Who says girls shouldn’t fight? When it comes to the female bloggers we rounded up for our Most Influential Women poll, our list of nominees is about as fierce as it gets. Whether you read their posts religiously, or roll your eyes at their “real” lives (are we the only ones who think it’s all too good to be true?), there’s no denying the title of Most Influential Blogger is something to get scrappy over.

Bring out your claws freshly manicured nails and be prepared to state your case over which of these lady bloggers most deserves the crown. Read More »

Let’s talk about student athletes.

With March madness at its peak right now this topic probably doesn’t seem like all that much of a stretch to you, but you might be surprised by the direction this topic is going in…

Should student athletes be paid?

Jalen Rose, ESPN/ABC studio analyst, member of University of Michigan’s Fab Five, and  the writer of this piece seems to think so. And while my first response to that question was an undignified snort, I have to say that after reading his points, I might be reconsidering my stance.

My immediate reaction was absolutely not. Sports are an extracurricular activity that students choose to take part in. Just like the school paper or honors societies or student government. They do is because they enjoy it. Or if they don’t have a love of the game, they’re often very good at the game, and they do it because they get a scholarship for playing that game. Full tuition paid? A free education? That was their payment. What more could they possibly need?

But Rose offers some good points.  He argues that being a student athlete is a full time job. (CollegeCandy reader and student athlete, Chelsea, agrees.) Rigorous training schedules, practices, and games take up the majority of these students’ time, far more time than most other extracurricular activities take up.  And the free time they do have is often spent in class or studying for classes. They do have to maintain a respectable GPA, after all. Rose points out something we all know but never seem to truly grasp: student athletes don’t have much free time.  And as the sister of someone who played high school football for four years, I have to agree. If high school football left my brother without much time to do anything but eat, sleep, and breathe football, then I can’t even imagine the demands that come along with being on a college team. Read More »

Okay ladies, so here’s something you didn’t know.

People are looking at your social networking profiles.

Shocked, right? Not so much? Yeah, I thought so. But you might actually be shocked to find out that 80% of admissions officers are now using Facebook to learn more about their applicants, and that a student’s social media presence does in fact affect their decisions.

As a way to counteract this, some admissions officers suggest that applicants like or follow their college of choice on Facebook or Twitter and use the social network as a way to stand out amongst applicants. But would you really want your potential college to have access to everything you post on Facebook? And should they really expect to? When you post something on the internet publicly you have to expect that people will read it. But should you expect that your college admissions officer will be searching for it? Should you expect that every college admissions officer is going to Facebook stalk every applicant now?

Read More »

As a senior in college, I’m scared to graduate. I’m terrified of turning my tassel because it’ll mean I’m leaving a world of overly caffeinated morning classes, Greek life costume parties and, apparently, the opportunity to play competitive Quidditch. And like most of my generation, I might possibly find myself (not) contributing to the nation’s economy by suddenly joining the unemployment rate.

If that were to happen, then I would take responsibility for it. I would acknowledge that it was my fault for wanting to be at the top of the beer pong tournament bracket instead of at the head of my class curve, and for being too anxious/lazy/[insert excuse here] to apply for graduate school programs. My socioeconomic failure would not be simply boiled down to the fact that I didn’t major in some form of engineering.

But Dori Jones Yang over at The Huffington Post disagrees. According to her, studying anything that does not directly lead to a future career in technology will “speed up our own decline as a society.” These supposedly impractical majors include literature, theater, art, politics, creative writing, psychology, English—fields of study that Yang categorizes as “all the fun stuff.” Apparently, we liberal arts kids live in a “dream world” that is lit by Hollywood stars and concert spotlights, and we inevitably aspire for contentment after graduation on Mom and Dad’s couch. We drop our calculus classes when they start to get difficult because we don’t like a challenge. Because we can’t handle it.

Read More »

The following is a guest post by our new friend Elizabeth O’Neill, a college-life aficionado and freqent contributor to The Huffington Post College. Follow her on Twitter: @SomethingKnew.

Compared with the grind of the working world, college is a pretty cushy experience.  Still, not everything on campus is as rosy as the tour guides would have you believe.  Despite its many opportunities, student life is fraught with frustrating rules and limitations.  If you like cereal for dinner and long hikes to class in the rain, you might be the perfect candidate for college living.  If, on the other hand, you need your creature comforts in order to stay sane, you’ll want to be forewarned about the following: Read More »

The Huffington Post created this gem of a slideshow several days ago.  Liz O’Neill claims that the usual reasons your roommates loathe you (you’re a slob, a mooch, etc.) are veils for deeper, subtler issues. Actually, they hate you because you are prettier than them. And, you’re going to make more money than them in a few years!

As I read this, I felt like I was listening to a mother stroke her child’s ego. The different hate-causing categories of behavior Ms. O’Neill gives are bizarre. And, based on my own college experiences, totally ludicrous (I mean, seriously? My roommates don’t like me because I have a diary? Seriously?).

So, here are the REAL 7 reasons your college roommates hate you. And sorry – we’re not going to sugar-coat these bad boys. 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 »

I feel like everyday I’m reading stories, such as the one The Huffington Post ran yesterday, that dish out an extra-large helping of negativity aimed at my generation- the Millenials, Gen-Y, the Peter Pan Generation, Generation Next, the Echo Boomers.  We seem to inspire a lot of labels, but sadly not as much confidence from our predecessors.  They say we’re drowning in debt, hopelessly unemployed, cluelessly over-educated…I say f*ck you.

Do I sound bitter?  That’s because I am.  As a recent graduate, I’m experiencing a lot of what my elders are talking about.  Yes, I’m unemployed.  Yes, I’m an intern.  And yes, I will be paying off my student loans for the next thousand years.  But, unlike Mom and Dad, I’m not writing my generation off just yet.  Here’s why:

We’re pretty freakin’ smart. In numbers exponentially greater than previous generations, we’re earning college degrees and seeking even higher education.  Add the fact that we’re tech-savvy and hip to social networking and you might just say our generation revolutionized the way humans interact.  Next time you catch your mom getting her Facebook fix, tell her Mark Zuckerberg was just 20 when he launched the site from his dorm room in 2004.

We’re ballsy. I believe the term “disrespectful” has been tossed around quite a bit in regard to the spawn of the Baby Boomers.  Now, I’m not about to defend Kanye’s stage manners (and lack thereof) or the oft-terrifying rap stylings of Eminem, but I will say that young people today know what they want and aren’t afraid to be outspoken about it.  We engage politicians, confront campus officials, and know how to protest like it was Vietnam all over again. Read More »

The Huffington Post just released a list of the 10 Happiest Places in the World.  I was totally excited to recognize some of the places on the list and book my one-way ticket to nirvana, but had to reconsider when I didn’t even realize where some of these places were.  Vanuatu?  Bhutan?  Wuyi Shan?  Hidakagwa? While the pictures are beyond amazing, I’m thinking the price tags that accompany a stay in these locations would be more than my college-girl budget could accommodate.

Fortunately, I know of a few Happy Places that only require a hop, skip, stumble, or drive to get to: Read More »

BREAKING NEWS. A study done at The University of Maryland shows that students are addicted to social media.

….Wait a second, we needed a study to prove this??

It is no secret that social media outlets run our lives.  Whether it Facebook, Twitter, or the variations trying to prove their worth (what up, MySpace?), we are constantly connected.  Even on the go, we can count on our trusty iPhones and Blackberrys to bring these outlets to us.

But back to the study. The participants were forced to go one entire day without media of any kind and then blog their feelings when the 24-hour period was up. (Seems a little counter-intuitive, no?) Those who made it through (not surprisingly, some did not) reported that although surrounded by people, they felt completely isolated.

“Texting and IM-ing my friends gives me a constant feeling of comfort,” wrote one student. “When I did not have those two luxuries, I felt quite alone and secluded from my life. Although I go to a school with thousands of students, the fact that I was not able to communicate with anyone via technology was almost unbearable.”

At first glance, that student seems rather pathetic. But think about it: most of us can easily relate to the feeling. Whenever something happens, many of us instantly turn to Facebook or Twitter to share it. That’s why sites like that, and others like TFLN, exist. We are constantly sharing with others and every time a new outlet pops us that allows us to do so, we hop on board. It’s gotten to the point that if some worthy (or even unworthy) news event is not on Facebook, it is as if it never happened. Read More »