Posts filed under 'School Tools'
It’s the one question that gets old fast: What do you plan to major in? Whether you don’t know yet, or just want an idea of what major would best suit you, take the “What College Majors Will Match Your Personality?” quiz. Considering the result it gave me actually was my major in college, this could be a fairly accurate prognosticator of your future in higher education.
As a bonus, About.com follows your quiz result with a list of articles that tie into your perceived personality and college interests.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
December 19th, 2008
You may have done your holiday shopping and picked out all your gifts with great care. You may have even sorted through everything and wrapped them all up. But have you filled the stockings yet? What can you do for last-minute stocking stuffer ideas? I’ve got the solution for you right here. Your college-age kids will love these simple, yet exciting holiday ideas.
Accessorize in Pink
It’s always necessary to protect your nice things, especially your electronics. That’s why Otterbox makes great heavy-duty products to protect important electronics, like your iPod Nano or iPhone. What’s even better about Otterbox’s Strength line is that the cases are pink (perfect for girls) and benefit the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade so 10 percent of the cost goes to breast cancer research. Do your part – protect and spice up an accessory, while doing good for others!
Where to buy: http://www.otterbox.com/avon-pink-cases/
Price: Cases range from $15-$49.95 in the Strength collection.
I’ll Tumble For Ya…
Running around campus is tough and exhausting. Be sure to keep your college-age kids hydrated with the Tervis Tumbler. This plastic bottle will keep any liquid safe from ruining all notes and textbooks in the case of some accidental spillage. There are lots of options with the Tervis Tumbler. You can pick different sizes, colors, and you can even have it personalized with initials, icons, or a variety of collegiate symbols.
Where to buy: http://www.tervis.com
Price: A 16 oz. tumbler with collegiate icon, lid, and set of straws runs about $18, plus tax.
Pick What You’d Like
When all else fails, you know your recipient will enjoy a gift card. With virtually every store issuing and accepting gift cards these days, they are the perfect stocking stuffer: small enough in size to fit in a stocking and big enough in quality to fit in your college-age kid’s life. The Gift Card Mall is the perfect place to get your gift cards. In December they ship for free so check ‘em out before it’s too late!
Where to buy: http://www.giftcardmall.com
Price: Depends on store and how much you want to spend. Usually priced in increments of $10 or $25.
Let There Be Light
For those late-night study sessions when the roommate is asleep, it’s best to keep roommate relations high by not causing a ruckus. Mr. Brightside is helpful for just that and is very convenient for computer usage as it plugs right into a USB port. Providing just the right amount of light to be able to see the keyboard, Mr. Brightside is compact and handy. It also comes in fun colors.
Where to buy: http://www.biggerandbrighter.com
Price: $8.99
For more holiday ideas, check out CollegeBound’s Holiday Gift Guide.
-Amanda Fornecker
December 16th, 2008
Back in the early 2000s, I only had three ways of boosting my calc grades: study group, teacher tutoring, and cable access programs. While I did manage to ace the class, it was only after I made significant changes to my schedule that allowed me to meet up with teachers and fellow students that my grades improved. If only there were some way that today’s calc students could amp up their GPAs when it’s convenient for them — a sort of Tutor-on-Demand system.
Oh, that’s right! There’s YouTube. Yes, YouTube. The bane of many an office and college with its nearly endless supply of irreverent videos and songs, YouTube has become a private tutor to today’s students. Rather than keep their academic prowess to themselves, teachers and pros in the know have been taping lessons and explanations so that students wide and far can benefit from at-your-pace learning in the comfort of their own homes.
One such budding tutor is Salman Khan, the mind behind the one-man not-for-profit Khan Academy, which has posted well over 600 videos on everything from trigonometry and physics, to the credit crisis and SAT prep. With an academic record that includes the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, Khan has become a scholastic sensation over the last two years. His minimalist videos (Khan uses MS Paint to work through equations) have amassed more than 100,000 views and his hits keep climbing thanks to word-of-mouth and recent coverage in various news outlets.
If you’d like to check out some of Khan’s tutorials, check out his site www.KhanAcademy.org that links back to YouTube.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
December 12th, 2008
While no one can knock all the features that Microsoft Office has to offer, there are alternatives around that will grant you some of the same options (or more) for free.
Though this list doesn’t cover all of the writing software that’s available on the Internet, it will clue you in to some of the more interesting ones and who they’re best suited for.
Join the Dark Side
Designed for the PC and PC/Mac/Linux, respectively, the Dark Room (they.misled.us/dark-room) and JDarkRoom (codealchemists.com/jdarkroom) are distraction-free writing zones where the document takes up your entire screen and refuses to show pop-ups of any kind. No toolbar, no desktop, just you and your words. It’s the perfect solution if you have a hard time concentrating. Both Dark Room and JDarkRoom are free to download and use, and boast customizable colors.
If you feel like putting down a little bit of cash you can purchase WriteRoom (hogbaysoftware.com/products/writeroom), the software that inspired Dark Room and JDarkRoom, for $24.95.
Perfect for: Easily-distracted students, minimalists, hackers, anyone who misses MS-DOS
Drawbacks: When I say distraction-free, I mean it. There’s no spell-check or grammar-check, so once you’re done writing you should import the document to another program for a double-check.
Open Your Mind to Possibilities
What if you could have something that sort of looked like MS Office but without the $100+ price tag? OpenOffice.org (www.openoffice.org) is what you need. An open source office bundle designed for PC/Mac/Linux, OpenOffice.org features free alternatives to Microsoft staples like Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. There’s no worrying about compatibility either thanks to the ability to save in multiple file formats.
Perfect for: Students on a budget, computer science majors/minors, anyone who hates the latest version of MS Office
Drawbacks: The dictionary doesn’t seem to be as comprehensive as MS Office’s, so you’ll have to do some old-fashioned dictionary flipping if you see a red squiggle underneath an uncommon word. (To be fair, though, MS Office regularly accuses me of misspelling “dialectical.”)
Shakespeare Says Celtx Rocks
Just because Shakespeare had to put up with quills, messy ink, and the occasional bout of writer’s block, doesn’t mean you have to. While Celtx (celtx.com) can’t save you from a lack of inspiration, it can help when it comes to formatting plays, screenplays, and comics — and, like most other programs on this list, it’s available for Windows, Mac, and Linux .
There’s no more fine-tuning MS Office to indent just so and overriding green grammar squiggles when it takes issue with the screenwriting staple of “INT. BOB’S ROOM – NIGHT,” because Celtx gives you preformatted templates that take into account the difference between writing a term paper and the next Sundance Film Festival must-see.
Perfect for: Budding filmmakers, playwrights, comic artists, and more
Drawbacks: If you’re really into using a quill and inkwell then you’ll never like it. Sorry, Shakespeare.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
October 16th, 2008
Join U.Got It? in welcoming our new guest blogger, Barbara Bellesi. She’s an expert from CampusCompare.com, who’ll be dropping by once in a while to share some thoughts on the process of choosing a college.
As a college-bound student, it seems as though everyone’s got advice for you. From your parents to your guidance counselor to even your dentist, people are lining up for their chance to weigh in on your college decision. Thanks to websites like CampusCompare, you’ve also got tons of college students clamoring for your attention, ready to share their points of view on college life. But here’s a question that you won’t find on the ACT or the SAT: should you pay attention to student reviews?
College reviews are not like movie reviews. You might still pay the 10 bucks for admission even after the movie you want to see gets panned by the critics. College, on the other hand, carries a much heftier price tag and you certainly don’t want buyers’ remorse. Therefore, it is perfectly acceptable—and advisable—to make student reviews part of your decision-making process.
Notice I said part. There should be many factors that determine your final college pick, and student reviews can be an integral part of the equation. Here are some ways that you can use reviews to your advantage:
1. Consider the source. Let’s say you read a scathing review from a student at University X who says her professors are the worst ever. Well, are they truly the worst, or is she saying that because she just failed half her midterms? We’ve all had terrible days and have sought opportunities to vent our feelings, which is what some college students are tempted to do on review sites. Remember that while many bad reviews are justifiable, there are some that come from having bad days.
2. Check for consistency. Did everyone who posted a review about a certain school rave about the cafeteria? Sounds like the food could be really good. What about social activities on campus? Is everyone saying that there’s nothing to do, or is it just one bored student? Remember, one review—negative or positive—does not make or break a school. A student complaining about dorm size at Harvard won’t bring down the reputation of that hallowed institution.
3. See for yourself. Reviews are merely opinions; therefore, in formulating your own ideas about a school, you should check out the features that are being reviewed. CampusCompare allows students to post reviews in more than a dozen categories—from academics and financial aid to campus safety and dorms—but don’t let that stop you from scheduling a campus visit. Take a class. Eat at the cafeteria. Hang out on the quad. See if you agree or disagree with the reviews.
Most of us care what other people think more than we’d like to admit. When it comes to choosing a college, that might not be such a bad thing after all. As long as you take other factors into consideration as well, hearing from actual college students is a smart move.
-Barbara Bellesi
October 15th, 2008
Once you get in to college, you probably think you’re done reviewing all the ridiculous education rankings. Not so for those looking ahead to grad school.
For law school and b-school hopefuls, however, the rankings review might not be as bad as you think.
The hot-off-the-press 2009 print and online editions of “Best 174 Law Schools” and “Best 296 Business Schools” may appear daunting at first glance. But The Princeton Review’s annual guidebooks are chock full of fun lists that are mostly based on student input. It’s kind of like having a grad school insider give you the scoop on what each school is really like. Each guidebook lists the top 10 schools in 11 categories.
So if you’re interested in the best business school for career prospects, you would click on Stanford University (Stanford, CA). Or if you want to be aware of the toughest law school to get into — the only ranking in the books based entirely on school-reported 
data — you would take note of Yale University (New Haven, CT).
Both books include lists of schools that are the toughest to get into and that present the best career prospects, best classroom experience, and most competitive students.
The b-school ranking categories also include best administered, best campus environment, best campus facilities, best professors, greatest opportunity for minority students, greatest opportunity for women, and most family friendly.
The law school categories also include best environment for minority students,
best quality of life, candidates for Center for American Progress Fellowships? (or, students lean to the left), candidates for Heritage Foundation Fellowships? (or, students lean to the right), most diverse faculty, most welcoming of older students, and professors rock (legally speaking).
Remember, the schools are ranked from their students’ perspective. So the guidebooks can serve as a sort of shorthand for you. Say you’re a minority student interested in Badabing U., but it didn’t make the list of the top 10 schools for minority students. That’s your cue to follow up with the school and get your questions answered directly.
It can be dangerous to take grad school rankings at face value. But if you take the guidebooks and online listings for what they really are — a guide — you’ll have a valuable tool to determine how various schools rate in the areas that matter most to you.
For those looking toward law school or b-school: Do you plan to review the rankings first?
-Robyn Tellefsen
October 8th, 2008
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
September 10th, 2008
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
September 2nd, 2008
An hour past midnight and I was just a page away from finishing my term paper; due the next day. I’m sure it would have been a great paper but Microsoft Word had other designs at that moment — namely crashing and taking my paper with it. When I finally loaded my “recovered” file, I found that not much had been recovered. My 10 pages of hard work had turned into 300 pages of random gibberish, the occasional asterisk, and a strange sentence that was either from my first draft or just my Mac taunting me.
Fortunately, I had an understanding professor — but that’s not always a guarantee in college. To avoid having your papers lost to a digital black hole consider these back-up plans:
The Easy (and Lazy) Way
E-mail
Why? It’s the easiest and cheapest method for saving your files to a secure place. As you work on your papers make a habit of sending back-up copies to yourself via e-mail. If you’re using a POP3 account your document will be saved to your inbox and sent box, while an IMAP account will save an extra copy to a remote e-mail server.
Any perks? It’s the height of portability. If your computer or printer should break down, simply hop on another computer and access your e-mail to grab the last sent version of your paper.
How much can I save? As much as you need, unless your e-mail provider has data limits on attachments or mailbox space.
How much does it cost? Free.
The Cheap (and Kitschy) Way
The USB Flash Drive
Why? Long gone are the days of floppy disks; in their place stands the USB flash drive. Smaller than the conventional CD and far more portable — you can place it in your pocket or buy models that hang from necklaces and keychains — 
the USB flash drive is the perfect place to store your important school docs.
Any perks? Not only can you easily access your files and encrypt them if necessary, you can also express your individuality thanks to the numerous novelty designs on the market.
How much can I save? Depending on the USB flash drive you select, you could have anywhere from 64 MB to 32 GB of space.
How much does it cost? As much as $100 or as little as $7.
The Pricey (and Best) Way
External Hard Drive
Why? The ultimate form of computer back-up, an external hard drive has the power and the space to accommodate all your files and applications. It’s essentially the same as your computer’s internal hard drive except it’s as easily detached and reattached as your average USB flash drive or Firewire device.
Any perks? Although it’s not the easiest thing to carry around, thanks to a protective case and its own cooling system, external hard drives are often smaller than your desktop computer or laptop and take up little desk space. 
You can even leave it connected to your computer all day, setting the drive to automatically copy and update files according to what you’d like.
How much can I save? External hard drives can range in size from 30 GB to 500 GB.
How much does it cost? Most will run you from $90 to $300.
For more college-relevant tech tips check out our article, “Manage Time the Techie Way.”
– Genevieve M. Blaber
August 7th, 2008
You’ve seen them — bulletins sent in the mail or galleries linked on school websites — and they’re all filled with the same things: happy, smiling students of every race and color who are either walking around campus or deeply engaged in a professor’s lecture.
But just how accurate are these microcosms of college living? According to recent research headed by Timothy Pippert, an associate professor of sociology from Augsburg College (Minneapolis, Missouri), not very.
Using a random sampling of 371 college and universities, Pippert studied various promotional materials and found that schools often over-represented the number of minorities on campus. For example, while black and Asian students comprise 7.9 and 3.3 percent of the average college student body, respectively, their presence in college bulletins and other materials amount to 12.4 and 5.1 percent of students portrayed.
The effect can be two-fold, gain the interest of students who are interested in attending a diverse college and make minority students feel more welcome. But does this penchant for picture diversity constitute a conspiracy to lure in students? What do you think?
– Genevieve M. Blaber
July 11th, 2008
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