Posts filed under 'College Craziness'
Last night I had the pleasure of joining the Girl’s Night Out event (GNO) on Twitter. Hosted by Mom It Forward, GNO set lifelong learning as its topic, but discussion eventually covered everything from juggling school while handling children to getting your own kids into the college of their dreams.
Whether the participants were thinking about school for themselves or someone else, one thing was certain: GNOers love learning and they know that the conventional college answers may not be the right solution for every budding student. That’s why it’s important to take a look at all your options, from online schools and continuing education, to career schools and certification.
If you’re interested in checking out what the panelists had to say on all these topics and more, you can use Search.twitter.com to find all tweets marked with the GNO hashtag (#GNO). You can also check out the “Moms Back at School” page for more up-to-date info on bringing an education back into your life or head over to Mom It Forward and enjoy more discussion about last night’s GNO.
And if you’re not already doing so, make sure to follow us on Twitter!
– Genevieve M. Blaber
March 4th, 2009
As you may have well heard, the student occupation of New York University (NYU, NYC, NY) ended earlier today with NYU security guards rounding up members of Take Back NYU! (the student organization responsible, and yes they like their exclamation point so don’t take it away from them). NYU admin also served the students with suspension papers and is booting them from student housing. While there’s plenty more to the story (NYU has offered them amnesty as long as they don’t get into more trouble, etc.) it’s pretty clear right now that TBNYU! lost their battle. But there was one winner during the whole debacle: NYULocal.
NYULocal is the official blog of NYU, and it takes a more conversational approach than its more traditional newspaper counterpart, Washington Square News. But the aim is the same: keep students informed — and NYULocal took that to the next level. While other news outlets relied on secondary information and info passed from TBNYU! and NYU administration, NYULocal had one of its writers, Charlie Eisenhood, on the scene. Barricaded in with the protesters, Eisenhood offered frequent and — as much as they could be given his location — uncensored accounts of the goings on.
Eventually Eisenhood was barred from talking about and even listening to TBNYU!’s meetings, but his presence still served a purpose: readers got a more objective look into the events as they happened and discussion was sparked. His posts greatly complimented NYULocal’s coverage of events outside the Kimmel Center and statements made by officials and TBNYU!ers.
If you have time, I suggest going back through their archives and reading about the TBNYU! occupation from the very beginning. It’s not the whole story, but it’s a better look than some media will or can give you.
*Image courtesy of NYULocal.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
February 20th, 2009
College students have been staging protests for as long as there’s been a campus to stand on. But last night at New York University (NYU, NYC, NY) dissatisfied students took their demands to another level, barricading themselves into the cafeteria floor of the Kimmel Center for Student Life. The students, calling their movement “Take Back NYU,” have a website dedicated to their effort and have listed their demands. (They even Tweet.)
Now, full disclosure: I’m an NYU alumna. Over my four years I had the privilege of attending a school with students who were passionate about their beliefs and who were willing to take a stand, even if it was unpopular. I witnessed many a protest and while some of them I less-than-loved as their chants interrupted my finals, I always supported them on principle.
I can’t say the same this time.
I’ve read over their list of grievances and demands, and many are the same things students asked for when I was in school. I can even agree with them on some points. A public release of the school’s budget? Reasonable, considering that tuition rates are on the rise. Allowing workers and T.A.’s to collectively bargain? Something NYU students have protested about for many years. There’s just one problem: their method.
Boycotting aspects of NYU life and staging protests in front of NYU buildings is a valid way of showing the administration that you and other students have concerns that are not being addressed through usual channels. Forcefully taking over an entire floor of an NYU building and barricading yourself and the area from security and NYU students who would otherwise use the space, is a juvenile move that’s more akin to a temper tantrum than a calculated protest. If anything, this decision may make coming to an agreement even harder as I doubt NYU will want to give students the idea that they can get what they want simply by acting out.
College is a time to work on your communication, leadership skills, and maturity levels and these students have thrown that to the side for a bullhorn, viral marketing, and a giggling slumber party in a school space. I have a hard time taking them seriously when they’re not going about their efforts maturely. And while I do support one of two of their demands I do not support them at all.
*Picture courtesy of CBSNews.com
– Genevieve M. Blaber
February 19th, 2009
Colleges can change a lot over the years, but one thing that doesn’t seem to change is the complaints college students make. Every day I go through dozens of college blogs and articles that ring out with the same moans and groans that I and my peers made back in the day. So here, in no particular order, are five common college complaints you’ll have and how you can solve them.
1. I’m so exhausted! Why do colleges have to schedule classes at nine in the morning?
Most workdays and offices open at 9 am so if there’s a time to get used to it, college is your best bet. Make an effort to ditch the weekday partying and get to bed early. And try not to pull out the (lame) excuses if your professor notices your consistent tardiness.
What Not to Say to Your Professor: Tales from College Faculty
10 Simple Things You Can Do To Conquer College
2. I’m never leaving my dorm again. The Freshman 15 is the worst thing ever!
Yes, it pretty much is — but there’s plenty you can do to ward it off or beat the pounds you already gained. Forgo the fast food, cheap eats, and Cup ‘o’ Noodles, and make time to eat healthy. Try walking around campus more too.
Just Say “No” to Excessive Weight Gain
Nutrition 101: Your Syllabus To Healthy Eating
3. I have so much reading to do. There’s no way I’ll have time for all of this!
I’ve been guilty of this complaint too, but here’s a secret: practically no one reads all of the assigned reading materials in college. The key is to become a master of scanning, using your class notes as a guide to what to read and what to skip. If you do have the time, go back and read everything thoroughly and whatever you do, don’t procrastinate!
The Procrastination Monster
Six Steps to Collegiate Success
4. My college is a bureaucracy. I hate it. Nobody ever helps me.
Colleges are gigantic institutions and, while they care for you as student, they don’t imbue any one administrator with the power to solve all your problems. You’ll have to go through a chain of command, be shuffled between multiple people, and repeat your story ad nauseum, but it will help you build your self-confidence, communication skills, and independence.
Getting in the Door of Waitlisted College Courses
Survival Tips From College Students
5. I had friends in high school but I can’t seem to make any here.
While it’s not your fault, on a big college campus you’ll have to do some legwork if you ever expect to have a social life. Join clubs that you’re actually interested in, chat up classmates before and after class, and take a chance and sit down at someone else’s table during lunch. Your new best friend could be around the corner.
Join the Club: Extracurriculars Can Help College Feel More Like Home
Self-Esteem and the College Student
– Genevieve M. Blaber
February 19th, 2009
We usually concentrate on schools stories in North America, here at College — U. Got It? but sometimes things far from our borders catch our attention. Take for instance, one overachieving high school graduate from Pakistan, Ali Moeen Nawazish. When Nawazish decided to apply to the prestigious U.K. institution, Cambridge University, he didn’t settle for taking the recommended four A-Level exams — he decided to sit for 22 instead.
Roughly comparable to the Advanced Placement exams given to students in the U.S., the A-Levels are no cakewalk — yet, Nawazish still snagged an A on 20 of his tests. What’s more, his experience with some of the subjects he was tested on, like psychology, only extended as far back as three days before the test date.
Now working on his computer science degree as a Cambridge freshman, Nawazish plans to move to also get a degree in medicine so that he can join his family in their careers as doctors.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
January 30th, 2009
This article is making fast rounds around blogs and social media networks, but it’s also stirring up a fair amount of discussion and criticism along the way.
According to the piece, an aspiring college student ordered a laptop from Dell and found out that it came with the Ubuntu operating system instead of the more widely known and accepted Windows. A salesperson supposedly convinced her to keep her laptop as is, only for her to find out that she couldn’t use her ISP’s Windows-only installation disc and couldn’t install Microsoft Word – which she says was mandatory for her courses. The result? She dropped out of college for two semesters because she couldn’t get online and couldn’t write her papers.
Except she could have if she had tried and done some research on her own. Not only did she not need the ISP installation disc to get online (a fact she would have discovered had she called the ISP company) she also didn’t need Microsoft Word in order to open and save Word docs. Ubuntu, as she even acknowledged in the video, came with OpenOffice.org installed – and one of the perks of OpenOffice.org is that you can use Word docs as you would with Microsoft Word.
So an aspiring college student lets a technical glitch get in the way of two semesters of school because she doesn’t stop to research the issue or contact companies and ask. No wonder everyone online is flabbergasted.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
January 15th, 2009
College is great but the reality sure can differ from your expectations — especially when colleges sugar-coat the truth. That’s why we decided to round-up some of the facts you’ll hear during your college tours and give you the real deal on what to expect. There’s also a healthy dose of advice for how to deal with these situations before they become problems.
Just head on over to College Facts You Have to Face (What Colleges Won’t Tell You).
– Genevieve M. Blaber
January 13th, 2009
Last Friday, The Daily Beast gave us the bad news we didn’t want: college admissions officers aren’t always fair and their affections can be fair-weather. With never-before-seen candor, former and current admissions officers gave the 4-1-1 on what students do to warrant a rejection (boring essays: understandable) as well as the fickle biases that keep them from letting a student in (food poisoning: unbelievable).
Below are excerpts from The Daily Beast’s extensive expose.
“One year I had a student with a near-perfect SAT score and straight A’s. I’d originally put him in the submitted pool but then we had to reduce the list. I reread his essays and frankly, they were just a little more boring than the other kids. So I cut him. Boring was the only justification that I needed and he was out.”
While, it’s not right to reject a student solely based upon his essay — how were his grades compared to other applicants’? — the importance of the essay can’t be understated. The essay is your time to shine and stand apart from the other thousands of applications with identical grades and coursework. Make it great, make it memorable, and make it you.
“One night, I got food poisoning at a restaurant in Buffalo. The next day, I rejected all the Buffalo applications. I couldn’t stomach reading them.”
What on Earth? We have a hard time believing this one — who can come into work the day after food poisoning? — but if it is true, it’s a travesty. A hopeful college applicant shouldn’t have to pay for an admissions officer’s bad menu choice with his/her college dreams.
“Some middle-tier schools will reject top applicants, too […] But the admissions officer’s attitude is, ‘Oh, he just applied here as a safety. He’ll never come.’ They don’t want to lower the yield they have to report for the college rankings.”
Rejecting applicants who are “too good” in order to fix a school’s rankings and out of fear that they’ll pass on admissions is anything but fair. Unfortunately, there’s no way you can possibly predict how good of a student you should be so you’ll need to use your essay to convey how much you want to get into a school. Just don’t preface it with an ego-filled declaration like, “I could have gone to Harvard but decided to attend your school because…”
– Genevieve M. Blaber
January 12th, 2009
At College – U. Got It?, we’re always on the lookout for guest bloggers. This week we asked Vincent Mackey, an administrative assistant for The CollegeBound Network, to share his study tips for a successful college career.
Students new to college life (or just gearing up for it) have much to learn in the ways of unlearning, and hopefully my experiences here regarding the transition from high school study habits to college study habits can help. In fact, it was unlearning how to study that ultimately got me through college. Here are couple of tips I learned along the way:
A busier schedule equals better grades…
I had always thought that more free time meant more time to study. But while I definitely had more time, I wasn’t necessarily spending it studying during my early college years.
This all changed when I tried completing 25 credits in one semester. When you have so much going on, instead of becoming overburdened, you become focused. The drifting and procrastinating almost go away entirely because you have no choice but to sit down and get it all done.
Schedule your classes strategically…
This actually has a big impact on how you study. Whenever I was home, I noticed I was easily distracted and rarely started homework; my home is my comfort zone — not my workplace.
Try scheduling classes with a couple of hours between them. You will find that you are almost forced not to go back to your dorm or home because there simply is too little time. Instead, go to the library and find a quiet work place. You will be surprised how much work can be done in a focused two hours.
“I don’t need to study if they give reviews…”
Sounds like something the kid failing class would say, right? Not really, if you do this right. A review session basically gives you the test answers the day or two before you take it. If you really want to get through a class without barely opening a book, then here is your chance. But be careful. Sitting through a review and nothing more, simply put, will make you fail.
Be very attentive during the review and immediately sit down for a good three to four hours in the library and study. Write out your answers. You need to be extremely active at this point, but once you get your good grade, you can go back to being a slacker again — until the next review, anyway.
The time doesn’t matter…
Studying at nine and finishing at 10 at night because you have to go to bed and get up in the morning probably worked when you were in high school — but you’re in college now! These are the years where going to bed at 1a.m. is “turning in early” and waking up at 7 a.m. simply does not exist. I found myself cracking open a book at strange hours of the night — and day — on plenty of occasions. The trick is to schedule you study time when it works for you. For once you don’t have mom and dad barking at you to do your homework, so take advantage!
The Internet is your friend…
If you spend more time messaging your friends on MySpace in a week then the amount of sleep you had last month, you’re going to find the Internet very useful in studying. Just because you have a paper book opened doesn’t mean you have to abstain from a computer. Try using the Internet to clarify problems that your textbook or professor did a poor job of explaining. It saves time and you’ll avoid beating yourself over the head in the search for — potentially — simple answers.
– Vincent Mackey
December 30th, 2008
All it takes is a little common sense according to this physics student. While we don’t know what the teacher thought of his logical induction, we think he merits a little bit of extra credit for his creative solution — or lack thereof.
As seen on Digg.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
December 19th, 2008
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