Welcome back to The Rival Rundown! If you’ve always wanted to give props to your school on CC, now’s your chance! Shoot us an email explaining what’s awesome and unique about your school (or what stinks about Rival U) at rivalrundown@collegecandy.com!

This week begins the World Series, the premier sporting championship in the nation (at least in my opinion–why have one night of the Superbowl when you can have at least four nights of nail-biting, crowd-rousing suspense?). While the world obsesses over the current New York-Philadelphia rivalry, let’s take a look at another – between Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania.  The only two Ivy League schools with truly urban campuses, Columbia and UPenn are champion institutions themselves. But who will come out on top? Best of five wins…

1. Mascot Matchup

Columbia- Don some baby-blue and white to cheer on the Lions, so named for the university’s heritage as King’s College (referring to the King of England, whose coat of arms portrays a lion).
UPenn- The Penn Quakers pay homage to the Society of Friends (aka the Quakers), the religious affiliation of the settlers of Pennsylvania. The largest Quaker-fest occurs each spring at Penn Relays, a prestigious and historic track-and-field event attracting students from high schools and colleges across the country.

Three credits to: UPenn. How could you not love a team named the Quakers? Who doesn’t love oatmeal? Read More »

Adam Lambert is bigger than the Beatles?

Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel are dunzo!

Germans stink in bed. Literally.

Privilege and the Ivy League.

What’s wrong with Tori Spelling?

Lip gloss that curbs your appetite? Hollerrrr.

If you’ve read any news blogs or even watched a televised newscast in the last week and a half, chances are that you’ve heard the tragic story of Annie Le, the Yale grad student who disappeared ten days ago. Her body was found hidden inside a wall at the building where she worked last Sunday—which was to have been her wedding day. Now a lab technician named Raymond Clark has been charged with Annie’s murder.

This whole saga has been unbelievably upsetting and awful, and our hearts go out to Annie’s family and her fiancé. It’s also spurred a lot of interesting discussion about safety on college campuses—and why the media is curiously fascinated by crimes that occur on Ivy League campuses.

Slate editor Jack Shafer observes that the New York Times has written five stories about Annie’s case so far, while the Boston Globe has run at least six. A quick search shows that CNN.com has a whopping 14 stories about the murder. The media frenzy has been so… well, frenzied that an NBC producer was trampled when journalists and camera-people rushed to speak to a New Haven police spokesman on Tuesday. Read More »

So some of you may be a little bitter this school year. Instead of heading off to your dream school, you are stuck attending your fall-back as your friends suddenly turn all intellectual and boast about the awesome classes at Harvard, Princeton and NYU.

But little do they know, you’re getting the much better deal. While they rack up the student loans, you can enjoy the intellectually stimulating lectures of Ivy League professors without even having to get out of bed.

Two new websites, academicearth.org and openculture.com, are offering videos of lectures from top universities and – prepare yourself – they are totally free! Both websites are organized by topic and by school, offering courses from Berkeley, Harvard and Yale, among others. Want to see how a Princeton professor teaches Bio? Go for it! Want a motivating lecture on poly-sci? They have that too!

Ah, don’t you love living in the era of technology?

Finally all of us “average” people (i.e. those of us who couldn’t score a 2400 on our SATS or find the time to volunteer at eight different organizations during high school) can bask in the glory of partying it up at our party schools while we cyber “sit in on” the smarty-pants classes. If only we could print out that Harvard diploma, too.

Welcome to a brand-new College Candy feature: The Rival Rundown! We’ll be taking a look at the oldest, fiercest, and even funniest rivalries between colleges and universities all over the country. We’re going to be examining everything from mascots to mess halls to the most obnoxious traditions, all with the intent of determining which schools are ballin’ out of control.

And if you’ve always wanted to give props to your school on CC, now’s your chance! Shoot us an email explaining what’s awesome and unique about your school (or what stinks about Rival U) at rivalrundown@collegecandy.com!

What better rivalry is there to begin with than arguably the oldest and most prestigious in the country? That’s right, its Harvard versus Yale, baby! The two Ivy League institutions have been duking it out since 1852 at the inception of the first Harvard-Yale Regatta.  Now, their rivalry extends beyond crew to who gets the top US News & World Report ranking and the largest endowment. Let the hysteria begin!

1. Mascot Matchup

Harvard- The Crimson are…well, a deep red color. Unless you’re hematophobic (fearful of blood), there isn’t much that is particularly intimidating about Crimson. And the “mascot” is technically a charicature of John Harvard, the founder of the institution. Interesting.
Yale- Yalies are ever faithful to their Bulldogs, which has been proudly carried on by seventeen generations of live bulldogs, each named “Handsome Dan.”

Three credits to: Yale–bulldogs are more intimidating and, well…tangible. Read More »

What a moron. He totally should have denied, denied, denied.

Maybe he’ll be first in line for the Denny’s Free Grand Slam breakfast.

The Super Bowl’s best and worst commercials. What do you think?

Jennifer Hudson rocked the house.

Is it just me, or is Bruce Springsteen a total hottie?

 Life lessons you can take from TV.

What does Elisabeth Hasselbeck have against Wii Fit?

Tips for staying in an Ivy League. Apparently it’s not that hard.

Dammit, Phil - we can’t handle 6 more weeks of winter.

With the economy in the sh*tter…it’s not crazy to ask yourself how the eff you are gonna pay for college. Well for you young’uns lookin for schooling in this time of economic turmoil, here’s a list of schools you might want to avoid, despite their prestige.

Consumerist.com posted a list of the 25 most expensive colleges in the U.S. (determined by tuition + room and board). Naturally, this list consists of the creme de la creme of prestigious schools (though surprisingly you won’t see Yale or Harvard on there), that charge extra for the name.

Now, I may not be going to Sarah Lawrence – which costs about $53,166 per year – but I think I’m getting a damn good edumacation without totally putting myself in debt (by “totally” putting myself in debt” I mean I’ll only be paying back loans till I’m about 40… not 80). While prices are on the rise, Hofstra University maintains a rather affordable tuition with plenty of financial aid. The University boasts several accredited departments as well as famous alums, such as Francis Ford Coppola. Hofstra proves that there are schools out there that offer a great education without having their students bend backwards to cover tuition.

So really guys, what’s in a name? Why the hell are these school’s so expensive? And how is anyone going to pay back the loans if they can’t get a job? And are these schools really worth all this money?

So many questions; I need answers!

If there’s anyone reading this who attends one of these top-o-the-line schools, tell us: are you gettin your penny’s worth?

Travis Barker is feelin’ better.

Hot chocolate…for your nails. Mmmm.

Is this the dude behind the Hudson murders?

Why every college kid should wake up early.

Another campus shooting at University of Central Arkansas.

The Afflecks may be the cutest family of all time.

Their football team may suck, but Dartmouth knows how to build a bonfire.

What happened to Isiah Thomas?!

This woman makes me feel a little less pathetic.

A little Friday the 13th fright for this Halloween week.

Everybody needs a shiny jacket.

What Happens When College Students Create School Ad Campaigns.

Madonna’s secret recordings (no, they are not sex tapes!).

Forget the girl with her heart on her sleeve; wear your uterus on your undies?

Some men are really, really desperate.

Katie Perry eats it on national TV.

Now everyone can look like Heidi Klum. Well, sorta.

Joe the Plumber and Joe Six Pack chat it up.

The greatest college pranks…ever.

Columbia gets erotic.

Travis Barker is out of the hospital!

The most delicious iPhone.

Professor trading cards? It’s real!

Our economy is crumbling, and things just got worse for Bachelors degree-hopefuls, especially those in Massachusetts. Last year, the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority secured over $500 million in educational loans. This year, they’ve announced that they will not be offering loans for the upcoming academic year.

None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. They didn’t cut their $500 million budget to, say, $250 million. They exed the loans altogether.

MEFA secures loans for 40,000 students who live in Massachusetts, or who attend school there. Unfortunately, this year, the financing authority could not secure the money. Executive director Tom Graff blames “disruptions in capital markets.” So, just like that, 40,000 students are sh*t out of luck.

MEFA is the first to make headlines, but any financing authority could also be treading on thin ice. Which means that students across the country could be forced to drop out of college, or sell their souls to finance a degree that can cost upwards of FORTY GRAND per year at top-notch schools like Carnegie Mellon, Tufts, NYU, and Notre Dame.

When I was in college, I played my cards right, and managed to get through my degree with almost no debt, and decided to pursue a Master’s, rather than join the work force right away. With our declining economy, I am currently paying dearly for that decision. Read More »