College and University Blog
Resources, help, and insight for your college experience
Like Day and Night: The Difference between Day Classes and Night Classes
Technically, there is absolutely no difference structurally and content-wise between day (morning) classes and night classes, but if you’d ask anyone who have taken both, they’d tell you that there is definitely a difference between the two, so much so that many students prefer one over the other, and the particular personality of the student is by no means any less of a contributing factor.
This doesn’t seem to be such a big deal, but to some, actually many, it does. This is aside from work schedules and, for those with children, and daycare requirements. Simply put: The atmosphere in morning or afternoon classes is much different than that of night classes. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, though, so the difference is not clearly “good” and “bad”.
Morning classes are typically quiet, slow and low-key. This isn’t a mystery. People generally wake up in the morning, and so they are running slowly and keep to themselves. Because of this, morning classes seem longe…
Running Solo: How to Entertain Yourself When All of Your Friends Go Away during Break
Have you ever known what it was like to be the lone wolf at the dorm during break when all of your friends take off for home or other places? You seem to be left behind in a world all of your own. That is both a discouraging and encouraging situation—discouraging because you’re not getting away and you’re feeling trapped and alone; encouraging because, well, you’re alone. Those who like their own personal space will really enjoy this because they will have their own space and quietude. Still, those who don’t and can’t go home can easily find ways to entertain themselves throughout the duration.
Well, as we all know, there are the television and the stereo, but as desirable and necessary as these two items are for young college students away from home for the first time, they can get old, very fast (except for the tunes—they never die). Winter or spring break, however, is the perfect time to catch up on those new DVDs you bought mid-semester when they were on sale and absolut…
Avoiding Dorm-Room Cooties: How to Steer Clear of Colds and Germs on Campus
Let’s face it – from a wellness perspective, college dorm rooms are a recipe for disaster. Throw a couple hundred stressed-out, overworked kids together in close quarters, add in winter weather, ancient heating systems, and poor ventilation, and before you know it, you have a virtual breeding ground for colds, flu, viruses, and every other kind of illness you can imagine.
Add to this the fact that most college students can’t afford the luxury of a long recovery period. With tightly packed academic schedules, a truckload of due dates and deadlines, and four or five not-so-sympathetic professors breathing down your neck, a serious bout of illness can really throw you off your game.
The very best way to prevent illness from derailing your semester is to try to avoid getting sick in the first place. If you live in the Petri dish known as a dorm room, this can be difficult – but according to top health experts, it can be done with a bit of advance planning and attention to det…
Ethics in the College Setting
When it comes to career ethics, it is a very sticky business, especially in a world where individual preferences, constantly conflicting personal values, and—dare I say it—a craving for money run rampant. Quite often, these overlap, creating some uncomfortable and avoidable circumstances.
Ethics denote how we deal with issues that challenge or own personal sense of what is honest and true. Because each person’s perspective is different than any other, conflicts arise. How well-educated one is in the area of ethics, determines how strong and steadfast s/he is when relating to other in both social and career-oriented arenas.
Sometimes, however, it isn’t a matter of honesty (or dishonesty, as the case may be), but of each person’s perspective in a given situation. One person’s greed for money, for example, is another’s need for survival. Whether or not either or both should be considered justified is up for continuous debate.
Ethics in the college environment usually revo…
Road Trips: Unforgettable Educational Experiences
Road Trips, even those taken during spring break (Fort Lauderdale, anyone?), are, believe it or not, just as much part of the educational process of one’s entire college experience as classes, field trips and on-campus jobs are. This is likely due to their unsupervised and free-for-all nature. Why? Anything can happen, just as is the case when one gets out into the real world. Such experiences can be applied to one’s college learning as well.
Of course, it all depends on where one goes. Each place, as everyone knows, is different, so the experiences that one has will also be different. For example, the aforesaid Fort Lauderdale, Florida, offers fun-in-the-sun on the beach, whereas the Grand Canyon features vast openness for hiking. At both of these places, independence is constant, where students take care of themselves, pay their own way through, and are subject to the laws just like everyone else. This is general for every road trip, but it teaches responsibility in the re…
Watch Your Step: Smart Personal Safety Tips for College Students
Going away to college means plunging head-first into the sometimes-tumultuous waters of adulthood and adult responsibility. Your first year of college will probably bring with it a whole array of other momentous “firsts,” from your first 8:00 a.m. class to your first all-night party and everything in between.
Unfortunately, though, campus living is not all fun and games. For the first time in your life, you’re going to be wholly responsible for your own personal safety – and you’re going to be surrounded by thousands of rowdy, inhibition-impaired, often-inebriated young people, not to mention any unsavory locals who might hang around the edges of campus looking to prey on vulnerable young students.
Although nearly 98% of the crimes committed on college campuses are related to theft, violent crimes are also a rising concern. A 2007 FBI report showed that although there has been a decline in overall campus crime rates in recent decades, there has been a slight up-tick in th…
How to Face a Displeasing Roommate
One of the worst nightmares for any college student is situated right there in the dorm room: the roommate. Who one lives with has a lot to do with one’s happiness, but, then again, that’s a real no-brainer. No one wants to live with someone that s/he doesn’t like, but students—especially those just starting at college—don’t always have the choice or the luxury to decide the person with whom they will room.
How about going solo? Unfortunately, 90% of students will have to face having a roommate at least part of their time at college. This isn’t so bad, as sharing a room with another is less expensive than having a room all to oneself. Still, many people wouldn’t mind paying that extra money for their own private space, as that is so important in the lives of many, especially those who date a lot or want to spend time with a significant other. With a roommate, that’s not [always] possible. Having a room of one’s own, then, has its advantages and its disadvantages.
Of cour…
Selecting Wise Electives: Avoid Mistakes Most Make
Enrolling in general requirement courses are easy, when they’re available, so they need no second thought when deciding to take them. The only concern is whether or not they are available when they need to be taken. This is especially aggravating with freshmen, many of whom have to take the same course(s) at the same time when seating is limited. The real challenge, though, comes about when deciding which electives to take, usually during the last two years of an undergrad term. This is because the electives sought can be either wise or unwise, depending on why they are picked for a particular degree. Students should be careful and put a lot of thought behind their choices because such choices are important and could influence what type of job the students might acquire in the future.
Interest alone isn’t enough; strategic selection also plays a role. One example would be for the students to obtain a sense of well-roundedness. Although a tight focus reflects strength in a de…
What’s Your Learning Style? Personalized Study Tips for College Success
There’s a whole lot riding on your ability to make the grade in college. Landing top internships, earning or maintaining grants and merit scholarships, and, most importantly, scoring your dream job after graduation – all of these depend on how well you’ll be able to keep up with readings, take effective class notes, research and write polished essays, and perform well on tests. No pressure, right?
Wrong. Academically speaking, college is in a different universe than high school. While your K-12 teachers were paid to seek out and play to each student’s individual strengths and talents, college instructors work on a model that’s much more impersonal. They stride up to the podium in packed lecture halls, “profess” for 45 minutes, perhaps answer a few questions, and then exit stage left. The days of being coddled and spoon-fed by your high school teachers are gone for good.
Basically, the responsibility of finding a study system that works for you rests squarely on your own …
5 Tips to Help Take the Sting Out of College Transfers
Maybe you weren’t quite ready to leave your hometown right after high school, or perhaps money concerns compelled you to attend a nearby university or community college. Whatever the reason, you’re not exactly where you want to be in your college career – and now you’re looking to make a change.
If this situation sounds familiar, you’re not alone. According to a statistical study that was recently released by the U.S. Department of Education, as many as 60% of all American college students switch schools at least once in the course of pursuing their undergraduate degrees.
Rightly or wrongly, college transfers have gained a reputation for being nervous breakdown-inducing logistical nightmares. While it’s true that the process of moving to a new school can be a bit of hassle, you can ease the process considerably with a bit of strategic planning and advance legwork. If you’re thinking of making the switch, use these handy hints to help pave your way.
*Begin planning …
Fighting the First-Year Blues: What’s Behind the Epidemic of Depression on College Campuses…and What You Can Do About It
Going off to college for the first time is often a monumental change of pace – one that can be difficult for students to cope with. This rite of passage marks the transition from adolescence to adulthood in our culture, and with it comes a broad array of new demands and responsibilities. The sudden independence, the homesickness, the disconnection from familiar friends and family, the challenging demands of college – taken together, it can all be too much to bear.
For some first-year students, a sense of isolation and melancholy can be hard to escape, especially during those first few weeks on campus. However, for most freshmen, these feelings tend to dissipate as they begin to make friends and get into the swing of their new schedule.
But what if they don’t? For an estimated 10% of American college students, what might seem like isolated episodes of sadness may actually be symptoms of a more serious disorder: clinical depression. If left untreated, depression can serious…
Hooking Up: How to Make the Switch to College Dating
In terms of the timeline, there’s not much separating your senior year of high school from your first year of college. In fact, there’s usually only ten or twelve weeks between the day you walk across the stage to grab your diploma and the day your make your way into your first college classes as a freshmen. But when it comes to dating and relationships, these two worlds couldn’t be any farther apart.
On one hand, you’ll probably be ready to say goodbye to all of the childish spats and petty drama that likely dominated much of your dating life in high school. But on the other hand, you might not yet be prepared for some of the curve balls that college relationships can throw at you.
Whether you make your first serious long-term connection or fall into a string of casual flings with people you meet at parties, college dating can be whole ‘nother ball game. Here are some hints from the relationship experts to help you survive the ups and downs of college dating, from your f…
The Importance of Having One’s Own Computer in the Modern-Day College Setting
Before the 1990s, computers used in college settings were restricted to the administrative purposes and the occasional small computer lab located on campuses. Nowadays, computers of many kinds are everywhere. As a matter of fact, the modern-day college environment would be noticeably incomplete without them.
Why computers? These days, students and professors alike conduct their class work and lessons respectively through the use of software and the Internet. Both have actually become incorporated components in information processing and calculating for the learning and professional environments. In the computer age, then, computers are a necessity everywhere.
This includes personal computer. Although computer labs are the norm, some being vastly composed of a hundred units or more, the inclusion of the computer in every student’s curriculum necessitates the lab being constantly used, meaning that going there and finding no open spots is a very common happenstance. Because…
Teacher/Student Relationships: the Fine Line
Within the past few years, there have been many cases of teacher/student relations in the high schools. This, of course, is illegal, and for a plethora of good reasons, not the least of which is an abuse of authority. It is one thing to have a staff member and a student become romantically involved, but it is quite another when one is an adult and the other an adolescent.
But what about in college, f an instructor becomes romantically involved with a student? Both are legally adults. Is this instance still considered an abuse of authority, despite the fear of favoritism eventually coming into play? Although the age gap between the teacher and student still might cause an imbalance in the relationship, both are capable of making their own decisions and giving consent.
Then again, what if there is no age gap, such as in the case with a young professor and an older untraditional student? Would this still be considered an imbalance? Would this still be considered exploitative…
Shopping for Class Supplies: an Adventure in Itself
Registering at a university and enrolling in classes is a time-consuming feat against which no college student will argue, but the adventure doesn’t stop there. Preparing for classes can be a hair-raising and expensive experience.
Yes, some people like to shop, especially if it’s for clothes or gadgets—we all have our favorites—but the process is not as easy as one would believe.
Take, for example, going to get a class book or books (quite a few classes, as every college students finds out, will necessitate an entire collection of books, each of which costs a small fortune) and finding that they’ve already been snatched up by early-birds or haven’t even come in yet. To make matters worse, the class requires the book right away. Yes, the professors are usually very understanding about this, but those poor unfortunate souls who have to resign to temporarily sharing a classmate’s book have to do without while not in class, so they immediately fall behind on a thirty-page re…
College Clubs: Means of Finding a Clique and Building the Résumé
Clubs are the ganglion of the college social and professional networking circuit; they are based on both personal interest as well as career pursuits. In light of this, clubs are essential for establishing social cliques and building an impressive résumé.
The types of clubs that exist have a broad array, ranging through chess, science fiction, classical music, cubism and other art movements, agriculture, anthropology, astrology, astronomy, botany, Buddhism, civil war enthusiasm, Christianity, cooking, creative writing, environmental science, farming, fashion design, fencing, gay and lesbian, interior design, journalism and current events, landscaping, Latin and other languages, magazine-publishing, map-making, mathematics, mechanical engineering, medicine, medieval studies, movies, parapsychology, photography, poetry and literature, political science, psychiatry, social studies, sports (individualized), studio art and pottery, radio broadcasting, weapons advocacy, Wicca, and…
How to Make the Most of Your Campus Visit
If you’re a high school grad who is lucky enough to have several colleges to choose among, you’ve probably already thought about paying visits to the finalists on your list. The campus visit is a time-honored tradition for entering freshmen, and universities often strongly recommend that prospective first-year students spend some time on campus before making a final decision.
But with the time and expense that a campus visit requires, some students wonder whether they’re actually all they’re chalked up to be. After all, in the age of the Internet, it’s possible to learn a great deal about your final picks and the ins and outs of student life without ever actually setting foot on campus. So, are campus visits really worth the trouble?
t depends. If you can swing a campus visit, you should definitely take advantage of the opportunity. Having as much information as possible will help you make the best decision. But aside from actually letting you get a first-hand look at the…
Sick of School? Consider Taking a “Gap Year” Before College
You’ve written and revised term papers, fought your way through a dozen midnight cramming sessions, and scored passing grades on your final exams. Frazzled but triumphant, you strode across the stage at your commencement ceremony and joined the adult world as a proud high school graduate. Now, you’re gearing up to go to college… to start the whole process over again?!
If the mere thought of going back to the drawing board with your education is more than you can handle right now, you might be a prime candidate for a bit of a breather. The extended break that some high school students choose to take after finishing their secondary schooling is called a “gap year,” and according to recent statistics, it’s a concept that’s really “taking off,” so to speak.
Take Off a Year, Take On a Challenge
The gap year concept is an already long-established tradition in Europe, where a slightly different secondary school system offers students a bit more flexibility. Although it…
Financial Aid: Student Loan Changes that Benefit the Students
Both undergraduate and graduate students from low-income households have a new strike in their favor. Government Stafford loans are being hiked to provide students with a greater chance of a college education. Freshmen loans have increased from $3,500.00 to $4,500.00 for an academic year, and sophomores $5,500.00 for the same period of time. Graduate students and independents also have a significant financial edge to look forward to receiving in the near future. This means that all undergraduate students have an additional $1,000.00 to work for them. In a time of rising expenses, this definitely means something.
Of course, when one considers the importance of producing future professionals in what has been referred to as the new recession, this makes sense. When expenses rise, loans and other benefits must rise also to compensate. If they don’t, more people fall into poverty and universities and other institutions of high learning eventually shut down because they cannot aff…
College Dorm Curfews: Useless and Contradictory Restrictions
College is an institution meant for adult learning and integration into the adult world for those young adults who haven’t already done so. In this regard, policy and student treatment by administration and staff should reflect that. The law even stipulates this.
One particular regulation that comes to mind is college dorm curfews for undergraduate students. Not all universities implement this kind of restriction, but many do. The college dorm curfew is, to put it bluntly, useless and contradictory for some obvious reason.
First, older teenagers ranging from 18-21 are, in effect, adults, even if they do not always behave in such a manner. The federal law clarifies this as so. Treating them like children will do no good and incite protestation and/or rebellion. Although their behavior is questionable and out-of-control much of the time, these young adults will, in fact, conduct their lives as they wish to do so. That’s the way it should be. Only in that way can they make t…
What’s Your Major?: 5 Questions to Help You Make the Right Choice
If you still don’t have an answer when people pop the inevitable “What’s your major?” question at parties, don’t worry – you’re not alone. In fact, statistics show that most college students wait until at least the middle of their sophomore year before declaring a major. Those super-organized nutjobs who have had their degree plan nailed down since kindergarten? They’re actually in the minority.
According to career counselors, this is one instance in which procrastination actually works to your advantage. Your college major is one of the most important decisions you’ll make in your life; few other choices play as significant a role in guiding your career path and future direction, so it makes sense to put choosing a major off until you’re older – and a bit more certain of your interests and strengths.
Whether you’re a freshman who’s just heading off to campus or a junior who is staring down your declaration deadline, it’s important to think things through carefully when y…
Write it Down Right: Tips for Effective College Note-Taking
College students are famous for doing everything during class except paying close attention. Take a look around during the next meeting of your 8:00 a.m. section of the Economic History of Underwater Basket-Weaving – you’re likely to observe your classmates filing their nails, fiddling with their iPods, playing Solitaire on their laptops, clicking around on Facebook, or just staring into space.
When your brain is foggy and you’re still reeling from a late night out, it can be very tempting to just let yourself zone out in class. But the present-body, absent-mind approach won’t do much to help you pass your next exam. Bottom line? To make the most of your college experience, you have to learn how to take effective notes.
Find a Method that Works for You
Here’s the catch – not all note-taking systems are created equal. There are a million different methods out there, but only you can tell which one is right for you. If you try to use a note-taking system th…
The Most Effective Research Methods
Research has many avenues, and for the truly creative and innovative researchers, there are the more unique. The reality is, however, that some methods of research are more reliable and effective than others. Choosing the right ones for the right projects can mean the difference between fact and fallacy, success and failure.
As a matter of fact, some forms of research are preferable to certain fields over other; the type of research one conducts is quite often indigenous to the particular field or discipline. This is especially true in the college setting.
Documentation, of course, is universal, which means this is mandatory for every field and every project. This is the foundation of all research, as it determines that which will go in the final work. Already existing data tells the researcher what has been established and what hasn’t, and so it indirectly serves as a basis that leads the research toward further findings. The paper to be written will be yet another piece…
Making the Most of Your Internship: Tips for College Students
You spent hours filling out applications, lining up references, opining and holding forth in essays, and polishing your résumé to a gleaming shine. Now it looks like all that hard work has paid off: you just got the news that you landed that fiercely-sought-after summer internship. You’ve gotten your foot in the door at one of the top organizations in your field of study. Now what?
Your first order of business is patting yourself on the back. College internships are more competitive than ever these days, and if you ended up with a top spot at a firm you’re really interested in, congratulations are definitely in order. Heave a sigh of relief, call up your party buddies, and give yourself a night off to celebrate.
It’s Never Too Soon to Start Planning
After you’ve crawled out of bed and shaken off the cobwebs the next morning (or should that be afternoon?), you’ve got some serious thinking to do. Internships are a great way for college students without a whole lot…
Effective Study Practices
Social development and independence not withstanding, study is the prime reason that one attends college. In this way, a person expands her/his knowledge and understanding of the world, gains insight on multiple schools of thought, and instills within her-/himself a particular set of skills that would prepare her/him for a career later on in life. Studying, therefore, is not only inevitable, but essential.
The thing is, though, that effective studying is a necessary skill in itself that every student must learn and practice on a regular basis in order to succeed academically. The glitch, however, is that not all study habits provide results; some habits are preferable over others. Of course, each student is different, so what works for one student might not necessarily work for another. Still, generally speaking, some common practices have proven themselves very effective over time, and so these are promoted through academic circles for achieving the best results.
One of …
Ineffective Study Habits
As essential as studying as a part of students’ overall college, ineffective study habits can bring about bad results, especially if the students who carry on such practices aren’t sure why they are ineffective. This is why college students should always know why certain practices are beneficial and others are not. If they know why a particular habit is not a good one, students can improve their study routine.
Perhaps the most ineffective study habit is not studying. How can a student excel in school without studying at all? Of course, some students can absorb information right from class discussions, or they have already developed an interest in that subject to the point that they know it well, but quite often, tests include questions never discussed in class, and writing assignments explore many aspects of the subject in-depth. Studying always keeps students abreast of the subject, which includes updated information. Of course, if a student has already developed an interes…
Preventing Property Crime: How to Keep Your Stuff Safe on Campus
As a group, college students aren’t typically known for having vast personal fortunes at their fingertips. That’s part of the reason why the petty theft that’s something of an epidemic on many U.S. college campuses can pose such a serious problem for its victims. When you don’t have two dimes to rub together, losing any of your personal property to crime can really put a crimp on your quality of life.
Whether it’s your bike, your textbook, or your last packet of ramen noodles that gets ganked, campus property crime bites the big one. If you’ve fallen victim to property crime in the past, you’re already well aware of what a drag it can be – and you’re definitely not alone. According to the FBI, property theft on campus is one of the only categories of criminal offenses that has not declined in recent years. In fact, more than 98% of all crimes that are reported on U.S. college campuses are related to property theft.
You’re Not Helpless
Even more than the nuisance…
Parties: The Important College Tradition
As any college student or previous college student knows, the college experience wouldn’t be complete without the party scene. This has become so prevalent and so exciting that parties have become an integral tradition of the college scene everywhere—including the Ivy League schools.
The unique thing about college parties, though, is that, as important as they are for developing a social life, meeting people and relaxing, they have also become an omen of trouble. Many universities have garnished the reputation for being party schools, and as attractive as that label is for young people, such an image brings forth a negative connotation akin to evil lurking in the shadows, not to mention automatically denoting a school as having a low-quality curriculum. Is this fair? Perhaps or perhaps not, but it is a fact.
Why? The harsh reality of party schools seeming troublesome has likely come from the fact that many college parties have gotten out of hand, even to the point where t…
Plagiarism: The Ethics of Hiring Professional Writers to Do Student Research and Writing Assignments
As wild as it sounds, this type of thing happens with college students all the time, and not only on undergraduate level. Many graduates have been known to seek professional writers to do their research and assignments, especially for key work like theses and dissertations.
The reason students do this range from poor writing and research skills to laziness to being students who are non-fluent in the language in which the work is to be completed. All of this is akin to buying papers on or off campus and handing them in as one’s own. Although the work is purchased and not stolen, the practice still falls under plagiarism because deception is at the heart of the process: Students submit to their instructors the work conducted and produced by professional writers as if it were their own. This is clearly a falsehood, since it involves someone else’s work.
Why is this practice unjustified? Writing programs and labs exist within the structure of every single university for thos…
The Internet: An Unreliable and Expensive Resource for College Research
Yes, the Internet has become the most innovative, convenient and world—access source of information in recent years. At the same time, as many nations and cultures contribute to the online databank’s compilation, it is still risky for serious collegiate research, especially for graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral studies.
Here is why: in light of the fact that the Internet is democratically operated, everybody and his grandfather posts information that might or might not be legit. On such an open space where anyone can share virtually any thought one wants to share, substantive information becomes obscure. A few encyclopedia-like sites have come under scrutiny due to their policy to allow the general public unlimited access to contribute information regarding any subject whatsoever. Where this practice is ideal for a democratic world in which each person’s voice is deemed important and valued, it is equally a hotbed of inconsistencies, inaccuracies and conflicting prejudice…
Living Off-Campus? Stay On Track with These Tips
If you’ve decided that you’re just not cut out for dorm life, you’re not alone. Despite the media’s portrayal of on-campus housing as the default living arrangement for college students, recent statistics reveal that nearly 70% of those who currently attend U.S. universities have chosen to live off-campus.
Maybe the thought of being cooped up in a dorm with roommates you can’t stand and a boatload of rules and regulations was just too much for you to bear. Or perhaps, like many other college students, the high price of on-campus housing plans has put dorm life out of reach for you.
Regardless of the reason you’ve chosen this path, living off-campus can be a great way to experience college. But unlike the spoon-fed responsibilities that come along with dorm life, the process of finding and maintaining a place off-campus can feel like being plunged head-first into the icy waters of adult reality. If you want to make it work, it’s imperative to start making plans months in a…
Health Insurance for College Students: Which Option is Right for You?
If you’re one of the lucky ones, your childhood colds, cuts, scrapes, and bruises were covered by your parents’ medical insurance. You’d get sick, they’d take you to the doctor and fork over the $20 co-pay, and that was that. Kind of like magic, right?
Well, kid, the days of carefree health care are over for you. Even if you’re still going to be covered by your parents’ health insurance, you’re going to be taking the reigns and controlling the process for the first time in your life. It sounds like it’s time for a crash course in Health Insurance 101.
What is Health Insurance?
Basically, health insurance is any kind of program that helps people manage their medical expenses and protect against financial catastrophe in the case of major medical problems. There are health insurance plans that are overseen by state and federal government agencies, as well as many that are offered by private companies. In the United States, health insurance costs are often crazy-hig…
Plagiarism: One-Way Trip to Ruin
Plagiarism has always been an issue as far as professional writings. Unfortunately, this trend doesn’t seem to be waning to even the slightest degree. Why is this?
There are several reasons. The first would be pressure to produce individual pieces to meet an unwavering deadline. This is the case in both a variety of professional arenas and in institutions of higher education. The unwritten “rule” is do or die, which has come down to mean that one must create an astounding, totally unique award-winning work, otherwise one is a failure. Many believe that this is the only form of success. The irony, however, is that such an attempt to steal another’s work for that purpose inevitably sends the culprits in the opposite direction.
As far as colleges go, plagiarism is alive and kicking everywhere despite the endless string of failed attempts and ugly consequences propped up in a row like dead warriors skewered on spears. Many students quite often find themselves trapped, feeling…
Teach for America: Grad Students Help Where They Can
College seniors have discovered they can do a lot more use skipping the backpacking trip through Europe after their senior year of school and instead spend some time helping students in poor communities.
Helping America’s Poor
At a faster rate than ever, graduate students have taken on the desire to help in some of the United State’s poorest communities. Setting aside college internships and handling student loans, they are signing up for two years worth of educating in a program called Teach for America. This program has a design to help give some of the top college graduates get the experience they need for teaching jobs. In addition, the nonprofit organization does it with educating the poor. It is a win-win situation for everyone.
As the 2007 to 2008 school year draws to a close, Teach for America has seen the number of applications it has gotten rise dramatically from 18,000 in the past years to 25,000 this year. More so, of that number, probably 370…
Rookie Mistakes: The Top Five Blunders to Avoid in Your Freshman Year
Ah, the college years. In American culture, these four years serve as a buffer between adolescence and adulthood, an in-between period during which you begin to make your own decisions and take charge of your own destiny. Just like learning to ride a bike, there comes a time when you have to take off the proverbial training wheels – and take a few inevitable spills – before you finally get the hang of it.
Mistakes, pitfalls, slip-ups, gaffes, blunders. Whatever you want to call them, you’re bound to make more than your fair share during your college years. But there are two kinds of mistakes: temporary setbacks that you can use as an opportunity to learn and grow, and major mess-ups that can throw your entire college career off-track. If you make too many mistakes of the more serious variety during your freshman year, the negative consequences could reverberate far into the future.
As the school year draws to a close, college newspapers across the country have surveyed th…
Getting Around: Weighing Your Best College Transportation Options
You’ve unpacked the last box, arranged and re-arranged your desk supplies, and done what little you can to make your dorm room feel less institutional and more like home. Now, you and your roommates are planning to go out and get to know each other over a pizza. Who’s driving?
Getting set up on campus for the first time can be a challenging and time-consuming process. Sometimes, deciding how you’re going to get to your classes and around town can be put off to the last minute. Although this is perfectly understandable, it may put a crimp in your first-year experience if you get to campus only to find out that your transportation options are limited – or worse yet, that the choice you’ve made has turned out to be unsuitable for the realities of day-to-day life on campus.
What Works for You?
There’s no blanket solution to the college transportation issue – instead, it’s up to you to consider a number of factors that are unique to your situation and make the best d…
Calvin College, Michigan: Okay For Safety Personnel To Carry Guns
According to the latest information available through the Grand Rapids Press, Calvin College is now allowing its safety personnel to carry weapons on campus. This will start in the fall semester for 2008.
The only people on campus allowed to carry the guns will be those working in the safety arena, with a police type background. They will be able to carry only handguns as well.
The move was done just this weekend by the college trustees. College safety is, of course, the center of the concern.
In April, the Faculty Senate approved a recommendation to allow safety department personnel to carry these weapons. Only trained individuals are permissible to carry guns, through their recommendation. Students, on the other hand, are not sure this is the right way to go.
At the faculty meeting, some 60 students protested the movement. They shouted, “Community, not weaponry” to those m…
College Costs and Campaign Elections: Hand in Hand?
As you plan for your next year of college, you may be wondering how you will pay for it. The facts are rough.
The average total cost of a private school is $32,000
A public in state school will cost $13,000
These numbers are up by 22 percent in the last five consecutive years, and there is likely no change in sight. Or, could there be?
Each of the main candidates running for President of the United States have said they want to help curb the costs of a college education. As voting members of the country, college students should explore the candidates and their stance on college costs, whenever possible to do so.
Parents of college students are worried, too. While they saved and saved over the years to pay for school, their college savings plans haven’t done enough to help encourage them. That’s because many of the best laid plans still haven’t been profitable enough for many students. They simply need to turn to school loans more often than ev…
From Zzzzzzzzz to A+: Why College Students Need More – and Better – Sleep
If you’re a college student who makes a point of getting a solid eight hours of sleep each and every night, congratulations. You happen to be a member of a very small – but well-rested – minority.
Between late-night cram sessions, closing shifts at your part-time job, a busy social life, and the roof-rattling snores of your asthmatic roommate, sleep can be very hard to come by in college. According to experts at the University of Michigan, the average college student pulls in only about six hours of sleep each night – far less than the eight to ten hours recommended for optimal health.
Late nights and early classes may be a rite of passage for many college students, but scientists warn that these poor sleep habits can catch up with you over time, ultimately having a negative impact on health, performance, and overall well-being. A recent study conducted by scientists at Delta State University found that sleep-deprived college students fared worse on common tasks such as a…
Eating on the Cheap: Budget-Friendly Meals for College Students
Your bank account balance is hovering in the low single digits, your meal card is cashed out for the week, and a thorough search behind your second-hand couch’s cushions yielded nothing but a few dust bunnies — and now your stomach is rumbling louder than a freight train. What’s a starving college student to do?
Take heart, my impoverished friend. The grocery store shelves are chock-full of cheap and filling items that can carry you through to your next payday. Some of them may not be especially delicious, and your mother (and her dietician) probably wouldn’t bestow the seal of approval, but it is possible to keep your stomach full on a college student’s meager budget.
Creativity: The Key to Cheap Eats
With a little ingenuity and elbow grease, you can stock your pantry for a week for less than $20. If you’re used to caviar and Kobe steak, you might be in for a bit of a disappointment. But if you’re just looking for a way to stay alive until your next care pack…
Heading to Campus This Fall? It’s Time to Tune Up Your Money Smarts
If you’re on your way to college and the only financial worry you’ve ever had up until this point was deciding how much of your weekly allowance you could afford to blow on iTunes, it may be time for a reality check. Even if your parents are going to be footing the bill for some or all of your college costs, you’ll soon be in the position to start making all kinds of big and small money decisions for yourself — and that’s a responsibility that can be much more challenging than it sounds.
If you’ve never balanced a checkbook, paid a bill, or gone grocery shopping, you may be in for a bit of a shock – and you’re not alone. A recent study conducted by scientists at the State University of New York-Buffalo School of Management indicated that only 52.4% of current high school seniors could pass a 30-question test on basic financial principles. But with a bit of research and advance planning, you should up to speed in no time.
Develop Your Own Financial Plan for College</b…
Fighting the Freshman 15: Simple Tricks to Help You Stay Fit and Trim on Campus
If you’re one of those annoying high school students who can eat three times your body weight in junk food and not gain an ounce, listen up: your metabolic free ride may be coming to an end. If you don’t back away from that super-sized soda and bag of chips, you may soon be facing that scourge of first-year college students everywhere – the Freshman 15.
You’ve heard of the Freshman 15, right? They’re the legendary extra pounds that seem to creep up on so many unsuspecting new college students. If you want to end your first year of college at around the same weight you were when you first set foot on campus, it’s time to plan ahead and develop a few healthy habits.
What’s Up with the Freshman 15?
So, why does this unfair fate befall so many freshmen? Well, according to health experts, there are a number of reasons why excess poundage suddenly begins to be an issue for first-year college students. The first reason is developmental – the beginning of college often …
College Students Make Money Through Online Business: Can You?
Imagine spending your days studying in class then going back to your dorm to work. Rather than the overwhelmingly boring world of fast food part time work, why not consider starting your own online business. Online businesses from home, rather from your door room, are a great way to make money doing things you love to do. Chances are good you know of a few opportunities, as it is to make money online. Perhaps this is something new to you. Do not worry; you do not need to have a tech side to you to make a fantastic amount of money, but you do have to be creative enough to come up with something new and unique.
What Works For You?
The question is this. How can you make money through an online business from college? You do not have a lot of money to invest. You do not have a lot of time to spend making the process work. Where are your options? Here are some ideas to consider.
Start a Website for Students Just setting up a website and adding some…
Could You Build A House Between Classes?
As a student, your life centers around working on your latest paper and socializing, after all, what else is there to do? You may not have considered building a house, from the ground up, with your own two hands. However, for a group of students from North Platte, Nebraska, that is exactly how they spent their time.
The Home That Students Built
The Mid Plains Community College is selling the home that students built. There is an open house scheduled for this week, in fact. The asking price is $90,000, a considerable amount of money for homes in this region. Bids are being taken for the home. The home is a three-bedroom home with two baths. Students have built every part of the home. This even includes the electrical elements, the plumbing and all other elements.
Here is the kicker. The home was built to be sold and then moved to a buyer’s lot. However, the home is not really something that is unique. In fact, this process has been going on for 40 year…
Students Rating Professors: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?
Ever since the dawn of the modern university system, college professors have been granted the right to rate their students’ performance and academic prowess on homework, class assignments, and, most importantly, on end-of-term report cards. Although many universities allow students the right to “rate” their instructors on department-issued evaluation questionnaires, the whole process is usually shrouded in secrecy.
Not anymore. Today, a new generation of college students has taken the bull by the horns, as it were, and turned the time-honored tradition of secretive student evaluations upside down. Using the power of the Internet, dozens of websites such as RateMyProfessor.com have allowed millions of mostly-anonymous posters to bypass the secrecy of the Xeroxed student evaluation questionnaire and tell their fellow students what they really think.
Report Card 2.0 or Biased Beauty Pageant?
For many college students, the online professor-rating phenomenon has been…
Traveling on the Cheap: Budget Vacation Tips for College Students
With the weather warming up and summer just around the corner, the millions of college students who are busy cramming for finals may be finding it hard to keep their minds from drifting into daydream mode. Whether your idea of the perfect vacation is a stay on the beach, a backpacking trek through a rugged mountain range, or a wild week in a popular party town, there’s just something about this time of year that can kindle a chronic case of wanderlust.
But with your bank account balance hovering in the low double-digits and no windfalls looming on the horizon, it looks like you just might have to spend another boring summer working behind the counter at your favorite hometown diner, right? Not a chance. If you think you need big bucks to indulge your summer travel dreams, think again. When it comes to college vacations, exhilaration doesn’t have to be expensive.
Think Outside the Box to Get the Most Bang for Your Travel Buck
Most people think that it takes big m…
Eating Disorders on Campus: Experts Advise Freshman to Keep an Eye Out for Warning Signs
You might think that the biggest food problem you’ll have to deal with on campus will be finding anything that’s actually edible in the school cafeteria, but several recent studies have warned that many college students face much more serious difficulties. The number of college students with eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating has skyrocketed over the last several decades – and experts say that the unique pressures facing first-year students puts freshmen at particularly high risk for developing these disorders.
According to researchers at Penn State, over 60% of all known cases of eating disorders are diagnosed on college campuses. Another study conducted by scientists at Princeton found that among patients with lifelong eating disorder problems, 53% say that their disorders first emerged during college.
Scholastic Stress and Food Freedom: A Dangerous Combination
So what’s behind the disproportionate rise of eating disorders on college …
Sallie Mae Mistakenly Hurts Credit Scores: Does Your Credit Score Matter?
Announced today, Sallie Mae, one of the larger student loan lenders, has make a tiny computer error which has caused mayhem among borrowers. The problem is that through a simple computer management mistake, Sallie Mae destroyed the credit scores of plenty of their borrowers.
Sallie Mae reports that the credit problem was fixed on Tuesday evening, but some damage could have been done.
Sallie Mae is the largest lender of student loans. What should have been a routine update of credit records turned into a huge mistake when a report erroneously placed delinquency noticed on the credit reports of thousands of its borrowers.
The loans were reported as being partially paid, rather than reporting these graduate and extended repayment plans on time. Equifax, the credit agency that received the problematic reporting, made the delinquency notices on the borrower’s credit reports, as it normally would.
Sallie Mae’s mistake cost many of the borrowers FICO scores to drop si…
How to Beat the Looming Student Loan Crisis
The “trickle-down” theory of economics may have long since been discredited, but it now seems that the sub-prime mortgage crisis that has rocked the U.S. real estate market in recent years is beginning to ooze down into the student loan sector. To make a long story short, the current turbulence in the credit market is making it a lot harder for some college students to fund their post-secondary schooling.
As the fallout from the nationwide credit crunch has all types of lenders tightening their belts and restricting their offers of credit, college students across the United States have seen their access to this once-dependable source of funding dry up. Dozens of major financial institutions have either eliminated or greatly scaled back their student loan programs, and perhaps even more disturbingly, a number of state-level non-profit lending agencies have closed up shop in recent months.
Although official statistics have not yet been gathered, reports are beginning to eme…