Guide to Universities And Colleges Life

noreply@blogger.com (pierre) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:52:00 +0000

What is College Dorm Life Like - Tips for Surviving University Dorm Living

noreply@blogger.com (pierre) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:15:00 +0000

What is College Dorm Life Like

Are you trying to make the decision of whether or not to live in a college dorm during your first year in college? If your college campus gives you an option for living on or off campus, you might be thinking that dorm life isn’t for you. It’s filled with giggling girls and show off boys, has too many rules and means sharing space that you don’t want to share. But life in dorms is more than just these basic stereotypes, and it might be more like what you need right now than you could possibly imagine. Following are some myths about life in dorms and the realities behind them.

Life in Dorms, Myth #1: Sharing a room is awful.

If you’ve always had your own room at your parents’ house, the idea of sharing a room with someone else can seem terrible. But it’s usually not as awful as most students think. You can divide the room in half so that you have an area which is your personal space and you can work out a schedule with your roommate so you have some alone time in your room. Life is all about compromise and you may find that the compromises are worth the benefits of having a roommate around to talk with and rely on during the first year of college.

Life in Dorms, Myth #2: There are too many rules.

Yes, there are rules in dorms. How strict they are depends on the school and is something that you might want to look into as you consider colleges. But you probably had rules in your parents’ home and the rules of the dorm are probably less strict than those at home. And the rules are there for your own good, whether you like it or not. The transition to college can be tough and sometimes having some boundaries in place can really help you to make that transition.

Life in Dorms, Myth #3: Every night is a party.

Often, when you first move into your dorm, there is a lot of socializing going on. This may intimidate you if you aren’t used to be very social or you are concerned about your study time. But it usually tapers off after the first few weeks as people settle into their social groups and get used to being around each other on campus. Besides, your room is your space and you get to have a say in how it’s used. If you don’t want a party in your room all of the time and you’re able to communicate your needs to your dorm mate, you shouldn’t have any real problems. Besides, you might like those midnight slumber sessions once in awhile.

Life in Dorms, Myth #4: It’s always noisy.

This is one that is sometimes true and sometimes not. You have a lot of people living in a small space with thin walls so you’re going to hear some noise. But most of your roommates in the dorm are going to be a lot like you – noisy sometimes and not so noisy at other times. A good pair of ear plugs, a great mp3 player and strong communication skills with your neighbors go a long way towards making this myth a minimal problem.

Life in Dorms, Myth #5: You won’t like anyone you live with.

College dorm life in reality isn’t a lot like what you see portrayed on TV. In other words, there aren’t cookie cutter people who all live in the dorm together. Instead, there are a diverse group of people who come from a range of backgrounds and who have a variety of beliefs and habits. You’re sure to find someone that you can get along with. Be open to liking your dorm mates and dorm life should go smoothly for you.

How to Make the Transition from High School to College Life Easier

noreply@blogger.com (pierre) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:12:00 +0000

How to Make the Transition from High School to College Life Easier

The transition to college is often difficult for students to make. Frequently, it means moving to a new home which might not be in the same city – or even the same part of the country – as your high school home. The transition to college also requires you to take on new responsibilities in life, learn new skills and essentially to “grow up”. But college life is designed to make this transition as easy as possible, providing you with resources on campus to help you through the difficulties of making the transition.

The biggest difficulty that comes with the transition to college is the difficulty of moving away from home. Sure, you’re thrilled about it. But you’re probably also scared. You have to learn how to pay your bills on your own, set your own schedule, and handle your own household responsibilities. Living in a dorm can greatly help with your transition to college for this reason. It gives you some regulations and guidelines to keep you from getting too crazy while allowing you some of the freedoms of living on your own. It’s the perfect medium between living at home with your parents and living in an apartment and can be the transition that you need in terms of housing.

Other than housing, the general responsibilities of life that you’ll have to manage are the major part of your transition to college. Your credit card and cell phone bills will likely be coming to your new home and you’re going to need to figure out how to pay them in a timely manner. You’re not going to have anyone to tell you when to go to bed, so you’ll need to figure out when you need some sleep. These are things that you’ll learn with time. The most important thing is to stay tuned in to yourself. If you’re getting sick often, feeling stressed all the time or feel unusually depressed and scared, you might need to get some help as you make these transitions.

Help is something that you should have at your disposal anyway, because the transition to college isn’t always easy even in the best of circumstances. Help can come in many forms. Maybe you just need to know that you can call your best friend from back home in the middle of the night to tell her that all of your roommates are mean and you don’t like anyone in your classes. Perhaps you need the security of knowing that you can go back home for a year if you can’t make the transition to college work for you. Or maybe you need regular contact with a school counselor to give you guidance about making choices as you transition to college. Make use of all of the human resources at your disposal to make the transition go more smoothly.

You’re hardly the first … or the last … person to make the transition to college. Others have done it successfully year after year and you’ll be able to do it as well. Trust your own abilities, be willing to make and learn from your mistakes and surround yourself with people who will help you transition to college. It’s an exciting time of life and you should do your best to make the most of it!

Learning How To Study In Universities or College

noreply@blogger.com (pierre) — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 08:27:00 +0000

We all know that it can be difficult to study in college. There are simply so many distractions. There are club meetings to attend, parties to plan, lunches to enjoy. For some, there are outside commitments to work and family. And for everyone, there is already the over-committed schedule of attending classes and making sure that the daily assignments are met. It can be harrowing to try and balance it all. But if you learn early on how to study in college, you can make the most of your college career with little stress and lots of great experiences.

Make studying a daily habit

Yes, there is a lot going on, but you have more daily time than you think that you do. If you can maximize this time to get studying in on a regular, daily basis, then you won’t be overwhelmed when big exams and papers are coming up on you. You’ll already be prepared so the big push won’t seem so big at all. So how do you fit studying in every day?

Attend class. It isn’t always fun, it isn’t always exciting, and it doesn’t always feel like you can make it there one time. But if you do, you learn what the professor wants you to learn without adding any new study time to your day. Pay attention while you’re there, take notes, ask questions and make sure that you understand the material the first time that it’s presented. That way, you don’t have to re-learn what you have already been taught.

Plan actual study time in to your week. Consider it a job. From 2-3 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you are committed to being at your desk, reading your books. Don’t let anything interfere with the time you set. That way, when you leave the desk, you feel like you’ve accomplished something and can better enjoy the fun times.

Incorporate discussions about class material into your conversations with classmates. This reinforces your learning and makes you remember the material without seeming like work at all.

Learn to be organized

One of the main reasons that many students feel like it’s hard to find time to do all of the studying necessary to do well in college is that they are disorganized. The time it takes to find your notes, figure out what your assignments are and re-read material you’ve already read contributes to the difficult of studying in college. By being organized, you save yourself a lot of time, energy and stress.

Use a calendar. Spend time at the beginning of each semester going through your syllabus, identifying what needs to be done for each class when and writing it on to a calendar. Now, get a new calendar, re-write all of those deadlines so that they are due several days before they actually are which helps account for unexpected delays caused by your real life. Hang the calendar up, look at it daily and commit to meeting your commitments.

Keep notes. Class notes, book notes and research notes for each class should be kept in a single place. A computer file for each class, a file folder for each subject … whatever it takes so that you know exactly where your class materials are when you need to use them to study.

Make use of all resources

To study well in college, you should take advantage of the different resources available to you for studying. Realize that you can study alone, in small groups, with your class as a whole and one-to-one with the professor during office hours. Incorporate all of these methods of study into your daily life and you will soon find that you are studying for college without actually feeling like you are studying at all. The studying will just be a part of what you do and will begin to feel natural. This is where studying becomes learning and is really what college life is all about!

Read More Articles About Studying in College.

How To Handle Family And Manage College At The Same Time

noreply@blogger.com (pierre) — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 08:15:00 +0000

Tips for Handling Going to College and Manage Family Life

Is it possible to manage a family and attend college at the same time? Of course it is! But the combination of responsibilities necessary to do both of these things and still maintain a stable emotional self requires that you take a proactive approach to planning your education. You need to determine, in advance, what your priorities are, what responsibilities you can realistically handle and what kind of help you’ll need to meet all of your home and school responsibilities.

The first thing that you need to do is to take a look at all of the things that are going on in your life and identify what your priorities are. This way, if something unforeseeable happens, you’ll be able to prioritize to keep on track. For example, if putting food on the table for your family is your number one priority and an emergency comes up during the semester that makes it impossible for you to both work and attend school, you’ll know that you either need to work on getting loan money or you’ll need to reassess handling college at that time. This doesn’t mean that you need to make decisions right now about how you’re going to handle every little issue that arises as you try to handle family and manage college, but rather that you need to identify a list of priorities so you can cope as changes come up.

Secondly, you need to look realistically at what you can manage on a daily basis for the duration of time it’ll take you to get through college. If your spouse has a job that requires you to be the parent taking the kids to school and appointments, you may not realistically be able to manage a full time school schedule or you may need to look into online classes and distance learning as options for your education. It doesn’t matter how you handle college, as long as your own needs are met while you’re meeting the needs of your family. Talk through concerns with your spouse – and children that are old enough to handle some responsibilities around the house – and put a plan in place for managing the home while you’re in school.

That leads right into the final thing that you need to do in order to get a good grasp on managing family while you’re in college and that thing is figuring out what kind of help you’ll need to get it all taken care of. You can’t do everything on your own and you shouldn’t expect yourself to. Figure out what kind of assistance you need in terms of financial and emotional support. Perhaps you’ll need your spouse to take over some responsibilities at home in terms of care of the children and domestic chores or maybe you’ll need to hire a nanny or maid to assist around the home. Be realistic about what you need and what you can afford and figure out a way to make it happen.

Lastly , don’t forget to identify who in your life is going to be there for you on the days when it feels like you simply can’t manage college and a family at the same time. Those days will happen. A mentor, a great friend or even a counselor can be critical to helping you over those humps. By setting up your support system before there are problems, you’ll be able to more easily manage the responsibilities that come with being in college while maintaining a family of your own.

Here are some of the things that you need to know about applying to graduate school:

5 Things To Think About When Choosing A College

noreply@blogger.com (pierre) — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 08:13:00 +0000

Choosing a college is a big decision which will take up a big bit of your mental energy during the time that you are making your college plans. There are so many different colleges to choose from that you could plan forever without getting to the point of actually attending the college at all. But the process can be simplified a bit if you look at a few major decisions to help you narrow down the long list of schools from which you will make your final choice.

1. Location – Geographic location is actually very important in choosing a college. If you truly don’t care where you live, that’s one thing, but most people have their preferences and you should consider yours. Perhaps you want to be close to your family (or far away!) Maybe you know that you are happiest in places where the sun is shining most of the year or where the snow falls thick on the ground during the winter months. Maybe you thrive in an urban environment or perhaps you know that you do best in a small community or college town. You can greatly narrow down the process of choosing a college by focusing your search on one geographical region or a certain size of city.

2.Cost – College is expensive so you should think about what you (or your parents) can reasonably afford to pay for your education. Factor in any financial aid which might be available to you as well as any scholarships which you might qualify for when considering the cost of the college. There are great colleges at all levels of cost so find a price range that makes sense for your situation so that choosing a college is a realistic process.

3.Course selection – If you know what you want to do for a career, then you can plan on choosing a college which focuses on that or which is known for having a good program in that. If you are seeking a more general education to assist you in deciding what you want to do, you might want to think about choosing a college which has a great range of different classes and degree programs. You might also consider the difference between starting at a community college – where you can explore options in a small class environment – before moving on to a more focused program at a four year college.

4.Prestige – When choosing a college, you should think about how much it matters to you that the college has a good reputation. Maybe you really want to attend an Ivy League School. Perhaps you want to be able to tell everyone you know that you got into the best program for industrial design that exists in this country. Or maybe prestige doesn’t really matter that much to you and you’d trade it for a decent education that’s a bit more low-pressure. Knowing what prestige range you’re looking at can help you when choosing a college. Also, consider the realities of getting into a prestigious school. If your GPA is bad and your SAT scores are low, you might be able to wheedle your way into a prestigious school, but it will take some effort so be prepared for that when choosing a college.

5.What You Want – This is the most important thing that you need to keep coming back to when choosing a college. You are going to be bombarded with suggestions and information during the selection process. Your parents, your friends, your teachers, your co-workers, and the people with whom you end up in casual conversation as you say, “I’m about to go to college” will all have an opinion on what makes a good college choice for you. Consider their opinions, but in the end, remember that choosing a college is choosing your own future. You need to identify what you really want to get out of the experience and make that your starting point for choosing a college.

Choosing a college is difficult. But you should also remember that it isn’t an irrevocable decision. If you choose a college and start there and find that it really is a bad match for you, you can always learn from the experience and choose another college that’s a better fit for finishing your education. Life is a learning process and choosing a college is just one step along the way.

Here are some of the things that you need to know about applying to graduate school.

How To Save Up For College When You Started To Save Too Late

noreply@blogger.com (pierre) — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 08:10:00 +0000

You knew that you were supposed to start saving for college as early as possible. When your grandparents gave you those monetary gifts for graduation, they did so with the expectation that you would set aside the money for college. But you had trips to take, celebrations to pay for and other things that you wanted to spend your money on before you had to buckle down and take care of the responsibilities of going to college right? So, now you need to gather together some money for school and you’re afraid it might be too late. What are you going to do?

First of all, don’t worry about starting to save for college “too late”. It’s never too late to start saving up some money to help with your college expenses. Starting now is better than starting tomorrow and certainly better than not starting at all so get over the idea that you can’t start saving for college because you didn’t start sooner and just buckle down to start saving money now. Even if you only manage to scrimp together enough to pay for your first semester books with cash instead of with credit, you’ve gone a long way towards reducing the eventual debt that you know will be facing you when the college years are over.

One of the best ways to start saving up for college is to increase your income. If you don’t have a job, you need to get one. If you have a part-time job, you should see about increasing your hours or getting a second job. The more money that you’re earning, the more money that you’re going to be able to save. And although you’d obviously like to spend your summer relaxing, working instead will provide you with money as well as valuable life experience. You might even save money in the future by having access to jobs that you’re only able to get because you have previous experience in the working world.

The other thing that you need to do in order to save up for college when you started a bit behind schedule is to look very realistically at your budget. This means knowing what you spend on a regular basis and figuring out how to cut down those expenses. Do you go to the movies every weekend with your friends? Switch to every other weekend, go to the matinee instead of the evening show and skip the snacks and you’ll suddenly find yourself with cash that you didn’t even know that you had. Making a list of all the places you spend money and making some choices about how to cut down will help you save that money that you need for college.

As you start saving your money, find a way to save it that will help it increase in value. Even basic savings accounts give you a small amount of interest. Longer-term accounts or college-savings plans might be options depending on how late you’ve started saving. Another thing to consider is to ask parents and other close family members if they’re interested in supporting your savings plan with a matching program – giving you a certain amount of money for college for each dollar that you save. Hey, it doesn’t hurt to ask!

Finally, remember to continue saving as you start college. College expenses only increase as you go further in school, taking more difficult classes with more expensive textbooks and looking into off campus living. Since you started late with your saving, you aren’t going to be able to rest on your laurels so maintain a part time job, keep up those savings plans and stick within a budget. College is affordable no matter when you start saving for it as long as you’re realistic about how to go about the savings process.

Here are some of the things that you need to know about applying to graduate school:

What You Need To Know About Applying To Graduate School

noreply@blogger.com (pierre) — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 08:07:00 +0000

As you begin to think about applying to graduate school, you’ll find that a lot of questions come to mind. Where should you apply? What is the experience going to be like? Will a graduate degree really help you to get the job that you want? How will you balance graduate school with the rest of your responsibilities? How will you afford it?

Knowing yourself is crucial. Ask yourself why you want to attend graduate school, what you want to get out of the experience and which schools and degrees you want to consider. As you begin to discuss these issues with yourself (or even with a close friend or a counselor who can help you to sort out your thoughts), you’ll find that many of the questions that you have about applying to graduate school will be cleared up.

Graduate school is different from undergraduate education in many ways. Some students consider not applying to graduate school because they’re tired of college. Other students want to prolong their college experience and so think about applying to graduate school. Both types of students should know that the academic environment of graduate school differs greatly from undergraduate school and your experiences in the latter can’t inform you about what experiences you might have with the former.

You will need to take – and do well on – graduate school exams. Schedule time to study, explore practice exams and make sure that you’re ready before applying to graduate school. Whether it’s the GRE, the MCAT, the LSAT or some other exam, you’re going to want to do well on it to open up your options for education.

Applying to graduate school requires different experiences than applying to college. As a graduate student applicant, you are expected to have research skills, strong academic records, and work experience in you area of interest. If you don’t, you need to get it before you apply to graduate school.

Financial planning is crucial when applying to graduate school. Be realistic about where you can go, what regions you can afford to live in while in graduate school, and what financial assistance you’ll need.

Applying to graduate school is stressful. Take this into consideration as you start the process. If you have a heavy course load during your final year of college, you might not be able to apply to graduate school until later. Make sure you have the emotional support you need and the energy to commit to applying to graduate school before you undertake the endeavor.
Applying to graduate school is stressful, costly and confusing. But if you look honestly at the questions that you have and find the answers to them, the process can be a lot less difficult. Be prepared for the problems that come with the process and you’ll eventually reap the rewards of having a graduate degree.