Last night, President Obama addressed the current economic crisis, assuring America that “We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.” That sounds especially promising to the billions of college students across the country, who are faced with escalating tuition costs and skyrocketing student debts, and who are watching as the window of opportunity seems to shrink with news of major layoffs every other day.

However, if you play your cards right, you can find great success after college. Sure, some of us will spend years after college struggling to pay off student loans and going on interview after interview, sometimes for entry-level jobs we are overqualified for but still can’t seem to nab. But some of us are on the brink of making headlines, like these uber-successful post-grad powerhouses have done in recent years.

1. Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda went to Wesleyan University in Connecticut, a school where tuition runs at over $38 grand a year, plus $10-12,000 for room and board expenses. While attending Wesleyan, Miranda, a native of Inwood, New York City, turned his life experience into a theatrical production that has exploded since his graduation from the University in 2002. Miranda is the composer and lyricist behind the smash hit musical In the Heights, which was produced at Wesleyan, picked up for off-Broadway, and transferred to the Great White Way in 2008. Miranda, an actor-slash-rapper who originated the lead role, Usnavi, in his own show, picked up a Tony award last spring and is currently slated to reprise the role when it hits the silver screen. Read More »

You felt like you have something to say to the world, so you started blogging. You may not be some famous writer for the New York Times, but you want your voice to be heard! You want to enlighten the masses! Make people laugh! Show everyone your perspective!

And your three best friends are the only people who read it.

But you don’t care; you’ll get there. And even if you don’t, you have so much fun blogging that you keep tip-tapping away…while thinking in the back of your mind that maybe – just maybe – there is a chance that this will somehow turn into a job after college.

Well, we can’t promise you that, but we did just get word that all those hours you log in documenting your life on your creatively titled website (I once had “LaurenIsFunny.com”….for real) could be worth $10,000 in college scholarships.

Yeah, you heard me.

CollegeScholarships.org is giving away a $10K blogger scholarship! To any college student with a blog. Even if you didn’t have a blog until just this second! Read More »

Hey Potential Interns ! I just wanted to take a moment to let all students know that Fall Internship season is upon us and it’s very important to start putting in your resumes and cover letters for your dream Fall Internships. Lots of students say they cannot intern during the Fall because there are no “cool” companies in their town.

Wrong. They are out there – you just need to find them.

HOW TO FIND THE FALL INTERNSHIP OF YOUR DREAMS

1. Create a Dream List – A “Dream List” is a complete countdown of the companies you dream of working at in the future. If you are interested in becoming a magazine writer this list might say “Cosmo, Seventeen, Oprah, Cosmogirl, Allure, Redbook.” Try to write down between 8-10 companies that you’d be interested in working for.

2. Take your dream list and bring it down a few notches. If your dream magazine to work at is “US Weekly” then do some research and see what local magazines your city/town has to offer. Most big cities have at least one publication dedicated to their location. If your dream internship is to work at Lehman Brothers than take it down a level and see what financial firms are in your local area.

3. Reach out. Do whatever you need to do to at least find a main number to these companies. Going to the company’s website is usually your best bet. There is usually a “Contact Us” button at the bottom of the page. If not, try the “Terms of Use” or “About Us”; they should at least list a city where the company is headquartered. If you know the city the company is based out of you can at least look that up on yp.yahoo.com or another directory search. When you call these companies ask to speak with the Internship coordinator. If you get a voicemail, leave a clear message and state your phone number. If you don’t hear back in 3 days then call again to follow up. Don’t be annoying about it but at the same time – stay on it. Putting in one call usually does not get the job done. Remember to always thank the person on the phone for taking the time to speak with you. Read More »

Men have always ruled the comedy scene. From dynamic duos such as Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello and Jay and Silent Bob to teams such as the Happy Madison boys (Adam Sandler, David Spade, Rob Schneider, Peter Dante, Allen Covert and Nick Swardson) and the Frat Pack (Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Owen and Luke Wilson and Steve Carrell).

There are virtually no female comedic ensembles who can sell movies like these guys can.

In the stand-up circuit, men generally receive the biggest reception. Recently, I went to a stand-up comedy review that featured twenty comics in one night. Of those twenty, only three women took the stage. Three. WTF?

Women are pretty damn funny, so why don’t we get the same appraisal as men get? Films like Old School put the Frat Pack on the map, while the hysterical chick flick The Sweetest Thing flopped at the box office. The Wedding Crashers cast has people rolling in the aisles, while far too many people have never seen Christina Applegate, Cameron Diaz, and Selma Blair sing The Penis Song.

I took this assignment to cover the 5 Funniest Women out there, but quickly realized there is just too much talent to narrow it down so far. That said, what follows is my personal list of five of the wittiest women in the world, along with some honorable mentions. I welcome feedback, comments, and nominations, because I’m sure I’ve missed some ladies that can more than keep up with the boys. Read More »

I’ve never been one to say no to an experience that sounds interesting. This inclination has led me down a few paths my parents would probably not be happy to learn about — one of those paths being recreational drug use.

Now, before certain readers out there go all NARC on my ass, let me say that I make it a point to stay away from hard drugs. No coke, no herion…nothing that’s genetically altered to speed me towards an early death. I like to stick to the hippie stuff; weed, shrooms, hashish…you know, things that come from nature. And I’m very careful about who I purchase this stuff from. Those of us that partake in these sorts of relaxation techniques should always be careful about that sort of thing. People are a**holes.

Right, so public service announcement over. What I’m really writing about is this article I recently read on Salon.com about Salvia, a hallucinogenic substance that’s illegal in about 10 states and is probably going to be made illegal in a bunch more very soon. According to the author of the article (and a few friends of mine), Salvia is super potent — but only for 5 to 10 minutes. Apparently, you will trip off your ass and see the weirdest sh*t in the world (including Aztec Gods…or at least that’s what the writer saw), but it’ll all be over in minutes. Read More »

[Read the idea behind this blog HERE]

The elimination of most of my music and pretty much any TV has been an interesting change to my morning. Luckily, my hangover from Saturday night kept me in bed for most of the day, and thus helped it go by a little faster. I made it through my Love Diet playlist about two and a half times before I decided silence might be a nice alternative to my new favorite 17 love-free songs.

I cleaned my apartment to an extent that left every surface not only sparkling clean but also disinfected. I did my nails, and even a bit of reading. No serenading, love notes or tokens of affection to speak of. And I am cool with that; maybe I am just on a residual high from yesterday.

It is the night I think that makes things hard. The evenings and/or nights are where I usually sit down on the couch and mindlessly get absorbed into TV for a while or watch a movie; obviously falling victim to the ideas of well paid writers who make a living off romantic suckers like me. Not tonight, I read the newspaper — a very unromantic newspaper — cover to cover. I just might turn into the most aware person I know. Read More »

While at a bar last weekend, a guy casually asked me what I did for work. When I told him I was a writer, he wanted to know what kinds of things I wrote. “I mostly do technology writing,” I started to tell him. “What?!” he laughed. “You’re too pretty to be interested in technology.” I almost slapped him, but instead just said, “What’s that supposed to mean?” He didn’t have an answer for me, so I just walked away. And yes, I was a bit insulted.

Why is it not acceptable for girls to be interested in technology? Unless you’re an ugly girl with no social life and no social skills, of course. I guess it could be because there just aren’t a lot of women who work in technology jobs, such as IT, science, and engineering. But why aren’t there? Read More »

Days as a Freshman: 76

Mood: Amused

Daniel B sat down at the table across from me, setting a giant coffee cup in front of him and dropping some heavy books on the table.

“So, what page are those problems on that you wanted to take a look at?”

Just like Daniel, wasting no time getting down to business. Idle chatter made him uncomfortable. He could talk for hours about numbers and equations, but ask him about the weather or his favorite food and he’d tense up; his hands turning into fists and his adam’s apple sliding up and down in a constant rhythm.

I wondered if he had friends who he could relax with. I wondered if he had any friends at all.

“The ones on 154 and 159. I’ve been trying to do them on my own, but I don’t know if I’m getting the right answer.” Pushing my tea of the way, I set my own book on the small café table. I liked coming to the cafe at night. Even though it was inside the student center, it was mostly quiet after nine, and ever since that uncomfortable incident with Sasha and his “buddies”, I hadn’t seen a single person I recognized at any of the tables.

“These?” Daniel B. ran his finger down the page, pushing his glasses up with his other hand. “These are easy. You shouldn’t be having a problem.”

Another thing about Daniel B., he rarely filtered his thoughts from his mouth. Whatever he thought, he said. Even if it could be construed as insulting. Read More »