From Campus to Career: The Teach For America Debate (Part 1)

Teach For America is an extremely popular program with soon-to-be college grads. So what makes it so controversial?

Collegiate Attrition After Year One

College students have a lot on their minds these days. From balancing classwork, a job, extra curricular activities, and budding social lives, it can all become one huge blur. And sometimes, all this pressure can force students to withdraw from their university studies. And should students choose to pull out, there’s a group people beyond the students themselves who pay the price: taxpayers. That’s right, taxpayers. A new report shows that states appropriated almost $6.2 billion for four-year colleges and universities between 2003 and 2008 to help pay for the education of students who did not return for year two.

The Not so Summer Blues (The Work Experience Elixer)

I have always considered July 4th as summer’s hump day; The summer days and nights seem to move at a much faster pace after this national holiday. And given that July 4th falls twenty days after the summer solstice summer days should feel as if they move faster. During my high school summers, the July 4th holiday did not remind me that I had ample time to frolic and play. Instead, July 4th reminded me that a new school year loomed in the distance. The period of time between July 4th and the beginning of the school presented a challenge: how should I best fill this time?

Words of Wit and Wisdom

After attending my sister’s graduation from undergrad last week and reading Lisa’s piece on the romantic proposal / speech from the graduating student at Centenary College, I thought I would share some of my favorite graduation speeches. Check out the links below, as these are quality, verbal presentations. And while you might be four or more years away from reveling in these exquisite deliveries of spoken word, they are certainly something to look forward to: Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy, offers Harvard undergrads some advice from the perspective of Stewie Griffin, the brash, yet conniving toddler. in this speech from 2006. Meryl Streep shares some words of wisdom to class of 2010 at Barnard College in NYC Stephen Colbert delights the grads at Knox College in ’07 with his witty commencement address Think you’ve heard a mind-blowing speech lately? Let us know by dropping a line in the comment [...]

Did You Hear About…

…the college valedictorian who proposed to her almost-valedictorian boyfriend during her commencement speech? Talk about over-achiever! Most college graduation ceremonies are filled with speeches about following your dreams, fulfilling your potential, breaking away from the nest… it’s all very relevant and true, but let’s be honest. Predictable. If you didn’t hear about it already, give a nod to this one-of-a-kind occurence that took place at Centenary College in New Jersey last week. Check out the video they uploaded to Facebook, appropriately named: “Perfect GPA, Perfect Match!” I have yet to see a college graduation ceremony surprise top this, unless you have one of your own you’d like to share. Congratulations to all the 2010 college graduates out there!

Van Wilders on the Rise

It’s unfortunate, yet true. Four years of college study won’t necessarily afford you a college degree. The first two years of college-whether at a university or community college-tend to encompass “general education” (GE) classes, consisting of language, writing, speech, math and other basic requirements before pursuing upper division courses toward a specific major. Some students gripe that it’s an extension of high school; others enjoy the transition to college academics, especially when the school tailors GEs to student interests. But do GEs transfer from college to college? If you study your first two years at a community college and plan to transfer to a four-year school, will they take all of your credits? To take it a step further, what if you start your major at one college and try to finish it at another? According to a commentary piece today in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the credit-transfer system [...]

Grace and Gratitude

An AP United States History teacher once interrupted himself during a lecture and shared with my fourth period classmates the following factoid: “If you think high school goes by so fast, wait until you get to college. It goes by 4 times faster!” Mr. Roberson was correct. At times, my college career did feel like someone was pushing the fast-forward button and would not let go. Many things can get overlooked during this four-year period. Think about it, college provides the opportunity to study a myriad of subjects, perform research, and meet incredible people. So in the spirit of the holidays, I posed the question to my friends and social networks: “What are you grateful for from college?” Below you will find actual responses to this question. And more will be on the way. Enjoy unwrapping this gift from BetterGrads! “The social experiences-Allowed me to grow and mature. [Grateful for] [...]

Why You Should Not Fear Failure While in College

In continuing to answer questions sent from the Granada High students, I wanted to spend some time answering one that was not included in Lisa’s post. The question was something along the lines of, “What was your favorite memory from your days in college?” The easy answer would be something along the lines of, “Well, there was this one weekend, where I went to this fraternity / sorority house, and everything that happened that night made me feel like I was in Asher Roth’s ‘I Love College’ video / “Animal House.” During my college career, I did partake in these kinds of weekend activities. But, those fleeting moments did not define my college experience. On the contrary, my favorite college memories include the times I failed. In particular, failing one of my intermediate economics courses was probably one of the best things to happen to me, and here’s why: Failing [...]