Apocalyptic College

Students in October

Student zombies crawl about the campus. The first round of tests have just been administered. The end of October/November is midterms then the final in December. Today, the Starbucks line in the library was out the door. I went to the library at 10:30 this morning and a saw 3 people asleep with their books and laptops sprawled out on a long table. I am assuming they were there all night. Maybe, I am wrong. Maybe everyone just likes Starbucks and some people like to take morning power naps in a public place.

I feel like a zombie too sometimes. So unaffected by the issues and problems other students might be stressing their brains over. I stare at a screen, a book, or a lecture and focused only on my issues, problems, and priorities. How does it feel to be a student zombie? It’s like living in a world that has a population of only you. In a world like that you constantly feel like you’re failing, even if you’re not.

If I stop and look at things in perspective, I don’t feel better because we are all stressed and struggling. But I do feel less ‘zombified’. My friends help me out a lot. We all can talk to each other, help each other out, and in a lot of ways relieve the stress.

Cure student zombification with friends

Don’t Talk, Listen & Relax

It’s been a month now and I find it interesting how often I feel like I am the only one here.  There are +30,000 people around me at any given time and yet my interest in others no longer exist. In high school I knew people. I talked to friends on a day to day basis about everything. Now, I talk less and listen more. Listen to lectures, listen to educational videos, listen in club meetings, listen in study sessions. It sucks not to talk to anybody (and by ‘talk’ I mean really have a sit down conversation).

Besides this more or less depressing realization I have also seen a difference in learning level. I have come to understand more about a variety of subjects in a month than a semester of high school. I have been granted a whole new outlook on the world that makes so much more sense than the mess it was before. Yeah my social life has gone down the toilet, I have stress that makes me physically sick, and the amount of work they expect is either do or die for your GPA. It is almost hard to believe some students can go to out every night of every week and still have the grades to be enrolled here.

Finding out what relaxes you, what calms you down when your stressed, is something that is good know before you enter college.

Blog for sanity

School Hasn’t Started = $10,678

This is too much. I haven’t even attended college yet. I haven’t moved in yet. I haven’t eaten cafeteria food yet. I haven’t been to the college gym yet. I haven’t gone to any classes yet

There’s no way I have 10,000 to blow on just one semester. I don’t think many 18 year olds do.

I knew college was going to be expensive, but I was not expecting these numbers to appear so suddenly!

It will not be hesitant when it comes to collect lots of money.

Planning to Leave?

For all high school seniors getting ready for college I would like to point out a few things you might want to know when applying.

First of all the Common App is a wonderful website to help you apply for college online. If your school doesn’t teach you how to use it – many colleges will want their online applications through this website anyway.

Write your college essays clearly. Google tips on good college essay writing. Check and double check your grammar!

Don’t spend hours on one college essay. Take a few minutes of each day to add, fix, or change the essay over several days. Don’t procrastinate either.

Take the SATs or ACTs 3 to 4 times max. (Colleges might say scores are not a big factor but they very much are – even after admittance my college continued to reference SAT/ACT scores for placement in classes as a freshman)

Scholarship application deadlines go quick! Get them fast! Google scholarships for everything because there is one for everything (look out for fake junk scholarships online). Ask your guidance counselor for ideas on where to find scholarships.

For example, there was a scholarship for people who live in my county, or have a membership to my local amusement park. Big companies like Wal-Mart have scholarships. There are also military dependents scholarships, gender, or race scholarships.

Apply early action (not early decision unless you are sure because it’s binding). This way you have more than one chance to be admitted.

Visit the schools and if you cant see yourself living there, save the money for that application fee and apply to a different one.

Applying for college is a lot of work, but if you’re ready for college then you are ready for college applications.

Never stress out too much over one process.

If you have any questions about college applications please leave a comment!

Hidden Price Tag

Everyone knows college isn’t cheap. The books, tuition, room and board, and everything in between all adds up to some ridiculous amount.

The worst college bills are the ones you don’t expect.

For example, one of the reasons I’m going to my college was because freshman are allowed to bring their car. When purchasing my parking pass the price tag stood out as something of a shock to me.

$300 for every 5 months (semester) of parking in the parking deck.

Colleges can do this. They own a profitable location and can drive prices as high as they want in cases like these.

I’m not saying all of these price tags are avoidable, but for fair warning expect these small but influential additions to your college expenses. I will continue to post more hidden price tags as they come throughout my experience.

The next big price tag to come will be food. For all freshman staying in dorms a meal plan is required. The cheapest one comes at $1,700.

Spending money is never cheap.

Error: Communication Unclear

The thing I worry about most when entering into my freshman year of college is going into school blind and, metaphorically, in the dark. There is a lot about college that is different and scary.

Mostly I feel that the pressure is really on now that I am paying for it. Any fall backs or mess ups could mean I’d sink further into debt than necessary.

This is why communication with my college must be crystal clear.

This has not been the case for me so far. Communication with student services and emails with department workers has been an endless circling of information and redirection on who it is I really need to speak with.

For example, I had a scholarship award I needed to turn in so that I could receive those funds towards my tuition. Originally, I was told to go to the student services center, they told me to go to the accounting office, and the accounting office told me “no” I had to got to another office.

This round about confusion led me to a woman’s desk 45 minutes later. I handed her a piece of paper and she told me I was all set.

Simple as that.

Then I asked a question like…

“How will I know when my money has been taken into account for tuition?”

or

“Will I be notified by the office when the scholarship transaction has gone through?”

Her response was vague and unclear. She started by telling me that she wasn’t sure and that I might be able to see if the transaction went through by asking student services (the office where I started this whole adventure).

An event like this occurred again but worse when I tried to change my major.

This is why communication errors are my biggest fear when entering college.

Make sure communication is as clear as possible.

Ask questions.

 

 

 

 

Won’t Remain Quiet!

For many rising college students their summer orientation is when everything is set up for the upcoming school year. Important things like deciding your freshman classes are done at orientation.

In my experience orientation was the worst place to make my freshman class schedule.

Ultimately, the main goal at orientation at a big university is to push a large load of students through a process, and do so quickly. Well this method doesn’t work for someone like me who can be slow to act when carefully considering the pros and cons to each course before committing to them.

During my session to schedule my classes with the other rising freshman we first gathered in a large computer lab where we were informed on how to sign up for new courses.

There were several college assistants/students and some college advisors to help with this confusing process.

Some of these individuals (the students) I felt were not entirely qualified to be giving advice about the types of classes I should enroll in. Towards the end of the session many were done and submitted their schedule without question, yet ,I remained pondering why mine did not turn out the way I had expected.

Still I was content with my schedule enough that I was about to send it in as well.

Then I was approached by a graduate student who sat down and attempted to aggressively rearranged the list of my college classes to gave me some absurd courses that were beyond my known capabilities. This lady did not know me or my learning strengths or weaknesses. She was not an advisor and she barely listened to what I was had to say. To me this schedule looked like a horribly written list that would  cause me to utterly suffer and hate my first semester of college. To appease her aggression I submitted these courses.

She left satisfied while I was about to break down in tears.

However, I was not about to sit and let this slide. I felt like I had been shoved aside in order for the orientation process to be completed.

So I set up an appointment with a real advisor to privately sit down with me, away from the rush of orientation, to construct a real schedule that I knew would suite me better. After looking at my past high school courses and listening to what my personal goals were she gave me more reasonable suggestions on how I might go about achieving my goals. By the end I was able to come away with a better understanding of how my freshman year will go (instead of blindly working in classes I had no business taking). I was even able to opt out of more general education classes than I was originally told I could.

Huge programs, like college orientation, might want to overlook your interests, goals, or thoughts and choose to ignore them in order to complete the activity within a selected time slot.

When making big decisions don’t let issues slide.

Don’t be overlooked.

Sale on School Spirit

I haven’t even left for school but I want every thing I own to display my college logo. Like my…
-car
-car keys
-shirts
-socks
-books
-jewelry
-tattoo  –>(just kidding)<–

In honesty, having school spirit is great, but at what cost? These things aren’t cheap. I wanted so badly to buy that $25 dime-sized keychain at the school bookstore. But how could I? I am going to college on a budget. Nonetheless I wanted it.

Most college apparel stores on campus are like this.

But don’t feel like you have to pour in $30 for a shirt or $40 for pants just because the logo was on it.

If you are planning on going to a big name college or university with a good sports team or reputation check out large local companies like target or walmart or online sites. These places usually have apparel near their sports section.

I found my college’s t-shirts, tank tops, and shorts that were on sale for $3!!The school bookstore isn’t the only place that sells your school apparel and gadgets.

Point is – look around. There is always more than one way to get what you want.

 

Preach! Book I Got From College Orientation

At college orientation they handed us a book to read for summer. This book was about a post grad hired by an internet social networking company and showed how computer networking could get out of hand.

For example One becomes so passionate about online interaction they don’t sleep.

After making this blog and a twitter account I tweaked both sites for hours all night and finally ended my internet activity at 3am when I knew I had a ball game the next morning.

In a way the book had a lot of truth about how invasive companies can be and how much information a stranger can learn about you just by obtaining information uploaded by none other than the individual themselves.

Facts about you can be private if you don’t type and post it.

But ALWAYS remember this…

– It’s better to have more friends than ‘followers’.

What Am I Doing?

This could very well be a blog about what not to do when going to college. I’m starting to think the people who are overly excited about leaving have little idea as to what they are getting themselves into. It’s a big step for sure.

Maybe I’m ready.

Though I’m probably not.

Either way since I’m entering a major in communications familiarizing myself with popular social media could help. I just made a Twitter for the sake of my major. I haven’t even started school yet. Most jobs in the field of advertising want their employers to know sites like twitter, facebook, and this lovely site! With that I embark on my first blog ever maybe the first of few or the start of many? Guess I’ll see where this goes.