly went viral, and was picked up by the Forbes website.

Morin’s post focused on the concept of mental strength, how mentally strong people avoid negative behaviors–feeling sorry for themselves, resenting other people’s success, and dwelling on the past. Instead, they focus on the positive to help them overcome challenges and become their best.

In this inspirational, affirmative book, Morin expands upon her original message, providing practical strategies to help readers avoid the thirteen common habits that can hold them back from success. Combining compelling anecdotal stories with the latest psychological research, she offers strategies for avoiding destructive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors common to everyone.

Like physical strength, mental strength requires healthy habits, exercise, and hard work. Morin teaches you how to embrace a happier outlook and arms you to emotionally deal with life’s inevitable hardships, setbacks, and heartbreaks–sharing for the first time her own poignant story of tragedy, and how she summoned the mental strength to move on. As she makes clear, mental strength isn’t about acting tough; it’s about feeling empowered to overcome life’s challenges.

“Your time is limited. . . . have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”–Steve Jobs

From the start, his path was never predictable. Steve Jobs was given up for adoption at birth, dropped out of college after one semester, and at the age of twenty, created Apple in his parents’ garage with his friend Steve Wozniack. Then came the core and hallmark of his genius–his exacting moderation for perfection, his counterculture life approach, and his level of taste and style that pushed all boundaries. A devoted husband, father, and Buddhist, he battled cancer for over a decade, became the ultimate CEO, and made the world want every product he touched.

Critically acclaimed author Karen Blumenthal takes us to the core of this complicated and legendary man while simultaneously exploring the evolution of computers. Framed by Jobs’ inspirational Stanford commencement speech and illustrated throughout with black and white photos, this is the story of the man who changed our world.

25 Things to Say to the Interviewer, to Get the Job You Want gives you inspiring, empowering, real-life attributes and real-life skills to take to heart, to own, to use, and to impress interviewers with, so you can work, pay your bills, and live your dreams.

If you’re looking for a job that let’s you do what you’re good at and pays you what you’re worth, read this book. And if you want to make your dreams come true, master every word of it.

It takes a lifetime to take on the attributes, to master the skills, to learn the lessons in this book. But you don’t have that kind of time. And no one’s going to teach them to you. Especially, not in school, and not bosses. You know how lousy most schools are. And there aren’t many good bosses around. Most of them don’t know enough to teach you anything.

Here’s a one-of-a-kind book that’ll teach you how to get past interviewers. It’ll also teach you the real-life attributes, the real-life skills, and the real-world lessons you need to succeed in your career, in business, and in life. When you finish reading this book, you’ll have learned what it takes most successful people, at least, half a lifetime to learn. You’ll have also fired up your ambition, desire, and drive for success, for living the life you’ve always imagined. Lucky you found it.

The New York Times bestselling author and coauthor of Great Work, Great Career share the secrets to getting and keeping the job you want.

This three set audio program teaches you how to create your ultimate job and make an extraordinary contribution includes the following:

-In this 30-minute audio, you’ll learn the importance of becoming a solution, not a problem to an organization. Discover how to start making the contribution you’d like to make by focusing on your talents, passion, and conscience. This audio also provides tips on and how to network in a way that leads to success in both becoming more employable, and in advancing your career.

-Learn elements to help you create an effective resume. This audio covers five main elements: resume Do’s, including the top requirements for a great resume; how to write a highly targeted resume and then get it in the hands of a person who can make a decision; and finally, cover letters. By the end of the audio, you’ll have a good draft of your resume and all the information you need.

-Learn the main elements to help you with your interview skills. Discover how to bypass the application runaround and get an interview with the right person. Learn ideas for a successful job interview. Practice giving quality answers to interview questions and examine different types of interviews and how to best prepare. Finally, learn how to effectively follow up.

This book will show you how to build the skills you need to become a more successful professional, such as developing your skills and competencies, working and partnering with your employer, building strong organizational relationships and increasing your visibility, thriving in your organization’s culture, and increasing and applying your business knowledge. It will enable you to achieve peak performance and success by understanding and capitalizing on your strengths and minimizing your weaknesses.

According to millennials, advice is abusive. After all, if you didn’t go looking for the answer, then you probably didn’t ask the question! So with much respect, this brave gen-Xer–with incredible ideas and answers–would like to ask you a question: Would you like some timeless career tips?

What if people skills and communication are not traits that you can put into your search bar? As millennials, you are the first generation to have access to the sum of the world’s knowledge at your fingertips, but is anyone inciting you to want more than just knowledge? This program will help you sift through the most important life skills needed to advance your career, including communications skills, people skills, workplace behavior, conflict resolution, and how to work with older coworkers to achieve your career goals.

Contents include:

Get a grip on why older generations treat you differently (stop the stereotype)Find a resolve with difficult humans (disagree correctly)Enhance your self-worth (dust off your trophies)Communication works if you work it (customization is the optimal style)Improve your emotional well-being (successful stress strategies)Show off your people skills (networking at its best)Take credit when credit is due (shameless recognition as an art form)Show the world you work smarter (gain motivational voodoo)

“An unusually engaging book on the forces that fuel originality across fields.” –Adam Grant

Looking at the 14 key traits of genius, from curiosity to creative maladjustment to obsession, Professor Craig Wright, creator of Yale University’s popular “Genius Course,” explores what we can learn from brilliant minds that have changed the world.

Einstein. Beethoven. Picasso. Jobs. The word genius evokes these iconic figures, whose cultural contributions have irreversibly shaped society.

Yet Beethoven could not multiply. Picasso couldn’t pass a 4th grade math test. And Jobs left high school with a 2.65 GPA. What does this say about our metrics for measuring success and achievement today? Why do we teach children to behave and play by the rules, when the transformative geniuses of Western culture have done just the opposite? And what is genius, really?

Professor Craig Wright, creator of Yale University’s popular “Genius Course,” has devoted more than two decades to exploring these questions and probing the nature of this term, which is deeply embedded in our culture. In The Hidden Habits of Genius, he reveals what we can learn from the lives of those we have dubbed “geniuses,” past and present.

Examining the lives of transformative individuals ranging from Charles Darwin and Marie Curie to Leonardo Da Vinci and Andy Warhol to Toni Morrison and Elon Musk, Wright identifies more than a dozen drivers of genius–characteristics and patterns of behavior common to great minds throughout history. He argues that genius is about more than intellect and work ethic–it is far more complex–and that the famed “eureka” moment is a Hollywood fiction. Brilliant insights that change the world are never sudden, but rather, they are the result of unique modes of thinking and lengthy gestation. Most importantly, the habits of mind that produce great thinking and discovery can be actively learned and cultivated, and Wright shows us how.

This book won’t make you a genius. But embracing the hidden habits of these transformative individuals will make you more strategic, creative, and successful, and, ultimately, happier.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Recorded before a live (and delighted) audience, best-selling author and audio star Denis Waitley presents a captivating and inspirational program that will allow you, quite literally, to re-create yourself and your outlook on living. Dr. Waitley not only shows you how attitude can trigger your success–he’ll explain how to develop that attitude by enumerating and elaborating on the 10 positive attitudes, and their matching actions, that will lead you directly to a winning style–and a winner’s life. From self-awareness to self-projection, Developing Winner’s Habits sheds light on the key components of every winner’s profile:Control: you’re driving—and you can go where you want!Optimism: the natural high!Your inner thermostat: turn it up to reach new heights!Discipline: practicing within—when you’re without!A witty, thought-provoking, and truly exciting speaker, Denis Waitley is out to change your life. Get hooked on the healthiest habit around–the habit of winning!

A revolutionary approach to enhancing your happiness level!

Get ready to boost your happiness in just 45 days! Habits of a Happy Brain shows you how to retrain your brain to turn on the chemicals that make you happy. Each page offers simple activities that help you understand the roles of your “happy chemicals”–serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphin. You’ll also learn how to build new habits by rerouting the electricity in your brain to flow down a new pathway, making it even easier to trigger these happy chemicals and increase feelings of satisfaction when you need them most. Filled with dozens of exercises that will help you reprogram your brain, Habits of a Happy Brain shows you how to live a happier, healthier life!

In this broken world, each of us has the same moment-by-moment choice. We can either unfurl the white flag of surrender and allow the bad things to roll over us or we can dig in our heels, stand our ground, and put up a fight. How? It’s all about the attitude we decide to embrace. We can’t change the inevitable. But we can change how we respond.

After all, life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react. Since pastor and bestselling author Charles Swindoll wrote those inspiring words, they’ve been shared over sixty-five million times across the globe. Now, join Swindoll as he explores the life-changing impact of looking at life through the lens of our reactions.

This isn’t your average self-help book. Each chapter of Life Is 10% What Happens to You and 90% How You React is filled with timeless teachings, applicable Scripture, and thoughtful reflection questions. Reimagined from content found in Swindoll’s bestsellers Active Spirituality and Laugh Again, Life Is 10% What Happens to You and 90% How You React gives you the tools and encouragement you need to:

• Find joy no matter what season you’re living through
• Overcome life’s dilemmas and build inner resilience
• Defuse disharmony and free yourself from drama
• Maintain balance, extend grace to yourself, and be prosperous
• Lean on your Christian faith and its foundational views

Within these pages, Swindoll isn’t promising joy or endless bliss. Instead, he offers practical wisdom that will equip you with the basic fundamentals to make better decisions, move past your past, and find peace in every day. Because life isn’t simply about what happens to you…it’s about how you react.

In Craft a Life You Love, listeners will learn how to focus their creative energy and make things (and make things happen) by implementing small-yet powerful-changes in their everyday lives. Creativity and craft maven Amy Tangerine, shows listeners how to find their flow, maintain a positive mindset, and cultivate a rich and fulfilling life by focusing on what truly matters. Chapters explore how to craft the soul, craft the right mindset, craft the right environment, craft good habits, rediscover your creative mojo, and maintain momentum, with each section offering exercises for taking your creative practice to the next level. For anyone who has felt disconnected from their creativity or has had trouble saving a space for their passions, Craft a Life You Love will teach you how to make time for creativity each and every day. Interactive creativity journal! PDF included.

Don’t wait until tomorrow for the life you want today. Dr. Creflo A. Dollar illuminates eight steps to the magnificent life you crave!

Confidence, peace, and abundant life — we all long for these things. In this life-changing book, author and renowned pastor Dr. Creflo A. Dollar challenges readers to stop wishing for a satisfying life. Instead, Dr. Dollar proclaims, we should be claiming the success that God promises today. We do not have to be defined by past failures or mediocrity; we must move forward into the richness available to us right now. God has designed a glorious destiny for each of us, and all we have to do is take hold of it. In order to seize our destiny, each of us must be willing to radically transform our lives. “If you don’t like the way you feel,” says Dollar, “you’ve got to change the way you think.” By taking manageable steps along the way, each of us can achieve life to the fullest — until it overflows.

The hugely popular New York Times “Your Money” columnist and author of the bestselling The Opposite of Spoiled offers a deeply reported and emotionally honest approach to the biggest financial decision families will ever make: what to pay for college.

Sending a teenager to a flagship state university for four years of on-campus living costs more than $100,000 in many parts of the United States. Meanwhile, many families of freshmen attending selective private colleges will spend triple–over $300,000. With the same passion, smarts, and humor that infuse his personal finance column, Ron Lieber offers a much-needed roadmap to help families navigate this difficult and often confusing journey.

Lieber begins by explaining who pays what and why and how the financial aid system got so complicated. He also pulls the curtain back on merit aid, an entirely new form of discounting that most colleges now use to compete with peers.

While price is essential, value is paramount. So what is worth paying extra for, and how do you know when it exists in abundance at any particular school? Is a small college better than a big one? Who actually does the teaching? Given that every college claims to have reinvented its career center, who should we actually believe? He asks the tough questions of college presidents and financial aid gatekeepers that parents don’t know (or are afraid) to ask and summarizes the research about what matters and what doesn’t.

Finally, Lieber calmly walks families through the process of setting financial goals, explaining the system to their children and figuring out the right ways to save, borrow, and bargain for a better deal.

The Price You Pay for College gives parents the clarity they need to make informed choices and helps restore the joy and wonder the college experience is supposed to represent.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Already being hailed as “the modern reader’s Think and Grow Rich!,” this lively, funny, penetrating book, follows on the heels of Chandler’s previous international bestsellers 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself and 100 Ways to Motivate Others. These 100 eye-opening ways to create wealth are drawn from the author’s successful careers, with many touching personal stories as well as stories and examples from the hundreds of clients these master coaches have advised. This book is chock full of ways to make money, deepen life’s pleasure, increase personal wage-earning power and start fresh entrepreneurial ideas right at home. Written for the age of the home-business entrepreneur, the book appeals to everyone from company CEOs, to life coaches, to stay-at-home moms, to internet fans to people who are simply thinking of converting that hobby into wealth. This is the deepest and most penetrating study yet of the psychology of prosperity, and the action steps necessary to produce wealth.

With thousands of certifications, seminars, websites, and gurus promising advice, it’s difficult for even the best pros to turn their passion for health and fitness into meaningful–and measurable–success.

Enter Change Maker.

In this definitive career guide, John Berardi shares his blueprint for becoming the ultimate change maker, one with a powerful purpose, an enthusiastic client base, and the ability to fund your own ideal lifestyle.

Whether you’re new to the industry and looking for a head-start or you’re already an expert but need a fresh approach, consider this your go-to career guide.

With six helpful steps, this book covers the range of logistical, financial, psychological, and practical issues that every health and fitness pro needs to know:

How to discover your deeper purpose and values
How to choose your specialty based on your unique strengths
How to identify what your clients really want and deliver it every time
How to build new relationships and become a next-level coach
How to get new clients, make more money, and manage a thriving business
How to nurture and protect your most precious asset, your reputation
How to create a life-long, growth-oriented continuing education plan

If you work as a trainer, nutritionist, functional-medicine doctor, group instructor, rehab specialist, or health coach–or you eventually want to–this step-by-step guide will help you turn your passion for health and fitness into work you find joy in, your clients into raving fans, and your career into something powerful, meaningful, and change-making.