How to Have the BEST FALL BREAK EVER

For a lot of you college kids out there, fall break is either just around the corner or already in your face. By now your plans are probably set in stone, and I know a lot of students go home or visit family over break. Unfortunately, leaving the rejects (sorry rejects) to sit around on campus in a social haze, not knowing which of their friends are around and effectively stranding them in isolation for the weekend. Add to this the fact that there won’t be much going on on-campus, and some campuses (mine) even stop serving food.

So if you’re bored, lonely, and looking for something better to do than reading blogs on the internet, here are a few suggestions to make your fall break the best one ever.

1.  Find out which of your friends, and not friends, are available.

See who you have to work with. Check with your friends to see if they’ll be around, and even check with people you’re not so close to. It can be a pretty easy conversation starter for that cute boy (or girl) in your math class. And if you find someone who’ll be around, tell them you’re planning a little get-together for the people left behind (because that’s what you’ll be doing, as per suggestions #4 and #5). Let them know they’re free to stop by, and if they seem interested go ahead and get their phone number. If they don’t seem interested screw them, and when class resumes go sit next to the second cutest boy in class.

2. Get ahead in school work.

Ok, I know this is the last thing you want to be doing during break, but try dedicating even a few hours each day to some school work. Let’s be serious, all your friends who went away will probably be doing the same thing, albeit from a different location. You can finally try out those prize library study locations that are always crowded. And if you get your work done now, you’ll have more time to slack off when people are around. Besides, this is just during the day while everyone else is either still sleeping or logging on to Facebook for the fifth time. Once it gets towards afternoon…

3. Round up people for outdoor funness.

To do this right it’ll take a bit of work. If you want to go the easy route, you can simply find a Frisbee, find the friends you know are around and proceed to enjoy a nice day out on the quad. However, to make this the best Fall Break ever you’re going to have to get more than just your friends. Ask people you see around the dorm, tell them you’re playing Frisbee (or your activity of choosing) later on at X time and to bring some friends. Then, before you go out to play, prepare a sign. It doesn’t have to be fancy; it can be simple. As long as it says something along the lines of ‘JOIN US’ in big lettering. College kids are an adventurous sort, and you’d be surprised how many people would love to play Frisbee with strangers if they only knew that their intrusion would not only be tolerated, but welcome. Stand your sign up against a backpack, and after a nice afternoon out on the quad and after you’ve taken your shower…

4. Potluck!

Ideally you would have been planning for this a couple days beforehand. This is the event you’re inviting your econ class crush to. Gather up the friends you know will be around and tell them it’s going down at your place, and to bring food. If there’s no room in your room, use the common room. To make things easier make a list of what everyone’s bringing. For people who can’t find anything, tell them to swing by early and have them help you prepare your special-secret-recipe-passed-down-your-family-for-years main dish. If you don’t have a secret recipe, I left a fairly easy one at the bottom.

5. Bad movie night

After dinner is over head to your school library. Most libraries rent out DVDs to students. Pick out the absolute worst movie you can find (I vote Titanic 2) and invite some friends (and all the random people you’ve managed to meet throughout your action-packed day because you followed my advice to the letter) to watch it with you. See if your college has a large media room somewhere, or find an empty common room. Popcorn and drinks are optional, as by now you’ve probably shelled out a pretty penny over the course of the weekend (less than your friends who bought a ticket home for break).

As the movie starts and you settle back into your seat while subtly wrapping your arm around the lucky girl or guy you’ve been trying to impress all weekend, you can reflect on how awesome your fall break was. You can also say thanks to the one who made it all happen by commenting on their blog and letting them know how great it was, and maybe coming back every once in a while :)

DiCG

 

How to make Taco Soup:

1.  Gather cans of red beans, black beans, corn and diced tomatoes, as well as a pack of chili powder and a pack of powdered ranch. How much depends on how many people; two of all the cans and one of both the powders can feed around 7 or 8 people.
   
2.  Empty all ingredients into a large pot. Stir.
   
3.  Heat on high without cover until boiling, then put the lid on and let it simmer for 30 minutes at a low temperature.
   
4. Serve over rice, on bread, or even in taco rolls.

The Failing College Freshman

The American school system is a joke. Too concerned with standardization and what is in effect, social programming, the importance of imparting an education and knowledge have faded into the background. And guess what: highschoolers aren’t stupid. They catch on to this. Many learn at an early age that they don’t have to try to do well in school. Plenty of kids graduate with a B average or higher without having to lift a metaphorical finger. Others realize they can coast by with a C average even without doing homework.

In the grand scheme of things, I believe these students are the worse off. Never having to learn skills like proper studying habits or time management, these students at the top of their classes are naturally pushed towards the college route. And I don’t want to make hugely false blanket statements, as a lot of these students turn out okay. They adapt and overcome. Or maybe some of them went to a hard high school, or had difficult teachers and were forced to learn those skills that are important for success in college. But a lot of them don’t, and I was one of them.

As a not-so bright and eager freshman I went to classes, barely paid attention, and expected to get good grades, because that had always worked for me. And it did work, at first. I made it through my first semester of college with a decent grade point average. Lower than anything I’d ever gotten before, but I thought hey, it’s college, it’s supposed to be harder. Second semester was when it hit me. For some reason I got the idea into my head to become an engineer. Since I was a semester behind the rest of the engineering kids, I thought I’d overload a bunch of classes to catch up. At that time I wasn’t even considering the possibility of failing and besides, most of the classes I had already taken at a high school level. What could possibly go wrong?

By the end of my second semester I was placed on Academic Probation with the worst GPA I’d ever seen in my life. Needless to say my grand engineering plans were shot. While I did make it out of school on time with a decent GPA, many students never recover from their initial college shock.

As the semester wears on for many of you out there, I sincerely hope that you take college seriously, and don’t let the easy first semester put you in a false sense of security. I’ll post a few quick college tips below, and expand upon them in future posts.

And if you get nothing else out of this post, remember this: focus on learning in college. Actually learning, not just passing classes so you can get your degree. If you actively try and want to learn the material, the passing will come naturally.

Quick Tips for College Success:

• ·         Take notes in class. This assures you’re paying attention and lets the information pass through your brain multiple times.
  
• ·         Read assigned assignments. Seriously. At the very least, skim them, or read a review.
• ·         Schedule your time. I once read in a college help pamphlet that if you properly manage your time, you end up with more play time than study time. Stay away from the facebooks.
• ·         Study outside of your room, and for math or science classes when you study actually do the sample problems

That’s all for now. If you can think of any more important study tips, leave them in a comment below.

DiCG

A Liberal Arts Major is Totally a Good Idea

Please note the not so subtle sarcasm in the title. But perhaps I’m starting things off on the wrong foot, so let’s try beginning again.

Choosing one’s college major can be one of the single most important things you do in college, or one of the most inconsequential things you do, depending on who you ask. By now, as a college student, you’ve probably heard both sides: “You have to choose your major by the first year, else you won’t be able to get all your course work in in four years, and with this economy who can afford to pay for more than that?” and “Oh don’t worry about it, I changed my major like five times, it’s not a big deal.” Which one you end up believing probably depends on which group you fall into. If you, like me as a freshman, have no idea what you want to do with your life, then you probably agree with the ‘majors are no big deal’ camp.
Unfortunately, I eventually came to realize that yes, college majors are a big deal, and though it’s too late for me, hopefully I can impart my expert knowledge to you before you make any mistakes.

While I agree it’s completely unrealistic to expect one to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives at the age of 18, by the time you’re a sophomore or junior you will have to make that decision. Forced into this predicament many young college students start scrambling around, taking as many classes as possible to try to find a subject they like, to try and find their ‘passion.’ (Or in my case, taking as many classes as possible until you find one you’re not failing). Eventually they’ll decide on a major that looks interesting to them and submit the required forms, of course with the guarantee from professors that there are plenty of opportunities in their field. The most important thing isn’t just finding a job, it’s finding a job you love, right?

Wrong. Unfortunately the realities of the American university system don’t really allow for this. As tempting as it is to major in English because you love writing, an English major isn’t the best decision. You’ve probably heard your peers joking about becoming starving authors, or jobless artists; heck, if you’re set on one of these majors you’ve probably made the joke yourself. But here’s a thought; if you’re going to become a starving author even with your college degree, why not skip the degree (and the loans that come with it) and get straight to the starving part?

See, as much as college is depicted as the natural course to take for high school graduates, college costs money. It’s expensive. And when you really realize how much money your fancy college degree is going to cost you, you begin to realize that college is nothing more than an investment. You input say $100,000 (if you’re lucky) and in 4 years you receive a piece of paper; not knowledge, nor a decent education necessarily. All you’re guaranteed is a piece of paper, and the hopes that with your piece of paper you’ll be able to start a career that will allow you to make up for the cost of college, and the added opportunity cost of the last four years of your life.

Let’s take a look at some statistics. For the 2011-2012 academic years, the total costs for an in-state private school averaged to around $38,589. That’s almost $40,000 per year, going to an in-state school. After four years you’re looking at a total cost of $160,000. Woe to those who decide they want to get away from home and go out of state. And for the past decade college prices have only been rising. It may end up costing you even more by the time four years are up.

Now let’s look at how much money you’ll be making with your fancy college degree, how much profit your investment will yield. Towards the high end, college graduates with Chemical Engineering degrees make around $67,500 coming out of college, and Computer Science majors can make around $60,000. Towards the lower end, Liberal Arts majors make around $35,000, and Elementary Education around $31,400 (teachers are horribly underpaid; expect a blog on this in the future). If you’re still unconvinced, you may want to check out salary.com’s list of 8 College Degrees with the Worst Return on Investment.  The #1 spot goes to Communications.

Here is a sample budget to give you a better idea of your future living situations, and how much money you can end up paying for loans over the years.    -----    Coming Soon!

By now those of you who haven’t closed the tab already are probably wondering if everyone is supposed to just go get a STEM major. The world needs communicators and writers and artists too, right? What about following your passions?

Well turns out ‘following your passions’ may not be all it’s puffed up to be, but that’s a topic for another entry. The point I’m trying to make is that college costs money, and if your college degree doesn’t allow you to make enough money to actually pay for the degree you spent money on, you may want to rethink whether or not you absolutely need that degree. If you really want to learn about Medieval Studies the internet is completely free. And if your dream is to be a writer, just start writing. Chances are if you’d choose an English major you’re a better than average writer already.

Disillusioned College Grad

Pilot

So here I am. Out of college and without a job. Sitting in my room all day and trying to resist the temptation to slack off while slowly going through my list of get-rich-quick schemes (I swear this isn’t one of them). For all intents and purposes, a NEET. Technically I’ve been ‘educated,’ but more on that in later posts. So I thought, why not write a blog, it’s not like I have anything better to do. Of course, to have a blog I’d first need something to write about; I wouldn’t want this to become one of those boring blogs where people talk about all the not so interesting things that happen in their lives. For a long while I considered all the things I’m fairly good at, and that’s when it hit me: I could write a blog about the things I’m not so good at.

I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out. Obviously, unemployed and sitting around at home isn’t a place where most normal people want to be, and let’s assume, isn’t a place where you want to be in the future. Using my wealth of knowledge on exactly how I got to this place, I will give you tips on how to not get here, and to do this I will take you back to where it all began: college.

Ah, college days. I remember them fondly; every now and then the stench of an alcohol-filled room returns unbidden to my memory. But as much as I’d like to reminisce about days long gone, we’re here to talk serious. Sure, there are parts of college that can be pretty fun, but anything that can cost you upwards of $200,000 is most definitely serious business, and should be treated as such (free ride scholarship kids need not apply).

So maybe you’re a college freshman who’s just recently started their college career, loaded with a backpack brimming with books and papers and a heart filled with youthful ambition. Or maybe you’re a jaded senior who thinks she or he knows it all. And maybe you do know it all. Whichever category you fall into, I’m sure you’ll find some useful advice here somewhere down the road. We’ll cover topics like what’s a good study time to party time ratio, and what’s the best way to stay awake in class (or at least sleep without getting caught), and we may even finally settle the debate between engineers and arts and craft students.

After each blog, feel free to leave comments and hate mail below, including any suggestions you may have or topics you’d like me to cover.

Until the next time we meet,

Disillusioned College Grad