Entries for October 2009

Everyone's a critic these days, college students included. And why not? With the average tuition at a public college having gone up almost 6 percent this year, students have a right to mouth off when things aren't to their liking. The trouble is that faculty and staff are overworked and, in many cases, haven't gotten a raise this year. What can you do? Here are our best suggestions about how to remedy the most commonly hated things about college.

1. College costs too much. What you can do: Be sure to research all the possible forms of tuition assistance, from the federal government, the state, the university, your major, and community organizations. Consider cheaper alternatives, such as community colleges or, in some cases, summer school. Take as many courses as possible (within reason) if you're paying by the semester rather than by the credit. Save on textbooks by buying online, renting, or sharing books, or by buying E-textbooks. And be sure to check out all the tax incentives for higher education.

No one should lunge at graduate school. Getting an advanced degree can take years and can cost tens of thousands of dollars if you're not lucky enough to land a fellowship. And no one should begin planning for graduate school in October of their senior year. Putting together a good application—one that can really sell—is the product of years of careful planning and doing the right stuff to get yourself ready for graduate work in your desired field.

How do you do this? Follow our step-by-step guide to getting ready for the graduate school of your choice:

1. Don't fixate too early. There's no point making a decision about whether to go to graduate school until you've finished about half of the courses in your major—especially the upper-division or advanced courses. Only then can you see whether you like the field enough to devote yourself full time to working in it, and whether you're good enough in it to make it your profession.

College is like juggling. Five balls in the air that you're trying to not let drop. Between going to class, doing the homework, taking the tests, perhaps holding down a job, raising a family—well, how's a mere mortal supposed to do all this stuff? It boils down to managing your time. But how are you supposed to do that? Here are our top 12 tips for managing your overcrowded schedule:

1. Block your courses. Many students think that they'll learn better if they scatter their courses throughout the day, with frequent off-hours. Wrong. If you take your courses back to back as much as possible, you'll have larger blocks of time to devote to concerted bouts of studying. Usually, if you have a gap of 50 minutes between classes, it's much more likely to end up as Twitter or Facebook time rather than study time. And if you can group your classes on only two or three days, it will free whole days for studying.

Professors are human beings, too, with real human feelings. How your professor feels about you can influence how much time he or she is willing to put in to help you with the course, and even how good a recommendation he or she is willing to write for grad school or a job. Surprisingly enough, only 1 in 100 students thinks about this. Assuming you're one of the other 99, we offer you our baker's dozen of tips on how to ingratiate yourself to your professor:

1. Look interested. Professors like nothing better than to see alert and engaged students seated front and center in their classes. Even if they're usually too polite to mention it, professors do notice students who sit there yawning or looking bummed out—or, worse yet, openly texting or reading E-mail. If you look as if you're following, actively taking notes, and showing an interest in the material, you'll stand out from the huddled masses.

2. Say hi to the professor when he or she enters the room. Seems obvious. But take a look sometime at how few students do it.

For many students, the biggest difference between college and high school is studying: In college, you're really supposed to be doing it. But many beginning college students have habits and strategies that not only don't help their studying but actually thwart it. For them, we offer our best ideas for what not to do if you're going to ace your college studying.

• Don't look for the perfect environment. Many students think if only they found the perfect place to study, studying would be easy. So they spend inordinate amounts of time scouting and trying out various locales—first their dorm room, then the coffee shop, then the library, then the grass, etc. Such elaborate "setup" time can be a major time waster, and even worse, can make you feel that you can't study unless you are in your ideal study spot. Better idea? Find a reasonably quiet place and just get started. You'll get more comfortable as you get going.