Werezi Books

How college faculty and staff can help students "hack" their college experience through a proactive, personalized approach to success.

Finalist, 2026 PROSE Award in Best Book in Education Theory and Practise, Association of American Publishers

College is a complex, high-stakes game, according to authors Ned Scott Laff and Scott Carlson, but students can learn how to win it. Hacking College offers college advisors, faculty, and staff in student and academic affairs a groundbreaking guide to rethinking higher education so that students can succeed in an increasingly complex world. Drawing from extensive research and real student experiences, this essential book exposes the hidden challenges and bureaucratic traps that undermine student success, from convoluted transfer processes to a single-minded emphasis on majors.

Each chapter provides actionable strategies to help advisors lead students to tailor their education to their aspirations. Through vivid case studies, Laff and Carlson advocate for a proactive approach to education—encouraging students to "hack" their college experience by crafting a personalized field of study. This method challenges the traditional focus on declaring a major and empowers students to link their personal interests with academic pursuits so that their education aligns with future career and life goals.

Enriched with insights on how to find underutilized institutional resources and foster meaningful mentor relationships, Hacking College encourages students, educators, and institutions to transform passive educational experiences into dynamic journeys of discovery and self-fulfillment.

People come to college eager to be treated like humans, not numbers. Hacking College explains how to do that while helping students craft meaningful learning experiences that will propel the rest of their lives. Every professor, provost, and advisor should read it.
—Sara Goldrick-Rab, author of Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream

Hacking College is a must-read for anyone in and around higher education who seeks to empower students to craft their own, more meaningful college-to-career pathways. Academic and career advising are both in dire need of an overhaul. Laff and Carlson show us the way forward. An excellent read, timely and important, as higher ed seeks to rebuild trust, confidence, and perceived relevance.
—David Rosowsky, Senior Advisor to the President, Arizona State University

College degrees must represent more than jumping over a series of hurdles on the way to getting a credential for employment. Unfortunately, for too many students, the experience of college as a place to develop their intellectual, emotional, and, yes, economic potential is missing. Hacking College shows the way to ending the era of ''empty'' college degrees.
—John Warner, author of Why They Can''t Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities

With fresh thinking and compelling stories, Carlson and Laff show how colleges can empower students to secure meaningful work opportunities and careers. Hacking College offers the student-centered change agenda that higher education needs now.
—Daniel R. Porterfield, author of Mindset Matters: The Power of College to Activate Lifelong Growth

The authors introduce us to a method they call ''Field of Study''—focusing on a wicked multidisciplinary problem of deep interest to the student—and argue that it should center the student''s college experience. There is so much in this innovative book that needs to be heeded by students, faculty, administrators, and policymakers. Anyone doubting the value of a college degree will have their mind changed.
—David J. Staley, author of Alternative Universities: Speculative Design for Innovation in Higher Education and Knowledge Towns: Colleges and Universities as Talent Magnets

Get Hacking College by at the best price and quality guaranteed only at Werezi Africa's largest book ecommerce store. The book was published by Johns Hopkins University Press and it has pages.