Connecting In College Chapter Summary

Solely by the title “Connecting in College” by Janice McCabe, the book is already promising that it will cover social networks in college. It will explain the importance of friendships to an individual’s academic and social success. The introduction introduces the structure of the book, the background of the study and how it was conducted. The table of contents shows that the book will begin with friendship, continuing with how to balance it, then categorizes the different type of friendships, following with the benefits of these friendships after college, and concluding with a summary of the results of her study and the conclusions she’s drawn based on these results. This book was written with the intention of college students and faculty

Chapter one, titled “Friendship,” examines the meaning of friendship to the three students and the way they structure their friendships. It explains how college students establish deep friendships and categorizes the three different types of friendships, which are: “tight-knitters”, “compartmentalizers”, and “samplers”. In chapter two, titled “Balance,” the correlation between the three student’s friendships and their academic lives are inspected. The students maintain balance between school and friends, and also recognize people who don’t succeed keeping their social and academic life balanced. These students also notice friends who are distractions. Chapter three, titled “Tight-Knitters,” explains how this group of friends can be described as “one cohesive friendship group” (p. 6), which comes with various levels of academic success. Chapter four, titled “Compartmentalizers,” is another social network defined as “two to four friendship clusters; few connections between clusters” (p. 6). This social network can be beneficial when separated between social friends and friends who are helpful to academics, but maintaining these different groups can be difficult. Chapter five, titled “Samplers,” explains this as “disconnected collection of friends; most friends don’t know each other” (p. 6). People with this type of social network don’t depend on friends and feel isolated. Chapter six, titled “Friendships After College,” follows the three students after college to see the result of their friendship networks were and what influences one’s friendships. Chapter seven, titled “Conclusion,” offers solutions to college students and emphasizes the importance of