Relationships

If you have a relationship in high school and your a senior, reconsider. If your going to the same school next year, then try to make it work. Truth is, high school relationships don't last very long when both members go to different schools.  You and your "loved" one will spend countless hours questioning each other as one goes to a frat party and the other has a sports team date party.

You've been trained since elementary school to socialize with certain people and dress a certain way. College opens up a knew perspective on life. You may find that you enjoy something that you didn't think was socially acceptable, such as a play, a dance, or club. While your discovering yourself, so is your significant other. You've spent the last eighteen years of your life with the same people, in the same classes, having the same sleep overs, eating at the same lunch periods. 

Funny thing is this probably sounds awful. However, high school students make the mistake of being narrow minded into believing that something as simple as a high school relationship can be the end of the world. 

In college you'll also find your true friends. Wait until Thanksgiving break and you'll see what I mean. You will no longer have anything interesting to talk to your friend, things you find funny at school, your friends won't understand. Along with this, people change. I have friends that stayed at home and they never changed. Never grew up as a person. Still stuck in the same high school mind process.  I've also had friends that went away to school and although some I still remain close to this day, the majority have moved on with their lives.

College is a roller coaster ride of discovering who you are. Enjoy it!

“You have four years to be irresponsible here. Relax. Work is for people with jobs. You'll never remember class time, but you'll remember time you wasted hanging out with your friends. So, stay out late. Go out on a Tuesday with your friends when you have a paper due Wednesday. Spend money you don't have. Drink 'til sunrise. The work never ends, but college does..."”

Major=Future Living Standard Capability

I wish someone would have told me when I was choosing a major that I was also choosing my future earning potential.

Undergraduate degree potential earnings ranking

If you clicked on the link you see that engineering fields are by far the most likely major to lead to a luxurious career. Economics is ranked 11th, so my earning potential is decent, but not where I want it to be, which is why I'm pursuing a MHA in the fall.

Anyway, I came to college as a marketing major. I hated accounting so I quickly, without thinking, switched my major to political science. Now political science is a very interesting major. You will learn a lot about different government infrastructures and laws. However, your earning potential with a political science undergrad degree isn't relatively high, which is why most political science majors attend law school (don't attend if you don't get into a T14, my next blog will explain why). However, if $35,000 a year is a decent standard of living for you, by all means political science and most liberal arts degrees will suffice.

Now I know what you may be thinking. This guy is ridiculing liberal arts majors, which isn't the case at all. I'm just trying to worn you that a $60,000 yearly salary isn't reachable with most undergraduate degrees. Actually you'd be lucky if an employer offered you $40,000 for an entry level position. If I could take a mulligan on my undergraduate years, I would have majored in software engineering or physics.

Why?

Because universities have become windmills for liberal arts and business degrees. If you look at Career builder you will see that there are numerous jobs for engineering majors, while not many for a arts history major. What I didn't know and wish I was told , is that math and science is the key to a high standard of living. The more math classes you take in your undergrad, the more valuable you are to a potential employer.

When my parents went to school a history degree was a decent thing, because not everyone had access to the information that a history major had. Now a history degree can be found in the form of Wikipedia or other websites. It's just not as valuable if everyone has access to it. No individuality, creates mediocrity.

If you truly love a certain field follow your dreams, but I would strongly advise to double major.

Most liberal art degrees require 31 credits of free electives. You can take these free electives in any classes you desire. In this section of your program requirements I would advise taking another majors requirements.

Finally, get involved in school. I have a friend who isn't involved in any school clubs or organizations, and when it came to writing a resume he had trouble. Employers won't even glance at a candidate without an internship, work experience, or community involvement.

What you do in the classroom is important, but what you do outside the classroom is more important..

Freshmen Fifteen

You may be the all star ice hockey player at your high school. You may be the best football player in the region. Or you may just enjoy walking long distances. However, when freshmen arrive at college they may see reduced free time to get the amount of exercise that their body has been used to the last eighteen years of their lives. This may lead to the freshmen fifteen. The infamous phrase for weight gain during a freshmen first year tenure.

Why does this happen?

Many freshmen were used to busy schedules in high school: such as, participating in after school sports and playing with friends. Your metabolism is also a lot faster as a teenager in high school. When you arrive at college you'll find that you don't regularly participate in physical activity (neither do the other students in your hall). The common/dinner hall is also an all you can eat buffet, which leads many students to over consume. Instead of working it off however, students find it hard between their studies to find time to do physical activity.

Many freshmen are also new to the binge drinking experience. You may have drank one or two nights a week in high school, but in college every night can turn into a drinking night. Remember that every light beer has around 150-200 calories, and every shot of grain alcohol is equivalent to one beer. So if you drink twelve beers a night, your looking at adding 1800 calories at the minimum to your diet a day.

Put the joy sticks down.

It's important to find time for the gym. Now I'm not saying to be a meat head, and go pick things up and put them down. You can run around the track, play basketball,  play bad mitten or tennis.  Just remember to get some exercise, or you may see a double chin in your facebook pics.

Template weekly change

Every day the blog will have a new college or university theme.

Just wanted to make it clear that I'm not advertising for the schools, I just thought it would keep the blog from becoming stale. If you'd like to see your school featured, comment here.

The realism of investing in college

I wish someone would have shown me this video when I was applying to college.

Check it out for yourself:

The College Conspiracy

Yes you have to pay them back

Be careful of banks and other loan companies. They may offer amazing deals on your student loans, such as low interest rates, but in truth they aren't in the business of saving you money.

Let me show you how much money you'll spend a month on typical student loans from a private institution.

Private University
Cost per semester: $20,000
Four years of college: $160,000
Interest rate: 6.7%
Payment period: 30 years

Monthly payment: $1,043.08
Total Interest Paid: $215,509.16
Total Amount Paid: $375,509.16

Student loans become a lot like paying two mortgages your whole life.  The scary thing is this does not include your cell phone bill ($100+), grocery bill ($400+), utility bills ($200+), car insurance ($100), ect.

What should you do to reduce the cost of loans?

Apply for grants!

Grants are pretty much free money ( sorry tax payers) given to students. Unlike grants you don't have to pay the grants back. You can apply for grants through FAFSA: http://www2.ed.gov/programs/fpg/index.html

Another thing to remember is live within your means. By all means go out and have a good time on Thirsty Thursday, just don't spend $30 on a case of Sam Adams to be a high roller that night. Don't eat out constantly, make your own food.

Students usually take out large loans and forget that they have to pay them back. It isn't until the six month grace period is over that students are slapped with reality.

Finally, in the past, Lawyers and Doctors would simply declare bankruptcy to clear their large student loan  debts. Today, students can no longer do this. If you declared bankruptcy today, all of your debt would be cleared, except your student loan debt. Which means you would still owe the bank $1,043.08 every month for the next thirty years with terrible credit.

Don't always follow the syllabus

Professors are there to make money. Most professors despise teaching undergraduates. One Harvard professor even ranted that teaching undergraduates was a necessary evil.

So how do professors get back at undergraduates?

By stating on a syllabus that they need three required text books. Usually one written by them which costs $150, one written by their friend which costs $100, and one that has twenty pages in it but still costs $60.

Why do professors do this?

Firstly, the professor makes money. To stop students from purchasing books online, most colleges are now working with book companies to produce university published books. This limits the amount of books that someone can buy from online. Companies also push out 13th edition books which simply add a new photo, but costs another $200. No matter how many editions of an anatomy book there are, the human body has simply not changed with each passing edition.

Secondly, The professor wants tenure. Tenure is another word for you can't be fired unless you commit murder. In order to be considered for tenure the professor must make the school happy. The school is happy when it makes money. The professor makes the school money. The school is happy with the professor. The professor receives tenure.

How to beat this?

Wait two weeks to see if you actually need the book.  Professor's today are so lazy that they usually use the same power points every semester. The questions for the test come straight from the power point, and the power points are uploaded to blackboard or another school system.

If you need the book you can buy it for cheap at half.com. I purchased my Labor Economics book for $10 online, the book store had it listed for $130. You can also rent the book for practically nothing at chegg.com (They even provide the return box.)

Research papers

 Research papers will be a large part of your grade during your college experience. During your freshmen year, you will be placed or scheduled into Comp 101 and Comp 102; these two classes are your first introductory English composition classes.

How much do your research grades count towards your final grade?

This a typical syllabus outline.
Homework: 10%
Class Participation and Attendance: 5%
Midterm: 20%
Final: 35%
Term Paper: 30%

Now if you receive a 100% on everything, but at the end of the semester receive a 65 on your midterm your looking at a:

Homework: 10/10
Class Participation and Attendance: 5/5
Midterm: 20/20
Final: 35/35
Term Paper: 19.5/30
Final grade: 89.5%<---- Overall B. You are now unqualified for Harvard graduate school.

A bad term paper grade can cost you two letter grades. So how to avoid this outcome?

Don't use Google as a source!
Google will give you every news site, every source with any key words you have provided. This of course makes searching for material easy and quick. Or does it? Most of what you get off of Google search is inaccurate. Remember it's important to use critical thinking skills when writing a research paper. Avoiding assumptions is a must, unless those assumption are tested through research.

Another thing Google does very well when it comes to papers is waste your time. By using Google, you'll be spending more time reading articles for your topic to make sure that said article has to do with your topic.

Confusing? It shouldn't be.

Google search usually goes something like this.

Search
Read article
Write down two sentences from article
Repeat

Use Jstor.org as a research search engine!


Every scholarly article known to man is on Jstor.org. Let's say your topic is The Harmful Health Effects of Environmental Degradation. If you search jstor.org for: The Harmful Health Effects of Environmental Degradation. Only scholarly articles with your topic will show up in the search.

The best part?

Jstor.org gives you an abstract of the article. The three paragraph summary is more than enough to write one to two paragraphs in your term paper. Remember to word the sentences your own way, turnitin has enabled professors to find plagiarism. If your going to copy and paste, or use a quote, make sure you cite the source

Finally, use http://citationmachine.net/index2.php MLA format to cite your paper. Jstor.org gives you all the information you need to cite your paper.

Lastly, remember to have a cover page and works cited page in your research paper. The works cited page should be listed in alphabetical order (authors last name).

The cover page should look like this:

Your name
Class
Professors name
Semester
Date
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, and don't forget! Place your last name and page number (Brian 2) at the top of each new page you start. This will make your paper look longer and more professional.

What this blog is all about

If you're attending college, or recently graduated, you know that much of what college has to offer is a scam and debt. Books are over priced, most majors won't land you a dream job, and how well you do in a class compared to others in your major depends on whether or not you get the easy or hard professor that semester.

Along with this, freshmen tend to block schedule, which may leave junior and seniors out of the classes they need. Which leads to the term super senior; laugh now, but according to statistics there's a fifty-three percent chance you will be one.

By reading this blog, you will gain the freshmen experience before you even enter college. I'll tell you exactly what to expect, what not to do, and how to save money. I'll also introduce you to resources which will make writing a ten page paper ten times shorter than it would normally take; see jstor.org. Actually that's the first blog I'll start with.

If you want to see a new topic just post a comment and I'll get around to it when I'm free.