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It’s a Trap! No, Just Ole Miss Students Voting

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

lukeamotion/Luke Pickard

Colleges sometimes have really unusual college mascots – or, possibly even more unusual — no mascot at all! That’s the case with the University of Mississippi. Ole Miss retired Colonel Rebel, their controversial southern gentleman mascot, back in 2003 — and haven’t had one since!

But a mascot is in the future for Ole Miss students. Tuesday, February 23, 2010, University of Mississippi students voted online as to whether or not they wanted a voice in choosing the new mascot – or if they wanted to leave it in the hands of college officials. The result? UM students voted yes — well, 2,510 students voted yes with only 856 voting no.

Students selected to serve on the Student Mascot Advisory Committee will begin developing a new mascot, keeping the school colors (red and blue), and the name “Ole Miss Rebels” which only leaves the question – what (or who) should be the next University of Mississippi mascot?

Students, alumni, and the Twittersphere in general have been tweeting all sorts of hilarious mascot suggestions but the favorite by far is currently none other than Admiral Ackbar – yes, you read that right: the Admiral Ackbar of Star Wars fame! The Mon Calamari and his catch-phrase “it’s a trap” has been appearing everywhere: on his website, Facebook page, Twitter account, and is suddenly one of the high ranking search terms on Google!

What do you think? Will Lucas Arts permit Admiral Ackbar to become the new Old Miss Mascot or do you think that Ole Miss students should move on? Do you have a better idea? Share it in the comments section below!

Tags: bizarre mascots, college alumni, College Life, college mascots, colleges and facebook, Colleges and Social media, colleges and twitter, facebook, mascots, ole miss, Twitter, um, university of mississippi, unusual colleges
Posted in College Life, Fun Stuff | No Comments »

Early Decision: Is it the Right Decision for You?

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Twitter, Facebook, really, the whole internet is buzzing with two words: early decision. Who got in, who didn’t get in, and who is still waiting to hear from their school of choice is all anyone can talk about – even our Admissions Guru has been bombarded with questions. Early decision confusion? That’s what we’re here for!

katrinalopez

You can only choose one school in which to apply for early decision because it is a binding contract (not to be confused with early action which is non-binding). Apply by the November early decision deadline (which can vary slightly between schools) to receive “the answer” somewhere between December and January.

Even if you don’t receive early decision acceptance, most colleges and universities will defer your application, giving you a chance to gain regular decision admittance. Simply put, this deferment means that, while you still have a shot at getting into that school, you are no longer bound by the early decision contract. You should definitely apply to multiple colleges, just know that you will have to withdraw the applications to those schools if you’re accepted early decision

When considering whether or not to send in an early decision college app for a particular school, try to imagine paying for that school without any financial help. If that thought makes you uncomfortable (or just downright nervous), you should check to make sure that your application is subject to your receiving the minimum amount of financial aid you’ll need. Otherwise, you might end up getting bound to attend that school regardless of the amount of financial aid offered!

Again, this is a binding contract. Colleges and universities mean business so read that contract carefully! If you do try to walk away, you will most likely be black-listed not only at that school, but at other schools as well, which can severely hamper your future plans. Also, if you then decide to attend a different school, that school might just revoke their acceptance of you if they find out that you broke your early decision contract. Colleges value personal integrity – do you really want to take a chance at severely damaging yours?

But, if you have done the campus visit, taken the college tour, have completely fallen in love with a particular school, and know that it’s your top pick, you might want to consider early decision. Why draw out the agony of waiting if you can receive your acceptance (or not) early?

ambrown

Better yet — Class of 2014 Facebook Pages are popping up daily so new students can get acquainted, network, and form friendships with one another before ever setting foot on campus (keep watch for our Class of 2014 Facebook list, coming soon!). That would go a long way in helping to calm first day jitters!

Early decision = fewer applicants. However, even with a smaller pool of college applications to wade through, the applicants tend to be pretty strong (we’re talking top of their class and super involved) so it doesn’t mean you’ll have a better chance of getting in. Early decision is a huge responsibility. It’s definitely not something to walk into blindly.

So, would you/have you/are you considering applying for early decision? Why or why not? Share you thoughts in the comments section below.

Tags: admission guru, admissions, admissions guru, class of 2014, class of 2014 facebook pages, college acceptance, college admission, college admission terms, college admissions, college guide, colleges and facebook, colleges and twitter, contracts, early action, early decision, facebook, Financial Aid, financial aid packages, financial aid policies, my college guide, social media, Twitter
Posted in College Admissions, College Applications | 5 Comments »

How to Increase Your Odds After Sending in Your Application

Monday, January 11th, 2010

Once you’ve sent in your college applications, you might think that there’s nothing else you can do to sway an admissions counselor in your favor. But that’s not always true. Here are a few ways to help your odds in the college admissions game.

While you’re waiting, visit the school and get involved. Schools like to know that they’re more than just a back-up option, so if you take the time to sign up for a school tour, talk with faculty members, take part in campus activities, and participate in an interview, admissions counselors will appreciate the fact that you’re eager to become a part of their community.

Interact with the college community online. In some cases, admissions officers manage their colleges’ profiles on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Become a fan of the school, and start corresponding by asking relevant questions about the academic programs you’re interested in, or sending a note of congratulations for a recent award the school may have won. Don’t use this method to check on the status of your application, or to promote yourself as a candidate—but by engaging with the school community, you may be more likely to leave an impression on the admission officer who makes a decision on your application.

Send updates of recent awards or important activities. While you don’t want to get in your admissions officer’s face too often, if there’s something buzz-worthy going on in your life that didn’t make it onto your college application, by all means, let the school know about it. If the officers haven’t made a decision about you yet, finding out that your school science project just won a national prize might sway the odds in your favor.

Double-check with your high school that all necessary information has been filed. When an entire grade is going through the college admissions process, it’s easy for important materials to get lost in the shuffle—and just because you did your part doesn’t mean that your application is complete. To make sure that the colleges you’ve selected have all the right information on file, ask your high school’s college advisor to make sure that transcripts, recommendations, and other important details have been sent off.

Be creative. Don’t go overboard, but sometimes sending an original postcard or newsletter can help you stand out. Just keep it fun and friendly—resorting to bribery or doing anything that reeks of desperation is bound to turn admissions counselors off.

Do nothing. At many ultra-selective schools, admissions officers are sorting through mountains of applications, and don’t want to be bothered with more information after the stated deadline. Depending on the school, going overboard can actually hurt your chances of getting in—so, before sending in additional materials or a letter, have a look at your top school’s admissions guidelines, and see if it says anything about their perspective on materials sent after the deadline. In most cases, following up won’t cause problems, but it would be a shame if your hand-decorated letter went straight into the trash bin.

Tags: applying to college, campus visit, college, college acceptance factors, college admissions, college campus visit, college visit, colleges and facebook, colleges and twitter, facebook, getting into college, getting into first choice college, high school transcripts, Twitter
Posted in College Admissions, College Applications | 4 Comments »

Protect Your Online Image (Colleges are Looking at You!)

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Chances are you have a profile on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or one of hundreds of social media websites out there. Don’t think your friends are the only ones checking out what you wrote: colleges and universities may be using what you post as a deciding factor as to whether or not you receive that all important acceptance letter!

Colleges "get" social media...just like you.

Matt Hamm

We’ve mentioned that colleges are using social media like never before. The cold hard truth? Colleges are all over social media sites and have a lot of students to choose from — so don’t give them a reason to pass you by! Avoid these all too common mistakes — protect yourself and your future.

1. It’s nothing personal. Sure, it’s tempting to vent about your ex-boyfriend or blab about your wild weekend, but stop right there! In this case, your mom was right: if you can’t say anything nice…don’t say anything at all (or, at the very least, consider private messaging instead)!

2. Mind Your Manners. While you may not be posting anything too personal, excessive swearing is a red flag to admissions and a potential turn off. Keep it clean and keep it rated “PG.”

3. Strike a Pose? Guess again! Colleges won’t stop at reading your posts – they’ll scope out your photo albums as well. Underage drinking, smoking, or worse will put a definite damper on your future plans. But don’t think it stops there: photos that your friends post of you could be just as damaging! Consider changing your profile setting to “private” where applicable to prevent prying eyes from seeing something less than flattering.

Do you have any tips to add? We’d love to hear them! Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Tags: college, college acceptance, college acceptance factors, college admission, colleges and facebook, colleges and myspace, Colleges and Social media, colleges and twitter, facebook, myspace, social media and higher education, Twitter
Posted in College Admissions, College Life, Fun Stuff, Preparing for College, Social Media, Technology | 2 Comments »

Getting Started at College: Tips for Settling in at the Beginning

Monday, January 4th, 2010

Andrew Stawarz/Andrew Stawarz

If you’ve already received an acceptance letter from your early-decision school, congratulations! Your time worrying about getting into school is finally done—but what do you need to know when you actually arrive at college? Here are a few tips that will help make the transition from home to the frosh dorms simple and painless.

Connect with other future students in advance. These days, it’s easy to connect with your future classmates before you even set foot on campus. Just search Facebook for groups, fan pages, and people connected to your future school—more than likely, you’ll find a group dedicated to admitted students in your class. If not, start your own, and others will soon discover you. If anyone in the group lives nearby, see about getting together for lunch. It will be great to have a familiar face on the first day of school.

Buy or rent your textbooks before you arrive. During the first few days of school, you can spend hours in line waiting to purchase your textbooks, which are often sold at heavily inflated prices. Skip the lines and the high prices by getting a list of coursebooks in advance from your school, and purchasing copies online from Amazon.com or renting copies from Chegg.com or Bookrenter.com.

Once you get your course schedule, find all of your classrooms in advance. There’s nothing more embarrassing than walking in during the middle of a lecture on the first day. Make sure it doesn’t happen to you by taking a walk around the campus and locating all of your classrooms, using a campus map to get your bearings.

Take part in Welcome Week activities. Your school will probably offer a few days packed with games and activities designed to help you meet fellow students and get used to the school. Though some of the activities may not exactly fit your interests, it’s important to get involved—this is a great opportunity to find new friends before you even start classes.

Find out about clubs, intramural sports teams, and the Greek scene. During the first few days of school, most colleges’ various activity groups will set up information booths, where representatives can talk to freshmen about what’s involved in joining or participating in a club. Scout out the groups that appeal to you, and come prepared with questions. If you’re thinking about getting involved in the campus Greek scene, this is also a great time to work out which fraternity or sorority seems like the best fit, and find out about their welcome mixers.

Get your student ID card and rent a fridge as early as possible. Your student ID card is your key to all sorts of campus activities, from meals to gym use, so be sure to get your photo taken for your school ID as early as possible, to avoid long lines. Also, unless you’ve purchased your own mini-fridge, you’ll want to rent one from the school—so be sure to register for one before they’re all gone.

Talk to your academic advisor and your R.A. During the first week of school, it can be helpful to schedule one-on-one meetings with both your academic advisor (who helps you with managing your course load and other academic matters) and your resident advisor (an older student who can help you navigate the rest of college life). If you have particular concerns about either academic or social issues at college, these people are trained to provide you with the support you need.

Send your parents home. Though it can be tempting to keep your parents around for moral support as long as possible, once they’ve helped you with anything you need parental assistance for (unpacking your luggage, dealing with the financial aid office, etc.), let them head back home. It may feel a little scary to be on your own, but you’ll get used to it soon—and just remember, all the other freshmen are in the exact same situation. You’re sure to find a friend or two among them.

Tags: academic advisor, amazon, bookrenter, chegg, college admissions and parents, college classes, college dorm, College Life, colleges and facebook, dorm living, early decision, facebook, getting started at college, greek life, letter of acceptance, on campus living, orientation, RA, renting textbooks, resident advisor, student id, textbooks, the first day of college, welcome week
Posted in College Classes, College Life, Housing | 6 Comments »

Extreme Stress Relief: Weird Ways to Unwind During College Finals Week

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

Even in high school, finals week is an incredibly stressful time. But in college, the pressure gets amped up through the roof. For many courses, how you do on your finals will play a huge role in your semester grades, so you’ll need to make sure you’ve memorized every detail of the Franco-Prussian War or that you can correctly label every bone in the human body, or you’ll risk jeopardizing your chances at grad school.

Once you get to college, you’ll probably spend most of the weeks leading up to finals staying up until 3 AM, reading and re-reading a semester’s worth of notes, and downing coffee after coffee. But too much stress isn’t healthy, and colleges know that. That’s why many schools have come up with some unique traditions to help students slow down, de-stress, and have fun before finals start. Here are a few of our favorites.

Puppy therapy. In the words of Charles Schultz, “Happiness is a warm puppy.” We agree—and so do the folks at Chapman University in Orange, California. The school has launched a new event during the week before finals called “Furry Friends for Finals,” in which a group of puppies for students to play with are stationed outside of the library, providing a fun and cuddly study break.

Scream therapy. Being under so much stress can make you want to scream. So why don’t you? At many schools around the country, including Northwestern, Stanford, and Harvard, students take part in a “primal scream,” where everyone opens their dorm windows and screams as loud as they can for about five minutes. If you’re not a part of it, you probably don’t want to be within earshot.

Late-night breakfast. After pulling an all-nighter studying, you’re sure to be in need of some sustenance. So at some schools, including New York University, professors will treat their students to a special late night breakfast of pancakes, French toast, and other tasty treats to give them the strength for another long day of exams.

Library dance parties. They aren’t exactly faculty-sanctioned, but at schools including James Madison University and Carleton College, students have organized secret library dance parties via Facebook, turning the study haven into half an hour or so before returning to business as usual.

Free massages. Many schools, including Indiana University, offer free massages during cram and finals weeks, along with snacks, movies, and games.

Undie runs and streaks. Finally, for the ultimate in goofy stress relief, at a handful of schools, it’s become an annual tradition to take part in a cross-campus run wearing nothing but underwear—or, at some schools, nothing at all. At UCLA, more than 5,000 students often take part in the Undie Run, while UC Berkeley, Harvard, and several other schools have a tradition of streaking across campus. It’s definitely a way to take your mind off the books—but if you get involved, make sure you don’t get photographed or you’ll probably end up thoroughly exposed on Facebook!

Tags: carleton college, chapman university, college, college finals, College Life, facebook, finals week, free massage, furry friend for finals, Harvard University, indiana university, james madison university, late night breakfast, library dance party, new york university, northwestern university, puppy therapy, scream therapy, stanford university, streaking, stress, stress relief, ucla, undie runs, university, university of california berkeley, university of california los angeles
Posted in College Life, Fun Stuff | 5 Comments »

How to Integrate Social Media into Your College Application Process

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Social Media Landscape by fredcavazza, on Flickr

Chances are good that you’re already using social media to keep up with friends and family, but are you also using it to keep up with the colleges you’re considering? Are you using your social media profile to build a platform to complement your college applications? If not, then you should be. Find out how to use your social media pastime as more than a way to send updates to your friends.

Gather Information

Some of the top ranked colleges and universities in the country are using social media such as blogs, videos, podcasts, Facebook and Twitter to disseminate information to current and prospective students. Following the information colleges are sharing is one of the prime ways to determine what the college is like, if it’s a fit for you and if you will fit in there. Consistently following these colleges can help to provide you with insight into what’s important to the college, which is information you can use to match your personality, skills and experience to with what the college is looking for in prospective students. There is also a multitude of third party sources to help guide you through the application process, taking the SAT and living the life of a college student.

Adding Social Media to the Mix

Make no mistake about it colleges are looking at your social media accounts. You can use this to your advantage by integrating your social media activity with the college application process. Before you send your updates out or upload pictures to your account, consider the picture it paints of you as a prospective student. You can create a successful mix of personal, educational and extracurricular updates to your social media profiles to help highlight you as the student your prospective colleges want to admit.

Steps to integrating social media with your college applications may look something like this:

You volunteer with your local environmental group to clean up a local beach. You take photos of fellow volunteers and have pictures taken of you picking up the trash. You upload the pictures from your cell phone and send out an update saying you’re cleaning up the local beach and helping the environment.
Take a photo of one of the dogs at the animal hospital where you work part-time. Send out an update to your social media contacts that he needs a good home. Not only are you helping animals, but it may also help you when it comes time to expressing your career goals and job experience when you’re applying for college.
Create a video of you playing in your high school soccer game. Post the video to your blog, upload it to YouTube and upload it to your social media network pages to share with your friends and family to feature your participation in extracurricular activities.

These updates take place over time and help to paint a picture of who you are as a student, as a person and as a member of your community. Put your social media to work for you by using it to help you get an acceptance letter to the college of your dreams.

Tags: blog, blogs, college and social media, colleges and youtube, facebook, how to use social media to get accepted to college, integrating social media into the college application process, podcast, podcasts, social media, Twitter, using social media to get into college, video, videos, youtube
Posted in Choosing a College, College Admissions, Personal Statement, Social Media | No Comments »

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Posts Tagged ‘facebook’

How to Increase Your Odds After Sending in Your Application

Getting Started at College: Tips for Settling in at the Beginning

Extreme Stress Relief: Weird Ways to Unwind During College Finals Week

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