Flavorwire

Disclaimer: we think you should go to college, if you can swing it. But sometimes it seems (especially in the media) that the college experience is just wave after wave of useless information cresting up out of a sea of cheap beer. So we’ve narrowed the whole four years down into ten essential books that will get you to the same place, only perhaps a little drier. If you aren’t going (or going back to) college this fall and wish you were, this list might just tide you over. And if you are, it’s sure to give you a leg up. Click through to check out our (tongue in cheek!) list of ten books that approximate the college experience, and let us know which you’d add or take away in the comments.

The Norton Complete Shakespeare, William Shakespeare

Yes, the complete Shakespeare is a necessity. Though this may seem like a die-hard English major choice, it’s perfect for the starry-eyed freshman, hoping to inhale the whole of human history in one go: enormous, cloth-bound and reeking of Serious Academic Study.