Hacking College

We've moved!!

2009-07-15T00:19:00.003-04:00

hackingcollege.com is here now

Thanks blogger you were always good to me.

Eckerd College

2009-04-15T01:31:00.002-04:00

Download MP3

http://eckerd.edu

Application

http://eckerd.edu/green

Eckerd Life Blogs

Colleges That Change Lives

Cringley @ Kauffman Conversations

2009-04-14T16:07:00.001-04:00

New Approach to Community College Transfers

2009-03-24T13:28:00.002-04:00

With the Northeast projected to experience a decline in high school graduates, tuition-dependent liberal arts colleges in the region are looking for new ways to recruit students.

And the trend keeps heading in my predicted direction.

Link

Charlie Rose with Shirley Tilghman, Princeton President

2009-03-17T13:40:00.001-04:00

Student Veterans - Live from Sacramento (KQED)

2009-03-09T17:32:00.002-04:00

A conversation with Stanford President John Hennessy

2009-03-02T16:21:00.002-05:00

Feds, colleges warn students about traveling to Mexico for spring break

2009-02-26T20:02:00.002-05:00

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/feb/25/spring-break-mexico-travel-advisory-caution/

Study Abroad Bill Introduced

2009-02-26T19:24:00.004-05:00

DURBIN AND WICKER INTRODUCE PAUL SIMON STUDY ABROAD FOUNDATION ACT

Barry University

2009-02-25T17:10:00.003-05:00

Download MP3

iTunes U--even better than the real thing

2009-02-20T13:52:00.005-05:00

This report in New Scientist suggests it is.

What's in the Stimulus Bill for College Students

2009-02-20T02:16:00.003-05:00

Not Enough

Derrick Goes To Law School: (Part Four) Decision Time

2009-02-16T20:37:00.001-05:00

Download MP3

Are Hugs the New Handshakes?

2009-02-14T23:02:00.002-05:00

Is Dr. Kohrs a trend setter?

Derrick Goes To Law School: (Part Three) The Application Process

2009-02-13T23:20:00.002-05:00

Links we reference:

Recession Hits College Campuses

2009-02-10T19:00:00.004-05:00

Talk of the Nation, February 10, 2009 · For the high school class of 2009 and students trying to complete a degree, the financial calamities of the market have left universities and students scrambling for money. In our occasional series, Your Life on a Recession, we look at how schools are adjusting to financial challenges.

Derrick Goes To Law School: (Part Two) LSAT Prep

2009-02-09T19:46:00.001-05:00

Download MP3

Links and Books we reference

lsac.org

Cracking the LSAT, 2009 Edition (Graduate Test Prep)

Kaplan LSAT 2009 Premier Program (w/ CD-ROM) (Kaplan Lsat (Book & CD-Rom))

PowerScore Full Length LSAT Course

Derrick Goes To Law School: (Part One) Your Undergraduate Years

2009-02-06T22:23:00.006-05:00

Download MP3

Derrick Goes To Law School: The Introduction

2009-02-06T03:21:00.008-05:00

Download MP3

A little tax relief for the college connected

2009-02-05T10:35:00.005-05:00

Here's what "may" come out of Congress in the economic stimulus package for college students and their families. "Parents with children in college — and some adult students — could get expanded tax credits of up to $2,500 to help cover tuition and related expenses in 2009 and 2010. Families making between $160,000 and $180,000 can get reduced credits. Those making more are ineligible."

Cut-rate campus

2009-02-05T10:18:00.003-05:00

The Boston Globe has an interesting article on cut rate private colleges.

It's an interesting play in the looming global economic meltdown.

Harvard receives 29,000 Freshman Applications

2009-01-21T16:25:00.003-05:00

It says so right here in the Boston Globe.

Many will apply, few will be accepted and even

fewer will reach their junior year.

One more reason to transfer in later.

President Barack Obama

2009-01-20T00:00:00.002-05:00

Martin Luther King

2009-01-19T00:00:00.000-05:00

The global downturn has been a brutal awakening for the youngest members of the work force

2009-01-18T16:04:00.004-05:00

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/394910_genyonline07.html

Obama's Lessons for Transfer Students

2009-01-17T16:33:00.004-05:00

His former roommate talks about what he and Obama learned about switching between colleges

The (not so) Secret Reasons for Tuition Hikes

2009-01-17T16:11:00.005-05:00

US News offers this nice report why college costs keep on rising.

Dear President Elect Obama,

Can we please put some of this near the top of the change list!

Also if you didn't read Tom Friedman's piece about taking America Back to School it's worth your time.

If you are not Barack Obama you can still read these.

Thanks Garry

2008-12-07T03:14:00.002-05:00

Your Social Network Can Make You Smile

2008-12-06T17:59:00.006-05:00

Happiness is contagious, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal. James Fowler, political scientist at University of California, San Diego, explains how happiness spreads through social networks and how to make the holidays a little brighter.

http://podcastdownload.npr.org/anon.npr-podcasts/podcast/510221/97894783/npr_97894783.mp3

Asleep at the desk: Undergrad education gets a boost

2008-12-06T17:20:00.003-05:00

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081130-asleep-at-the-desk-undergrad-education-gets-a-boost.html

College May Become Unaffordable for Most in U.S

2008-12-06T16:33:00.004-05:00

So saith the New York Times

New Survey Paints Bleak Picture Of Career Physicians

2008-11-21T00:24:00.002-05:00

Nearly half of the primary care doctors who responded to a Physicians' Foundation Survey said they would quit the business within the next three years if they had something to fall back on.

I can't promise who long the link will last.

I read the news today oh, boy

2008-11-21T00:02:00.012-05:00

I heard it too.

Florida To Raise University Tuition Statewide 15%

Cal State Schools May Slash Enrollment

Economic Crisis Hits Colleges In Pennsylvania

How Will Obama Help College Costs?

Thomas Friedman -- The Daily Show

2008-11-14T00:05:00.003-05:00

Harvard Seeking Spending Cuts Amid Economic Crisis

2008-11-11T01:08:00.009-05:00

Harvard has a 36.9 BILLION dollar endowment.

If they are tightening their belt -- that's a bad economic sign.

And yes, I am just plugging Fringe because it's a geek show that takes place on Harvard's campus.

Seriously, what straight geek boy would not want to date a girl with math hair. Math hair is hot!

Tough Times Strain Colleges Rich and Poor

2008-11-09T22:28:00.000-05:00

So says the New York Times

UF is featured in the New York Times . . .

2008-11-09T16:58:00.002-05:00

for underage drinking.

Go with your strengths, I always say.

Pssst! Wanna Go to College for Free?

2008-11-06T14:04:00.002-05:00

Business Week is jusk kickin' it for me this week.

http://www.businessweek.com/print/investor/content/nov2007/pi20071113_819956.htm

Business Week's Business School Rankings & Profiles

2008-11-05T19:51:00.005-05:00

http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/rankings/

Obama -- The President!!!

2008-11-05T11:15:00.001-05:00

The University of Tampa

2008-10-03T18:02:00.011-04:00

Transferring within Florida

Transferring from outside Florida

www.ut.edu

Degrees at The University of Tampa

Honors Program Information

FJCCSGA District One Retreat Notes

2008-10-03T12:07:00.013-04:00

Commanding Heights

This American Life

The Giant Pool Of Money

Another Freightening Story About The Economy

Fresh Air

The Tyrany of Oil

AP Investigation: Ike Environmental Toll Apparent

Google Search for Cleaner Energy

Net Metering Policies

Go Solar California

Solar, wind industries aided by federal bailout

Bailout Bill Is Rife With Tasty Green Pork

My Own Private Tokyo

2008-10-01T22:29:00.002-04:00

William Gibson. Home at last, in the 21st century.

Banking Majors No More

2008-09-29T15:36:00.004-04:00

Wow! What a bad week to be a finance or banking major.

It is interesting, though, that so many move between finance and IT.

Not Making This Up

2008-09-25T02:21:00.004-04:00

Let them eat cake

Immigrants No Longer See America as the Land of Prosperity

2008-09-24T01:22:00.002-04:00

Story @ The Washington Post

Stanford Teaching MBAs How To Fight Open Source

2008-09-23T02:21:00.005-04:00

WTF ??????

Seriously. I just saw this on Slashdot (link).

Dear Stanford MBA Program,

Please go read/listen to the I, Cringely blog form Sept 22, 2008.

It may keep you from getting fired.

P.S.

Drill. Here. Now. Also, a bad idea.

WTF ??????

College Panel Calls for Less Focus on SATs

2008-09-22T01:04:00.000-04:00

Read it the NYTimes

Summer 2009 Student Internship program at the U.S. Department of State

2008-09-11T14:48:00.008-04:00

I have something of a guest speaker for you today. My friend Hilarion "Lari" Martinez works for the U.S. Department of State is going to tell you about the Summer 2009 Student Internship program at the U.S. Department of State. I have seen Lari speak and I have to tell after about the first third I started thinking about how I could apply. It is an insanely great opportunity.

I would like to tell you about the Summer 2009 Student Internship program at the U.S. Department of State. My name is Lari Martinez and I am the U.S. Department of State Diplomat in Residence hosted jointly by Florida International University and Miami Dade College. I also teach the Diplomacy class at FIU as I am hosted by the Department of International Relations.

What could a student internship mean to you at the U.S. Department of State? It's an opportunity for you to get an inside look at the different types of positions and responsibilities available in foreign affairs. Think of it as taking a career test ride before you actually have to decide what you are going to do with your life. You can also gain valuable work experience that will help you in virtually every endeavor, whether you choose to work in government or in the private sector. Then there's the added benefit of feeling good about knowing you are really doing something worthwhile for your nation.

At the U.S. Department of State, we like to say we're the face of America to the world. As an intern, you will be, too. Some of our students work in Washington, DC, and others have the opportunity to work at an embassy overseas. Positions are both paid and unpaid, and many are available during spring, summer or fall.

For internship program details such as duties of an intern, participating offices and bureaus, types of internships, salary/benefit/housing information, please see www.careers.state.gov.

Eligibility requirements

You must be:

- a U.S. citizen. U.S. citizenship and good academic standing are required, along with the successful completion of a background investigation, and the ability to receive either a Secret or Top Secret clearance (34kb, PDF). Random drug testing will be performed. 

- a Student. A student is an individual who has been accepted for enrollment, or who is enrolled as a degree-seeking student in an accredited college or university

- a full- or part-time continuing college or university junior, or graduate student (including graduating seniors intending to go on to graduate school.) An applicant is considered a junior if he/she will have completed all sophomore credits (60 or more hours or 90 quarter hours) by the time the internship begins will be entering at least the junior year immediately completion of the internship.

IMPORTANT: You are eligible to apply for the Department's internship program if you have not yet completed your registration at a college or university for graduate or post-graduate studies (including law school) or are awaiting an admissions determination for graduate or post-graduate studies (including law school). However, if selected for an internship, you must provide proof that you have registered, or have been accepted for enrollment, for studies in the semester or quarter immediately following the internship before you can begin your internship.

A broad range of academic majors is sought in areas such as Business, Public Administration, Social Work, Economics, Information Management, Journalism and Biological, Physical or Engineering Sciences; intern duties and responsibilities vary according to post or office assignment, from scientific/technical tasks to administrative projects to logistical support.

The deadline for summer 2009 student internships is November 1st.

Please click here (http://careers.state.gov/students/programs.html#SIP) for more information, and to start the online application process.

You may also subscribed to the U.S. Department of State careers website listserve at http://www.careers.state.gov/keep-me-informed.html. You can view or update your subscriptions, password or e-mail address at any time on your own Profile. All you will need are your e-mail address and your password (if you have selected one). You can always use the "Forgot your Password" link on the Login page for help. This service is provided free of charge by the Office of Recruitment at the U.S. Department of State.

(Mr.) Hilarion "Lari" Martinez

U.S. Department of State Careers - Home
Source: www.careers.state.go...
Careers at U.S. Dept of State

Reading

2008-09-08T16:42:00.006-04:00

Listen!

In The Center of The First World

2008-09-03T00:29:00.002-04:00

Plastic Bottles

Imported Water

Cars we drive wherever we want to

Clothes we buy it's sweatshop labor

Drugs from corporate enablers

We're not living the Good life

Unless we're fighting the Good fight

You and Me just trying to get it right

In the center of the first world

8 The Art of Planning A Term

2008-09-02T15:32:00.003-04:00

From what I can tell, most of my students “plan” their course schedule for a semester based solely on two criteria. First, what is being offered that they are willing to take that term, and second, when is it being offered? The second of these criteria often trumps the first because of the “it’s too early in the morning” factor. Now you see why I put the word “plan” in quotes.

I don’t fault them. At a state school, like the one where I teach, education about term planning usually takes the form of a little time management worksheet that breaks down a week into 186 hours and then budgets out time according to what the worksheet has deemed are your priorities. These sheets are always based on a fantasy world and not the real world.

In the real world, everyone multitasks. So these nice little blocks of time are meaningless. In the world of my students, most are working full time, or as close to that as they can get and are also trying to take 12-15 hours of classes a semester. If they have to drop something, that is the cost of doing business.

Private schools, especially liberal arts colleges, often do a much better job of planning a semester. It’s not uncommon at smaller colleges to meet with an academic advisor who is actually familiar with your goals and major and who will help you plan courses for the next semester. Planning the semester in this manner isn’t about budgeting time. It’s about crafting the next phase of your educational development. Remember, just because you don’t go to a school that thinks like this doesn’t mean you can’t.

Planning a Semester without a Day-Timer

Before beginning, I have one little caveat. In creating this little planning scenario, I am not going to worry too much about the differences between quarters and semesters since it works out about the same. To graduate in four years under the quarter system, you are going to take three or four courses each quarter that are worth four or five credits each. To graduate in four years under the semester system, you are going to have to take four or five courses each semester that are worth three or four credits each. There are other combinations available but I am trying to keep it simple.

The first thing you have to decide is how many courses you are going to take. I am assuming that you are going to want to get out in four years (good luck) and so I am planning with that goal in mind.

Follow these directions in your first and second semesters:

Do nothing but knock out exit requirements.

Whether you set it as a formal goal or not, much of your first semester is acclimating to college level work and adjusting to the culture of your college. Like a lot of things in life nothing can really prepare you for college until you are there. Lots of people don’t make it through the first semester. Just look at the parking lots at the beginning of the second semester.

Do not take any electives.

Don’t take anything but general education exit requirements. Odds are you won’t be able to get into anything else anyway. So just accept it. Don’t take any electives yet because you want to do well in all your electives.

Take three classes that you have traditionally done well in.

You are taking mainly classes that are your strengths because they are, or at least should be, more challenging than your high school, but also classes in which you are most assured to succeed. Also, core classes like composition, speech and math are going to be used in everything else. So, if you do well in these first, you stand a better chance in doing well in other classes later

Take one class in your worst subject

Take your worst subject now to get it out of the way. Generally, people avoid things they don’t like and we don’t like not doing well. So when people enter college, too often they avoid their weak subjects. Avoiding your worst subject is like delaying needed maintenance on your car. Both are more expensive in the long run. If you are willing to take summer school classes, another useful strategy is to take your worst subject in the summer. That way you can immerse yourself in the subject and it only lasts a short period of time. The “short period of time” sometimes scares people, but if you can deal with that, it’s a useful and proven method of getting past this obstacle.

Try to Create Synergy in the Term

Pick classes that work well together. If possible, try to work out a schedule that offers some type of synergy. Too often, freshman schedules read like this: Spanish Literature 252, Composition 101, Earth Science 101 and College Algebra 101. My objection to this course schedule is that these classes are four isolated subjects. It turns college into an education factory where on Tues-Thurs from 2-4 you turn the wrench, and Mon-Wed you use the rivet gun. How the wrench turning and rivet gunning contribute to your education is never revealed. “It makes you well rounded” is not an acceptable answer!

So, if possible, don’t do this to yourself. Pick some classes that work together. Until you hit your major it is probably too much to ask to get all four courses to synergize but it’s reasonably simple to get a 2+2 schedule. For example: Composition and Speech plus Meteorology and Physical Science. Another example would be Chemistry and Biology plus Speech and College Algebra. In the second example it’s more 3 + 1 with speech being the odd class out but you still get a good deal of synergy. 2 + 2 is “better” in that it evenly distributes courses more closely geared towards your interests while satisfying the “well rounded” classes that are built into your degree track.

Repurposing and Harvesting Work. When you have classes that are closely linked, you can more easily “repurpose” or “harvest” your work. By repurposing, I mean planning ahead for a piece of work to be used in more than one class. Your term paper in composition becomes a topic in speech. “Harvesting” happens after the fact where, for example, you write a paper in one class and then recycle it in another because you realize you can.

Keep repurposing and harvesting on the down low because some professors are seriously against this idea. See what the school’s policy is and look for anything on a professor’s syllabus. If you are still nervous about repurposing or harvesting something, ask. Some professors don’t care, some do. Let me tell you a little something about professors. When they are working on a paper, they take it to conferences so it can be critiqued and improved. Eventually they publish it. This publication, if possible, is worked into a book. That’s one idea worked into three tenurable items. Talk about repurposing and harvesting!

Try to create synergy from term to term. If you are taking courses that are in a sequence, always take the next course in the sequence in the next term. If you take Composition I (or whatever it’s called at your school) in the fall, take Composition II in the spring. Often people get burnt-out on a subject after they have finished the first part of a sequence—especially if it is something they don’t like. This reaction is understandable, but it is not commendable. You are more apt to do better on the second section if the knowledge you gained in the first is still fresh, even if you feel that you are not solidly grounded in the first part of the sequence. You aren’t going to magically become better at the subject by ignoring it.

This same approach also works for classes that are prerequisites and their corresponding classes. If you can take these classes immediately after one another, do so. The first class not only prepares you for the second but the second reinforces the first. The more we use new language and ideas the more they sink down into the marrow of our bones until they become as familiar to us as our first words.

Courses are Still Taught By People

Remember when I talked about making a better deal with your professor? Hint: it would be in the chapter with the same title as this paragraph. Making a deal is a great way to create and keep synergy in a semester. This is your education, your skill set, your knowledge, your future we are talking about. Do not go gently into the generic matrix a professor has planned for the masses. Request special attention. Students rarely do this and professors will usually oblige. Remember, you are not asking for less work. You are asking for better focused work that meets your specific needs.

Stay With Your Strengths

As I have already explained, I consider education and suffering to be different things. While I have and will continue to preach to you about diversifying your talents and knowledge, I also live in the same real world as you do. There are things each of us will never be competent at. For the sake of your GPA—and your sanity—avoid them. That’s why I stayed with writing as much as possible.

Get It All Done Early

One of my first suggestions in this section was to take your worst subject in the first semester to get it out of the way as soon as possible. I want to end this section by giving you that piece of advice about everything. I hate deadlines. I am afraid I am going to miss them so I always finish early. That way, if something goes wrong I have time to fix it. So, I tried to finish every semester (I always attended schools on the semester system) about a month early. Sometimes there were finals but if all you have to do is study for a final, the final is not that hard.

I am not trying to turn you into a little overachiever like myself. I am trying to save your GPA. If something is due on Tuesday, get it done the Friday before. Do not wait until Monday night. Your printer will fail, the lab will close, or there will be an emergency. Not every time, but sometimes, and one of those sometimes may coincide with your deadline.

10 The Easiest Route to the Most Valuable Degree

2008-09-02T15:06:00.003-04:00

So far I have done my best to put together a rough sketch of the system of higher education. It’s a tricky task. The sketch has to be brief enough that you will read and remember it. But it also has to be detailed enough so that it is worth reading. It has to be applicable to everyone but not bore everyone in the process.

What I have thus far failed to do is outline a real map through college. It’s an impossible task. Super Mario Brothers was a two dimensional platform game; if you did this thing at that time, the result would always be the same. Neither college nor life is like that.

That said, I am going to give you a narrative guide, some thoughts combined with a story, which is my best broad advice on understanding the system of college in the United States of America at the beginning of the 21st century. Put on your explorer’s hat and get your whip, young Indiana Jones, because here we go!

Now you may have known from birth what you wanted your college major to be. More than likely, you’re like most college students. You have at best the vaguest idea of what you might want to major in. I personally changed my intended major once a month for two years. If I could have done it online it would have been once a week.

If you haven’t already started college, and are not hooked into an Ivy League, Big Ten school or private school via scholarships, this is my best advice: Go to a community college. I understand that you may want to “go away” to college. You want to meet new people and have new experiences. You are sick of your family and hometown. I am completely sympathetic to all these and any other feelings of flight you may have. I understand that the last thing you may want to do is to go to that damn community college, a.k.a. 13th grade. But in most cases, it’s really a smart move. Here’s why:

Your first two years of college are spent in general education classes, which are basically advanced reading, writing, math, and sciences along with some electives. Since you will take general education classes wherever you go. Why on earth should you pay a dime more for the exact same classes you could take someplace else for less? After your first two years, apply for acceptance into a well-known program at the school where you really want to go.

Picture this: You went to Big Cool College because it is “the school” to attend in your state. At the end of your second year you apply to and are accepted into your intended major at said school. You go home for summer feeling great.

You are telling all this to a friend at a party, where everyone from your senior class is off doing a little underage drinking—except you, of course. While talking to a friend, you relate the experience of your first two years at college, not to brag, but just to let him know that you were accepted into the major you’ve been talking about since high school. Your friend looks at you a little funny and says “That’s your major? Why didn’t you go to Little Podunk State College? They have the best program in the nation.”

“What?” you offer defensively.

“NO, dude really. Check it out in US News and World Report. I only know because my cousin’s friend’s sister goes there for that.” Reality still ringing in your ears, you sigh and consider doing a little underage drinking yourself.

Stay sober for a moment though because you have just learned a valuable lesson. Not all the programs in any school, even the great schools, are of equal value. Schools can be strong in lots of areas and weak in the one area you are interested in. Big Cool School sounds great and it may be true that all the hip kids go there, but that doesn’t count for much if it doesn’t meet your academic and professional needs.

Unless you know what your major is, how can you decide which school to attend? Ah, yet another great reason to spend two years working on a General Studies A.A. at the community college. Then, once you know your major, pick a school.

Right major, wrong school is what I call a “luxury problem.” It’s like being stuck on the freeway with four flat tires in a new Lexus you just paid for in cash. It’s not a desirable situation, but it’s easily amendable. There are much more serious problems that can befall you even before you pick your major. Scooby-Doo flashback with me back to that summer party:

You’re heading to the keg with a fresh 16 oz. plastic cup in hand when you see your valedictorian hurl all over the lawn, barely missing the prom queen’s shoes. “Poor kid,” a guy who sat behind you in English mourns while edging ahead of you in line. “He just hasn’t been the same since failing out last fall….”

Don’t think I am exaggerating. This flashback is based on multiple true stories. In my sophomore, junior, and senior years of high school I watched the mighty tumble. Bright kids one and all; better academic performers than I could have hoped to have been in high school but they failed at college. Some partied too much. Some skipped class too much. Some had to work a job to afford the school of their choice and some just never made the psycho-social transition to college. They all could have used a little 13th grade, and there’s no shame in that.

What is a shame is what happens to your college transcript if you fail out. Your transcript is your permanent record. Say you do reasonably well the first semester and fail out the second. If you want to transfer any of those credits, you have to transfer all those credits. Trust me, I speak from experience: it’s better to screw up your GPA in high school, like I did, than in college.

Now failing out of college isn’t the end of the world. It certainly isn’t worth drinking yourself sick over, but it’s a real problem and can take some serious time to fix.

Hope you’re not sick of that party yet because we are going back one more time….

You are sipping some slightly warm Bud Lite from your plastic cup, still talking to the guy from your English class and looking for a place to sit. “So what are you doing in the fall? Picked a major?” you ask in idle conversation mode. Without blinking, Mr. I-barely-passed-English-because-I-slacked says, “I’m going to Stanford to major in Computer Science,” and then points out some choice lawn chairs. His reply gives you pause because you’re sure he tried to do his senior research paper on the Sports Illustrated “Swimsuit” issue.

“Really?” you say, taking a big drink.

“Yeah, my parents said if I could get into Stanford they would help me figure out a way to afford it. So I really applied myself for the last two years at Crappy Community College. Got good grades, some letters of recommendation, and come the fall I am bound for the coast.”

“Great for you man,” you say, before finishing your cup of swill. “Think I’m going for another.”

It’s true. I know scores of people who attended a community college and went on to some of the best schools in the United States. It’s more than just a few people who fail out, drop out, and move on from four-year colleges before beginning their junior year. The fates of these people create openings at every school every year. These openings need to be filled. Students transferring from other colleges, including community and junior colleges, fill these openings. You, yes you, could be one these people. Provided that you have the grades and some letters of recommendation, you can transfer to just about any college in the nation. Yes, this includes the Ivy League and Public Ivy schools, which, if you understand what you are getting into, can be very worth your while.

While starting at a community college is admittedly anticlimactic, it can be a safe, smart move. A community college is vastly cheaper than any other alternative. Unlike professors at a university or college, who are all expected to do research and publish scholarly articles, community college faculty only focus on teaching you. The faculty understands that it is their job to get you ready for your upper division classes.

Your first two years are critical. You must make good grades to be accepted into whatever school or program you want to go to. Party too much and slack off, and the school where you really want to go won’t have anything to do with you.

A Few Exceptions To What I Just Said

Before you go and commit to this plan there are a few exceptions: If you want to go to an art school like Ringling, Savannah, or Berkley, you might want to start there as a freshman. At art schools you study Art—not a lot else.

If you have already been accepted at a school that has a highly competitive program that you know you want as your major in your junior year, again, starting as a freshman might be a better bet—more time to network.

If your long-range intent is to get into a primo school like MIT, Duke or Stanford, you may have to take a few credits over. Freshman Calculus at MIT is probably a little more advanced than the class you took at your local community college. But hey, you’re going to MIT! What’s a few extra credits?

13 Plugging and Playing with Information Systems

2008-09-02T14:40:00.004-04:00

One of the great gifts a college campus offers all its students is a plethora of information technologies. In fact you will probably be around more types of information technology during your years in college than at any point in your life. While you are on campus I strongly suggest you make learning all you can about these systems something of a hobby. Your institution will no doubt have some required course called something like Introduction to Computers, but that is not enough. How much is enough?

Let me tell you this little story, every so often a friend of mine brings in the local weather guy from one of the networks to speak in her Introduction to Mass Communications class. One of the main points he tries to make to her students is “learn to learn technology.” He says this because in the fifteen or so years he has been a news weatherman for this station they have changed computer systems five—yes five—times. I am not talking about a change from Windows XP to Windows Vista. I mean whole new systems. If you are saying “but I am not going to be a weather forecaster” you have missed the point of my story.

The point is no matter what your job is it’s going to involve information technologies. The more versed you are in all these systems the more opportunities you create for yourself. Perhaps that is why Indiana State University will be requiring Lenovo ThinkPads for every member of the incoming freshman class of 2007. I think it’s great that IU wants all their students to have a laptop. I think it will be even better if IU has a commitment that every student learn that laptop’s full capabilities and not just use it as an expensive typewriter/entertainment device.

Truth be told, I am not exactly sure how to accomplish this goal, because I am not exactly sure how much knowledge each reader brings to this book. But I can tell you how I learned and continue to learn everything I know about computers. Ready? I asked someone who knew more than me and I listened. That’s it. I didn’t take classes; I didn’t read a lot of thick manuals. I just asked questions of people who knew more than I did.

Now when you are on a college campus you are not only surrounded by what may be the greatest diversity of information systems you may ever encounter but you are also surrounded by people who know how to make this stuff work for you. So why not take advantage of this opportunity for which you or someone is paying large sums of money? Just ask and listen and try for yourself. If you do this long enough this magic moment will happen where suddenly it all makes sense. Maybe you are already there, maybe it will take until the last semester of your senior year, but the point is to spend a few minutes a day every day you are in school getting smarter about this stuff.

Did you notice how I keep calling them information systems? That’s not just me being redundant or overly clever. It’s me being descriptive. The point of learning “computers” is it improves our ability to make meaning. That’s what computers are, they are meaning making tools. Back in the day when Apple introduced the “computer for the rest of us” they meant people who were more interested in making meaning with a computer than typing in odd bits of language to make the computer compute. So if you are thinking, “There’s no way I am going to learn how these things work.” Remember that’s another way of saying I already know all I’ll ever need to know about making meaning. Then flip back a few pages and reread the weather forecaster story.

To that end I am going to give you a starter list of things to do your first semester. Whatever semester you are in you can consider this your first semester. At the end of this section is a list. It’s a list of things I think you should be able to do with a computer by the time you graduate college. Try checking off a few of these every semester.

Buying a new system for school? Get a new Mac.

Whenever I lecture about technology I am always asked by at least one person about what computer they should buy. I sigh inside because I know what’s coming.

I am going to give them good advice that they probably won’t take. Then I tell them I’d buy a Mac. OK, first it is total disclosure time. I have multiple Macs in my house and I own stock in Apple. I also have many pieces of clothing with the Apple logo on it. None of these reasons are why I think you should buy a Mac. I think you should buy a Mac because if you do you will also be able to run Windows and Linux on it.

Can you do that if you buy another company’s computer? Probably not reliably and, for sure, not legally. But if you did buy a Mac that means that you will be able to run any operating system and any program made for that operating system. Most incoming freshmen change their major a number of times. What if you chose a major that prefers one operating system over the other. Business programs are all about Windows, Communication programs often favor OS X, Computer Science majors are expected to know both those and Linux.

Apparently I am not alone in this thinking, Needham and Company (they are an investment firm) surveyed college students about the ability to run Windows applications on a Mac and found the following: “Two important statistics emerged when the Mac could run Windows apps (applications). First, the mean likelihood of purchasing a Mac rose dramatically—from 24.7 per cent to 44 per cent. Second, the percentage of Windows users who would definitely buy a Mac rose from 1.8 per cent to 13.5 per cent.” Pretty impressive.

Of course there are some good reasons not to buy a Mac. Like I said a few pages ago IU wants all their students to run ThinkPads. So if you are going to IU looks like it’s Lenovo for you. IU is not alone in pre-selecting a system for their students. So talk to your school and intended program of study and see what they say. As much as I want you to be able to run every program you possibly can, I also want you to have a reputation as someone who plays well with others.

But if you can pick any system you want and you see the wisdom of being able to run every application, drop by and check out the new Intel based Macs.

Things to Check Off Your First Semester

Take the library tour.

Time for another true story from The Adventures of Dean in Higher Education:

(read as if you were sitting around a campfire.)

It was the second semester of my students’ freshman year at a private liberal arts school. I asked them if they had ever had a tour of the school’s library. I thought it was a rhetorical question … but I was wrong! I’ve taught at Community Colleges where they make a point of making sure that incoming freshman have a library tour. So I took them the next week.

I know that the student union is a more hip place to be than the library, but the library has all the information systems. So in the first few weeks of your first or second semester ask to take the library tour. At some point on most of these tours, quite often it’s the whole tour, the librarian giving the tour will guide you through the use of the school’s databases. When you get to this point here’s a few questions to be sure and ask:

Which databases are connectable via the internet?

How do I log onto these systems?

Are any of these systems designed to interact with any bibliographic software?

The artist Picasso once said that every act of creation was first an act of destruction. The point being that every creative act tears up stuff that has been made and makes something new out if it. That’s why we go to the library to find out what people already know and use that knowledge to help us create new things. The library in that sense is one of the oldest and most powerful information systems. Get to know your library—it’s a wise investment of your time.

Find out your school’s network policies.

O.K. I know this school, I’ll just call it What Were You Thinking Community College that spent a ton to upgrade its email system so that every student could have an account. I know from solid sources some serious change was dropped on this project. But the students aren’t using it. Someone high up decided that since it was the school’s email and the faculty’s email was already a matter of public record the same would be true for students. Well it only took one student to actually read the network policy before word got out. So now the school has this expensive new email system and it’s hardly being used.

So understand your school’s network policy. It’s that document you sign to get your email. It will probably cover things like; Computer and Acceptable Use Policies, Copyrighted media, security, what can get your computer disconnected, etc. While you are learning about this, see what other accounts you can get. Your school may give you remote access to other systems as well as web and or FTP access. All stuff that can be handy if you know how to use it.

Do NOT use Wikipedia as a source.

The founder of Wikipedia is a man named Jimmy Wales. Every day he gets emails from students freaking out because they have received a bad grade—for using information from wikipedia.org. The thought he has when he receives such email is, and I quote: “For God sake, you’re in college; don’t cite the encyclopedia.” Yeah, so stop that. You’ll get a bad grade and we have warned you.

Buy one program other than Microsoft Word.

Would you like an indicator of how with the times your school is? Take a look at their composition classes. All too often Composition II, ENG 102 or something like that is wasted teaching the MLA guidelines for the citation and documentation of the literary research paper. Now keep in mind I was an English major as an undergrad. So for me it did a bit of good. But if you’re not a Literature or Humanities major it’s sort of an empty experience. Now I am not saying that the critical thinking one can gain from literary analysis is a waste. The waste is learning a bunch of MLA citation rules that, most likely, you will never use again. Every area of study uses its own citation method. Even if you do learn MLA they change it every number of years.

If you buy one program besides MS Word your freshman year consider Citation, Endnote or Biblioscape. These are all programs that will manage all your bibliographic information for you. They take a bit to set up and you have to learn to use them, but once you get in the habit they will flawlessly cite your sources. Want to change from one method of citation to another? Click, click. Done. Are any of these programs iPod easy? No. But they just might be the thing for you.

Which one should you buy? I don’t know but the librarians at your school might. It’s a good thing to ask them on that tour I suggested you take. Ask them if the system the library has prefers one flavor of software over another. That would be a defining characteristic in my selecting this type of software.

Get an adult email address.

Yep. I am gonna bring this up again. It is easy but critical. Think about it. I get emails from addresses that may have been cute when the sender was 15, but they will not cut it for your adult professional life or your life in college. Go get an adult email address. The shorter your email address is the better.

Go get it now.

Do I need to remind you that this “adult” thing goes for your cell phone too — especially if you are giving the number out to faculty and staff at the school. You do not want these people calling you and getting a message like “What up Biatch? Leave a message.”

Someone’s watching your MySpace.

It’s true. It’s not just your top eight who are interested in the look of your MySpace/Facebook account. School officials are too. How come? I quote from a USA Today piece from 3.08.06. “Students post pictures of themselves holding cans of beer and bottles of liquor—even when they’re underage. They pose suggestively wearing little—sometimes no—clothing. Some appear to be smoking marijuana in bongs or joints, even holding firearms. They openly write nasty comments about each other or their teachers and coaches online.”

Ever hear about those kids who steal a video camera and then tape themselves committing other crimes. Eventually they get busted and the cops find the tape. That’s MySpace for some people. Oh, and it’s not just schools, I quote now from the New York Daily News 3.19.06:

Just ask 27-year-old Colleen Kluttz. Type the freelance television producer’s name into Google and the second item that comes up is her popular MySpace profile. This online social network has become an outpost for photographic and written self-expression, but it’s not always an asset in landing a job. “A friend of mine posted a picture of me on MySpace with my eyes half closed and a caption that suggests I’ve smoked something illegal,” says Kluttz. She is also pretty sure this post has cost her a few jobs.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not trashing MySpace or Facebook. In fact, I am on MySpace—myspace.com/hackingcollege. I use it to keep you—my readers—up to date on higher education trends. Go check it out. You should probably make your space look nice and safe like mine. The whole point of the web was to make that page you’re on accessible to billions of people. So don’t put anything there you don’t want recorded for all digital time. About now some of you are wishing you’d kept your shirt on for that photo huh? Remember, you are presenting yourself to the public not just your top eight.

Start learning the language.

One of the things that makes computers difficult for people is the language. You know all those tech words: http, usb, stmp, oss, j2e, G4. A conversation is not a lot of fun when you can’t understand a third of what is being said. So learn the language. There are a couple of ways to do this. First, like I said before, start asking people who know a little more than you to explain some of these things to you. Second, start reading up on technology a little. These three sites www.wired.com, www.slashdot.org and www.digg.com all cover technology trends and will help you begin to understand the conversation.

Let me give you a little life skills tip here. This is true with every academic subject. Once you understand the language you are half way to understanding the subject. These subjects are all what some people call discourse communities. That’s any group of people who have been having a long-term discussion and use insider language. Your family is a discourse community. Once you understand the terms being used you are halfway to understanding the conversation. So the next time you are sitting in a class that has nothing to do with your major know that you are there to learn to move between discourse communities.

Be like Santa! Make a list and check it twice.

First find out how many computer labs you have access to on campus. Then, visit each one, either in person or on the web, and find out what applications are installed on the systems in each lab. Once you know what’s on every system, make a list in order from those you most want to learn to those you least need to learn. Once you have this list just go to Google and put in the applications name followed by “tutorial.” Surf the results and bookmark the ones you like best. Now you are all set up to start learning how all these things work. You don’t have to do this all at once. Just try and spend at least an hour a week learning something. If you do this you will thank me at the end of the year.

The list at the end of the section

So here is the list of things I think you should know by the time you graduate. You should know how to do these things using either Windows Vista. OS X, or Linux. Which means you should know the basics of each operating system.

Install and uninstall programs

Burn a CD/DVD

Some basic Photoshop or GIMP

Make a presentation in Powerpoint/Keynote

Connect your laptop wirelessly to a network

Hook up a simple network

Hook up a printer

Connect your cell phone to your computer via Bluetooth

Make a simple webpage—your MySpace page does not count

Scan a document

Fax a document

Attach a file or files to an email

How to backup your system

15 Welcome to College: Now, Start Saving for Retirement

2008-09-02T14:28:00.005-04:00

Americans are horrible at saving. We are the worst savers in the world or at least the industrialized world. On average, Americans save something like four percent of their income. Four percent. The Japanese save something like sixteen percent. As a rule Americans also buy more stuff on credit than people in other nations, mainly because we have no savings. So we don’t save and then we spend more money than we have on things we often don’t need. This is not a recipe for success in the 21st century.

As you know the democratization of finance has made you more responsible for your financial well being than the average person in the 20th century ever was. In the 20th century it was common for someone to have one job his or her entire life. One employer and one pension managed by that employer makes things pretty simple. But as you know, that probably won’t be the case for you. Now, if you are fortunate you may only have employers who allow you to move your retirement plan with you. That would be nice but it still won’t be enough. If you want to live well or decently in your twilight years you are going to have to start saving.

How much should you save? I have a simple rule for this that will make saving very easy. You should save as much as humanly possible. If you really want to gain wealth as you progress through life (and why wouldn’t you?), you need to pay off all your debt and save as much as possible. Remember in grade school when they went on about Benjamin Franklin and “a penny saved is a penny earned?” This adage by the roguish founding father has endured even globalization. Let me add to it though. It’s my node for immortality: a penny saved for retirement should be placed in a Roth IRA. What d’ya think?

Franklin: A penny saved is a penny earned.

Kohrs: A penny saved for retirement should be placed in a Roth IRA.

They both have a certain ring, don’t you think? But most of you are probably more familiar with a penny than an IRA. So, it’s explanation time again.

Individual Retirement Accounts. As part of the democratization of finance, in 1974 the United States Congress created the Individual Retirement Account (IRA) for the purpose of allowing persons without a pension plan at work to save up to $2,000 a year and get a tax deduction for doing so. IRAs are available to everyone now. All investment earnings go untaxed until withdrawn in retirement. The money in an IRA can collect simple interest or can be invested in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc., and the earnings grow tax-free until the account’s owner turns 591/2 years old. This means you can buy, sell and hold all sorts of investments in the account until you withdraw the funds.

Any money withdrawn before you are 59 1/2 will cost you a 10% penalty. Take out a dollar and it costs you a dime. You must begin to make withdrawals from the account no later than the April 1 following the year you turn 70 1/2. Any money you take out of your IRA at any time will be fully taxed.

The IRA was a pretty good deal but in the late 1990s an even better deal came along. In 1997 Congress passed the Taxpayer Relief Act and simultaneously created Roth IRA. It’s named after Senator William V. Roth by the way.

A Roth IRA allows investors to contribute a limited amount of money toward retirement annually. Unlike an IRA, the contributions you make to your Roth retirement account are not tax deductible. That’s kind of a drag but there are some big upsides. First, all your earnings are tax-free after five years, and your principal becomes tax-free at 591/2. Second, you can withdraw your initial investment at any time without penalty. Third, there is no set age when you have to begin withdrawing funds. However, the account must be liquidated on your death.

Another difference between the two is that Traditional IRAs require holders to withdraw money at 701/2 (but can begin taking money as early as 591/2). A Roth has no such mandatory withdrawal age, which is good because if our understanding of medicine keeps improving, and I think it will, you are going to live WAY past 70. So start saving.

Why you should start developing the saving habit now

I know some of you have enough trouble getting through school, and the thought of saving extra money is ridiculous. For some of you it’s not even an option. I accept this. I am not happy about it, but I know it to be true. Even so, I implore you to get in the habit of saving now. Habits take a while to get engrained in us, but once they are they operate almost remiss of conscious thought. This is as true of our bad habits as it is our good.

When I was in college I had this little game I played called “my thousands.” Whenever I had any left over money from the beginning of a semester I put it in the bank. To that I added what little I could when I could, $15 here, $25 there, and eventually it would get to over $600. When it did I got a little more focused on my saving. If I saw some clothes I wanted or thought about going out to eat, “just because,” I would take that money and place it towards my goal of $1,000.

Once I had met the goal, that thousand became untouchable except in case of a real emergency. You know how it is, once you break a big bill it’s just a matter of time before it is all gone. That same principle is true with $1,000. When I graduated college I had somewhere close to an extra $6,000 in the bank that I had saved over the years. Not bad for a kid who didn’t have a steady job.

The thousands was a game of my own invention. I am not even sure how I started playing it. I just did. You could play the game with whatever rules or title you want, the point is to get into the habit. Let me tell you a little story about a friend who didn’t.

My friend Stinky (not his real name) was making serious money during the dot com boom but, almost like clock work, Stinky would ask me for a loan, which, because I knew he was good for it, I would give him, occasionally with a little sigh or lecture about savings. “I’m just not good with money like you,” Stinky would say.

The difference between Stinky and me, who made less money, was that I lived beneath my means and Stinky lived above his. People do this all the time. So the time to get in the habit of saving money is before you have any. It’s just as easy to go through $10,000 dollars as it is $10. So learn now while you don’t have as much to risk.

One More Thing, Learn More about Investing

Did you notice when we were talking about IRAs that you could invest them in stocks, bonds and mutual funds? Any real idea what a stock, bond or mutual fund is? If you are like most people you don’t. There’s no shame in that. It’s not really taught, at least well, in most public high schools in America, and unless you seek this education out in college, you don’t get it there either.

Many of the people who were in my doctoral program had no idea what these things were. Statistically if you are a Ph.D., you are in the top 1% of educated people in the nation; the top 1% and not even a basic understanding of finance. Kind of sad, huh?

You are going to have to learn the basics about stocks, bonds and mutual funds, because you are probably going to own some. Maybe through an IRA, a 401K, or the retirement plan established by your employer, but you are going to own them. Consequently, you will be better off if you understand what it is you own and how it is best managed.

Two Classes Every College Student Should Take

The plugging and playing with finance and our free agent status means that we should all take two classes. These classes will not be in most of our degree plans, but here’s my logic.

Business. Whether your major is Fine Arts, Biology, or Religious Studies you are going to be involved in business. Many people have a disdain for business because it seems seedy to them. I know this was true for me when I was an undergrad. But to one degree or another we are going to be involved in business. By “one degree or another,” I mean we will own one or work for one or both. There aren’t a lot of other options.

So spend an elective credit and learn a little about business because you will be involved in it most of your life.

Personal Financial Planning. This is the class that will explain to you about stocks, bonds and mutual funds—plus a whole lot more. Just like you will be involved in business, you are going to be doing a lot of personal financial planning so if need be, spend another elective credit and take the class.

If you can’t take these classes become a regular reader of The Wall Street Journal. If your college doesn’t offer a class like Personal Financial Planning, read The Wall Street Journal. Someone once told me that if a person were to read the New York Times cover to cover every day for two years (that would be a feat in itself) that you would have the rough equivalent of a college education. I could never figure out where you get your math or foreign languages but I understand they meant the New York Times was a great source of education.

I am not suggesting that you read The Wall Street Journal cover to cover every day. I just suggest that you start reading it. Read the section that most interests you or is related to your major. The more you read it the more you will understand. The more you understand, the more the other sections will become interesting to you. If you got into the habit of reading The Wall Street Journal a little bit every week, by the time you graduated college, you would have a fairly sophisticated understanding of how business and finance work.

New Edition Reloaded

2008-09-02T00:16:00.002-04:00

The Hacking College Crew has just finished re-re-re-editing the new edition. Dyslexia makes me laborious to edit. But it's all done now. So in the next few days it is all going up -- in reverse order. The last chapter will be first and the first last. Blogger likes to order things this way so I am just making it convenient for future users. There are some "new new" sections as well long time readers may want to find. So, the last thing that will be posted is the new table of contents. Hundreds of more pages will come before, but they will all be there under the "new edition" link .

Got a Student Loan?

2008-08-25T15:25:00.002-04:00

You Should Probably Read this NYT's article .

Florida Matters “Brain Drain”

2008-08-22T15:28:00.002-04:00

Go to a State University in Florida You should listen to this.

Welcome, Freshmen. Have an iPod. (NYT)

2008-08-22T14:46:00.003-04:00

The New York Times reports on the perils and possibilities of students being -- given -- iPods.

The Price Of College

2008-08-21T19:22:00.005-04:00

I spent the better part of an hour today listening to this Talk of the Nation show entitled The Price of College. Good stuff. Listen here.

The SallieMae planner talked about is here

Here is the SallieMae/Gallup study How America Pays for College (PDF)

Also

The Rockin' Dr. Barbra Nightingal passed this link via facebook about how the Costs Of College Can Be Eased With A Little Work

Two Articles on Ivy's

2008-08-19T12:42:00.003-04:00

1) Ivy Retardation

2) What They Teach you at Harvard Business School

Grateful Dead Live at The Palace on 1993-06-08 (June 8, 1993)

2008-08-16T17:12:00.002-04:00

KQED's Forum spends a half hour on student loans

2008-08-14T17:31:00.005-04:00

Give it a listen

• Mark Kantrowitz, publisher for FinAid.org, a free website for students seeking financial aid information, advice and tools (first half hour)

• Nancy Coolidge , coordinator for federal and state programs, student financial support - office of the president, University of CA
• Robert Shireman, president of the Institute for College Access and Success (first half hour)

Student aid requests soar as economy plummets

2008-08-11T14:37:00.001-04:00

Record numbers of college students are lining up for financial aid - and asking for more of it - as the nation's economic woes hit campuses across the country.

Nationally, 8.9 million students filed federal student aid forms during the first half of 2008, a 16.3 percent increase over the same period. Read On . . .

A Half Dozen Things About Transferring I Can’t Believe People Don’t Know

2008-08-10T00:28:00.005-04:00

You may have heard me confess in the past and perhaps will again in the future that I made all manner of mistakes as a college student. I choose the wrong school for a classic reason -- my friends were going there. I’ve opted out of opportunities because of lack of information or because I copped an attitude about it. Oh and I love telling the story of how I graduated with a great GPA but no real job skills. Yeah, that was “good times.”

So, I have made mistakes but I was always pretty good at transferring or at least getting accepted. I’m not saying I was accepted at every school I ever applied, but I for sure batted above 750. As a result there is no real mention of the transfer process in the book. But over the last few years I have helped and observed quite a number of bright successful students transfer. Some of them have employed some shockingly poor strategies. So as a first step to offering a more thorough understanding of the transfer process I offer you these five items I consider blisteringly obvious but apparently not to everyone.

1. You Must Explore Your Options

I gotta tell you if there is one thing that frustrates me it’s people who just pick a school-- one school--and that’s their choice. It’s a choice made not by research and exploration. It’s made because friends or family have attended there or at some point they got it in their head they had to go there. So explore your options. Remember you are not picking a school you are picking a program of study at the school. More importantly you are looking for how you would fit with that program of study and where that program of study can take you. Pick your major and then try and find five --yes five-- schools that have programs you are a good fit with, then and only then begin looking at the financial aid options and which ones work best for you. If possible go spend a day at each school. You might be surprised at what find. I think many of you will find that your personal ranking order may change after these visits.

2. You Must Have a Plan B and C and D and E

Somewhere between one and four of these five schools should be your safety school -- a school you are uber-confident you are going to get accepted and that you will be able to afford. I have seen far too many excellent students with phenomenal grades and all the sorts of extra curricula honors and activities you could imagine turned away from their first and only choice. The thing that shocked me about these students -- many of whom are far more gifted then me--was that they had no plan B.

Let me share a little true story about my transfer from community college to where I would eventually earn my undergraduate degree. I was accepted at my first choice and was there for about two weeks until I came to the conclusion that I hated my first choice. It wasn’t home sickness; it wasn’t fear of change; I hated the place. So I bailed. On the drive back home across the state I stopped at my second choice. Classes were about to start, but since I had all my paper work in and didn’t need a place on campus they graciously accepted me. We just hadn’t worked out the financial aid package. Since I was the last lid in the door they wanted me to pay--a lot. I loved this place, I just couldn’t afford it. So, a semester later, I ended up at the school from which I would receive my B.A. Ironically, it was the school I liked best. This story is the reason is why I say I only bat 750.

Stuff happens. Things sometimes are not what they seem. It’s best to have options. So create options for yourself. It’s extra work but it can be worth it.

Take Excellent Care of Your Admissions Advisors

Admissions advisors are rare and wonderful people. Seriously, it takes a certain type of person to compassionately deal with accepting and rejecting hundreds of people. But that’s the point. They deal with hundreds and hundreds of people. You want to stand out from masses in a positive way. Here are some tips to that end.

Submit an application and pay the application fees before you start asking things of them. Guess whose salary that fee helps pay? To clarify, if you have a few general questions about a program, the school or the application, by all means call admissions. But once you start wanting things like a meeting, a campus tour, a financial aid review those are all things that are tied to the application and expenses covered by the application fee.

Don’t treat the admissions people like your personal servant. Another way of saying this is do your homework before you contact admissions. The most common questions advisors get are on the website. Exhaust the website before you take their valuable time. They will help you. They will always help you. But it you are not self-reliant and give the impression that you are lazy or needy that too will be noticed. A way you can telegraph a positive message is to tell them how you sought out an answer yourself. “I looked in the catalog and searched the website, but couldn’t find it.”

Let them know you appreciate them. I am not saying suck up. I am saying show them the respect they deserve. Just remember they are helping you obtain a goal that means a lot to you.

4 You Have To Play By The School’s Rules Not Yours

You know the saying “denial is not just a river in Egypt.” That would be another good title for this point. Schools are pretty upfront about what grades you need to be accepted and what sort of financial aid package you can expect. Oh they may be able to help find a little more money for you or finesse a few extra credits but there is not a lot admissions people keep from you. They want you to come. They want you to be successful. So they have no real interest in hiding things from you. It would just make their job harder.

That said I have personally seen and heard from admissions people that some applicants pay no attention to this information. If your grades are drastically below the schools expected GPA you are not going to get accepted. If you get into the school but don’t meet the criteria for their financial aid packages do not expect them to give you money. I have received multiple panicked emails from people shocked to find out that one of these realities is affecting their plan. Each person I had warned that they were off on their own agenda, and their plan was not a good one. Oh and every one of these people had no plan B.

An admissions person can usually ask you about five maybe ten questions and tell you the likelihood of being accepted and what sort of financial aid package you will most likely receive. It’s not an exact answer but it’s close. You may do a little better; you may do a little worse but don’t expect any dramatic changes. Have a plan B.

5. You Can’t Be Lazy And Or Procrastinate

You are competing for a space in a school. Say you have a 4.0, a letter of recommendation from the President of the United States and an A list celebrity, and you have some scholarship that gives you a free ride. You are still competing for a seat. If you wait too long someone might take it. If there is not a seat there is not a seat. I know my example is over the top but I have seen time and again top tier students not get accepted at the school of their choice because they waited too long.

Say you don’t have a 4.0 and a free ride -- does that sound a bit more like you? Good. All the more reason to apply early. Schools have a pool of financial aid money for new students every year. But every time they award a student money that pool gets smaller. So be early. Be as early as possible. To receive your full financial aid package you will need your FAFSA results sent to the school. That means you should get your FAFSA filed ASAP. To fill out your FAFSA you will need your, and perhaps your parents, tax information. So fill out your tax return ASAP. I agree this is a bit of work which is all the more reason you need to start early. This is your future we are talking about you should be -- you must be willing-- to work for it.

6. You Are The Shepherd Of Your Paperwork

I’ll be the first to admit that there is a lot of paperwork involved in the transfer process, and you, yes you, are responsible for getting it from one place to another. That includes, but is not limited to; your transcripts, your financial aid information, your application and supporting materials. It is your job to ensure that all of these documents get from where ever they are to where they need to be -- hopefully long before they need to be there. If you get your FAFSA in early that should take care of itself. If you can send your application and supporting materials certified do so, if not I would send them by some means that is traceable. The US mail, Fed Ex and UPS all offers these services I don’t care who you go with but make sure you send it by a means that is traceable.

I feel the need to say a few special words about transcripts. First if you can electronically transfer your transcript - do it. It is the surest way possible that it will get there and get there at the speed of light (it moves through the net). If you can not electronically transfer your transcripts do the following. If at all possible ask to pick them up from your school. Do Not Open Them. Opening them is bad. It’s “crossing the streams” in Ghost Busters bad. Take the sealed envelope and place it in a new envelope. Send that sealed envelope by USPS, FedEx or UPS but make sure you can track it. When the tracker says it has arrived (you can monitor that on the web) call the school.

Oh One More Thing . . .

OK I know this takes me over five but it’s a thing you need to know--practice paranoia. Go read it.

Loan Crisis Hits College

2008-08-09T00:03:00.002-04:00

All Things Considered, August 8, 2008 · The credit crunch has dried up the market for private loans. Students at selective schools are finding they can still get enough money to attend schools, but low-income students at lesser-known schools are having a harder time. Listen

Starwatching

2008-08-03T02:40:00.003-04:00

I read the news today

2008-07-25T12:42:00.002-04:00

Namaste Randy Pausch, Namaste

My Hobby

2008-07-18T14:09:00.003-04:00

10 of the Greenest Colleges in America

2008-07-11T00:16:00.002-04:00

Cool list from The Daily Green

July 1 Brings Record-Setting Drop in Student Loan Interest Rates

2008-07-03T22:48:00.003-04:00

MSNBC has the story here

Talk to the financial aid peeps at your school about the specifics as they apply to you.

Modern Man

2008-07-03T02:03:00.001-04:00

Revenge of the Nerdette

2008-06-22T18:26:00.008-04:00

Newsweek offers: "As geeks become chic in all levels of society, an unlikely subset is starting to roar. Meet the Nerd Girls: they're smart, they're techie and they're hot."

Unlikely? Not from where I sit.

New New SAT -- Still Sucks

2008-06-18T01:42:00.007-04:00

I report you decide! OK I have said it before and I'll say it again.

A standardized test can only predict how you will do on a standardized test.

When they add a competitive "go to class or get hooched with a hottie" MMOPRG section let me know. 'cause that will be a better predictor. I have seen the SAT/GPA mighty fall again and again. Year after year since I started high school. I have seen them fall.

I have also seen the slackers rise as the might fall. Year after year. Like a clockwork orange.

A Vision of Students

2008-06-17T13:04:00.004-04:00

------------------- Some Feedback Via MySpace ------------------

1. Wow. Can I be completely honest? Whenever I think about going back to school, the **** I have to deal with makes me feel a bit nausious. This country's view of education has nothing at all to do with true education so it becomes not a question to me as to whether or not I want to further my education, but a question of, do I want to jump through all these ******* hoops to get a piece of paper that says Im smart even though it really doesnt make me more educated in reality

2. Interesting post. I found the last three non-fiction books that I listened to in my car to be more enriching than my last three years of formal education.

3.Since I have finished school i have come to know this:

The one thing I was never taught, was how to learn. Such a powerful thing ... overlooked.

Whose Job Is It?

2008-06-17T00:20:00.002-04:00

Inside Higher Ed offers: Community college leaders in Florida say they’re filling the need for bachelor’s degree production in the state. But why aren’t universities doing that job? Read on McDuff!

Oh and a side note to Inside Higher Ed. Maybe the Universities haven't been doing so hot a job. Just a thought.

Tim Russert

2008-06-14T05:07:00.005-04:00

Standing On The Moon (7-23-90)

2008-06-14T03:08:00.001-04:00

Plugging and Playing with Information Systems

2008-06-13T13:08:00.005-04:00

Picture this: You are sitting in the audience and I am lecturing. Oh, by the way, you have been having a great time and you think I am really funny. You are wondering why no one ever told you all this before and suddenly I say; “Let’s play a game. Count how many computers you have in your house.” I pause and take a few steps in your direction. “How many have one or more?” Nearly every hand in the room goes up. You become curious how the people without computers pirate their MP3s. “Two or more?” About half the room has two or more. A beat later you find that a third has three or more. By the time I hit five this young woman is explaining how her family has a business they run out of the house so they have to have all those systems.

I am about to make my point but you interrupt. “How do you define a computer?” I smile a smile that says—you are so smart. I wag a finger at you and go on. “Did you count your iPod? Cellphone? How about your clock radio, stereo, refrigerator, microwave, and dishwasher? If it’s got a chip it’s a computer, and pretty soon all these devices will start ‘talking’ with each other. ”

The point of this game? To show how ever present computing has become. Remember the globalization trifecta is information, technology and finance. I’ve spent a large section of this book talking about finance, so this section is all about information and information technologies.

Buying a new system for school? Get a new Mac.

Whenever I lecture about technology I am always asked by at least one person about what computer they should buy. I sigh inside because I know what’s coming.

Of course there are some good reasons not to buy a Mac. Like I said a few pages ago IU wants all their students to run ThinkPads. So if you are going to IU in 2007 looks like it’s Lenovo for you. IU is not alone in pre-selecting a system for their students. So talk to your school and intended program of study and see what they say. As much as I want you to be able to run every program you possibly can, I also want you to have a reputation as someone who plays well with others.

But if you can pick any system you want and you see the wisdom of being able to run every application, drop by and check out the new Intel based Macs.

Things To Check Off Your First Semester

Take the library tour. Another true story from the adventures of Dean in higher education. So it’s the second semester of my students freshman year at a private liberal arts school. I asked them if they had ever had a tour of the school’s library. I thought it was a rhetorical question, but I was wrong. I’ve taught at Community Colleges where they make a point of making sure that incoming freshman have a library tour. So I took them the next week.

I know that the student union is a more hip place to be than the library, but the library has all the information systems. So in the first few weeks of your first or next semester ask to take the library tour. At some point on most of these tours, quite often it’s the whole tour, the librarian giving the tour will guide you through the use of the school’s databases. When you get to this point here’s a few questions to be sure and ask:

Which databases are connectable via the internet?

How do I log onto these systems?

Are any of these systems designed to interact with any bibliographic software?

Find out your school’s network policies. O.K. I know this school, I’ll just call it What Were You Thinking Community College, that spent a ton to upgrade its email system so that every student could have an account. I know from solid sources some serious change was dropped on this project. But the students aren’t using it. Someone high up decided that since it was the school’s email and the faculty’s email was already a matter of public record the same would be true for students. Well it only took one student to actually read the network policy before word got out. So now the school has this expensive new email system and it’s hardly being used.

Do not use freakin’ Wikipedia as a source. The founder of Wikipedia is a man named Jimmy Wales. Every day he gets emails from students freaking out because they have received a bad grade—for using information from wikipedia.org. The thought he has when he receives such email is, and I quote: “For God sake, you’re in college; don’t cite the encyclopedia.” Yeah, so stop that. You’ll get a bad grade and we have warned you.

Buy one program other than Microsoft Word. Would you like an indicator of how with the times your school is? Take a look at their composition classes. All too often Composition II, ENG 102 or something like that is wasted teaching the MLA guidelines for the citation and documentation of the literary research paper. Now keep in mind I was an English major as an undergrad. So for me it did a bit of good. But if you’re not a Literature or Humanities major it’s sort of an empty experience. Now I am not saying that the critical thinking one can gain from literary analysis is a waste. The waste is learning a bunch of MLA citation rules that, most likely, you will never use again. Every area of study uses its own citation method. Even if you do learn MLA they change it every number of years.

So if you buy one program besides MS Word your freshman year consider Citation, Endnote or Biblioscape. These are all programs that will manage all your bibliographic information for you. They take a bit to set up and you have to learn to use them, but once you get in the habit they will flawlessly cite your sources. Want to change from one method of citation to another? Click, click. Done. Are any of these programs iPod easy. No. But they just might be the thing for you.

Get an adult email address. This one is easy but critical. Some of you still have email addresses from when you were ten. Consequently, I get emails from smellmyarmpit@grossout.com or jillybee15@something.com. These addresses may have been cute when you first got them, but they will not cut it for your adult professional life or your life in college. Does your professor really want to get an email from thugforlife@gangstakilla.com. No. So, go get an adult email address like dkohrs@hackingcollege.com, deankohrs@hackingcollege.com or drdeankohrs@hackingcollege.com. (None of these are real.) Go get it now.

The shorter your email address is the better. So if you have a common name try taking out letters rather than putting them in. So John Smith might try jsmth@something.com. If your name is really common, add a middle initial or two. Some people add dates, but that is so last century. I really don’t care what email host you use but I do suggest you get a Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail account. Why? Because when you tell people your email is yournamehere@gmail.com it’s easy for people to remember and where you have web access you have access to your email.

Oh, this goes for your cell phone message too—especially if you are giving the number out to faculty and staff at the school. You do not want these people calling you and getting a message like “What up Biatch? Leave a message.”

Someone’s watching your MySpace. It’s true. It’s not just your top eight who are interested in the look of your MySpace/Facebook account. School officials are too. How come? I quote from a USA Today piece from 3.08.06. “Students post pictures of themselves holding cans of beer and bottles of liquor—even when they’re underage. They pose suggestively wearing little—sometimes no—clothing. Some appear to be smoking marijuana in bongs or joints, even holding firearms. They openly write nasty comments about each other or their teachers and coaches online.”

Start learning the language. One of the things that makes computers difficult for people is the language. You know all those tech words: http, usb, stmp, oss, j2e, G4. A conversation is not a lot of fun when you can’t understand a third of what is being said. So learn the language. There are a couple of ways to do this. First, like I said before, start asking people who know a little more than you to explain some of these things to you. Second, start reading up on technology a little. These three sites www.wired.com, www.slashdot.org and www.digg.com all cover technology trends and will help you begin to understand the conversation.

Be like Santa! Make a list and check it twice. First find out how many computer labs you have access to on campus. Then, visit each one, either in person or on the web, and find out what applications are installed on the systems in each lab. Once you know what’s on every system, make a list in order from those you most want to learn to those you least need to learn. Once you have this list just go to Google and put in the applications name followed by “tutorial.” Surf the results and bookmark the ones you like best. Now you are all set up to start learning how all these things work. You don’t have to do this all at once. Just try and spend at least an hour a week learning something. If you do this you will thank me at the end of the year.

The list at the end of the section

Install and uninstall programs

Burn a CD/DVD

Some basic Photoshop or GIMP

Make a presentation in Powerpoint/Keynote

Connect your laptop wirelessly to a network

Hook up a simple network

Hook up a printer

Connect your cell phone to your computer via Bluetooth

Make a simple webpage—your MySpace page does not count

Scan a document

Fax a document

Attach a file or files to an email

How to backup your system

Cultural training for nurses

2008-06-04T20:40:00.003-04:00

I have talked for years about the need for students to become culturally aware if they wish to succeed in the global economy. I often wonder why more people are not pointing out the pragmatics of this skill set.

But today I have great example for you. I quote my peeps at MarketPlace: "7 of the 10 fastest-growing jobs are in health care, but as demographics change, doctors and nurses will need new cultural skills to go along with their medical training. Alyssa Wagner has the story." What are you waiting for? Go listen to the story.

Rupert Murdoch, Obama, Education

2008-05-29T14:22:00.002-04:00

I report you decide

Barack Obama at Wesleyan Commencement Ceremony

2008-05-26T04:04:00.000-04:00

You Get The America You Deserve

2008-05-26T03:10:00.004-04:00

I sift through a lot of data every day. Some days I get nothing, somedays I get gold.

Today was an interesting day. Two very telling polls from Rasmussen. Two polls same day.

Poll # 1 finds American's College Choices Limited Despite Early Savings

Ouch! Kinda shocking. Until you look at poll #2

Poll # 2 finds 62% of Voters Prefer Fewer Government Services with Lower Taxes

Ah America, creating poverty via lower taxes. That's the ticket!

FIU may cut jobs, degrees

2008-05-23T13:56:00.006-04:00

The state's economic downturn has forced FIU to consider eliminating degree programs and more than 250 jobs. (More)

All You Need

2008-05-22T03:34:00.002-04:00

The Potter boy just reminded me of that

I believe . . .

2008-05-22T01:30:00.007-04:00

Transferring to Florida Institute of Technology

2008-05-18T22:49:00.006-04:00

Visit the Transfer Student Website

http://www.fit.edu/ugrad/adminfo/transferreq.htm

Refer to “Courses that Count” pages for each major

http://www.fit.edu/ugrad/adminfo/CoursesthatCount.htm

Participate in the Florida Tech Connection Program

http://www.fit.edu/ugrad/adminfo/transferreq.htm

Enroll in the Fast Track Masters Program

http://www.fit.edu/ugrad/documents/FastTrackMasters_Current.pdf

Visit campus!

http://www.fit.edu/ugrad/visit/index.htm

Transferring to St Leo

2008-05-18T22:37:00.005-04:00

Download MP3

Bumper music

Transferring to University of Miami

2008-05-18T22:26:00.007-04:00

Download MP3

Bumper Music

Transferring To Stetson

2008-05-18T22:04:00.005-04:00

Download MP3

Bumper Music

College degree an overrated product

2008-05-12T15:10:00.003-04:00

This is Marty Nemko. He thinks college isn't always a wise choice for everyone. I agree.

You can read his argument here.

. . . Her Name Was Truth, She Was A Horrible Liar

2008-05-04T02:20:00.003-04:00

I Love Bruce Sterling

2008-04-28T02:03:00.000-04:00

Bruce Sterling from Innovationsforum on Vimeo.

YouTube University gets failing grade from prof, students

2008-04-26T14:49:00.003-04:00

Guess what? Class online, it's not the same.

The NYT on The (Yes) Low Cost of Higher Ed

2008-04-20T22:48:00.002-04:00

Read the story.

Florida higher ed's school of hard knocks

2008-04-20T17:13:00.003-04:00

Diane Roberts holds two degrees from Florida State University and a Ph.D. from Oxford University. She is professor of literature and creative writing at FSU. She also wrote a nice article for the St. Petersburg Times about the politics of Higher Education in Florida. You'll be shocked at who gets to make choices about your future. You can r ead it here.

Bill Spiers, director of Financial Aid at TTC Discusses Student Loan Woes

2008-04-20T17:03:00.002-04:00

If you have a student loan give it a listen.

It's like "College Week" on MarketPlace

2008-04-17T21:56:00.004-04:00

It's time to study the value of college

College education costs continue to soar at the same time studies show college graduates getting paid less. Commentator David Frum says Americans should re-examine the real value of a college degree in today's economy.

Textbook costs getting hard to cover

A growing chunk of college costs is the price of textbooks, on which the typical undergraduate spends $900 a year. So a group of college professors is calling for low-priced and free texts online. Congress is getting involved, too.

In digging these up I also found for you this story about consolidating student loans. It's from March, but still good.

Student Loans Are Getting Harder To Obtain

2008-04-17T21:35:00.004-04:00

MarketPlace just did a great piece on the state of the student loan industry. Here's the blurb: Bank of America and a unit of Citigroup have joined a growing list of lenders cutting back on student loan programs. At the same time, the House passed an emergency bill that would enable lenders to have more cash to keep making loans. John Dimsdale reports.

This morning, long before I was awake, MarketPlace did a piece on what congress is doing to stabilize and expand federally guaranteed student loans.

The Houston Chronicle has an excellent Q&A on what you need to know about the state of the student loan industry.

Lost Generation?

2008-04-13T23:33:00.004-04:00

Yes We Can !