“I am often amazed at how much more capability and enthusiasm for science there is among elementary school youngsters than among college students. . . . We must understand and circumvent this dangerous discouragement. No one can predict where the future leaders of science will come from.”—Carl Sagan

In 2012, the White House put out a call to increase the number of STEM graduates by one million. Since then, hundreds of thousands of science students have started down the path toward a STEM career. Yet, of these budding scientists, more than half of all college students planning to study science or medicine leave the field during their academic careers.

What Every Science Student Should Know is the perfect personal mentor for any aspiring scientist. Like an experienced lab partner or frank advisor, the book points out the pitfalls while providing encouragement. Chapters cover the entire college experience, including choosing a major, mastering study skills, doing scientific research, finding a job, and, most important, how to foster and keep a love of science.

This guide is a distillation of the authors’ own experiences as recent science graduates, bolstered by years of research and interviews with successful scientists and other science students. The authorial team includes former editors-in-chief of the prestigious Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science. All have weathered the ups and downs of undergrad life—and all are still pursuing STEM careers. Forthright and empowering, What Every Science Student Should Know is brimming with insider advice on how to excel as both a student and a scientist.

Justin L. Bauer is a medical student at the University of California, San Diego. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 2012, where he studied biophysical chemistry and Asian & Middle Eastern studies. Yoo Jung Kim is a medical student at Stanford University. She graduated from Dartmouth College in 2014, where she studied biology and served as editor-in-chief of the Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science. Andrew H. Zureick is a medical student at the University of Michigan. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 2013, where he studied chemistry and served as editor-in-chief and president of the Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science. Daniel K. Lee is a medical student in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology MD Program at Harvard Medical School. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 2013, where he studied chemistry and served as editor-in-chief and president of the Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science.

— Cal Newport, author of Deep Work

— Christine Andrews, The University of Chicago

— Marcelo Gleiser, author of The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning

— Sara Seager, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, editor of Exoplanets

— Metascience