Archive for May, 2011
Want to get a sense of the highs and lows about being a college student? You’ll find realistic insight–in real time–on Twitter. Students’ comments capture the college experience – so here’s some of the honest truth about academics, relationships, money, and more.
Now’s the time to read all the comments – good and bad – because #incollege is trending on Twitter this week. Here’s a few of our favorites. If you’re on Twitter, go on and add some words of wisdom of your own.
–Lori Johnston
May 26th, 2011
Just in case you were wondering whether or not we really support the idea of continuing to educate yourself at every opportunity, you should check out our tweets this week. CBN is at BlogWorld, and if that doesn’t sound like something related to college, well, consider this: We’re here so that we can learn how to keep getting better at bringing you the latest information and advice about every stage of the college and university admissions process.
We’ll be tweeting from @CollegeBoundNet, @CollegeSurfing, and @SpaBeautySchools, with liberal sprinkles of tweets from @GinaLaGuardia, @DawnPapandrea, and @TheWriteWoman (Barbara went rogue when choosing her Twitter handle). And our hashtag of choice is #BWENY.
Since we’ll be glued to our laptops and iPads, feel free to tweet us a question or comment and we’ll be sure to respond. Hooray for fun conferences!
–The CollegeBound Network
May 25th, 2011
While I am proud of my reputation for being snarky, I won’t use this post to make fun of anyone who believes that the end of the world is tomorrow and that the Rapture is imminent. I will simply tell you that in my 12 years of Catholic schooling, I have had it drilled into my head that we can NEVER determine when Judgment Day will arrive, and therefore the highly specific date of May 21 (or even the year 2012, for that matter) just ain’t flying with me.
That said, I am using this weekend–and I do mean this to include Sunday, as in the day that comes after Doomsday–to get my act together and finally get going on some projects that have fallen by the wayside. And I’m not talking about my laundry, either–though my hamper certainly seems to runneth over these days. I’m referring to writing projects, reading, my floundering fitness program, catching up with friends and family, and other things I have started and stopped and started and stopped again in the hopes of improving myself just a little bit.
Sound familiar, college-bound students? College is certainly one way of improving oneself–in many ways, not just intellectually–and if college has slipped off your to-do list, why not slide it back on? Don’t be jealous of graduates this season. Instead, use their success as an inspiration for your own. Success comes out from hard work, not waiting around to see what happens to others.
If you’ve got friends going off to college next year, don’t think you’re left behind without options. Take a class to see what you might like. Find a mentor in a field that interests you and ask questions about his or her career. Don’t know where to start? Leave a question in the comment section below and I’ll help steer you in the right direction.
And yes, I will see you back here on Monday.
–Barbara Bellesi
May 20th, 2011
My office is a pretty fun place to be, and as a result, my coworkers and I have participated in more than a few of the most RANDOM conversations known to man. In fact, just this morning, what started out as a conversation with my coworker about slang expressions somehow ended up with my uttering this vehement statement: “And THAT is why I no longer work with actors.”
Not following the logic of that conversation? Don’t worry, neither did we.
I don’t really have that much against actors, by the way. But as an English and theatre double major in college, I decided that writing, not stage management, was the career that better suited me. When did I make this decision? After I spent a month as an assistant stage manager at a summer stock theatre on the Jersey Shore. It was the summer after my freshman year of college, and although I had a blast and learned a lot, I came back to school knowing that I probably would not pursue a career in theatre.
So why didn’t I drop my theatre major? Well, because I enjoyed studying theatre way too much. Also, my knowledge of plays and playwrights helped me immensely in my study of English literature. And besides, I understood then that a college degree is a college degree; regardless of my subject matter, it would ultimately be my overall intelligence and ability that would get me into grad school or a great job later on.
College students who change their majors numerous times are called fickle–though I prefer the term “adventurous.” Isn’t it easier to change your career interest while still in school? Just look at the number of career-changers out there now. Can’t be easy to shift focus on your professional life when a paycheck is at stake, right?
Anything worth working for is also worth working hard. That’s why when you hear people talk about how they’ve explored new career or academic interests, listen up. If you get to college next year and meet and upperclassman who’s on major change #4, buy him or her a cup of coffee and ask a few questions. Find out what drives them to succeed. No one says success is perfect, and no one says there’s a single straight road to success, either.
Speaking of questions, what academic majors and careers do you want to learn more about? My random conversation today might have inspired a new series of blog posts, I hope. I want to reach out to students and working adults who once changed their minds about their future endeavors and learn more about how they got to where they are now. Have an idea for me? Leave it in the comment section below.
–Barbara Bellesi
May 18th, 2011
In a rare turn of events, the cast of “Jersey Shore” has done something close enough to be considered an academic endeavor–they have bought Rosetta Stone software to help them learn Italian so that they can blend in a bit better with their Italian neighbors this season.
Oh, who am I kidding? The “Jersey Shore” cast will never blend in ANYWHERE they go, but at least they are trying the limit the amount of feathers they are sure to be ruffling by learning a few phrases in the native tongue. Who knows? Maybe Snooki’s real talent is with languages. (Stranger things have happened.)
Jokes aside, I have to give credit where credit is due. The fact that the ragazzi are trying to learn some Italian shows that they’ve got a bit of respect for the Old Country and will at least try to use some basic phrases and vocabulary during their travels. I’ll give them some help:
Where is the tanning salon?
Dov’e il solarium?
Does my hair look OK?
I miei capelli è bello?
Yo, that girl is a grenade.
Ufa! Quella ragazza è un granata.
Study hard, guidos and guidettes…
–Barbara Bellesi
May 16th, 2011
It’s one thing to suspend a high school student because he or she has done something horribly offensive or horribly dangerous. And in a post-Columbine world, I would normally say that a student should get in some sort of trouble for trespassing on the school grounds after hours. But today’s news of an overreacting school principal has me and a lot of other people scratching our heads.
Here’s the story: In probably one of the greatest “Awwwww!” moments of the year, James Tate, a senior at Shelton High School in Shelton, CT, decided on a sweet and memorable way to ask his girl to the prom: He and a friend went to school after dark and posted the message SONALI RODRIGUES WILL YOU GO TO PROM WITH ME? HMU-TATE.” (HMU=hit me up, BTW. And Sonali said yes!) Adorable, right? But the killjoy school administration had to go and not only suspend Tate for trespassing, but bar him from the prom.
Seriously?!
I understand rules. I understand respect. But Tate neither disrespected nor harmed anyone in this case. And consider the rumors that swirl around other after-hours pranks that high school students pull, this candy-coated, G-rated incident is not even close to being in the same category.
I mean really, how cute are these two? Let them go to the prom!
Of course, a Facebook page was made in the seconds following the handing down of the punishment, and more than 26,000 people (including me) have already liked the page. Brenda Kyer posted, “This is ridiculous; talk about abuse of power…The kids should not be punished for a romantic gesture. In a world of war, bad economy and violence in schools these kids should be thanked for their mirth.” Well said, Ms. Kyer.
Fox News is reporting that even the town’s mayor has come out against the school ruling, saying that the punishment in no way fits the crime. Apparently, not only is Tate a good kid, but his parents are also upstanding, involved citizens.
Sheesh. Let Tate go to the prom already. There’s bigger fish to fry in the world today. It’s kind of refreshing to see a kid be a kid for once. Props to you, James Tate. Sonali Rodrigues is a lucky girl.
–Barbara Bellesi
May 11th, 2011
Some colleges get the dubious distinction of being named a top party school by The Princeton Review or even Playboy magazine. These rankings just further show how much drinking is part of college life, which is often a temptation that causes some students to plummet academically during freshman year–usually as their perceived social status is rising.
It’s common for college students, underage or not, to say they must drink to handle the stress of school, or to spend weekends blowing off steam related to the flurry of exams, papers, and projects combined with work and financial pressures. But some colleges are paying attention to the tough topic of alcohol and drug use by offering programs and even on-campus housing where students can counter addiction.
Residence halls for students who have been treated for drug and alcohol abuse are offered by schools including Augsburg College in Minneapolis, the University of Vermont, and Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA Today recently reported. At Rutgers, the substance-free campus housing allows students to live in a place free of nicotine, alcohol, and drugs, and with access to support from counselors to handle the demands of college.
These and other efforts at schools across the country show that if you have had problems with drug and alcohol abuse in high school, you don’t have to face a losing battle in college. If you’re in this situation, consider searching for a school that is making a point not just to teach academics, but also to provide life lessons to students.
The more services and help that schools offer related to drug and alcohol abuse can put you on a better path once you graduate. Students will be better prepared to handle the stress of the real world – without using alcohol or drugs to help them through it.
–Lori Johnston
May 9th, 2011
You probably already know–whether you want to or not–that the newest season of “Jersey Shore” will be filmed in Italy. It’s as if the show’s producers got tired of insulting Italian-Americans and decided to take on the Old Country instead. Grazie, MTV. (How do you say “sarcasm” in Italian?)
However, it looks like Italy isn’t getting ready to pump its collective fist in delight. TMZ obtained a letter (as only those wacky folks at TMZ can) from the Istituto Lorenzo de’ Medici, a university in Florence whose administration is warning students that the guidos and guidettes from the Garden State will soon be using one of its dorm buildings as a shooting location.
The letter reads:
“Dear Students,
Our Housing dept. has informed us that starting May 9th there will be shootings inside the 2nd floor apartment of your building. We advise you to NOT sign any paper, let anyone in, and keep us informed.”
Uffa! Who says you need to fall asleep on a tanning bed to get burned? No amore for GTL in Italy, it seems. Looks like Snooki and The Situation are about to get schooled, Italian-style. Stay tuned, ragazzi.
–Barbara Bellesi
May 6th, 2011
With the week of dramatic news stories that the world has just experienced, nothing short of Harvard University adopting an open-door admissions policy would capture anyone’s attention today on this blog. So instead, we’ll just invite you to our #CollegeBound Twitter chat today at 4PM ET, where we’ll talk about keeping focused in a world full of breaking-news distractions. See you there!
–The CollegeBound Network
May 2nd, 2011
