The University Experience sure has changed. It’s now normal to take longer than four years to complete your degree; students are known to switch majors repeatedly (and often at the last minute); and transfer admissions offices are swamped with applicants who realize that the college they chose senior year of high school just isn’t making the grade.

I know all about the stress of transferring and adjusting to a new school. When I began my undergraduate career, I wasn’t content with attending the state university that 83% of my classmates were enrolling in. Oh, no – I had to get away. So I enrolled in a small private school in London, England.

My freshman year was a blast– I was in a major city, surrounded by hot men with hotter accents, and I didn’t even need a fake ID. But eventually, reality sank in, and I opted to transfer back to the same state school that I’d once adamantly rejected in order to prevent graduating with student loans up the wazoo.

My first semester at the state university was miserable. I’d missed out on all of the freshman year bonding, got stuck with a lame random roommate, and when I did go out, it was because one of my high school friends was kind enough to let me tag along with her group. It was so bad that I took a semester off to figure out if I wanted to go through the transfer process again. I ended up going back to the state school, and – thankfully – things got better. In fact, college kicked some major ass.

So, having been on the Maybe-I-Should-Transfer fence and a member of the Transfer Students Association, I thought I’d share some pro’s and cons with anyone who isn’t quite sure that they are attending the right school. Read More »

I can’t speak for all women (even though I tend to try), but a lot of my self esteem comes from my ability to perform tasks well. Like bowling, or making people laugh or getting really good grades in school. My parents were never the type to stand over me and push me to do well. I pushed myself. Poor performance on an exam or in a class meant that I was not good at something and made me look bad next to my friends.

The fact that I did well in school left me with a lot of confidence and self worth when I moved on and began doing other things. I knew that I could do just about anything if I wanted to, which is how I approached the job hunt after college and how I continue to approach every task that is put in front of me. I know I am intelligent and capable and that leaves me with a sense of comfort and mental clarity as I go through life.

I can totally understand, then, the results of a recent study that claim that women who are expelled or drop out of high school experience a much higher rate of mental instability and depression than men.

For one thing, the inability to complete a task will weigh on anyone; especially one that will affect the course of the rest of your life. And, because women tend to be more in tune with their emotions, it makes sense that this would affect them more than their male counterparts. (Or at least what those macho, “I’m fine” boys are reporting.) Read More »

Life after college…it can be hard to fathom actually getting to the diploma, no matter how many years you’ve been in school. But what happens after graduation? Most of your peers will be joining the work force, but a decent percentage will move on to even higher education and pursue master’s degrees, PhDs, or professional certifications. While the job application process is hard, getting into and completing a post-graduate degree is even harder. Having experienced the trials and tribulations firsthand, I’m here to share some tips so you can decide whether moving on to even MORE school is the right choice for you.

Towards the end of my junior year of undergrad, I realized that I had to start thinking of a post-college plan. I was finishing a Bachelor’s in English, had no clue what career path I wanted to pursue, and was having way too much fun on Thirsty Thursdays to want to give up my laid-back student lifestyle. So, I decided to elongate my college experience by going to grad school. Boy, did I get a rude awakening.

Once you’ve finished your Bachelor’s degree, choosing a path for the future should be taken very seriously. If you are considering moving on to graduate or doctorate work, don’t make the same mistakes I made.

The first thing you need before you begin applying to graduate schools is TIME. I decided to get a masters on a whim a few weeks into the fall semester of my senior year. I found myself trying to balance fifteen credit hours, two part-time jobs, and an active social life with preparing for the application process. I didn’t anticipate simply applying to schools to be so much work, so in my mind, I had plenty of time to apply to and choose a school, while fighting a major case of senioritis (in the form of an unyielding craving for margaritas).

Before you even decide to start looking at schools, you need to ask yourself: Am I willing to set aside the time? Read More »

Last time, four new broads showed up in the house because the original season girls weren’t pretty enough.

Of course the originals think that these girls have nothing on them. Let the naming re-begin:

First girl is called Black because that’s what she’s wearing.

Second is Prototype because she says that she’s perfect.

Third one calls herself Luscious D.

The last one is supertall. Prancer thinks that she’s a man and I might too. Flav calls her Tree and says that she’s the black Bridgette Nielsen. That can’t be a good thing.

So I think that the old timers are just fine – they are going to put aside their differences to take down the new ones. Flav is unable to sleep because they are SCREAMING at each other. This happens like every night and twice a day, no?

Amid the screams, this is the only line that I hear is: “What is your education level? Do you got a GED?” Read More »

According to a story picked up by Jezebel, a study from a professor at Washington & Lee University School of Law will soon announce that women with MBAs, MDs, and JDs are “much more likely” to get divorced than men with the same degrees or women with bachelor’s degrees only. Considering I don’t even know what the hell a JD is, I’m guessing my own relationship is safe.

The professor who conducted the study, Robin Fretwell Wilson, remarks that she believes part of the reason for the findings is that there’s still a social stigma attached to women who choose to be stay-at-home spouses. OK, I’ll grant her that, but what on Earth does that have to do with divorce? And what about men who choose to be stay-at-home spouses? It’s not that they don’t exist, and I’m guessing there’s a lot more stigma attached to being a man and staying at home than there is to a woman doing the same.

The study also begs the question of who these educated women marry. If the divorce rates of women with graduate degrees are much higher than the divorce rates of men with graduate degrees, one can only assume that women with those degrees are marrying men without them. But does that even really happen? I feel like a woman with a grad degree is less likely to marry a man who doesn’t have one. Or is that just me?

Either way, the findings are intriguing, but I don’t buy Professor Wilson’s leaping connection to social stigma for women. It takes two to divorce, so something else is going on here.

Yes, that is correct, I am destined to be one of those women. Feared by children and cats for companions (of course my personal choice would be books and alcohol instead of animals, not so high maintenance), I am only one more lovable feline pet away from becoming a Spinster.

I am 20 years old and I have never been in love, nor have I any desire to one day marry or bring children into this world. After much consideration of past relationships and basic encounters with men, I have decided that the only way to lead my life now is to become a Spinster.

Of course I’ll still maintain relations with men, but I’ll know that only the physical side of things will be involved.

By now, you probably think I’m some cold-hearted cynic, but I assure you I’m not. I am a genuinely nice person.

I’m also not gay. That is not denial. I’ve already been through a phase of questioning my sexuality.

This epiphany occurred to me one Saturday while walking to town for an unplanned window-shopping excursion. I had my usual inner monologue running in my head, which was mainly about the events of the previous night. It had been a usual Friday night and the beginning of the long awaited Easter weekend. The agenda for the night was to begin the weekend with a small pub crawl. The final stop of the night was at The Canterbury Tales, which is the last pub to close in town. We were enjoying ourselves, drinking and conversing the night away, when suddenly out of nowhere a group of in-line hockey boys surrounded us. Read More »

Due to the fact that I was surrounded by the most politically minded people in school – who now, mind you, live and breathe Washington D.C. politics every day – I have grown up to be quite a political person myself. Yet even I only caught glimpses of last night’s State of the Union Address; mostly because of the writer’s strike and the fact that there was absolutely nothing else worth watching on TV.

Trust me; I tried.

It’s not like I wasn’t interested in what GW had to say; it is just hard to watch George Bush give a speech with bright eyes and (false) positivism when the country has been reduced to shit all around him. We have serious economic issues, war issues, health care issues, not to mention the thousands of people still displaced by Katrina. I don’t really want to spend the little free time I have watching W. sugarcoat those not-so-pleasant truths for an hour. Read More »

Well, you’re in college, right? Then, yes! It’s only for you! Exciting right?

Have you heard of iTunes U yet? If not, you’ve been completely missing out, so allow me to explain so you can get with the times! (it just might make next semester a little more tolerable)

The folks over at Apple have done it again. Hell-bent on making everyone’s life a little better, they’ve developed iTunes U which is a brand new way for college kids to get whatever media they need. Quickly.

Apple sums up this new program perfectly:

“iTunes U is devoted entirely to education, where it’s easy to search thousands of audio and video files from schools across the country.

Colleges and universities build their own iTunes U sites. Faculty post content they create for their classes. Students download what they need, and go. Learning isn’t just for the classroom anymore. It’s for anytime and anyplace you’ve got a Mac, a PC, or an iPod.”

Perfect! But, wait! Now we’re not going to have an excuse when we “miss class” because we had a “stomach virus”. Worth it?

You decide.

The New York Daily News reports that in recent weeks, several allegations made by students at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls claim that school matrons fondled and beat the female students.One incident claims a matron allegedly grabbed a girl by the throat and tossed her into a wall.

Uhhhhh…OK. Look Oprah, when you said you were going to bring western education philosophies to the African continent, I guess we should have asked – which education philosophies? I think we all thought you would leave out the inner city public school philosophy of beating and molesting students out.

My bad…we’ll ask next time.

The allegations came to light after a student ran away from the school’s dorms, reportedly because the abuse had become overwhelming.

“I’ve disappointed you. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” Winfrey told families in an emergency meeting on Sunday at the South African school. The school’s principal and two matrons were placed on leave following the allegations. Read More »

Remember when you were in high school and you began to hunt for a college? As if you weren’t having enough trouble balancing those AP classes and inevitable girl drama and all of a sudden – BAM – here come like 10,000 books/essays/magazines/guides/counselors bombarding you with information on choosing the right college.

• Do you want big or small?

• Liberal arts? Science? Big city? Small campus? Close to home? Great sports teams?

Some books had statistics. Others had tests to place you in the right “type” of school. Still others were filled with advice from the students who went there. But where was the guarantee that any of this research would put us in a school that we loved, that would get us where we wanted to in life, and that would ultimately be our perfect fit?

According to some research over at the New York Times, the guarantee doesn’t exist. And if we do happen to find that perfect place, all that crap we researched does nothing to guide us. Read More »