Timeline for Applying to Graduate School

Senior Year of college – time to kick back, let loose and coast to graduation. Unless you plan to go to graduate school after college. In that case, you have quite a bit of work to do.

Most of the grunt work in applying to graduate school occurs during the fall semester, but you should expect to be working on your graduate school applications right along with your senior thesis. It will take a lot of time, but by working within an application timeline, you can ease the burden and stress of applying to grad school and finishing your senior year.

Get started now with this advice from collegecures.com.

August

In addition to starting the school year strong, you need to give a lot of thought as to what you plan to study after graduation and where. Once you’ve compiled a list of fields and potential schools, you need to research what exactly is required for your application into each particular field or school. For instance, do you need to take the GRE or the GMAT? Do you have ambitions to pursue a Master’s or a Ph.D.?

It’s also time to start prepping for those graduate school exams once you’ve decided what to pursue. Like the time you studied for the SAT and ACT, each graduate school exam can be prepared for with test prep books and practice exams that can be found online or in your campus bookstore.

September

Meet with professionals in the field you’re interested in or arrange for a job shadow sometime over fall break. At this point, you not only need to be establishing relationships for the purpose of letters of recommendation but also to verify that this is the path you want to take after graduation. Graduate school isn’t as experimental as the first few years of college. You need to be firm on your academic and career aspirations.

Secondly, you should also be meeting with your professors and career center personnel to prep for applications. Again, these are individuals who can provide you with letters of recommendation but they can also deliver keen insights into the graduate school application process. After all, they’ve helped countless students do the same year after year.

October

Devote the first one or two weeks in October to taking your graduate school exams. If possible, schedule them during your fall break or on the weekend so you don’t have to worry about missing class or balancing grad school exam time with writing a paper. Taking your tests at this point in the semester also enables you to submit your complete graduate school application sooner.

November

Most graduate school deadlines fall from October 31 to November 30, according to collegecures.com. Take the last few weeks of October and the first few weeks of November to compile and finalize your graduate school applications. In most cases, you’ll need to provide an application, transcript, letters of recommendation, resume and examples of your work. Your test scores can be sent directly from the test administrators, but you’ll need to confirm with each school that they received them before the application deadline.

December

Collegecures.com states that many schools allow applicants to make any changes to their application or submit components that they may have forgotten at this time. Again, it doesn’t hurt to touch base with the admissions offices at each school you’re applying to in order to confirm that they received your entire application.

January – March

Just when you think you can relax and forget about applications for a while, it’s time to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. This is the same application you have filled out each year as an undergraduate student, and grad students are no different. Filling out this form is your way of applying for financial aid.

Though there are no federal government grants for graduate students, filling out the FAFSA does make graduate school students eligible for low-interest student loans. Completing your FAFSA as soon as possible after January 1 enables you to make a more informed decision on where you will attend grad school because you’ll hear sooner about financial aid.

March – June

At this point, you’ll begin hearing back from graduate schools regarding whether or not you’ve been accepted. With that, you’ll have the big picture – where you’ve been accepted, how much in scholarship dollars you can count on as well as how much you’ll need to borrow to make your graduate school dreams a reality.

Now, all you need to do is make a decision. Once that’s complete, you can begin to kick back, toast to your friends and future and begin cruising to graduation.

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7 Colleges with Seriously Good Eats

Most students don’t go to college for the campus food, but when your school is serving bad food day in and day out, it can start to have an effect on the entire experience. Think about it: for most students, the meal plan at their college is the only outlet they have for eating breakfast, lunch and dinner. When that fails to satisfy, it can be difficult – and extremely expensive – to find food elsewhere.

Fortunately, schools are starting to catch on and offer more tantalizing and healthy food options for students. Let’s hope they continue to follow the lead of these top seven foodie campuses, as chosen by HerCampus.

7. The University of Alabama at Birmingham (Birmingham, AL)

• Sources food from local places.



• Posts calorie information in the dining hall.



• Caters to students with food allergies by giving them their own special station in the cafeteria.



• Keeps a dietician on staff to help students make healthy eating choices.



• Provides information on local food trucks with sustainable ingredients and cooking practices.

6. The Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, GA)

• Features a creative menu with items like Mandalay Rainbow Salad and Multicolored Vegetarian Bahn Mi.



• Options for vegetarians, vegan and gluten-free.



• Recipes available online so students can create their own healthy options.



• Sources from local farms.

5. Bowdoin College (Brunswick, ME)

• Grows over 50 organic vegetables in the campus garden.



• Provides opportunities for students to farm the campus garden.



• Options for vegetarians.



• Hosts an out-of-this-world brunch with a make-your-own-omelet station.

4. Washington University in St. Louis (St. Louis, MO)

• Features labeling system that notifies you if your food contains dairy, eggs, nuts, shellfish, soy and wheat.



• Provides entire meals with less than 10% saturated fats, low sodium and lean-meat or plant-based protein.



• Hosts small cooking classes centered around dieticians’ advice and cultural themes.

3. The University of Georgia (Athens, GA)

• Boasts some of the highest quality food on a college campus according to its students.



• Provides labels that indicate meals that have less than 30% calories from fat.



• Includes vegetarian and vegan meal options.

2. The University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)

• Hosts a weekly farmers market that is exclusive to students on the college campus.



• Features plenty of green options like kale, chard and steamed vegetables with a variety of sauces on the side.



• Includes an extensive salad bar in the residential dining hall.



• Keeps a dietician on staff who acts as a resource for students to eat well

1. Clemson University (Clemson, SC)

• Provides a full listing of meals and nutritional information for each dining hall online.



• Cooks with sustainable products.



• Prepares meals as close to mealtime as possible.



• Educates its students on nutrition and best cooking practices.



• Maintains a culturally diverse menu.



• Features everything from Southern comfort food to fresh, organic meals.

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5 Interview Questions for the Interviewer

Whether you’ve never interviewed for a real job or you’ve done it a dozen times, there is a point – usually at the end – when the interviewer asks if you have any questions for them. Typically, your response may be “no” as the interviewer has done a great job highlighting the tasks of the job, the pay rate, other benefits, etc.

But nowadays, this part of the interview is judged just as crucially as the answers you give to their questions. Many more employers are using this component of the interview to gauge your interest and determine what kind of employee you’ll be – a real go-getter or someone who just occupies a seat in the office.

Armed with these questions from TIME.com, you’ll not only prove you’re a great interviewee but that you’re ready to tackle this job.

1. How does this role contribute to the company?

This question not only provides you with some context for the job to which you’re applying, but it also identifies paths that you can take to move up in and through the company. The interviewer will most likely provide some insight into which teams you work with and how this impacts the company on a broader spectrum.

2. Who will I be working with?

Depending on how the interview is going and whether or not you’ve met anyone else on the team, you may ask this question in order to meet the other team members. If that’s not in the cards, you can still use this question to get an idea of the personalities and roles with whom you’ll be working. TIME suggests using Tom Gimbel’s “airplane test,” i.e. someone you can sit next to on a long flight, in order to determine whether or not this team of individuals and dispositions is right for you.

3. What are additional skills that are required to do this job well?

Chances are, if you’re interviewing for the job, you have the skills necessary to perform the job on a basic level, but employers are looking for more. They don’t want someone that can fill the role; they want someone who can make an impact in that role. By asking this question, you’ll get a truer sense of what the team and managers are looking for in a new hire.

4. What do you expect from me in a month, three months and a year?

It would be a disadvantage to both you and the employer if you took a job in which you weren’t able to perform and had to leave a few weeks later. With that in mind, ask this question to get a sense of the company’s expectations. Can you meet them, honestly?

5. What is your mission?

Again, this isn’t about filling a space on a team that happens to be hiring; this is about devoting part of your career to a company. You need to ensure that your goals and aspirations meet the company’s. When this is the case, you have a better chance of sticking with the company for years to come, and they have a better shot of success because you’re just as devoted to the mission as the company.

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How I Kicked My Procrastination Habit

I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a student, in high school or college, who doesn’t know how to procrastinate. We’re procrastination masters, myself included. After all, I just spent the past few hours staring blankly at the same posts on Facebook and googling answers to life’s greatest and most random questions (you know, the ones that only feel important when you have a big essay due in two days, like “Why are pothole covers round instead of any other shape?”).

The thing about procrastination is you totally know what you’re doing as you’re doing it. Count yourself lucky if you don’t know what I’m talking about – any experienced procrastinator knows exactly what work they need to do, but they’re just not doing it. Whether you’re surfing your impressive collection of social media websites, or you accidentally started a new season of The Walking Dead or Orange is the New Black, you know you’re ignoring that nagging voice in the back of your head telling you, “STUDY!” Whoops.

When I look back as a college student at all the hours in high school I spent doing practically nothing, I regret the time wasted. Now I think I’ve figured out the problems, though fixing them in my college life is still difficult (if not harder, since my parents aren’t around!).

I didn’t know by WHEN I needed to do WHAT.

I was much better at keeping all my assignments together in middle school, when I immediately took out my school planner whenever my teacher gave homework or scheduled a test. By the time senior year rolled around, I had lazy blank-page days; as a college student, I sometimes have blank weeks – though, in my defense, I use a digital to-do list on my laptop now.

Figuring out what I actually need to get around doing is often that first step that everyone evades, and I was definitely no exception to the rule. I’ve figured out through experience and experimenting that it’s not a bad idea to take a leaf out of middle school Emily’s book and write assignments down before I forget them. For instance, I had one week this semester where I completely forgot an essay was due until the night before, which could’ve been prevented by jotting down the assignment details in class in the appropriate date in my planner, rather than referring to an outdated syllabus. Though I finished, I lost a lot of sleep I shouldn’t have needed to sacrifice.

My tasks were too big.

Okay, let’s be real here — who wants to write an essay? I enjoy writing and even I put off my essay for much too long, because the idea of developing my ideas into a five-paragraph essay was just too much to start. The task seems so huge I didn’t touch it until the last minute, typing furiously at 3 in the morning even though my eyes wanted nothing more than to close for the night. Worth it? No way.

The common solution is to split your big tasks into smaller ones, which I did: I chopped my essay up into outlining, quotation selection, and then writing the actual paragraphs with analysis. It actually wasn’t that bad. My fatal mistake was not scheduling days I wanted to be done with each piece of the task, to avoid doing it all at once the night before like I ended up doing. If I’d outlined 5 days before the draft deadline, picked the quotations the next night, and written a body paragraph per night, the essay wouldn’t have been such a struggle.

This step really has two parts: splitting the tasks, of course, but also treating these smaller tasks as actual unique tasks — assignments of their own. That means each piece would have its own deadline, too, speeding up the procrastination process and getting work done sooner.

I didn’t have anyone keep me accountable.

Besides myself, who definitely didn’t count and still doesn’t! You are the worst at keeping yourself accountable, just like every other procrastinating student out there. With temptations left and right (and no, I definitely did not just go scroll through puppy Vines for an hour and a half), any student will have difficulty keeping focused unless they possess some intense iron will.

What I did during high school to stay focused and accountable was I choose to study with friends rather than alone as much as possible. My high school held a “Homework Center” three days a week after school, so I’d make it my mission to finish Calculus homework during that time. Going to Homework Center with two of my friends kept me on task so much more than if I had gone straight home and attempted to work with my laptop and other distractions right next to me.

I didn’t fully eliminate my distractions.

Speaking of distractions, we are virtually and physically surrounded by them in this day and age. There is practically no escape from the social media notifications constantly pinging on our cell phone displays, because even if we turn on the Do Not Disturb settings, our hands are just trained too well to reach over and check. Oh yeah, just checking the time.

Things my friends used and recommended to me include cutting the Internet altogether on your computer – just turn your WiFi off! – or using Chrome and other browser extensions such as StayFocusd that’ll block your frequently visited social media sites for you during a specified period of time, aka work time. I personally wasn’t a big fan of StayFocusd since it was so easy to just disable and delete the extension, so physically moving my computer away was the best way to go for me.

I hope that helps put you on the track for productivity, not procrastination!

(And for those of you who are curious, round manhole covers are more convenient because the circular-shaped cover won’t fall through into the hole, and you don’t need to match the cover to any specific orientation because it’s the same shape no matter how you put it down. I’m telling myself it wasn’t a waste of time to look up these questions because apparently Apple asks this one as a job interview question.)

Got any tips to kick procrastination? What’s a time you procrastinated? Tell us in a comment below.

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6 Scholarships to be Thankful For

Be sure to have an account with Zinch with a complete (or nearly complete) profile in order to look at and apply for the scholarships below. Signing up for Zinch and filling out your profile will also find you a whole host more of scholarships you are eligible for. Go sign up today!

• CollegeWeekLive Scholarship Giveaway

Who’s Eligible? Open to students from any country. Applicants must enroll no later than the fall of 2017 in an accredited post-secondary institution of higher learning (college, university or trade school)

Amount: $1,000

How to Apply: Register at CollegeWeekLive to start your scholarship search and you’re automatically entered

Due Date: November 30, 2014

• Anti-Bullying Scholarship

Who’s Eligible? US students under the age of 26

Amount: $10,000

How to Apply: Play The Bully Text: Superstar edition, a multiplayer, interactive, anti-bullying game. Sign up and invite three friends to enter to win

Due Date: November 30, 2014

• Courage to Grow Scholarship

Who’s Eligible? Current high school seniors or college students with a 2.5 GPA or better

Amount: $500

How to Apply: Submit an essay or 250 (or fewer) demonstrating why you should be awarded this scholarship

Due Date: Monthly scholarship – deadline is the 30th of each month

• AXA Achievement Scholarship

Who’s Eligible? Current high school seniors who plan to enroll full-time in a two-year or four-year college in the United States for the entire application year

Amount: $25,000

How to Apply: Create an online profile displaying your

Due Date: December 15, 2014

• High School Athlete Scholarship

Who’s Eligible? All current US high school students are eligible and welcome to apply

Amount: $500

How to Apply: Submit an essay of 280 characters (or fewer) explaining how being an athlete prepared you for college and life beyond high school

Due Date: December 31, 2014

• #iApplied Instagram Giveaway

Who’s Eligible? Current college-bound high school seniors

Amount: One student will receive an iPaid Air 2 as the grand prize, 10 runner-ups will win a $100 VISA gift card

How to Apply: Follow @chegg on Instagram, snap a pick of how you felt after applying for college, and tag it with #iapplied

Due Date: January 16th, 2015

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I Made the Most of Thanksgiving Break, and Here’s How

Nothing sours the idea of a break for me like school work. The sheer exhaustion of three months of non-stop homework, quizzes, and tests, and just when the hope of Thanksgiving break peaked around the corner — SLAM! A calculus project, a book to read, a paper to write, or several college applications would materialize.

Yeah, we know this feel all too well. Image via Memegenerator.

In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have homework over the break. Breaks would actually involve relaxation and wouldn’t require you to think about school at all. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case. But I have good news for you. You don’t have to let homework ruin your turkey and cranberry sauce! Here are ways I’ve tackled Thanksgiving homework:

Plan Ahead

Sometimes it’s the simple things. On the week leading up to the break, try working ahead. This will help cut back on how much homework you actually have left to do during the break. Outline how much you can do before the break actually starts. If you don’t get to finish all of your homework, or don’t have the time to, it’s okay.

Make a list of everything you still have to get done and how long you estimate it will take you to get it done. Then add about 20 minutes to all the time estimates, since it’s always better to overestimate how long you’ll take. Next, consult your schedule for the holiday and determine when you can get things done. Travel time can often be wasted, so it’s an excellent opportunity to get some writing or reading done.

Be sure to tell the friends and family you’ll be with that you have work to do over the break. Also tell them when you intend to do it. This way, you can have uninterrupted study time and people to hold you accountable to your study schedule.

Do Homework on the Last Day of Class

For me, it’s incredibly hard to resist the urge to kick my shoes off and shove my backpack in a corner. But you can always do your homework on your last day of class. If your school district is like mine back home, this will be Tuesday, a couple days before you break out the turkey. There are a lot of benefits of getting homework out of the way before the break officially starts.

Doing your homework first means you won’t have to review before you tackle problems, since the material is fresh on your mind. It’s incredibly less likely that you’ll forget an assignment if you do your homework at the beginning of the break. Plus, you’ll give yourself the gift of a stress-free holiday.

If there is too much work to do all in one night, divvy it up. My advice is to you do your math and science homework on day one. You won’t want that looming over you all weekend.

Treat Yourself to Your Homework

One of the things I love about a break is that you can create luxurious conditions to do your homework in. Maybe this won’t fit that description for some of you, but I think back to my sophomore year, curled up in my bed with apple pie, ice cream, and my assigned reading, Their Eyes Were Watching God.

In fact, some of my favorite homework memories (those exist right?) are the ones where I was eating Thanksgiving leftovers. If homework is going to intrude on your break time, you might as well get something out of it. You can use events in your holiday as incentives while doing your homework or as incentives to finish it. Maybe you hold out on watching the parade until you finish your paper, or save the candied yams for when you read to the end of your physics chapter.

The incentives don’t have to be huge, just little rewards. You’ll not only have more motivation to get your work done, but you’ll also have a sight, smell, or taste to associate with what you’re studying. That will actually help you remember it better.

So go on ahead, put cinnamon apple spice tea and sweet potato pie on your grocery list or menu. Tell your parents that it’s for educational purposes.

How do you handle homework over the break? Tell us in a comment below!

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More Essays!? How I Wrote (Then Chose Not to Write) Supplemental Essays

We all know the saying “you have too much on your plate.” Of course, it’s easy to just tell people to drop a few lower-priority commitments and move on so you can dedicate more time to the rest.

With in-state applications and the Common App personal statements to worry about, it’s no wonder supplemental essays have high school seniors feeling overwhelmed; I myself applied to over ten schools and spent weeks on supplemental essays exactly one year ago, and I can tell you the decision to remove a school from your college list isn’t an easy one. While it was very true dropping a school would allow me time to focus on the others, it kind of felt as if I was closing off a possible future path before it could even begin.

After you’ve written enough supplemental essays, you’ll see patterns begin to emerge. I used these patterns to determine whether I would continue applying to the school:

The “Why Us?” Essay

Practically every single college I applied to gave me some variation of the great “Why Us?” (also known as YUS) essay, in which you have to answer why you want to attend that school, why you think you’d be a great fit for it, et cetera. Many students seem to leave this one to the end, but that’ll ultimately come back to bite you once the admissions officer lays eyes on your generic copy-paste formula “Why Us?” essay you used on all of your other schools. Trust me, they’ll see that a mile away and you don’t want to leave that kind of impression.

The “Why Us?” Essay can be phrased in many different ways but ultimately asks for the following things:

• Why you want to attend that college (usually for a main goal in life that you believe the school can enable you to achieve)


• Why you are a good match for the school, its programs, and its culture


• What you can contribute back to the school

Personally, that last one always stumped me. It’s easy to pick a particular thing at the school to fixate upon, but what on earth can I say to persuade a college I will be worth the investment of their education without making empty promises? I made peace with that in the end when I decided my goals in life would have to be good enough. If my dreams were big enough, the quality professors and programs would be worth it for both school and student. Seems a little bigger and scarier now, huh?

Quirky Mind-Bogglers

The University of Chicago is notorious for its creative, eccentric supplemental essay questions; they call them “provocative,” though I’ve heard them described as “ridiculously hard,” “impossible,” and just plain “weird” by my fellow classmates.

One question from this year’s batch that I feel exemplifies the U Chicago supplement is this:

A neon installation by the artist Jeppe Hein in UChicago’s Charles M. Harper Center asks this question for us: “Why are you here and not somewhere else?”

Already, it’s difficult to pinpoint where you should even start breaking down the prompt, which is probably what the admissions committee wants. U Chicago designs and selects its questions to force applicants to think about things from a different, new perspective, and the more individuality, the better. I remember being extremely excited to apply to U Chicago by the time my college applications season rolled around, but one look at the supplemental prompts had my hopes dashed. None of them sparked inspiration in me like I’d hoped, not even after days of brainstorming as time ticked away for my other supplements. So I discarded U Chicago off my school list, sorry I couldn’t dedicate more time to it but knowing I had countless essays to go.

Questions like this appeared in other applications I did as well. One school, for instance, asked me what historical moment I wished I could go back in time to witness. Another wanted to know what I though was the greatest invention known to man. Many schools seem to want to know what you’ve been reading lately, what galleries and shows you’ve attended recently, so refining your media intake won’t hurt.

The Perfect Fit

I’ve mentioned this before in my ED/EA blog, “What I Learned When I Applied Early Action AND Early Decision”, but it wouldn’t hurt to say it again. My EA school was a disastrous, time-sucking choice, and I regret applying.

Fit is, dare I say, the most crucial factor in college applications, and admissions officers are significantly better at determining fit than you. Looking back at all my rejections, I can see now that perhaps I would’ve liked the school, but the culture and fit wouldn’t have matched as well as they do now at my current university, and I really escaped a couple of bullets. That’s especially so with my EA choice, seeing as the students there were extremely spirited (whereas I’ve only been to one football game so far this semester, and no one here minds), and any other list put a different undergraduate business school as #1. That’s a school I should’ve dropped a long time ago, or not even considered, had my ranking-frenzy parents not insisted. But it happens. I got the rejection letter I expected and deserved.

I also didn’t get into my dream school, which I – not my parents – personally believed was the perfect fit at the time. I’ve come to love my school now, and many people have agreed, telling me that they’re surprised how much they like it here. Fit is a hard thing to figure out, and you won’t really know until you go for it and apply.

Do you have supplemental essays to write? What’s the most difficult prompt you’re working on now? Tell us in a comment below.

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Overcoming Test Prep Stress and Anxiety

Let’s get one thing out of the way: stress is a fact of life. Everyone, no matter how laid back they appear, experiences stress. It can manifest itself in physical, mental or emotional symptoms; and sometimes all three. However, stress can be completely manageable; it’s only when it becomes unmanageable that it can cause serious problems.

This finals season, don’t let stress control you. First, prepare for your final exams in a timely manner; and secondly, learn to recognize and deal with stress responsibly.

Signs That You’re Stressed

First, it’s important to identify the signs and symptoms of stress. For some of you, that may sound like a no-brainer; but believe it or not, there are those who don’t know they’re actually stressed until the signs are physical. According to the Academic Skills Center at Dartmouth University, physical signs of stress include increased heart rate and blood pressure, feelings of tenseness and irritability, fatigue and/or depression. Students may also experience a lack of interest and ability to concentrate, which can be detrimental to the studying process.

How to Cope

Managing your stress is the key to controlling it. After you’ve recognized the signs, it’s time to respond. If you’ve been studying non-stop, reward yourself with some time away from your studies in the form of a nap, a coffee date with a friend, a quick massage or workout. Oftentimes, colleges and universities build in stress-relieving activities during finals times, like bringing puppies to campus to love and cuddle on for a few hours one afternoon. It’s important NOT to turn to tobacco, drugs and alcohol when you’re stressed. These avoidance behaviors can only increase the amount of stress you’re trying to overcome.

Second, get plenty of sleep and eat healthy. These simple “tasks” can do wonders for your stress levels. Overindulging in sweets may make you stress more about your appearance, adding to the weight you’re already carrying. Losing sleep, at the same time, will leave you feeling lethargic and just generally unprepared.

Third, incorporate relaxation techniques into your studying and testing time. Download a meditation app or pick a song or two that calms or motivates you. During your study periods or tests, implement these techniques when you feel overwhelmed.

Finally, acknowledge your weaknesses and your strengths. There will be some piece of information, theory or problem that you struggle with, and you need to accept that. Don’t think of it as a defeat; just think of it as an obstacle you have to overcome. Enlist help from your professor, TA or another student in the class who seems to get it. Asking for help will definitely yield better results than stressing about that which doesn’t come easily to you.

Reward Yourself

Last, but certainly not least, set aside a reward for yourself after the final exam. Having something exciting to look forward to will provide the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel.” When you’re feeling stressed, you can focus on that light instead. Plus, it will help you realize that your stress is only temporary; eventually, it will all be over.

And you’ll be home for the holidays before you know it.

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Staying on Top of Your Scholarship Search

Let’s be honest: money is one of the biggest factors in determining what college you will spend the next few years of your life and scholarships are an easy way to chip away at the cost of your college education.

One of the most important things to remember when beginning your scholarship search is actually quite simple: the more, the merrier!

Many people get discouraged after applying for a few scholarships and not winning. However, through my experiences, you will usually need to apply for many scholarships before winning one.

Here are some reminders to help you stay on top of your scholarship search:

1. Don’t Get Discouraged

I know many people in my class that would simply give up once they didn’t win the first few scholarships that they applied for. Don’t give up! The little amount of time that it takes to continue applying for scholarships after initial denial is well worth the money you will receive.

2. Utilize Scholarship Searches

If your school publishes a local scholarship list, utilize it! At my high school, there is always a list of local scholarships sent out to the senior parents, and it is extremely helpful to have a list of several available scholarships in front of you.

Additionally, online scholarship search engines which match students to scholarships, like Fastweb, are extremely beneficial and can really pay off in the long run.

3. Make a Scholarship Goal Chart

One thing that will really motivate you to stay on top of the scholarship search is a scholarship goal chart in your room. Continue to highlight monetary amounts you win from scholarships until you reach your goal! Seeing this every morning will keep the search fresh in your mind.

4. Schedule Days to Work on Scholarship Applications

Most high school students are actively involved in extra-curricular activities in one way or another and it’s often hard to find time to work on scholarship applications.

However, you will make things much easier on yourself by scheduling some time every weekend to apply for scholarships. Having a schedule will keep you on top of your search.

At the end of the day, the most important thing to remember is that scholarships are a vital asset for you as a college student. Any money you can get, whether $500 or $5,000, will benefit you when you need money for college costs.

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4 Test-Taking Tips to Get You Through Finals Week

Besides paying attention in class during the semester and studying before exam day, there are other ways to improve your chances of getting a good grade on each of your finals. Plus, they don’t really require any extra work. These tips before the big day and the morning or afternoon of will help you feel like your finals were a breeze.

1. Prep with good eats and great sleep.

You’d be surprised how far a well-balanced meal the night before and the morning of can go when it comes to brain power. Instead of loading up on sugars from cookies and sodas, as most students are prone to do when they’re stressed, opt for whole grains, beans, and starchy fruits and vegetables. These types of food will provide your brain with the energy it needs to function and concentrate during your big exams.

With that, getting at least eight hours of sleep is more vital to your test-taking than studying until 2 a.m. Instead, make a schedule for studying far in advance and keep to it so you can avoid the late-night cram session.

2. The day of, start with deep breaths.

Before you put fingers to keypad or pencil to bubble sheet, take a deep breath. Stay calm. There is no benefit to finishing your test first – or just getting it over with as quickly as possible. If you come to a question that confuses you (or even scares you), again, take a deep breath. Stepping back from the test in this small moment can even bring to mind some of the material you covered during your study sessions.

3. Skip questions you don’t know the answer to and then go back.

Don’t waste 20 minutes on one question. If there is one particular question that stumps you, put a star next to it and move on. You never know when another question, or just some time away from that question, may jog your memory. Also, most tests or final exams must be completed by the time the course or designated time is over. Better to miss one or two questions than 10 or 15.

4. Take time to check your answers before turning in your test.

Finally, before you turn in your test, go back through the questions as well as your answers to ensure you read directions and answered correctly. It’s understandable that you would want to leave the test and all memories of it as soon as humanly possible, but it will pay off in the long-run to check your work.

Following these simple exam-taking tips can make all the difference in the world as you prepare and take finals. In fact, they could be the difference between a bad or average score and a great one. Good luck, Fastwebbers!

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2015 Scholarships

$10,000 Teach Seniors Technology Scholarship

Deadline: January 20, 2015

Award: $10,000

Available to: Maximum Age 26

Get this: 40% of seniors don't use the Internet. At all. This can leave them disconnected from loved ones and lead to feelings of isolation and depression.

This October, DoSomething.org has teamed up with AARP Foundation's Mentor Up Program to launch the second year of the Grandparents Gone Wired campaign, which asks young people to help seniors stay connected to family and friends by teaching a grandparent or other elderly adult how to use current tech trends like smartphones, social media, video chat, and email.

Participants can not only improve the life of a senior citizen, but earn a chance to win a $10,000 scholarship for school.

Get more information on the $10,000 Teach Seniors Technology Scholarship.

1-800-Wheelchair Scholarship Fund

Deadline: January 30, 2015

Award: $500

Available to: High School Sophomores through College Seniors

The 1-800-Wheelchair Scholarship Fund is available to high school and undergraduate students enrolled in an accredited college or university in the U.S.

You must be at least 16 years old and a legal resident of the U.S. or hold a valid student visa.

You must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 and provide a "visual poem" in a style of your choosing on the theme of overcoming a personal challenge along with a personal statement in order to be considered for this award.

Get more information on the 1-800-Wheelchair Scholarship Fund.

Technology Addiction Awareness Scholarship

Deadline: January 30, 2015

Award: $1,500

Available to: High School Freshman through Graduate Students, Year 5

The Technology Addiction Awareness Scholarship is available to high school, undergraduate or graduate students.

You must be U.S. citizen or legal resident to qualify for this award.

Get more information on the Technology Addiction Awareness Scholarship.

ExploraVision Science Competition

Deadline: January 30, 2015

Award: $10,000

Available to: Ages 14-21

The ExploraVision Science Competition is available to students in grades K-12.

You must work in a group of two, three or four students.

Each team will select a technology that is present in the home, school and/or community and explore what the technology does, how it works and how or why it was invented.

All applicants must be citizens of the United States or Canada to be eligible.

Get more information on the ExploraVision Science Competition.

DuPont Challenge Science Essay Competition

Deadline: January 31, 2015

Award: $5,000

Available to: Maximum Age 18

The DuPont Challenge Science Essay Competition is open to students in grades six through twelve who are attending a public, private, or home school in the U.S., Canada, or their territories.

You must submit an essay between 700 and 1,000 words on one of the four categories of Challenges listed on the sponsor's website.

The essay must be original, unpublished, and written in English. First, second, and third place winners will also receive an expenses-paid trip to the Kennedy Space Center and Walt Disney World Resort.

Get more information on the DuPont Challenge Science Essay Competition.

Josephine de Karman Fellowship

Deadline: January 31, 2015

Award: $22,000

Available to: College Seniors

The Josephine de Karman Fellowship is open to entering senior undergraduate students and Ph.D. candidates who will defend his/her dissertation by June 2016.

Applicants should have manifested exceptional ability and serious purpose.

Special consideration will be given to applicants in the humanities.

Studies must be carried out only in the United States and all funds must be expended only within this country.

Get more information on the Josephine de Karman Fellowship.

Courageous Persuaders Scholarship

Deadline: February 12, 2015

Award: $3,000

Available to: High School Freshman through High School Seniors

The Courageous Persuaders Scholarship is available to high school students nationwide.

To be considered, you must create a 30-second television commercial targeted at middle school students to warn them about the dangers of underage drinking.

In addition to a scholarship award, the winning team will also have their commercial aired on television.

Get more information on the Courageous Persuaders Scholarship.

AFA Teens for Alzheimer’s Awareness College Scholarship

Deadline: February 15, 2015

Award: $5,000

Available to: High School Seniors through College Freshman

The AFA Teens for Alzheimer's Awareness College Scholarship is available to high school students who will be entering an accredited four-year college or university within 12 months of the deadline.

You must be a U.S. citizen to be eligible for this award.

To apply you must submit a short personal biography and a 1200- to 1500-word essay describing how Alzheimer's disease has changed or impacted your life; and what you have learned about yourself, your family, and / or your community in the face of coping with Alzheimer's disease.

Get more information on the AFA Teens for Alzheimer’s Awareness College Scholarship.

Create-a-Greeting Card Scholarship Contest

Deadline: February 18, 2015

Award: $10,000

Available to: High School Seniors through Graduate Students, Year 5

The Create-A-Greeting Card Scholarship Contest is open to currently enrolled high school and college students in the United States.

To enter, you must design a holiday, get well, or birthday greeting card and submit your work to be judged.

Your photo, art, or graphics submitted must be your own original work and you must be at least 14 years of age to be eligible for this award.

Get more information on the Create-a-Greeting Card Scholarship Contest.

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Use Thanksgiving Break to Indulge in Culinary Skills Scholarships

Organizations from McDonald's to world-class pastry schools offer students food-themed awards.



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How to Hire a Tutor in 3 Steps

You’re either a Math person, or you’re not. And chances are, if you’re a Math person, you’re not the best at identifying intransitive verbs, symbolism or indirect objects. Everyone has their academics strengths and weaknesses, so before you give up on that subject that doesn’t come very easy to you, consider hiring a tutor.

Hiring a tutor can do wonders for your work in the subject in which you’re struggling, but first, there are a few things you need to consider.

1. Know where to look.

There are a variety of places to look for a tutor. First, you can start by asking the counselor’s office or the teacher of the subject at your school. If they don’t have any suggestions, try asking friends or looking on community bulletin boards at the local library and coffee shops.

There are also online tutor boards that you can utilize to find experienced tutors in your area, like Wyzant.com. This site allows tutors to post their resume, which includes their experience, ratings from past students and their hourly rate.

2. Ask about experience and pay.

Don’t just assume that because someone is claiming to be a tutor that they have actual success in that particular subject. Tutors need to provide proof, and that can be in the form of a previous student’s review or a letter of recommendation. You can also ask to see their transcript – or most recent grade in that course if they’re still a student. Essentially, don’t be afraid to ask for their credentials or previous experience.

Additionally, you need to have a discussion regarding payment. Ask the potential tutor what they’re rate is and talk with your friends and family about how much they have paid tutors in the past. Negotiate on the price if you need to and discuss when and how the tutor should be paid. Do they expect payment each session, week or month? Do they prefer cash, check or PayPal?

3. Set goals.

When you have found your tutor, be sure to prioritize goals. Obviously, a better grade is the end goal, but you also want to be sure you’re better able to understand the material after each session. Also, set a timeline. Will you need the tutor for a few weeks, a semester or the entire school year? And do you need a tutor once a week, twice a month or several times a week?

Finally, if you don’t believe your tutor is helping you reach your goals, don’t be afraid to end the sessions and begin the search for a new tutor. The point of having a tutor is to better your academic performance, and if that’s not happening, it may be time to move on.

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10 Things You Should Do Over Holiday Break

While you’re on break over the holidays, it’s easy to get into a lazy mode where you sit around doing nothing with your days, letting them mesh into one long continual nap fest.

While there is some value in getting shuteye, there’s only so much rest necessary and, to be fair, you do have other, more important things to do.

Like what, you ask? Don’t worry! We've compiled a handy list of helpful suggestions of things you could, should and will likely want to do over your holiday break.

So, make the most of every moment – you’ll be happy you did once you’re back into the swing of second semester!

1. Apply for scholarships and internships

If there was ever a time to apply, it’s now! You don’t have to spend the entire break applying for scholarships, but even if you devote a few hours to your scholarship applications; it will make a world of difference in your search. After all, it only takes one to win!

Here are some great resources to help get you started in your scholarship search:

• Holiday Scholarships & Internships



• Tips from a Scholarship Winner



• Let's Talk Scholarships: Application Tips



• Enhance Your Scholarship Winning Skills



• The 7 C’s of Winning Scholarships



• A Balancing Act: School and the Scholarship Search



• Scholarship Scam Red Flags



• Organizing Your Scholarship Search



• Fastweb's Scholarship Directory

The same goes for your internship applications. It’s important to keep focused on your internship search throughout the year and never give up!

Here are some helpful resources to help in your internship search:

• How to Get a High School Internship



• Land a Great Internship



• The Perfect Internship



• Let’s Get Legal: Guidelines for Paid or Unpaid Internships



• Interning During the School Year



• Six Internship Job Search Tips



• Internship Interview Tips

Don't forget, you can always arrange an informational interview or job shadow to learn about new career prospects (and network), too!

2. Bake

What better to get you in the holiday spirit than baking a pie? Your home will be filled with a delicious aroma and you’ll have a great gift to take to a holiday party or share with any house guests that stop by.

Check out Homemade for the Holidays for more great ideas for homemade holiday gifts.

3. Catch up with old friends (and stay in touch with new ones)

Pretty much everyone you went to high school with will be off school for the holidays. You can use this time to catch up, relive old times and get the gang together to reminisce about the good ol’ days.

Utilize tips within this article when trying to stay connected with old friends. Or, for more ideas, try:

• Keeping in Touch



• Productive Holiday Break Ideas



• Ideas for Your Best Winter Break Yet



• Keeping Busy Over Break

4. Exercise

Stay healthy and combat the holiday bulge by keeping up with a regular exercise regimen. You’ll look – and, more importantly, feel – better.

Here are some resources to keep you motivated, healthy and on the right track:

• Helpful Student Health Tips



• Working Out Your Workout Plan



• Staying Healthy on Campus



• Here’s to Your Health

5. Plan next semester’s schedule

It’s time to get a jump start on planning next semester while you have time and there’s no time like the present!

Additionally, you should start creating a game plan for next semester now, before you get too busy to do so later.

6. Revamp your resume, cover letter and/or essays

Whether it’s a job, internship or college application resume, cover letter or essays, updated documents are always good to keep on hand at all times – after all, you never know when you might need them!

Opportunity knocks the moment you’re least expecting it so it’s always best to be prepared at a moment’s notice.

As a result, take the extra time during your break to work on all your important documents, adding any extra information you have had since you last updated them.

If you need any extra tips or reference materials, here are some helpful resources.

Resume Tips:

• Diversify Your Resume



• Writing a Resume Fresh Out of College



• Tips for Writing a Great Resume



• Writing Your First Resume



• Five Resume Tips for College Students



• 10 Professional Email Tips



• Improve Your Resume Before Getting the Job

Example Resumes:

• Recent College Graduate Resume Sample



• Receptionist Resume



• School Teacher Sample Resume



• Financial Analyst Sample Resume



• Resumes for Techies

Cover Letters:

• Cover Letters to Get You Hired



• Top Ten Cover Letter Tips



• Recent College Graduate Cover Letter Sample



• How NOT to Write a Cover Letter



• Ten Cover Letter Don’ts



• Internship Cover Letter Sample

For College Applications:

• College Application Resume Sample



• College Application Resumes 101

7. Catch up on your reading

What we’re suggesting here is the kind of reading you actually enjoy – not your required reading for school. Seriously - when was the last time you read a book that you didn't have to? Pick up a book because it looks interesting, cozy up and get lost in it. Enjoy – you’ll be happy you did!

Need a book suggestion? We’d recommend starting at the top and reading through all of the completely amazing, life-altering books on this list. Try this list if you're looking for books that multi-task as standardized test-prep.

8. Spend quality time with family

You love them and they love you. No matter how much you hate to admit it, you miss them terribly. Why wait until the holidays to catch up with family?

Here are some tips to stay connected and deal when the going gets rough:

• Keeping in Touch with the Family – You’ll Miss the Home-Cooked Meals



• What to Keep in Mind While You’re Keeping in Touch



• What Do I Need to Stay in Touch?



• Holidays and Headaches

9. See a movie

Some of the best films of the year are released during the holiday season and, since you have a lot of free time on your hands, it’s a great opportunity to take advantage!

Ask a friend, family member or longtime crush to join and, perhaps, splurge on sharing that jumbo popcorn.

If you miss being at school, why not watch one of these 20 Must-See College Movies?

10. Volunteer

The holidays are a great time to volunteer. There are so many options out there, with something suited to everyone.

Check out the many resources available to find what you’d enjoy most:

• Student Volunteer Opportunities You'll Love



• Top 10 Places for Students to Give Back



• Volunteer Scholarships

What else do you like to spend time doing over your holiday break?

RELATED ARTICLES

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• Who's Hiring for the Holidays? Companies Hiring 2014 Seasonal Employees


• 
  


• Seasonal Employment Job Tips


• 
  


• Black Friday Scholarships & Internships


• 
  

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Homemade for the Holidays

When it comes to gifts, they say it’s the thought that counts. When it comes to thoughtfulness and affordability, not much beats a great homemade item.

We've searched more craft sites than we care to admit, becoming expert "pinners", bakers, sewers, gardeners and–dare we say, artists, in the process of delivering you the most versatile selection of homemade gifts that anyone is capable of creating. Anyone that's willing to put in a little extra effort, that is.

Check out our favorite unique homemade gift ideas. Don't worry, we've included a little something for everyone--including the family pets! [gate]

Digest

• S’mores Spice Rubs

• Peppermint Bark

• Homemade Jam

•Eggnog Serving Tray

• Homemade Cake Stands

• Dictionary Seed Bombs

• Teacup Sugar Scrub

• Hand Felted Art

• Treats

• Lavender Scented Calendar

Don

• Button Scarf

• Homemade Belt

• Fabric Scrap Black Friday Scholarships & Internships

Do you have any great homemade gift ideas? If you do, we'd love to hear about them!

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Creating a College Essay Outline

Many students balk at the idea of creating an essay outline since, at first glance, it may seem like additional work. So, for starters, let’s examine the question: Why create an outline?

Surely, there are alternative options, such as using a pre-set template or just diving in.

However, an outline may be the most appropriate option for you.

Why Create an Outline?

Diving in can be a great way to work through ideas, but may result in a messy and disorganized essay. Using a template may make your essay formulaic or cookie-cutter, two words that you definitely don’t want attached to your submission.

Readers examine hundreds of essays, so essays that do not show individuality will not add to your application.

The purpose of an essay is not only to add a personal element to your essay that would not come out in your test scores and transcript, but also to demonstrate your well-honed and impressive essay-writing skills.

In college, you will be writing essays in a majority of your classes. Most colleges have a mandatory or strongly recommended introductory writing course, but universities want students who will bring strong writing skills to campus.

An outline can lay the foundation for the organized, coherent essay that will allow you to gain admission into your choice college. While other techniques are beneficial to explore, an outline can be the much-needed first step for most students.

The Idea

The central point of your essay may seem to be the most important aspect, but this philosophy is far from accurate. Wonderful and successful essays can concern anything from your summer job to the best way to consume cereal.

If you’re at a loss for ideas, making a list is perhaps the simplest option. Enumerate extra-curricular activities, events that influenced your childhood, your heroes, your favorite songs, movies, and any other elements of your life that could inspire an essay.

If nothing sticks, a family member or lifelong friend may be your best source.

The Outline Itself

When you have your idea, or a host of them, beginning the outline may be the simplest part. An outline can even serve to select an idea from a list of several.

In essence, the outline fleshes out the essay. You will need an intro, body, and conclusion, just like every other essay you wrote in high school.

On the other hand, this essay is much shorter, so it is extremely unlikely that you will be using three body paragraphs. The body of your essay will likely be one paragraph, or one central idea broken up into smaller paragraphs.

Many people know and will tell you that it is easier to cut than to add. Don’t be afraid to include anecdotes and stories in your outline, but mind the length. Too many anecdotes will dilute the power and strength of your essay.

The outline is also a fine bird’s-eye view of the essay in its entirety. Closely reading an essay may blind you to problem areas, such as a rambling or unnecessary introduction.

Also, the outline saves time, as jumping into an essay that does not pan out will prevent you from beginning any supplemental essays or personal statements.

Finally, an outline will force you to justify your writing. Flowery language detracts from the limited word count. To produce an essay that demonstrates emotional growth or your personality, you will likely desire more than 650 words.

Unfortunately, you are limited to that number, and so creating an outline will help to ensure that your essay is meaningful and succinct.

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• The Simplest Way to Write an Essay


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• Writing the Perfect Admissions Essay


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• The Grammar Guide


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Top 10 Ways to Make the Most of Your Holiday Break

While you’re on break over the holidays, it’s easy to get into a lazy mode where you sit around doing nothing with your days, letting them mesh into one long continual nap fest.

While there is some value in getting shuteye, there’s only so much rest necessary and, to be fair, you do have other, more important things to do.

Like what, you ask? Don’t worry! We've compiled a handy list of helpful suggestions of things you could, should and will likely want to do over your holiday break.

So, make the most of every moment – you’ll be happy you did once you’re back into the swing of second semester!

1. Apply for scholarships and internships*

If there was ever a time to apply, it’s now! You don’t have to spend the entire break applying for scholarships, but even if you devote a few hours to your scholarship applications; it will make a world of difference in your search. After all, it only takes one to win!

*Note: Technically, this list is in no particular order but, here at Fastweb, we’re just a little partial scholarships and internships. So, you’ll have to forgive us for admitting that this task undoubtedly tops the list in our eyes – even if there’s technically no numerical order to the rankings!

Here are some great resources to help get you started in your scholarship search:

• Holiday Scholarships



• Winning a Scholarship



• 12 Tips on Winning a Scholarship



• What You Need to Know About Winning Scholarships



• The 7 C’s of Winning Scholarships



• A Balancing Act: School and the Scholarship Search



• Scholarship Scam Red Flags



• Organizing Your Scholarship Search

The same goes for your internship applications. It’s important to keep focused on your internship search throughout the year and never give up!

Here are some helpful resources to help in your internship search:

• Internships for High School Students



• Land a Great Internship



• The Perfect Internship



• Let’s Get Legal: Guidelines for Paid or Unpaid Internships



• Interning During the School Year



• Six Internship Job Search Tips

2. Bake

What better to get you in the holiday spirit than baking a pie? Your home will be filled with a delicious aroma and you’ll have a great gift to take to a holiday party or share with any houseguests that stop by.

Check out Homemade for the Holidays for more great ideas for homemade holiday gifts.

3. Catch up with old friends

Pretty much everyone you went to high school with will be off school for the holidays. You can use this time to catch up, relive old times and get the gang together to reminisce about the good ol’ days.

Utilize tips within this article when trying to stay connected with old friends:

• Keeping in Touch

4. Exercise

Stay healthy and combat the holiday bulge by keeping up with a regular exercise regimen. You’ll look – and, more importantly, feel – better.

Here are some resources to keep you motivated, healthy and on the right track:

• Helpful Student Health Tips



• Working Out Your Workout Plan



• Five Health Mistakes College Students Make



• Here’s to Your Health

5. Plan next semester’s schedule

It’s time to get a jump start on planning next semester while you have time and there’s no time like the present!

Additionally, you should start creating a game plan for next semester now, before you get too busy to do so later.

6. Revamp your resume, cover letter and/or essays

Whether it’s a job, internship or college application resume, cover letter or essays, updated documents are always good to keep on hand at all times – after all, you never know when you might need them!

Opportunity knocks the moment you’re least expecting it so it’s always best to be prepared at a moment’s notice.

As a result, take the extra time during your break to work on all your important documents, adding any extra information you have had since you last updated them.

If you need any extra tips or reference materials, here are some helpful resources.

Resume Tips:

• Diversify Your Resume



• Writing a Resume Fresh Out of College



• Tips for Writing a Great Resume



• Five Resume Tips for College Students

Example Resumes:

• Recent College Graduate Resume Sample



• Receptionist Resume



• School Teacher Sample Resume



• Financial Analyst Sample Resume



• Resumes for Techies

Cover Letters:

• Cover Letters to Get You Hired



• Top Ten Cover Letter Tips



• Recent College Graduate Cover Letter Sample



• How NOT to Write a Cover Letter



• Ten Cover Letter Don’ts



• Internship Cover Letter Sample

For College Applications:

• College Application Resume Sample



• College Application Resumes 101

7. Catch up on your reading

What we’re suggesting here is the kind of reading you actually enjoy – not your required reading for school. Seriously - when was the last time you read a book that you didn't have to? Pick up a book because it looks interesting, cozy up and get lost in it. Enjoy – you’ll be happy you did!

Need a book suggestion? We’d recommend starting at the top and reading through all of the completely amazing, life-altering books on this list.

8. Spend quality time with family

You love them and they love you. No matter how much you hate to admit it, you miss them terribly. Why wait until the holidays to catch up with family?

Here are some tips to stay connected throughout the entire year:

• Keeping in Touch with the Family – You’ll Miss the Home-Cooked Meals



• What to Keep in Mind While You’re Keeping in Touch



• What Do I Need to Stay in Touch?

9. See a movie

Some of the best films of the year are released during the holiday season and, since you have a lot of free time on your hands, it’s a great opportunity to take advantage!

Ask a friend, family member or longtime crush to join and, perhaps, splurge on sharing that jumbo popcorn.

10. Volunteer

The holidays are a great time to volunteer. There are so many options out there, with something suited to everyone.

Check out the many resources available to find what you’d enjoy most:

• Student Volunteer Opportunities



• Top 10 Places for Students to Give Back



• Find a Way to Give Back

What else do you like to spend time doing over your holiday break?

RELATED ARTICLES

• 
  


• Who's Hiring for the Holidays? Companies Hiring 2014 Seasonal Employees


• 
  


• Seasonal Employment Job Tips


• 
  


• Black Friday Scholarships & Internships


• 
  

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Communicating with Your Roommate

Living with a roommate is a uniquely collegiate experience which comes with its own set of challenges.

You may have shared a room with your sister back home, but your relationship with your college roommate is not likely to be as immediately comfortable as your relationship with your sister.

Unfortunately, it’s less acceptable to yell at your roommate to turn off her alarm than it is to yell at your sibling.

So how do you let your roommate know what you need without offending them? Here are some tips to establishing and sustaining a successful roommate relationship:

1. The Roommate Agreement

During my freshman orientation, my roommate and I were given a roommate agreement to fill out collaboratively. This sheet of questions was meant to spark conversation between my roommate and I about what we needed in order to feel safe and comfortable in our shared room.

The questions included our tolerance for noise when studying and sleeping, our thoughts on guests—even whether we preferred conversation or silence in the early morning.

It is important to establish these “rules” early on and to write them down in clear terms; what you may take for granted as common courtesy may be news for your roomie, and vice versa.

A quick Google search can provide you with more detailed lists of topics to broach with your roommate.

2. Approaching Your Roommate with a Concern

Do not be afraid to voice your concerns if a habit of your roommate’s is making you feel uncomfortable. It’s your room, too, and you have a say in what goes on in that room.

At the same time, keep it friendly and non-accusatory; it’s likely your roommate didn't realize their actions were bothering you.

The exchange may be awkward, but it’s likely better than letting a roommate’s habit aggravate you throughout the school year. Make sure your roommate knows that they are welcome to approach you with their concerns as well.

3. Respecting Property

Unfortunately, there is no real way to ascertain that your roommate will respect your possessions while you out of the room; but that is only more reason to respect your roommate’s property and hope that they do the same.

Of course, relationships differ, but my personal rule is that I touch my roommate’s possessions as little as possible. I would feel terrible if something ended up damaged or lost!

4. Being Friends with Your Roommate—Or Not

Again, roommate relationships differ. Some college students are best friends with their roommates from day one; others maintain relationships that are polite but distant.

Either is fine; in no roommate agreement anywhere does it state that a close and eternal friendship with your roommate is necessary. The only necessity is that you both feel comfortable within your room.

5. The Bad Roommate

Everyone has heard the horror story about the wicked roommate; sadly, it could happen to you, too. It’s okay to change roommates if your relationship with your current roommate is not working out.

You should never feel unsafe or uncomfortable within your own room. If the issue cannot be fixed through conversation, switching roommates is likely your best option.

What have you found is the best way to approach communication with a roommate?

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• Coping with a Bad Roommate


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GrubHub Ranks 2014 College Campuses' Eats

So much of American culture is based around eating. We get together to socialize over meals, we eat when we’re bored and, obviously, we eat when we’re hungry. A person’s eating habits can speak volumes about their lifestyle and, sometimes, even their ideals.

GrubHub Inc., the nation’s leading online and mobile food ordering company, encompassing brands like GrubHub, Seamless, Menupages, and Allmenus. teamed up with Spoon University to find out the truth about who eats what on college campuses across the nation.

Some of their findings weren’t what you’d expect, but we’ll let you be the judge and jury of which stereotypes fell short.

Here’s what they discovered about the 2014 eating habits of college students across the nation:

2014's Top 5 Midnight Snack Campuses

Students at these campuses are the top late-night diners, according to GrubHub and Spoon University’s findings.

1. Syracuse University

2. Michigan State University

3. University of Connecticut

4. Ithaca College

5. The Ohio State University

2014's Top 5 Healthiest Campuses

According to GrubHub and Spoon University, these top five campuses have the most “health-conscious” eaters.

1. Georgetown University

2. University of Notre Dame

3. University of Tennessee

4. Lafayette College

5. Central Connecticut State University

2014's Top 5 Most Adventurous Campuses

The following five campuses, according to GrubHub and Spoon University’s findings, have the most ethnically adventurous diners.

1. Columbia College

2. New York University

3. School of the Art Institute in Chicago

4. Loyola University of Chicago

5. Columbia University

2014's Top 5 Meat-Loving Campuses

Hold the veggies, please! These five campuses can’t get enough meat, according to GrubHub and Spoon University’s research.

1. Fordham University

2. Lafayette College

3. University of the Sciences

4. University of North Carolina – Greensboro

5. University of Northern Iowa

2014's Top 5 Vegetarian-Friendly Campuses

These campuses have the most vegetarian diners, according to GrubHub and Spoon University’s research.

1. Cornell University

2. Yale University

3. School of the Art Institute Chicago

4. University of Chicago – Booth School of Business

5. Columbia College

2014's Top 5 Sweetest Campuses

Students at these university campuses order the most desserts, according to GrubHub and Spoon University’s data – that’s a lot of sweet teeth!

1. Regis University

2. University of Texas

3. University of Tennessee

4. University of Illinois

5. Virginia Commonwealth University

2014's Top 5 Early Bird Campuses

GrubHub and Spoon University found that these campuses have the earliest takeout orders, with Columbia University students being 225% more likely to order early in the morning than other college students.

1. Columbia University

2. Cornell University

3. Rush University Medical Center

4. University of Chicago – Booth School of Business

5. University of South Carolina

2014's Top 5 Spiciest Campuses

Students on these five campuses like it hot – as in, spicy, according to GrubHub and Spoon University.

1. University of North Carolina

2. Occidental College

3. Emory University

4. Boise State University

5. University of Illinois

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What College Students Ate in 2014

In college, it seems that eating habits usually fall into one of two categories: a priority or a chore. Some students love to eat while others simply eat to live between study sessions.

Either way, most students don’t like to waste time thinking about their next meal when they’re hungry and, as a result, often resort to ordering takeout because, well, it’s easy.

So, what better way to learn about the majority of college students’ eating habits this year than through a food ordering company?

After all, most students have ordered take out at one point or another, and GrubHub Inc. is the nation’s leading online and mobile food ordering company, encompassing brands like GrubHub, Seamless, Menupages, and Allmenus.

GrubHub teamed up with Spoon University* to uncover some of college students’ most unusual eating habits in 2014.

Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of unusual habits when it comes to college eats – at least comparatively speaking.

Here’s what they discovered took place over the past year:

Top 5 Foods College Students

Ordered Most in 2014:

1. Pizza

2. Fries

3. Wings

4. Soup

5. Salad

Compared to Typical Americans,

College Students Ordered A LOT More in 2014:

• 179% More Cookies

• 150% More Calzoni (Apparently, that’s plural, who knew!)

• 114% More Chicken with Broccoli

• 92% More General Tso’s Chicken

• 88% More Sesame Chicken

• 83% More Energy Drinks

Compared to Typical Americans, College Students Ordered Less This Year…

• When it’s early. In fact, early morning orders (which take place between 6 a.m. – 9 a.m.) are 66% less likely. On the flip side, late orders (which take place between 10 p.m. – 2 a.m.) are twice as common!

• Students are less likely to order coffee – 15% less likely, to be exact.

• 26% less likely to order spicy foods.

• College students request healthy substitutions 23% less commonly.

• Order sweets or desserts 18% less than typical Americans.

• Students are also 18% less likely to use common manners like “please” and “thank you” in making their requests. Bummer. Please remember to say thanks next time!

*Data and rankings found by GrubHub and Spoon University were “based on orders placed by college students at hundreds of college campuses during the 2013-2014 school year (9/1/13-12/15/13 and 1/15/14-5/1/14).”



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