23 is a young age for a lot of things.  It is a young age to be a mother, to be on your own, to lose a friend, or to have cancer.  Yet, all of these things and more happen to young people every day.

It was a cold day in November when I got the phone call from the dermatologist telling me my results were back and I needed to come into the office the same day.  As I put down the phone, I looked at my boyfriend and nervously laughed and said, “Well that can’t be good.”  Since I am a full time student, I had to go to class before I could even think about heading to a doctor.  I sat through the hour and fifteen minute class thinking that maybe I was being silly and everything was going to be fine.  Surely a girl who is 23 years old, outgoing, determined, and full of life could not have cancer.  It had to be something else.

The drive to the office took too long and I called my mom on the way to deter some thoughts.  She immediately went into full panic mode and I couldn’t understand why.  By the time I arrived at the doctor, she had called five times to find out what was wrong but they wouldn’t tell her because I am an adult.  I sat alone in the room and waited for the nurse practitioner.  She was the only that would see me that day because the doctor was too busy.  She sat down and said, “Katie, you have level four Melanoma and the next step is for you to go see a surgeon in St. Louis to have the tumor removed.”

It’s hard to explain what I was feeling at the moment I was processing everything she was saying.  I don’t really know if I was feeling anything but disbelief.  I’m not sure that I was even processing it.  I just shook my head like I was some kind of bobble head so she knew I was still listening.  The strangest thing, after looking back on it all, is the feeling that I just wanted to please her or that I couldn’t cry because I needed to be strong.  I asked her different questions about what the biopsy meant and she couldn’t tell me.  At this point the hardest thing was that she didn’t know the details or the main question everyone wanted to know:

Was I going to die? Read More »

The following is a guest post by our (nerdy yet totally helpful) friends at Hack College. Check ‘em out for all your techy needs. They’re like the nerdy boyfriend you never had but always needed.

When the hell did November get here? That is what I want to know. Seriously, just yesterday I was telling y’all how to prepare your brains for August and get back into the school mode. And now it’s November. How did that happen and how can I make it stop?

Well, okay, so I can’t stop the furious, oncoming train that is November. I also can’t stop December, with all of its final papers and exams and projects, from hurtling right after it. You might be thinking, “Don’t be silly. December is an entire month away! I have a whole other month before I have to start worrying about things like that. I’m not gonna worry about that ’til after Thanksgiving.”

That is where you are wrong. Let me break this down for you. Including this week, there are two more weeks until Thanksgiving. Exams start a week and a half after Thanksgiving break. Can you study for all of your exams, write multiple 15-page papers, and put together various end-of-the-semester projects in a week in a half?

Answer: no.

The solution to this post-Thanksgiving crunch is to use these two weeks that we are given to start planning ahead for finals season. I know, it may seem excessive. But if you put off preparation for your end -of-the-year work until right before or even after Thanksgiving break, you will have wished you used that two week grace period to do some of that work. Trying to organize the next month of your academic life is daunting to say the least. But with a few tips, you should at least create yourself a nice cushion of accomplished work to allow you to not completely lose your mind in the post-Thanksgiving crunch. Read More »

[Meet Margaret, a freshman at Yale. We've been checking in with her every week to see what she's doing, who she's meeting, and what new college surprises she's tackling (or freaking out about) as she embarks on the journey we call college. Or as I like to call it, the best thing since Trader Joe's Honey Greek Yogurt.]

In high school, I had a clear label. I was Ms. Student Government, Ms. Good Grades, Ms. Overachiever. And even though all of our years of primary schooling have told us that labels are totally, totally terrible and that we should define people by their true selves and inner lights, etcetera, Oprah wisdom, etcetera, Oprah wisdom, I’m just going to say this: I heart labels.

Because for some reason, rather than being stifled and held down by my defined structural cocoon of a label, I ultimately felt freer to be anyone I wanted to be. Completely ridiculous, right? Yeah.

By being known as the Smart Girl, I no longer had to prove that part of myself. It was like, I could be flexible. I could get a B on a paper, I could forget to do my homework, I could bomb an English test, but I would still be known as the Smart Girl. I mean, I guess it’s kinda like how Paris Hilton could potentially save puppies and ace an LSAT, but she always has that Party Girl image. Except, the opposite, you know?

It’s like, when you have a defined label, all you need to do is be like, “But wait, that label is not all that defines me.” And wham, you can do whatever you want and you surprise people because obviously Real You is so much more interesting than Labeled You. Read More »

A few days ago, The Huffington Post provided its readers with a BLS pie chart that depicted the daily schedule of the average college student. Apparently, we are barely grooming, sleeping 8+ hours, and living “pretty awesome” lives.

I am definitely not challenging the awesome comment. I spent yesterday lounging on my front porch, catching some rays while doing my homework. In the words of a very drugged out 8-year-old: Is this real life?

At the same time, though, The Government’s statistics are far from true concerning the lives of my friends and I. The day I meet a student that sleeps 8.4 hours nightly, I will lock them in a room until they share all their snoozing secrets with me.

Inresponse to the pie chart, we at CollegeCandy have crafted our own breakdown of the typical weekday in the life of a college student. The statistics may be far from scientific, but being girls who are really good at college, we feel they shed a more accurate light on the average student’s day. Read More »

Got some college questions? Unsure of a decision? Tangled up in some guy/roommate dramz? Just wanna chat it up with some really awesome chics? We’ve got the girls for you. Hit them up in the comments or shoot them an email with the subject “College Q&A”! They’ve got all the answers you need, no matter who you are.

Question
Help! My best friend from home has just informed me that she’s transferring to my school in the fall. (I knew she applied and I’m so excited to have her there, but she was on the wait-list and just found out). Anyways, she doesn’t really know that many people at my school and doesn’t want to live with all the freshmen in the dorms, so she asked if there was any extra space in my house for next year.

There is. The problem is, I don’t want to live with her. I’ve lived with friends before and it always ended badly, so I don’t want to risk it with her. Plus, I’ve got my life already set up here and as much as I want to have her in it, I don’t want to have her THAT MUCH in it. At least not right away. I feel like a huge bitch, but I just don’t want to live with her. How do I tell her that? And should I just suck it up and invite her to live with me? Maybe it’s not such a bad thing?

Any advice you can give would be grand…and help me sleep better at night.

GPA Girl
Yikes. I can understand the way you feel, but unfortunately, there’s really no way to explain it to your friend in a way that doesn’t make you seem like a complete jerk. At least, I can’t think of any way – maybe the other ladies can help out. But dude, I have to ask: Would it really be so awful to live with your friend? It wouldn’t be like you’re sharing a room with her. The two of you will be in a house with other people. As soon as she starts making new friends of her own (which you can facilitate much more easily if you share a house with her . . .), it’s likely that you won’t even see her nearly as much as you think. In any case, I think you should open up the house to your friend BUT have a tactful and honest discussion with her ASAP about how you feel. Let her know that you need to maintain a certain degree of independence in order to preserve your friendship with her, and specify the boundaries of that degree if necessary. I think (and hope) she’ll understand. Good luck! Read More »

While every college girl shares many of the same college experiences (selling books, sexiled, one shot too many), she also carves her own path and has her own unique adventure. Have you ever wondered what it’s like for other girls? What it’s like to go to an all-girls school? To go to fashion school? To go to a community college? Well wonder no more. Our one-of-a-kind CollegeCandy writers are sharing their unique experiences and opening our eyes to different college worlds. Are you doing something spectacular/different/interesting that you want to share? Send your ideas over and perhaps you could be telling your story right here.

Most college students struggle to complete one degree in four years, often taking an extra football season to finish or going on the five-year plan. Well, imagine trying to get two degrees in four years. And being in a sorority. And working. And having a boyfriend. And trying to maintain social skills. And watching Glee every Tuesday. Seems crazy right? Welcome to my life.

My friends think I’m nuts. Not because of my double major status, but rather the majors I’ve decided to take on. My primary is Telecommunications and Film with a concentration in Broadcast News, and my secondary is English. While both are pretty harmless separately, together it’s a deadly combination. Telecommunications requires a lot of outside work, plus you pretty much have to work at the TV station to get anywhere, which I’ve yet to do. English requires tons of reading and papers, plus I have to take four semesters of the same foreign language. I find that very strange for an English major, but this has given me the opportunity to take up Italian. Read More »

Everyone in college can recall their “worst night” (the night they end up passed out in a pile of woodchips, or walking home at 8AM with a banana costume on), but unfortunately for us, all four of my roommates had ours on the same night.

It was a brisk fall evening, my roommates and I were fully stocked on booze, and there was a very lovely and crowded double kegger down the street. We didn’t even need to get a taxi to get there!  This night was looking good. Only, in reality, the night was a recipe for pure destruction: two of us were recently single, and the other two were well-seasoned single ladies who’d had a long week of studying.  Excited, we each pounded five drinks before even leaving the house.

Upon arriving, we already thought we were the best dancers in the universe and we were feeling pretty good about the previously (now about seven) consumed drinks.  The party was full of cute college boys and girls we knew, the music was loud and, 99% of the time, we were raising the roof and having the “epic night” we had planned for.  The drinking ensued.

Read More »

College. Sigh. It’s unlike any other time in your life. It has its own set of rules, its own unique circumstances. And it’s not always easy to navigate. Enter…me!

Every week I’ll be tackling your questions about college. From classes to keggers, I’ll do my best to respond and be your Pez dispenser of collegiate wisdom. Got questions? Hit me up in the comments or shoot me an email at melanie@collegecandy.com

I’m broke. Wah! What can I do?
Get. A. Job. Seriously, there’s no excuse for not working while you’re in classes. In fact, it looks great on a resume and will give you some extra cash in your pocket on the weekends. You don’t need a high power internship (although those are pretty nice), but do something to earn money. Babysitting is a great option if you want cold hard cash with none of those silly taxes. If you’re a shopaholic, work at your favorite clothing store to snag the discount. I did the J.Crew thing for a semester and got a fantastic discount and although most of my paycheck went to clothes it still alleviated some of my financial woes. Even if you just pick up five hours a week at a coffee house, it’s better than nothing. Make it rain!

My roomie snores. What should I do?
Buy earplugs. Or leave her a hint by picking some of those breathe-easy nose strips and putting them on her pillow.

I want to throw a rager, any tips for success?
If you’re going the theme party route, do something original. One of my favorite parties that me and my bestie/roomie of the moment threw was a Hollywood themed party. People came dressed as their favorite celebs and had a blast. Believe me, there’s nothing funnier than watching Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears, Mary Kate Olsen, Kurt Cobain and Heath Ledger all duking it out at the flip cup table. Hide your valuables, buy lots of Solo cups and cheap beer. The rest will be history, captured on Facebook. Read More »

Best class ever?

We’re all well aware of the fact that we are the technology generation. We spend our entire day with our eyes glued to computer screens, sending more texts and BBMs a minute then our hearts beat, and accompanying our lives with a personal soundtrack courtesy of our iPods. After Twitter made it possible to tell the world what you’re doing every 2 seconds (and I found out how often some of my guy friends poop), I thought nothing could shock me.

That was until I heard that the University of Houston now has an entire class dedicated to the Wii. No joke.

The course is listed in the catalog as “online aerobics activities” and the description? A class for PE credit where students work out 20-30 minutes twice a week by playing the Wii Fit video game.

Why the heck can’t my college offer this course? I’d enroll in a nanosecond. Play video games the whole semester and knock going to the gym off my daily schedule twice a week? I’m sorry but that sounds like perhaps the most amazing thing ever. Read More »

As college students, we are constantly inundated with new knowledge. It can be useful, thought-provoking, or crammed into our head on a Starbucks-fueled binge several hours before an exam. However, very rarely do we question the validity of all this new knowledge (unless you take philosophy classes, then you’ll question away).

That’s where College Candy comes in. We’re not going to debate whether or not the Theory of Relativity actually exists (a disappointment, I know, but I’m a communications major and stopped taking science classes after Baby Bio fresh year). However, we are here to thoroughly investigate the most widespread college knowledge (no, not rhyming)—the myth.

One of the most well known and deeply feared college myths are three little words: breaking the seal. As defined by the most elite source of definitions, Urban Dictionary, breaking the seal is “The point at which you first piss after you have been drinking your favorite alcoholic beverage and at this point you will be pissing every ten minutes.”

We’ve all been there. Enjoying a lively round (or 6) of flip cup when all of a sudden, your bladder reminds you that it has a maximum capacity. You try to discreetly excuse yourself to visit the ladies room, but your concerned besties remind you—very loudly—that you can’t break the seal!

So this seal we all desperately protect, does it actually exist? Or is it possible that it’s simply an alcohol-fueled figment of our imagination? I’ve enlisted a panel of urological experts (read: my boyfriend in med school and Google) to figure out if this phenomenon is real. Read More »