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10 Tips for Getting Into the Class You Need
Tweet Share on Facebook January 27, 2010 Comment (2)A recent New York Times piece, "Students Face a Class Struggle at State Colleges," describes the dramatic shortage of places in classes at California state colleges. The crisis is nationwide: Public universities in economically distressed states—Arizona, Florida, Michigan, and Ohio also come to mind—simply don't have enough spots in many classes to accommodate a student population growing at 4.5 percent each year. What should students do? Here are our 10 best tips for finding places in closed courses:
1. Try an off-peak time. Consider taking the sections that meet at times students find most undesirable. Think late afternoons and evenings, 7 a.m., and Fridays. Go for the times that your cohorts would rather be doing anything else than going to class.
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10 Ways to Whip the Freshman Composition Requirement
Tweet Share on Facebook January 19, 2010 Comment (2)Many students starting college encounter something like this:
“ENGL1013 Composition I (Sp, Su, Fa) Required of all freshmen unless exempted by the Department of English. Prerequisite: ENGL 0003 or an acceptable score on the English section of the ACT or another approved test.”
It’s that most despised of all college courses, the freshman comp requirement. We wondered what could be done to tame this beast, and so we asked our friend Raina Smith Lyons, assistant director of the program in composition at the University of Arkansas, for her suggestions. Here’s what she had to say:
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10 Top Tips for Finding Financial Aid
Tweet Share on Facebook January 13, 2010 Comment (8)For many collegebound students—and their parents—the race for money for college begins on New Year's Day. That's because the all-important Free Application for Federal Student Aid (or FAFSA) form should be submitted as close to Jan. 1, 2010, as possible for best consideration. But perhaps you haven't been thinking about financial aid for college at all. If that's the case, you're in luck. We've invited Tom Lustig, a seasoned expert from PNC Bank's Educational Loan Center, to share with us his 10 best tips:
1. Get a head start. Apply for financial aid as early as possible since award deadlines tend to vary from school to school and state to state. You can apply before you have been accepted. If you're planning to borrow, apply for aid at least two months early to be sure that there are no hidden "land mines" in your or your cosigner's credit records. In the event a loan application is denied, the extra time offers a cushion to take advantage of a "second look" process your lender may offer—or to find one that does.
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10 Warning Signs of a Bad Professor
Tweet Share on Facebook January 6, 2010 Comment (57)Many students are heading back for the second semester of college this week. How the semester goes will depend heavily on the quality of the courses they've chosen. Many students will consult sites such as www.ratemyprofessors.com, their college's own evaluation systems (when public), and the general scuttlebutt from their real and virtual friends. But it's always better to size the professor up yourself by attending the first couple of lectures, then dropping the course if you think the professor is bad. But how do you tell? Here are our 10 surefire signs that your prof's a dud—and that you should get out while there's still time:
1. The professor is boring. Even in the very first classes, you can tell if the professor presents the material in an interesting way. Be especially alert for professors who stand up there and read large sections of the lecture from their notes. If it's a snoozer in Week 1, it's going to get excruciating by Week 15.
