Xatal

Having a cell phone in college is critical to maintaining your social life

Somehow, I managed to make it through high school without having a cell phone. Although I begged for one, my parents didn’t want to pay for it, and I didn’t care strongly enough to shell out $40-$50 a month for a phone bill. Once I graduated high school though, my parents acknowledged that I would need a phone for my freshman year in college, and we went to Verizon and bought a cell phone for me.

When I went to college, I quickly learned that having a cell phone was not only useful, but it was a bit of a necessity if I wanted to stay involved with everything that was going on. Keep reading »

Many college and university dining halls offer all-you-can-eat food to students. Unlike high school and middle schools which try to serve healthy foods, not all of these foods are the best to eat for you. Combine fatty and sugary foods with sodas and unlimited portions and you get the “Freshman 15″ — the 15 pounds gained by many students in their freshman year of college.

Is the Freshman 15 real or just a myth?

Well, it really depends on the person. If you eat unhealthy and don’t exercise, there’s a good chance you’ll experience some weight gain in college. However, if you’re able to control your eating habits well and/or exercise, you won’t have much to worry about. After my first year, I noticed that most people hadn’t really changed weight at all, though there were definitely some students who had put on a few pounds over the year.

So, what can you do to avoid the Freshman 15? Keep reading »

Before you begin your first quarter or semester at college, at some point you’ll need to decide what classes you want to take. Unlike high school, you’re now paying a lot for college, so if you aren’t taking the right classes, you’ll be throwing your money down the drain.

After your first semester/quarter, you’ll understand well how to choose classes, but at first you might be a bit confused.

Depending on if your school uses the quarter or semester system, you’ll probably be taking somewhere between three and five classes. They key to making sure that you’re taking the best classes you can is to prioritize. In order to decide which classes you should take, ask yourself these questions — in this order — to create a prioritized list of classes to enroll in: Keep reading »

When choosing a roommate for your first year away at college, many people will consider living with a friend from high school. Perhaps the friend is your best friend or perhaps it’s someone you think you’ll get along with. Either way, living with someone you know offers you that sense of comfort of knowing that you’re still connected to home in case you get homesick. It also might prevent a lot of the awkwardness of meeting a new roommate.

But do you end up missing out on the college experience of meeting new people by living with someone you already know? Here’s how to decide if rooming with your high school friends is the best choice for you: Keep reading »

If you’re leaving for college next year, you’ll probably be filling out a housing application soon. In an application, you may have a choice about what size dorm room you’d like to live in, where you specify if you want a single, double, triple, or a quad.

Deciding your ideal room size may be a bit tough, especially if you’ve never really lived on your own before. Both small and large rooms have their advantages and disadvantages.

How to decide what room

Consider what type of person you are — are you introverted and do you like your own space? Then a single will be more for you. If you’re outgoing and want to have a lot of fun, then a triple or a quad will be more of your style.

Doubles typically offer a strong balance between the two — through your roommate, you can expand, but you can usually still find your privacy too. Keep reading »

Typically, most colleges divide their academic year into semesters, trimesters, or quarters. However, there are a few other ones out there. When explaining the difference between quarter and semester system and then what system the CSUs/UCs use, I mentioned that CSU Stanislaus uses a different academic system altogether, known as the “4-1-4″ system.

CSU Stanislaus isn’t the only school on this system — MIT actually uses the 4-1-4 system as well.

So what is the 4-1-4 system? Is it any good?

A year in the 4-1-4 system

In the 4-1-4 system, the year is again divided into three sessions. The first and the last session are pretty similar to a semester, though they only last 13 weeks instead of the usual 15.

The middle session, however, only lasts about a month, providing a distinct opportunity to travel abroad, dabble briefly in another subject, or work on a large project.

A typical student might take 4 courses in the first term, 1 course in the second, and another 4 in the third (thus the name “414″). Keep reading »

Having food to snack on in your dorm is always a plus. Some people have massive stores of food — cup of noodles, ramen, cookies, crackers, chips, soda — and others just have a small supply. Even if you have the dining hall food to count on, having food around your room is convenient and (sometimes) more tasty.

Delicious.

Earlier in the school year, my roommate brought up a box of raisins to snack on. Later on, I brought up a bag of M&Ms from Christmas. The next weekend, my roommate brought some peanuts.

As we were snacking, we realized that it would make far more sense to just combine them and make some trail mix. And what a hit it was! Ever since then, we’ve been bringing up more M&Ms, peanuts, and raisins to keep it going.

The last time I went home, I decided it was time to make a much larger batch. I went to WinCo and went to the tubs of seeds/nuts, where you can buy in bulk by weight. I bought sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, raisins, peanuts, and M&Ms. When we combined them, the bag weighed easily about 4 pounds. Keep reading »

If you don’t already have a cell phone, you’re definitely going to want one before college. Cell phones are extremely useful nowadays, and if you don’t have one, you’re going to be surprised at how frequently you’re inconvenienced.

You may already have a plan that you’re going to continue, but if you’re open to the idea of a new phone and/or provider, you should definitely make sure you make the right choice.

Depending on where you go to school, the providers that you believe are best may not necessarily be the best choice. I use Verizon — a network that’s normally considered to be very reliable — yet I get the worst service here. Text messages rarely send and calls won’t always go through. That’s only around my dorm, but that’s still a giant inconvenience.

Try your phone out on campus.

If you’re going up for orientation or just to visit, bring your phone up and try to make a few calls while on campus. Get an idea of how good the signal is. Don’t just count the number of bars you have — actually try out your phone and make sure it seems to be reliable. Walk around different spots. If you have an idea where you’ll be living, try your phone out around there especially.

Keep reading »