Posts Tagged ‘scholarships for college’
Studying abroad: Is it Worth Leaving Your College Campus for?
Getting into your college of choice might be one of your proudest accomplishments. Considering the time it took to find the perfect college for you, get the grades, score high enough on the ACT or SAT, send in all of your admissions materials and figure out how to pay for college, is it really worth it to leave your college campus for a study abroad program? An article in USA Today suggests that maybe staying on campus is as valuable, if not more so, than leaving campus for a foreign experience:
Academics:
Remember high school? You spent days polishing your application essays and nights worrying about a rejection letter from the university of your dreams. You’re at that university now, paying a small fortune for the small class sizes, award-winning professors and diverse, gifted classmates that you dreamed about two or three years ago. And now you’re trying to leave?You have probably already started taking those advantages for granted. Unless you’re considering a semester at Oxford, you might be unpleasantly surprised at the academics at your host school. There’s a reason foreigners come to America’s universities – they really are the best in the world.Classes:
As budgets are cut, so are class schedules. Unless you’re in the biggest major on campus, there are classes that are offered very infrequently – classes that you’ll miss out on. It might be the seminar on women in journalism or on South American popular revolutions. Ever since the spring of my first year, I had been yearning to take a class on natural language processing (don’t ask – it’s really nerdy). I would have missed out on the chance to take that course if I had gone abroad. The kicker is that your junior year is when you start having enough priority to register for the classes that filled up when you were a freshman or a sophomore.
Traditional Language Programs in Universities Have Declined Steadily Over Decades
Bonjour! Hola! Ciao!
Fewer and fewer undergraduate students are saying “Hello” to the Romanic Language majors. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education college undergraduate majors in German and the Romance languages have been vanishing from American higher-education:
In the 1970-71 academic year, Romance-language majors were offered by close to 76 percent of American four-year colleges. But by 2005-6, only about 59 percent offered them. German programs saw a similar decline: In 1970-71, about 44 percent of colleges offered the major, but in 2005-6, just under 27 percent did so. Leaving aside “secretarial science,” those are by far the largest relative declines discovered by the Riverside scholars.
Would you ever study the romantic languages?
Comments: No Comments »
5 Ways to Network and Make Friends in College
If you’re a high school senior, you have less than a semester left of school and your highly anticipated start of college is on the horizon. After spending 4 years in high school, you might want to prep yourself for the changes you’ll experience going away to college. And one of the biggest changes is making new friends.
This post from the Uloop blog gives college students 5 easy ways to network and make friends in college:
Switch It Up
Although it is very easy to be a part of the same organizations that you have been a part of for your entire life, it is more beneficial to branch out to various organizations that have different backgrounds, connections, and client bases than your own. For example, even if you are not politically driven it may be rather prudent to join Young Republicans, Campus Democrats, etc. Or on the flip-side, if you have been a part of a politically affiliated organization for a long time, then maybe you should switch it up and join the Adventure Club or Fencing Club. By doing this, your face and name gain recognition across demographics.Approach the Unfamiliar
Oftentimes people get so wrapped up in their own lives that they forget that there are six billion other people on the planet. Yes, friendships are amazing, especially the lifelong ones. However, someone that you have known since pre-school will not vanish if you do not hang out with them for a couple days. Be approachable and approach those that you don’t know. For example, if someone is wearing a shirt that says “Combat Airsoft” you may feign interest in order to spark a conversation which could lead to a friendship. No one ever got anywhere by staying in their shell, and neither should you.
Comments: No Comments »
3 Valentine’s Day Ideas a Student Can Afford
Happy Valentine’s Day! Here are some Cappex words of wisdom on how to woo your Valentine on a serious student budget.
3 Valentine Ideas for College or High School Students on a Budget:
1. Snail Mail – Not even college admissions use the ole’ U.S. Postal Service anymore. Everything is digital, even college acceptance letters! But, receiving a sweet letter in the mail that is not a bill is definitely a treat. So make your own card, buy a stamp, write your heart out to your Valentine, and you’ll only be out 44 cents!
2. Cook a Dinner at Home – You don’t have to go out to enjoy a decadent Valentine’s dinner with your Valentine. If you’re a college or high school student on a budget, you don’t need to impress your Valentine with a fancy French dinner, just cook up something at home! Not only will you save moolah, but you will impress your Valentine with your new found culinary skills. *Hint* Easy recipes are as simple to find on the Internet as scholarships are using Cappex.com!
3. Picture You Two Together - If you want to present your Valentine with a nicely wrapped gift but still stay on your college or high school student budget, a picture frame is the way to go. You can find affordable picture frames at tons of places. Plus, the most personal part of the gift is the picture you place inside. It’s an affordable gift that has meaning to it, and it’s definitely better than your other affordable and personlized option: the illustrious mix-tape.
So happy Valentine’s Day! And if none of the above options work for you, why not find some scholarships to save your Valentine money on college? That’s probably the best Valentine they’ll ever get!
Comments: No Comments »
Crazy College Stories: College Professor Sticks A Camera in His Head Only to Find Camera is Not Wanted
It’s time for, drum roll please, a crazy college story! College and university life is definitely the time for trying new things, but where does it go too far? 
Would sticking a camera in your skull suffice to say the experience has “gone too far”? At New York University, arts professor Wafaa Bilal, recently implanted a camera in the back of his head only to realize his body did not want it. According to The Huffington Post, “[Bilal] underwent surgery on Friday after his body rejected one of the titanium posts anchoring the device to his skull.” The article goes on explaining:
Late last year, Bilal had the digital camera inserted into a two-inch hole drilled into the back of his head. According to The Chronicle of High Education, the body-modification artist who performed the surgery also installed three posts between Bilal’s skin and skull to root the setup in place.
Bilal intended to wear the camera around for a year as part of an art project, titled “The 3rd I,” commissioned for the opening of the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, reports the AP. “But the setup caused constant pain, because his body rejected one of the posts, despite treatment with antibiotics and steroids,” The Chronicle now writes.
The troublesome post has been removed, but the other two remain. “I’m determined to continue with [the project],” Mr. Bilal said, according to The Chronicle.
Comments: No Comments »
New Report on Minority Students and AP Programs for College Credit
Advanced Placement exams give college-bound high school students a leg up in their undergraduate careers, allowing these college students the opportunity to pass out of intro classes and start working toward their college major from the get-go–granted they score the necessary 3, 4 or 5 that are required for college credit.
A new report written about in The New York Times higher education blog The Choice illustrates that more minority high school students are making the grade on AP exams, but still remained underrepresented overall in the nation’s AP classroom.
More than 853,000 public high school seniors in last May’s graduating class, or 28 percent of the class, took at least one A.P. exam. Some 59 percent of those who took the tests earned a grade of 3, 4 or 5, which are required for college credit.
Trevor Packer, vice president of the Advanced Placement program, said that while the report shows that more students across the country enroll each year in classes to prepare them for the exams, there are some signs that improvement is not consistent among some groups and in some subject areas.Over the past decade, the number of minority students graduating with a successful A.P. experience has more than doubled, according to the report.
“A focus on access and equity is resulting in greater percentages of students going into college with A.P. scores that qualify and result in higher college performance,’’ he said.”
But the gap between how those students performed, compared to nonminority students, is still great in most states in the country.
Comments: No Comments »
15 Most Wired College and University Campuses
When searching for your perfect college does the question of how much access to computers there is on campus ever cross your mind? Considering how much student work is done with computers, it might be a good idea to know how readily available computers are on your college campus.
U.S. News writes about the 15 most wired college and university campuses and how many computers there are on campus per college student:
U.S. News surveyed more than 1,700 undergraduate programs last year, and 1,280 schools reported data on both their total student body (combined graduate and undergraduate population) and the number of computers available to students on campus. Of those schools, the average number of computers per student on campus is .14. That means, on average, there are roughly seven students per computer on college campuses nationwide.
Comments: No Comments »
5 Easy Ways to Keep Your College Roommate Happy and Make Your University Experience All the Better
Probably the last thing on your mind while you’re searching for and applying to colleges is who your roommate will eventually be. But, the reality is that after the admissions process, in most situations, you’ll have to live with a stranger your freshman year in a college dorm room.
Whether you wind up becoming best friends with your roommate or cordial acquaintances, here is some advice from ULOOP.com on how to maintain a good relationship with your college roommate:
Do have roommate nights. Grab a bowl of popcorn, sit on the couch, or your extra long twin bed, and put in a chick-flick. My roommates and I always have Gossip Girl Mondays. Having these nights keeps your bond strong; it’s an easy way to break away from some of the stress of school, especially when it’s midterm week and you don’t say a word to your roommate because you’re cramming for your Chemistry test.
Comments: 1 Comment »
Admitted College Students, Stay Immune to Senioritis
Ok, so you found the college you’ve been dreaming about. You applied. You waited. And waited. And waited. You searched for scholarships. And finally a big, thick envelope arrived in the mail inviting you to join the class of 2011.
Remember though, being admitted to a college or university doesn’t mean you can forget about your high school studies. Try not to fall victim to ‘Senioritis’ because certain colleges might just check in on your progress.
This recent post in the New York Times blog The Choice takes note that accepted applicants should keep a “shoulder to the wheel” during their second semester:
The following day, the mail arrived with a letter addressed to Nicole from the office of admissions at Wesleyan, which had accepted her under its binding early decision program last fall.
This letter had a much less congratulatory tone. It read:
As your thoughts and energy turn to your final term of high school, I want to remind you how important it is to keep your academic focus. At this point the single most important thing you can do to prepare for four tremendous years at Wesleyan is to keep your ‘nose to the grindstone and shoulder to the wheel.’
To be more specific, we expect you to continue the courses that you committed to take, to maintain achievement commensurate with your ability, and to sustain your extra-curricular commitments and leadership.
Comments: No Comments »
A $10,000 College Degree?
College is extraordinarily expensive. Students search hard for scholarships and take copious amounts of time applying for financial aid. So, wouldn’t it be a dream come true for students to get a degree that wouldn’t leave them in dept for the rest of their lives?
The Texas Tribune writes that Governor Rick Perry wants his state’s college and universities to offer a $10,000 bachelor’s degree:
Perry also wants lawmakers to consider outcome-based financial support for those schools, basing a substantial portion of their funding on the number of degrees they issue with particular attention to degrees for at-risk students and for those in critical or essential areas of study.
Comments: No Comments »
Register on Cappex
Create a free profile and...
- Discover more than $11 billion in scholarships and merit aid
- Get your college matches and see which colleges want you
- Instantly see your admissions chances for getting into the college of your dreams
Search our Blog
Categories
Before Leaving for College
College Admissions
College Decisions
College Facts
College Life
College Resources
College Search
Helpful College Tips
High School Tips
Internships/Work Experience
Majors and Minors
News and Announcements
Scholarships and Financial Aid
Student News
Uncategorized
White Board Friday
Comments: No Comments »