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From achieving high marks to managing relations with roommates to securing next summer's internship, the contemporary college student has a lot on his plate.

"Jewish U: A Contemporary Guide for the Jewish College Student," which recently came out with its second edition, seeks to address the many issues facing today's Jewish college students, all from a Jewish perspective.

The book, written by Rabbi Scott Aaron, includes sections on whether to join a fraternity of sorority, locating the right place to eat during Passover, talking to non-Jewish roommates and friends about Jewish identity, and how to relate to Jews from different backgrounds.

Also included are practical sections like the blessings for Shabbat and holidays and how to hang a mezuzah.

The book, whose first edition was published in 2002, is now updated with new features such as technology and social networking, Jewish identity in a post-Birthright world, and college campuses after the Virginia Tech shooting. Also updated are the Web sites where readers can find addition information on a given topic.

"So there are a variety of things that 10 years ago we wouldn't have thought to include because the world hadn't gotten to that point yet," Aaron told The Jewish State.

Aaron, who has worked at the Hillels of Ohio State University and New York University, said his years working with Jewish college students demonstrated to him the need for such a guide.

"I've seen two very different kinds of campuses in which students were coming in with many of the same questions as freshmen and really unsure how to identify their own sense of Jewish self between their home life as adolescents and what they wanted to be, which was independent adults," Aaron said.

The Jewish community, Aaron said, has not focused enough on preparing Jewish youth in the transition to life as active Jewish adults.

"We spend an inordinate amount of time getting ready to go to college, but getting them to be Jewish adults had not been the priority," he said.

Also included in the book are five chapters from current Hillel professionals from five streams of contemporary Jewish life: Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, and secular. All but one of the sections are updated in this edition since Scott wanted to include professionals who currently work on college campuses.

Rabbi Esther Reed, associate director for Jewish campus life at Rutgers Hillel, contributed the chapter on Conservative Judaism.

Her goal for the chapter, she said, "was to give a thorough explanation of Conservative Judaism for people who might not be familiar with it."

"Many people don't understand what Conservative Judaism is," Reed, who has worked at Rutgers Hillel for the past nine years, told The Jewish State. "People often think that Orthodox is strict, Reform is loose, and Conservative is in the middle."

That simple distinction does a disservice to all three movements and fails to take into account Conservative Judaism's philosophical and theological underpinnings, she added.

"Conservative Jews believe that Judaism has evolved over the centuries, and continues to evolve," Reed writes. "The Conservative movement is often summed up with the motto, "tradition and change." The term "Conservative" means that we are Jews who attempt to conserve tradition while allowing for change within the framework of Jewish law."

The chapter on secular Jewish identity was a new addition to the 2010 guide.

"In the last 10 years that conversation has really changed, the recognition of a secular or non-religious Jewish identity and really self-awareness among college age has really come to the fore in a way that it hadn't 10 years ago when I was writing the first book," Aaron said.

Aaron said that the first edition, with sales reaching 13,000, was well received by students and parents alike. Often, he noted, parents purchased the book, read it, and used it as an opening to talk with their children about Jewish life on campus.

Despite its relatively large sales for a Jewish-themed guide book, Aaron is under no illusions about its potential popularity.

"I never fooled myself that it would possibly get the same attention from a student entering college as 'The Idiots Guide to Passing your Chem. Midterm,'" Aaron joked.

He also acknowledged that while the book is applicable to any Jewish college student, Reform and Conservative students are the main audience, since "a kid who has grown up in an Orthodox day school setting comes with a different experience" and does not necessarily have the same need for such a guide.

"Jewish U: A Contemporary Guide for the Jewish College Student" is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other major booksellers.