Xatal

When you start looking into colleges, you’ll notice that all of them boast any weird ranking that they can. Their websites are always full of things like:

• Ranked 6th for lowest dropout rate!
• Ranked 8th for best feminist studies program!
• Ranked 17th for nicest dorms!

Schools try to use these rankings to advertise and look impressive, but most of them really aren’t at all significant to you. What do you care about the feminist studies program if that’s not your major? Probably not at all.

These rankings are nice to look at and are good to talk about, but they shouldn’t hold much weight on your decision at all unless it’s something that you feel applies to you specifically, like if it involves your major. Think about it like in a professional sport — if you hear that such and such quarterback is the top in the league for scoring touchdowns on third down, that’s good and all, but aren’t there more important aspects?

The rankings that are a bit more important are the overall rankings.

US News ranks colleges, and their rankings are usually pretty accurate and held in high regard. They take into account a lot of different factors in making the rankings. For the list of the top rated schools, check here.

Princeton Review, the same site you can use to look up college information, also ranks schools as well. I couldn’t really find a definitive list, but they do rank in a bunch of different categories. You can look at their lists here

So what do rankings mean for you? What should they mean for you? Keep reading »

Whether or not you chose a roommate or were assigned one, you’re now stuck living with somebody for the next few months of your life. Obviously, you want that to be as good of an experience as possible for the both of you.

It’s best to get a start on building a strong bond well before you guys start living together. No matter what, it will be awkward at first, but you can do your best to eliminate at least some of it beforehand.

If you already know the person you’re going to be living with, a lot of this you won’t have to worry about, but for those of us who are starting fresh,  it’s best to have something to start with.

To begin, Keep reading »

Every year, you inevitably have to take a new picture for your school ID card. I always liked it because it got me out of a class period, but beyond that it was never really interesting. My pictures always looked the same.

Come senior year though, we had to take pictures twice — the first time was a formal picture that went in the yearbook. The second was only used on our ID card. We decided to have some fun with it, and so we asked the photographer if we could make funny faces. She said yes, and soon it caught on. All of the seniors had weird pictures on their ID cards.

Whether or not your high school does the same thing, taking a funny picture is priceless.

Keep reading »

Every year when you go back to school, everyone asks everyone else how their summer was. And it’s almost always the same: “pretty good… I didn’t do anything — it was too short…” It never fails.

As you get older, every summer goes by faster than the last one. For me, this one is flying by. I can’t believe it’s already late July, but it is.

Chances are you have a month or less left of summer, so now’s the time to start cramming in those fun things you wanted to do.

So here are some suggestions for having some summer fun before it’s too late: Keep reading »

Throughout middle school and high school, whenever someone would ask the classic question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, my mind would always blank. Sure, I had dream jobs, but nothing realistic ever came to mind. I never thought it was very urgent, so I always put off starting to make that decision.

Come November last year when it came time to start applying to schools, I had to start narrowing it down in order to have something to put down as a major on my applications. Some schools hold a lot of weight to what you put down as your major: at some colleges, you’re stuck with whatever you put down on that application. You definitely don’t want to choose the wrong one, that’s for sure.

The best thing you can do is to try to start having an idea of what you’d like to do as a career way before you begin college applications. The more time you take now, the less you have to take later.

But where do you start? Well, the place I started was Google News, to be honest. Keep reading »

Having a good roommate is essential to your well-being. Having a roommate you don’t get along with is something you never want. Imagine coming home after a long day only to see someone you really can’t stand. Is that really want you want? Probably not, so make your choice wisely.

A lot of the time, you’re going to be stuck with someone you’ve never met before. This isn’t that bad — it gives you a great chance to branch out and meet new people. Most schools have a survey that you fill out to help partner you who is similar to you. If you’ve been assigned a roommate by your school, but you don’t know the person, read here to find out how to start building a friendship.

However, if you’re going to a school where you already know a lot of people (like a school that’s close to home), you’ve no doubt considered dorming with someone you’re already friends with. Because most schools will give you a chance to request a specific person to room with, this is very possible. And that’s all good and well, but just because you two are best friends doesn’t mean you can stand living with each other in a small room. Here are a few important questions to ask yourself when considering who to choose as a dormmate: Keep reading »

Seeing as it’s summer, now is the time when a lot of kids will start touring campuses they’re interested in attending. Visiting a college is huge, and a lot of times that’s what will inevitably make or break a decision. I know I would have chosen a different school had I not visited all of my options beforehand.

If the college is only a short drive away, then visiting it won’t be too big of a deal. However, if the college is far away from you, you might only get one chance to go there and tour it. It’s important that you get it right and make the most out of it.

For me, the most important part of college tours was the general feel I got from the campus. Some schools I saw had a very prestigious feel, while others had a very laid-back feel. In the end, that vibe you get will help play a crucial part in deciding where you want to go.

You want to make sure that overall feeling is accurate. Here are some suggestions to ensure that it is by making the most of your college tour: Keep reading »

I’d just like to draw everyone’s attention to the Contact page for a bit.

With this blog, I’m trying to help answer any questions that students might have. I’m going by things I used to wonder and things I asked for help about from other people. I have a nice list of things I eventually wish to address, but that list definitely isn’t set in stone.

If you’re reading this and you have any questions, please, don’t hesitate to use that page to ask me. The other day I noticed someone found this site by searching for “half day senior year colleges look down”. Obviously, they were curious whether or not colleges look down on shorter days in their senior year. So I decided to give that a post yesterday.

If you have questions, by all means, ask. Some things I’m planning to write about at more appropriate times of the year, but I wouldn’t mind addressing them early if people are interested. You might ask me something I never thought of.