The Starting Line: Label-less Me
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…
College Q&A: Preparing for Freshman Year
Question: I’m a high school senior and I’m starting college next fall. I’m really excited, but also really scared. Is there anything I can or should do now before I go? Maybe a few tips or things I can start on now (to prepare and also to pass the time of my boring senior year)?

Accepted. Wait. Not Accepted.
When I think back to senior year of high school, I remember a few things: hardly ever doing schoolwork, living under my parents’ roof, and being 10 pounds lighter, for instance. But there’s no doubt that waiting for those college acceptance (or rejection) letters to start rolling in is the most exciting and nerve-racking time in a senior’s life!
It’s All About Direction When It Comes to Campus Tours
The Times recently published an article about colleges remaking the college tour. You know, rattling off facts and figures while walking backward. However, the article focuses not so much on the content of the tours as the way the tour guides walk – backwards, as is traditional, or forward, the direction in which many colleges are now heading (no pun intended).
Countdown to College: Dorm Shopping! …with Mom.
The mere thought of shopping for college fills me with a great deal of excitement. I picture myself hopping from Bed, Bath and Beyond to Target to Harmon Beauty Supply, loading up a shopping cart with the essentials, some indulgences, and those must-have cutesy items to make my dorm room feel like home.
Countdown to College: A Meditation On Graduation
Graduation is no longer just a corny Vitamin C song to me anymore. Next week is my own high school graduation, and now that the event is nearly here, it all feels so incredibly real: leaving home, heading to college, living mostly on my own without the guidance of my parents.
Countdown to College: Dorm Buys to Lust After
The time is not yet ripe for incoming college freshmen to begin shopping for their dorm rooms, as many of us don’t even have our room assignments yet. But since I’m suffering from acute Senioritis and have nothing else better to do, I’ve taken to scouring the Internet for the best dorm buys.

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Countdown to College: Waiting to Go
Lately, it feels as if I’m in a Samuel Beckett play. With four weeks to go until I graduate from high school and hardly anything worthwhile to do, I find myself stuck in a waiting game. My school days are drawn-out and boring as anything; the highlight of my day is the various incarnations of dodgeball my gym teacher keeps thinking up.
Countdown to College: Ready for Change. Sorta…
The times, as Bob Dylan says, they are a-changin’ for those of us counting down the days until obligatory public schooling ends. While change has been the topic on everyone’s mind since second semester senioritis kicked in, it didn’t quite hit me until last Friday, the official college decision day.
Prom. In Pictures.
A few weeks ago we put out a call for prom pics. We thought it would be fun for CollegeCandy readers to share their favorite prom memories with one another and to compare prom experiences. Ok, that’s bullsh*t. We really just wanted to have something fun to look at in the CollegeCandy headquarters.
Countdown to College: 5 Things I Learned About College
Last weekend, Wesleyan hosted a three-day open house for accepted students (and helicopter parents) to get a feel for the school before D-Day. Although I was accepted early decision, I attended the aptly named WesFest on Friday and stayed overnight, meeting fellow pre-frosh as well as current students and experiencing college life first-hand.
Countdown to College: Decisions, Decisions
As this week’s deluge of college acceptances floods into the houses of seniors across the country, I consider myself lucky to be done with the whole process. However, many of my friends are not as fortunate, and are now faced with perhaps the toughest decision of their lives (so far): picking a college.