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Archive for September, 2008

Red Hot College Education

Kudos to Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist, Flea, for going back to college! And the best part? He’s studying music – the very field in which he’s already successful. Now there’s making good use out of your downtime (the band is currently on hiatus from touring and recording).

Furthering your skills in a field you are currently working in is far from uncommon. In fact, there are many certification courses, as well as advanced degrees, that can help interested students, like Flea, quench their thirst for further knowledge. This kind of education will give you more skills and higher earning potential.

In an interview with MTV News, the 45-year-old rock star attending USC – Los Angeles said:

“Being in a band has been an education, and being on tour has been an education, so this is just me furthering my education in a different way. When I was a kid and it was time to go to college, I thought, ‘College is for people who don’t have the street smarts to make it on their own — get in a band, get in a van and get rockin’.’ That was a good philosophy for me at the time, [but] there were a lot of things I wanted to learn, and I want to learn them now.”

Smart move, Mr. Flea. We like your attitude, not to mention your drive to educate America’s youth in a subject like music – Flea is a co-founder and teacher at Silverlake Conservatory of Music.

A Red Hot Chili Pepper being educated AND educating at the same time – muy caliente!

-Amanda Fornecker

2 comments September 30th, 2008

Before You Buy Books, Stop and Compare

Hold up! Just because classes are starting and reading lists are hitting you left and right, doesn’t mean you should head to the bookstore right now to buy every single book your professor mentioned. As upperclassmen already know, it’s not unusual for a prof or instructor to change the booklist midway through a course, leaving you stuck with an obscure publication on Austrian philosophy in the process. Your best bet is to ask your professor what books you absolutely need the first month and pick up the rest as you need them.

Don’t settle for your high-price campus bookstore or stoop to downloading materials with P2P (peer-to-peer) file sharing networks either. There are plenty of alternative ways to get the books you need for the prices you can afford, the only trouble is deciding amongst them. Enter DealOz (www.dealoz.com). Formerly known as CampusI, DealOz is an easy-to-use service for comparing the price and shipping options for tons of booksellers online. Enter the title, ISBN, keyword, or author name, and DealOz will return a list of sites that offer the book as well as the rates that they charge for shipping and the book price itself. DealOz will even give estimates on shipping times and alert you if any coupons are available — both must-haves if you’re short on time and/or money.

The perks don’t stop there either, with DealOz offering to send you e-mail alerts when a bookseller offers your ideal preset price and the ability to compare bookbuying options via text message. I test drove the service, searching for a not-exactly well-known book on Korean cinema that I had purchased for full-price when I was in college, and sure enough DealOz gave me the info and coupon code I’d need to get the same edition for six dollars less on Half.com. With no need to sign-up (the site directly links you to the bookseller when you want to order) and no additional fees, DealOz seems like a great deal for your college book needs.

– Genevieve M. Blaber

Add comment September 10th, 2008

Connect with Your Classmates

As school begins, you’ll want to be sure that you have all the tools you’ll need to be successful, right at your disposal. And theClassConnection is a great find for the start of the 2008-2009 school year!

TheClassConnection was designed by two students in 2006, who were working on a student project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It’s a free online resource for students in high school, college, and graduate school that aims to help students boost their GPAs by using study tools and lecture notes from other students that may help kids better understand the material and study well. Think of theClassConnection as a “digital trapper keeper” and the path to good grades. And what’s even better is that theClassConnection believes in their ability to help you so much that if you don’t boost your GPA, they will give you $1,000 in private tutoring with SmartThinking.com.

Dave Sargent is the Chief Marketing Officer of theClassConnection and thinks it’s a great tool that will help students be even more successful than they were in the past. “People have been talking about the web and computers taking education to the next level since the dawns of PCs,” he says. “Yet hardly anything has been developed that actually helps students study more efficiently. We wanted to create the first academic network that allowed students to organize and streamline every part of their academic life online. That’s why we started theClassConnection.com.”

Some helpful tools and features of theClassConnection include digital flashcards, online storage of files, the ability to organize study groups, tutors, and more. If you’re having an issue with a class or particular subject, it’s almost certain that there will be some sort of help on theClassConnection.

TheClassConnection is a social networking site for students and even professors who want to have more in-depth discussions and share ideas without ever having to trek to the library during those cold winter snowstorms for a study sesh. It’s convenient, it’s helpful, and it’s guaranteed to help students do better. Work harder this year and use theClassConnection in the process on your quest for success.

-Amanda Fornecker

Add comment September 2nd, 2008


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Join four girls who are in love with grammar, coffee, and their iPods as they dish on everything you need to know NOW to make the transition from high school to college. It wasn't too long ago that we walked a mile in your excited, eager, and slightly nervous student shoes. Believe us -- it really can be the best four years of your life.

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