It’s almost the end of the school year and for those unfortunate seniors out there, it may also be the end of college. (Wah Wah) The second most asked question (right after “what are you doing to do after you graduate?”), will be “what do you want for your graduation gift?” While my wise brother always claims that cash is king, the older generation often wants to give you something more tangible as a gift.

So here’s a list of things you should ask for so you don’t end up with five copies of Oh the Places You’ll Go:

Choose the major that will get you to your dream job

3 fun and unexpected Halloween costumes

Just a typical college ACB thread

Tailgating on the cheap

Do’s and don’t of bringing a laptop to class

Unusual careers for college grads

4 habits you should adopt in college

Best places to study

Dive bar or trendy bar?!

Should she apply to an out of state school?

How to get more exercise in college

Life lessons from a college drop out

28 ways to clear an over-worked mind

It’s back to rehab for dear Lilo.

8 tricks to help you suppress that appetite.

Were these people drunk when this happened?

Halloween according to the cast of Modern Family.

The many (fabulous ways) to wear a scarf.

Truth: I am deathly afraid of what this might look like.

JCrew’s holiday collection makes me drool.

As do these Louboutin bags. Hello, lover.

The Do’s and Don’ts of using your laptop in class.

According to University of North Carolina professor Kevin Caneiro, there’s a new disease lurking on college campuses nationwide. Dubbed  “Laptop-itis,” it is the result of excessive use of laptops and cell phones with symptoms ranging from worsened posture to pain in the backs, necks, and wrists of students everywhere.

Caneiro’s concern regarding this ailment is understandable – we don’t need an entire generation of hunchbacks, after all – but in the grand scheme of things, Laptop-itis is the least of our problems. Really, there are plenty of larger issues we college students should be worrying about. Like Athlete’s Foot from the showers. Or Mono from all those frat party makeouts.

Or any of these:

Laundr-phobia:  Often striking halfway through the semester, students present with an unhealthy, all-consuming fear of the laundry room (usually stemming from an uncertainty of how to use the machines).  Symptoms include a lack of underwear, crusty stains and a less than desirable smell of mildew permeating from their overflowing hamper.  In extreme cases, Laundr-phobia’s effects can be disastrous (and foul), often leading to ridicule and friend loss.  While there is no known cure, temporary reprieve is available during long weekends at home with mom. Read More »

Don't. Tell. Anyone.

Let’s face it: we’ve all done some pretty ridiculous things in our lives. Things we think are totally logical in the moment, but make us cringe when we think about them later on. Things that we’d only tell our best friend when she’s three sheets to the wind and we know she’ll probably forget it. Things that we hide from the people who love us (and judge us) most.

Things that even we, ourselves, wish we didn’t know about. But things that our friends, family, and fellow CollegeCandy readers are probably doing all the time, too.

Like our fake boyfriends that we tell strangers about.  Read More »

The iPad.  Steve Jobs’ newest brainchild, and a super….whatever it is.  Despite the fact that we’re not always sure what point Apple’s devices serve, we always seem to get them, love them, and become suddenly unable to live without them.

But this thing?  Meh, not so much. The iPad’s got a hefty price tag that will set any college student back and I’m just not sure it’s worth it. Based on what I’ve seen, I’m pretty sure I could take that $600 elsewhere (like, I don’t know, the bar?) and be a whole lot happier.

Here’s why:

Apple Says: OMG EMAIL IS SO EASY TO CHECK!
Reality: Yeah, email is easy to check everywhere. Like on my laptop, my phone, or the 3,000 computers scattered around my campus. In fact, sometimes I wish my email were less accessible. If my profs knew they could contact me on yet another device, I’d never have the “I didn’t realize the assignment had been revised” excuse.

Apple Says: AHHH! YOU CAN READ MAGAZINES/NEWSPAPERS/BOOKS ON IT!!!
Reality: Or – and here’s a crazy thought – you could read actual newspapers/magazines/books.  Some of them are more portable than this thing and a hell of a lot cheaper. And if you really want an e-reader, the Kindle costs way less and won’t kill your eyes.

Apple Says: WOW YOU CAN LISTEN TO MUSIC ON IT SO EASILY!!!
Reality: You know what else you can listen to music on?  An iPod.  Which is also Apple. And much smaller and easier to use.  Plus, in the immortal words of Phyllis from The Office, “If you don’t have an iPod by now, you really don’t want one.” Read More »

True Life: I’m completely dependent on my computer. It’s my life source, as sad as that sounds. But honestly, it can do EVERYTHING. And when I say everything, I mean it. I bet you didn’t know the extent of your computer’s power. With one simple USB port, the world is your oyster. Read More »

Yeah, that's my life savings right there.

Because I’m making six pennies a year in my job after taxes, I follow a very strict budget that allows me to afford a moderate amount of food and a moderate amount of fun. There is no room for a savings plan in my budget so I just figured if I was extra careful nothing would ever go wrong.

Then last week everything went wrong.

I spilled sangria (or water according to the troubleshooting report I made to Apple) on my laptop, I dropped my straightener one time too many and it broke, and I found out my parent’s insurance company is onto me no longer being a student and has dropped me. For those of you non-accounting majors out there, that’s about 5 billion dollars worth of problems.

I had a minor panic attack. And by minor I mean I opened my window, stood on the ledge for a few moments, and thought about who I would haunt if I came back as a ghost. Then logic hit me and I realized that because I’m only one floor up I would just break a bunch of bones, sending me to the hospital and making my lack of insurance problem even worse.

So instead of jumping I thought of my other options. Luckily my grandparents who live in the city had a laptop I could borrow until I figured you out what to do about my laptop-turned-coaster. Unluckily it was designed for the partially blind. I’ve seen desktop computers more portable than this laptop. Hell, I’ve seen elephants smaller than this thing. The screen was about a football field long and the font was visible from space. This proved to be more than an inconvenience when I was blogging at WiFi cafes.  I was writing about STDs for one blog and let’s just say the employees at the cafe did not enjoy being able to read about gonorrhea while serving coffee. So not only did I have to blog from home all week, but I’m pretty sure I’m on a sex offender list now. Read More »

We college students are pretty accurately stereotyped.  We party hard, sleep late, and cram for finals until the wee hours of the morning.  Luckily for us and the environment, a lot of these common habits can be easily “tweaked” in order to save energy and resources.  And as a college student myself, I give you my solemn oath that these steps will not affect your party or study life in any way.

Here are some of the most well-known college kid characteristics and how you can change them to better our earth:

We are constantly glued to our laptops. And no matter whether you’re Facebooking or researching the native crops of Haiti, you’re still using lots of energy.  Now I’m not stupid – I wouldn’t dare suggest that you cut down your Skype time just to save the Earth.  Really all you have to do is cut down your energy usage when you’re not actually on the computer (i.e. sleeping or boozing).  How do you do this?  Unplug your electronics!  Computers practically use as much energy when they’re in standby mode as they do when they’re actually in use.  So if you’re leaving the room for a good amount of time, turn off your computer and unplug all of the plugs in your outlet if possible.

We are messy and we have our clothes to prove it. I don’t know about you, but I can’t seem to eat or drink anything without staining whatever I’m wearing.  This is especially tragic when you happen to be wearing one of those “dry clean only” numbers, which of course, are always the cutest.  But don’t run off and spend last night’s tips on pricey dry cleaning before you try some other easier, cheaper, and more eco-friendly tactics.  Believe it or not, some “dry clean only” garments (such as silk and wool) can actually be hand washed with cold water.   Of course, give it a test run before you wash and potentially ruin your favorite silk dress.  If that doesn’t work, seek out “wet cleaning” or “green dry cleaning” locations by searching at GreenEarth Cleaning’s website. Read More »

We’ll be honest, as much as we love getting (presents, sexual favors, free drinks…) around here, it’s the act of giving that really gets us excited. And the bigger the give the better we feel. So we’re pretty sure the feeling we’re getting from this latest CollegeCandy giveaway is pretty similar to sniffing 100 bottles of White-Out.

Yeah, we feel goooood.

With school rapidly approaching, CollegeCandy has teamed up with Ivy Worldwide and Hewlett Packard to give away a back-to-school computer bundle that’s better than a large pack of Sharpies and Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper. Because we love our readers so much and want you to do well in school (duh!), we are giving away a package of goodies that is sure have you ready to go for the fall. Read More »