HoboStudent is aimed at giving advice, guides, and information to students who are struggling to get by, especially during these times of recession. Basically, the blog’s motto says it all: “Where the broke students go.” Getting by college life is difficult, but the difficulty level rises a few notches when you don’t have the money you need for this. HoboStudent seems to have a mission to inform and aid students how to get through college without much money. The blog has topics like Obtaining Beer with Little to No Money and The Secret to a Free Haircut.
What you’ll like about HoboStudent
HoboStudent has a web design that is very easy to use. With the categories lined horizontally along the heading of the page and other links lined along the right margin, the webpage is easy to navigate. Also, the blog posts are easy to spot and easy to access with large link buttons. Another good feature of HoboStudent is the use of pictures. Including pictures for each blog entry is important if you want to grab the attention of your visitors. The layout of the page is very organized and easy to understand as well.
What’s not so great about this blog
At first sight, it would seem as though HoboStudent has a good concept, albeit rather pessimistic. If I personally planned and conceptualized this site, I would try to have a more optimistic approach to helping less fortunate students get by in college. Instead of teaching students how to get by with no money, why not focus on helping students get out of their financial struggles? When you actually take the time to read some of the posts on this blog, it makes you wonder whether the authors are genuinely trying to help or they are just trying to get some laughs from their readers. From the site name alone, HoboStudent, it’s already hard to take the blog seriously, and the blog entries only prove my point.
Pimp Dorm is a website that was created by a group of students. The main idea of the blog is to offer ideas, information, and advice for college students who want to improve their dorm room. Whether dorm improvement has to do with decor and cleanliness or throwing parties, Pimp Dorm has loads of information for the college student. Aside from providing some advice for pimping your dorm, the blog also has articles on college life in general.
What’s pimpin’ at Pimp Dorm
One of the best aspects of the Pimp Dorm blog is its design. Bright and bold colors come together in a contemporary design that fits in with the whole “pimp” theme. The blog layout is rather generic, with the main navigation links running down the left margin, while the popular links and ads run down the right margin. Although the layout is generic, it works well and makes it easy for visitors to navigate the site. Another interesting thing about this blog is that it has a “Dorm Video” section where you can find videos about dorm life. There is also a “Dorm Pranks” section for some funny videos of dorm-based practical jokes. Finally, the site also promotes some products for sale, which is a good fit for its theme. These unique features are great for capturing the attention of visitors and for giving visitors a reason to come back to the site.
What needs pimpin’ at Pimp Dorm
My main concern with Pimp Dorm is the lack of articles. While the articles like “Maximizing Your Dorm Room?s Space” are quite useful and relevant to the target audience, there aren’t very many articles to go through. Even a blog with the best design and an amazing concept will be worth little without a good amount of content to keep visitors busy. In time, perhaps this blog will continue to develop, adding more content, more videos, more products, and, ultimately, more reasons to keep the traffic coming.
College flicks have definitely been part of pop culture. These movies usually depict stereotypical cliques that rule the college campus set against crazy frat parties, wild nights, and exciting romance. But are these portrayals realistic?
How college life is portrayed in the movies
Future college students who have watched Hollywood college movies will surely, to some extent, form a conclusion about the nature of college life. Through the influence of media, young people, particularly those in college, are being portrayed as irresponsible and selfish students who devote their time to endless partying, drinking, engaging in pre-marital sex, and the like. There are students who ridicule their diligent classmates and brand them as “geeks” and “nerds” who do not belong to their group. Movies tend to focus on the negative habits and characters of the students. This kind of image among college students as showed by the media seems to cause an alarm for parents and prospective college students.
The real college life
It seems unfair that college students are being stereotyped in such a downbeat manner. Because in reality, majority of the young people in college are hardworking, and diligent in preparing for their midterms and finals and working on their class requirements. Most college students value their education a lot. Partying is part of college life but studies still remain to be the top priority of many. After all, going through the challenging college admissions process which includes writing an “essay on myself” will seem like a waste of time if partying and drinking all night is the real goal of many applicants. As a matter fact, many applicants spend months just to come up with a winning myself essay so as to land a spot in their dream school.
According to Dr. Myron Lounsbury, director of American Studies at the University of Maryland, ”There is no such thing as a movie that will give you a 100 percent portrayal of college life.”(1) It’s really unjust to label all college students with such indifference and apathy, which in reality only reflects a small portion of the actual students’ population.(2)
Making the best of your college life
Going to college doesn’t mean you have to hit the books every night and avoid having a social life. As a matter of fact, having a tight-knit social circle can help you get through difficult times.(3)
The secret in getting the best out of your college life is having a sense of balance. Balance between academics and social life. Nobody wants to spend four years or more of his or her life reading books alone; everybody deserves a break. Go out and meet people. Do not confine yourself between the walls of your room or the library. Learn to prioritize. Just always bear in mind the main purpose of your stay in college, which is to get a degree and expand your horizons.
(1) http://media.www.clarksonintegrator.com/media/storage/paper280/news/2002/03/04/Opinion/Students.Say.Hollywood.Fails.To.Portray.College.Realistically-204729.shtml
(2) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,928628,00.html
(3) http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/feb2007/bs20070213_189035.htm
Year after year, numerous students regret that they did not get student health insurance. The truth is, there are numerous chances of getting sick or injured while in college or graduate school. For this reason, many schools and companies offer student health insurance policies that help students deal with the burden of getting sick or injured while in school. In fact, in some areas, student health insurance is required by law for those who are full-time students. Here are some reasons to consider for getting student health insurance:
Health insurance at a low premium and good options
One of the advantages of getting student health insurance is the low prices offered by many educational institutions. Colleges and universities usually offer student health insurance at lower prices than insurance companies. Students may be eligible for either group packages or individual packages, depending on the requirements of the insurer. Before settling on a student health insurance policy, though, it is important to know everything you can about the policy to ensure that it covers everything you need.
Good alternative for those not covered by their parents’ health insurance
Since most of the people who enter into college are already of legal age, they may no longer be covered by the health insurance plans of their parents or family. For those who no longer have health insurance, you should seriously consider getting student health insurance. Sicknesses and injuries are often accidental and unexpected, so it is important to have good health coverage. Remember that you are normally not required to get student health insurance from the school that you are attending. You can also get student health insurance from private insurance companies. Just make sure to ask about the requirements to qualify for the student health insurance policy. Don’t forget to read the fine print so as to make sure that the plan covers your needs.
Tuition costs differ dramatically from one school to another; it could be as low as $7,000 to about $40,000 in some schools annually. At present times, even the $7,000 level could give problems to some Asian students who do not have ample funds to cover their payments.
To apply for financial help could be a challenge for Asian students, because federal loans are usually not given to non-US individuals. However, there are still many bodies/entities offering financial help to Asians, as well as other ethnic communities. The following are among the many organizations offering this laudable service to the Asian pupils.
Global Aid Organizations
A body falling under “international financial aid organizations” is the Gates Millennium Scholars Program. It was put up by the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, and they cater to seniors in high school, college students, and grad students going into math and the computer science fields.
School-specific aid
The Northwestern University gives financial aid programs for the Asian students. Among their plans are for the permanent residents and non-citizens as well. There are also other institutions that offer adequate solutions to monetary difficulties. Oregon’s Lewis & Clark College asserts that they want a population which is diverse in terms of economics, geographics, and culture. Before the turn of the century, they awarded around fifteen students with $9,000 for their schooling ends.
Other financial aid programs
One could utilize the Net to look for other financial programs for Asian students. A student with Asian roots can also seek help from his ir her nation of origin. A lot of countries have bodies offering financial help to individuals who wish to study on American soil. Whatever it is you have found, do not just grab it in a rush. Prior to committing to a contract, read all the details. When it has been approved, then you could concentrate on your chosen major and not on how you will pay after you receive your diploma.
Photo Credit : niyam bhushan
People will tell you that the transition phase from high school to college can be a difficult one. Also, the expenses that one faces when moving on to college from high school can cause a lot of worry. Be it a university, a graduate school or a community college, times are hard particularly when we talk of paying matriculation fees. The good thing is that there are many entities offering grants, fellowships, and scholarships exclusively for women. The following are among the most noteworthy.
Nationwide Financial Aid
AAUW or the American Association of University Women is a body that aims to aid the distaff side by advocacies of equity and education. For the past years, this has given around 4M dollars in financial help. Kinds of aid they give cover fellowships, awards, grants, and awards of community initiatives.
Aid for Women With Specialization
HORIZONS Scholarship Foundation, put up by the Women in Defense, aims to help women who are going into the field of national security. There are differing plans, beginning with a minimum of five hundred dollars. Females who apply for such scholarships should be an American citizen, with a GPA of 3.25. The financial aid offered by this foundation extends to those who are taking up courses in other fields such as mathematics and law.
Other kinds of financial aid for female students
There are still other entities that aim to support women as they go through their college degrees. Here is a short list.
** AEI Scholarship Fund, P.E.O. International Peace Scholarship Fund, Business and Professional Women’s Foundation, and Talbots Women’s Scholarship Fund.
**The Sigma Delta Epsilon (Graduate Women in Science Fellowships) – catering to females in the sciences.
**Women’s Research & Education Institute-Congressional Fellowships on Women & Public Policy – was put up to train women in the field of policy formation, and for graduate students aiming to go into politics later on
Prior to seeking that grant or loan, a research would be a good course of action. Go to the homepages of the many organizations, and check the similarities and differences among their financial aid packages.
Photo Credit : SqueakyMarmot
Instead of explaining to you how students may get high grades in class, we’ll tell you why students perform below standards. Not many students are aware of poor study habits and end up practicing them, sometimes. And because they do not realize that they are practicing some poor study habits, students, even if they try, fail to achieve their goals to get high grades. So, here are some common poor study habits to be avoided.
1. Doing school work hastily
when one always procrastinates, time that should be spent on productive tasks is wasted. It won’t be long before one realizes that the deadline for a project or paper is already only a few days away. This then forces students to cram and make hasty decisions. Unfortunately, there is no place for cramming when studying. Cramming or doing school work in haste does not only reflect a lack of self-discipline but also a lack of order in a student’s life. Plus, when a student crams, his or her school work will most likely be unsatisfactory.
While being spontaneous is healthy for a person, being hasty about aspects that need thinking through has drawbacks. So, to avoid getting low grades, students must always prioritize and give time to think about their school work. In addition, students must know when to be spontaneous and when to get serious.
2. Settling for mediocre grades
In school, homework, tests, papers, and other requirements may pile up. And because they could get overwhelming for many students, students immediately give up on achieving excellent grades. Students may reason out that there are so many requirements to finish in so little time. But, their reason is not valid and reflects lack of perseverance.
To avoid the tendency of settling for mediocre grades, students must instead live the statement “study hard to party hard.” No matter how many school requirements there are, students must still do their best to accomplish the work excellently. After all, when they’ve finished all the work, students will enjoy the benefits and have all the right to have fun.
3. Getting discouraged after a failure
Maybe after studying very hard for an exam, students may still fail it. While it may seem to be the most rational behavior, discouragement should not be what students must dwell in after a failure. Discouragement only makes people think negatively and stop persevering. So, students must keep their optimism and keep trying. They should also inform the professor who gave a difficult exam about their efforts and problems. That way, the professor may understand their needs and personally help them.
4. Thinking only of short-term goals
Some students tend to see studying as an end in itself. They do not realize that studying well and getting high grades are what get them into the higher-level schools or jobs of their choice. So, to avoid thinking in short-term, students must see the bigger picture. They must think about the benefits they will eventually enjoy after studying hard and striving for high grades.
Photo Credit : Bright Meadow
