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Before you begin your exciting first year at college, you’ll be invited to attend a freshman orientation during the summer, where you can become more familiar with what it means to live at and attend your new college.

But for many, attending freshman orientation is a huge inconvenience. For starters, it can be pretty expensive — I know my freshman orientation cost around $300 for myself and my parents to attend, and that’s not including traveling costs, such as food and hotels. For others, the distance might be a big factor — if your college is a ten hour drive, then attending freshman orientation will take a lot of effort. Maybe you’re busy the day of orientation. And, perhaps, you’re just not interested. There are lots of reasons why you would consider missing orientation.

First and foremost, find out what’s going on at orientation. Many colleges do the same thing at freshman orientation, but you never know for sure. Make sure that nothing’s going on that you can’t afford to miss. If you’re at all unsure, send an e-mail to your college to become certain. Keep reading »

When my freshman year began, I was taken aback at how different college life was from high school life. Although I definitely expected a drastic change, I wasn’t expecting it to be quite as it is. Here are the ten largest differences between the two that I’ve noticed:

1. The rules are typically more lax. If you’re living on campus, you don’t really have a curfew and can do just about whatever you want, provided you don’t break any school policies. You don’t need your parents to sign forms, you can do it yourself. You can live as you want — if you want to put up a Pokemon poster in your room, then you can. If you want to stay up until 3 AM, you can.
2. However, you’re responsible in college. If you do break a rule, it’s mostly up to you to handle the consequences — your parents won’t be as useful in getting you out of trouble.
3. College classes move much faster, especially if you’re on the quarter system. If you have a 15 week semester and meet for class three times a week, you meet 45 times and that’s it. Compare that to high school, where you might have class 180 times in a year. There’s a big difference.
4. Way more work is done outside of class. Not only do the classes move faster, but you’re typically expected to be study the material outside of class. In fact, if you don’t, you will have a much harder time grasping it. Keep reading »

If you’re going to be buying a new computer for college, you’re going to be faced immediately with the choice of what kind of computer to get. Do you buy a portable laptop, or a powerful desktop?

Laptops

In general, if you can afford it, you’re going to want some kind of laptop for college. Laptops give you the freedom of portability, meaning you can take it to class to take notes, you can take it to the library to study, you can easily bring it with you when you go home for the weekend, and you can bring it just about everywhere else. At home you may not have needed a portable computer, but a laptop at college is pretty essential these days. Keep reading »

The other day I came across Princeton Review’s College Hopes and Worries survey, an interesting survey that shows what both students and parents think about various issues. It’s pretty interesting to see how the two groups vary in what they think.

For example, parents believe the toughest part about the college application experience is meeting deadlines, whereas students believe it falls more under standardized tests like the SAT and ACT.

Many parents also worry about the amount of debt students will tack on in a particular college, but students stress more about getting into their first-choice school. Not having enough money is equally concerning for both groups. Keep reading »

Don't forget about your schoolwork

Since May 1st has come and gone, you (hopefully) have already chosen which college you’re going to attend next year. Now that you know where you’re going to be, the motivation to put as much effort into your schoolwork as you usually do will be harder to come by. Senioritis will really kick in as you near graduation — everybody will be talking about where they’re going to school and the end-of-the-year activities for seniors. For many students, once the AP tests are over with, there’s not much left to really focus on. Battling senioritis will never be harder than the last month before school gets out.

Is it okay to let your grades drop and to enjoy yourself? Many claim that senior year is a year to relax and take it easy, and if you’ve been working hard for the last three and a half years, you’re definitely going to want to take a break. Keep reading »

For many colleges, May 1st is the deadline for deciding whether or not you’re going to attend the school. If you haven’t decided yet, you might wanna hurry!

At the high school where I’m from, every year students apply to a variety of the UCs depending on their tastes. Come mid-March, when students are informed whether or not they are accepted, everyone begins to gravitate towards the local UC: UC Davis.

Now, don’t get me wrong, UC Davis is a great university and is definitely worthy of its praise. But many students do not take the time to properly look into a college before deciding. Keep reading »

This question was sent in by a reader. You too can send in a question — just use the form on the sidebar or go to the Contact page.

The other day I received a question about SAT practice books — which I used and how I prepared for the test.

It may be an expensive way to prepare, but I’ve always believed the best way to prepare for the SAT is to take it. Once you’ve taken it, you’ll have a good idea what to expect — what types of questions are on it, the typical time limits, and so forth. When you come back and take the test a second time, you’ll know much better what to expect and be far more prepared. Keep reading »