Textbooks, Computers, and a Tea Pot: Essential Gear of the Successful College Student
You’re going to college soon – you need to start making a checklist. Aside from the usual costs like tuition and food, you’re going to need a few other supplies. Before you say goodbye to mom and dad for the semester, here’s what to stock up on.
A Good Laptop
A good laptop is absolutely essential for today’s college student. In fact, it’s probably the most important thing you can take with you. Don’t leave home without something at least as good as a mid-tier product either. No Acers. Can’t use ‘em. OK, you could use them, but don’t. Get yourself a Macbook Air, at least. Or, get yourself the top-tier Dell model. Lenovo are also a good choice as long as you’re going for the top-tier – again. Yes, they’re a bit pricey, but you’ll thank yourself three years from now when your laptop isn’t falling apart and the software still runs smoothly.
P2P File Sharing Software
It seems like every college kid these days is doing some kind of P2P file sharing. And, while you should not be breaking the law by downloading and sharing copyright-protected content without the authorization of the copyright holders, there is a legit use for file sharing software that’s wickedly underutilized: sharing original creations you make in college and sharing your study papers with classmates.
Simple P2P software, like the bittorrent client from www.Vuze.com, is really all you need to connect directly with other classmates to share pretty much anything you’ve done in class – from study notes to past homework assignments as study aides.
Free Word Processing Tools
Who wants to pay for Microsoft Word when OpenOffice suite is free? Better yet, LibreOffice. It’s got all of the tools you could ever want from the paid programs at a price you can’t argue with – even with the student discount offered from the competitor.
Used Books
No one likes paying retail for books. So, before you go off to college, verify your class schedule and then pick up some used textbooks from someplace like AbeBooks, Amazon.com’s used textbook section, or Half.com.
A Teapot
A teapot. Yes, a teapot. You need to eat, right? Between 4 hour study sessions, a teapot can heat up the boiling water you need for Ramen – every college student’s staple food.
Food Rations
You can’t live on college food and Ramen Noodle alone. They may be high in calories, but they’re really low in nutrition. It’s weird, but while students are getting your learn on, they’re also wrecking their health.
Your number one priority in college is to get a good education. To do that, you need to be healthy. You must get in all of your required fruits and vegetables, lots of good quality meat, and of course, fiber. Food rations can help you do that – nuts and seeds, dried beef jerky (not the kind with preservatives and artificial flavors. It’s actually really easy to make at home with a cheap food dehydrator and some beef and salt), and dried fruit like apricots, plums, and raisins.
Audrey Brown is a college dorm guru. As a resident director for many years, she loves blogging about the ins and outs of creating a great college dorm experience from decor and organization tricks to gadgets and study habits.
Why students need to be more involved with global events
We live in an ever-shrinking world. The dawn of the internet age has made physical boundaries redundant. In this age of global connectivity, it is important for the youth to be both aware of and involved in global events. Active connectivity is almost a prerequisite in today’s business environment. Companies are increasingly looking to hire people who are comfortable being globally networked. Working in transnational teams is the order of the day.
Comfort in dealing with disparate cultures comes from an open mind and the curiosity to learn. It’s easier to relate to someone halfway around the globe, when you are aware of the local culture and current news. Most US universities offer opportunities to participate in global events. This is offered through various global classroom programs as well as volunteer schemes and other International Outreach Programs. Whether it is volunteering for an event like the Olympics or a regional conference on climate control, student life offers you the opportunity to interact and learn on a global scale.
A simple way to check how globally aware you are, is to answer the following question ‘name the current top 5 international crises’. If you struggle to get beyond the crisis in Syria, then you need to work on your awareness and connectivity. Apart from International Outreach programs at Universities there are a host of avenues online like the Global Lounge Network.
When a global crisis strikes, men like Najib Mikati step forward and shoulder the responsibility of easing the crisis. Najib Mikati is a Lebanese politician who has twice served as the Prime Minister of Lebanon, for five weeks in 2005 and then from 2011-14. Najib started his career as a businessman and founded the telecommunications company Investcom in 1982. He sold Investcom to South African telecom giant MTN for $5.5 billion in 2006. In politics he was the minister for public works and transport from December 1998 to 2000. He is credited with creating a centrist and reformist mainstream in Lebanese politics. He is an ardent supporter of getting students involved in political activities. You can catch up with updates on Najib Mikati here.
Young men and women have the creativity, potential and capacity to make changes on a global scale. Getting involved in global events as a volunteer is just one way to learn and broaden your horizons. Increasingly companies are looking to hire young people who have a global perspective and those who are able to fit into and work in global teams.
To answer the earlier question on the top 5 crisis, the Middle East continues to be the biggest flash point where the 4-year-old civil war rages on in Syria. 3.3 million people, including 1.7 million children have fled the country. This conflict has spilled over into neighboring Iraq, already ravaged by conflict. The Russian-Ukrainian face-off continues to keep the possibility of an all-out war simmering. The outbreak of Ebola across West Africa has already caused over 7,000 deaths in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Why a Graduate Certificate Might Be a Better Be Than a Master’s Degree
Today’s highly competitive job market has left many college students wondering whether the extra time and money to get a master’s degree will pay off in the form of improved career prospects. But what many don’t realize is that a master’s degree isn’t the only option for post-baccalaureate education. There’s another, less expensive, faster way to gain industry-specific skills at the post-graduate level — the graduate certificate.
A graduate certificate takes about half as long to earn as a master’s degree, and is a fraction of the cost. In most fields, including project monitoring and evaluation, a graduate certificate can improve your job prospects and raise your salary just as much as a master’s degree. Even if you already have a master’s degree, a graduate certificate is a fast and economical way to upgrade your skills and stay competitive in the jobs market.
Advance Your Education in Less Time
If you want to enhance your skill set and pad your resume, but also want to hit the job market as soon as possible, a graduate certificate is the way to go. Online programs are a popular choice for students who want to earn graduate certificates; you could go to school online for a graduate certificate in project monitoring and evaluation, for example, while still holding down a full-time job.
The typical graduate certificate program consists of four to seven credits, although some programs can comprise as many as 15 credits. That’s about half as many as a master’s degree, so the degree takes a lot less time to earn — usually a year or less, compared to two or more years for a master’s. It’s a great choice if you’re looking for a qualification that could help you get that big promotion you’ve got your eye on, if you want to earn more money, or even if you want to change careers.
Boost Your Earning Power
You already know that people with master’s degrees tend to earn more than people who have only a bachelor’s degree, but you don’t have to commit to a master’s program to bring home bigger paychecks. Graduate certificates are especially valuable for people working in technical fields, such as heating and air conditioning, or in emerging fields, such as cybersecurity, social media marketing, or homeland security. Thirty-nine percent of men with a graduate certificate earn more than their counterparts with a bachelor’s, and 34 percent of women with graduate certificates make more than their baccalaureate-educated peers.
Save Money
If you’re not sure whether you want a master’s degree or you’re in a field where a graduate degree doesn’t necessarily equal a higher salary, a graduate certificate can get you the education you need to advance at a much lower price tag.
A graduate certificate runs about $5,000, compared to the tens of thousands of dollars a master’s degree costs. And if you’ve already got a master’s degree, it just doesn’t make sense to go back to school for another one when a graduate certificate could give you the extra specialization you need at a lower price and with a shorter time commitment.
Improve Your Job Prospects
While it’s true that there are certain fields where a master’s degree is a must — think law, medicine, or business — in most fields, a job candidate with a graduate certificate will always win out over one with only a bachelor’s degree. Employers are impressed by the extra credential, as most graduate certificate programs are tailored to meet industry demands.
Since the programs are so short, there’s no risk of your skills becoming outdated by the time you hit the job market. They’re also a good way to update skills later in your career, especially if you want to break into or advance in an emerging field that didn’t even exist when you were a traditional college student; one-third of people who earn graduate certificates are over age 30.
If you’re reluctant to commit to a lengthy, expensive master’s degree program, why not consider a graduate certificate instead? You can earn a specialized post-baccalaureate qualification in half the time and at a fraction of the cost of a master’s degree, and hit the job market faster and harder with the kinds of skills that make employers stand up and take notice.
Is an LLM in Taxation the Right Choice for You?
An LLM, or Master of Laws, is an advanced degree that lawyers can earn after completing a JD. While the degree is popular with international students who want to gain some experience with the American legal system and perhaps practice law in the U.S., it’s also popular with lawyers who want to specialize in a particular area of law. While LLMs are available in a range of legal specialties like democratic governance, intellectual property law, and patent law, the traditional specialty has been tax law.
Many young lawyers aren’t sure whether they should pursue an LLM degree. But if you want to specialize in tax law, the LLM in Taxation is still the degree for you. If you didn’t attend a top law school, it can beef up your resume. It can help you transition to practicing in a different part of the country. If you aspire to teach law at the university level, you’ll need at least an LLM, if not a Ph.D., to land a tenure-track position.
Specialize in Tax Law
The number-one reason to get a master of laws degree is to become a tax attorney. Tax attorneys aren’t accountants; they help clients with legal issues surrounding the payment of local, state, and federal taxes. This can include everything from helping a couple avoid paying taxes on their assets when they split, to protecting the wrongfully convicted from having to pay income taxes on restitution money. It’s a highly specialized area of law, but you’ll have the chance to work on a diverse range of cases. An LLM in Taxation takes about a year to earn, and imparts practical experience in addition to specialized legal knowledge.
Make Your Resume More Impressive
If you didn’t manage to get into a top law school, an LLM offers you the chance the put something more impressive than your regional or state university on your resume. That’s because it’s often easier to get into an LLM program than a JD program, because most American lawyers don’t see the need to earn an LLM. They just get their JDs and go straight into practice. So the school that wouldn’t accept you into its JD program will be much more likely to accept you into its LLM program, and you’ll be able to prove that you can keep up with students at a nationally-ranked program.
Move Your Practice to a Different Part of the Country
Let’s say you’ve decided that you don’t want to hang around and practice law in the same part of the country where you got your JD. That’s fine, but it can be hard to convince a law firm to hire an attorney from another state or region; they’ll be concerned that you’ll ultimately decide not to relocate or that you will, only to depart again in a few years.
Earning an LLM in the region to which you’d like to relocate can eliminate these concerns, since by the time you apply for jobs, you’ll already be living in the area. An LLM from a school that’s well-respected in your region of choice can also improve your job prospects in that region.
Teach Law Yourself
If you want to become a professor of law, you’re going to need more years of education than just a JD can provide. You’ll need at least an LLM to compete for tenure-track faculty positions in university law programs. Many tenure-track positions require candidates to have a PhD, but you’ll need to earn an LLM before you can qualify for a Ph.D. program.
Competition for adjunct teaching positions in law schools isn’t as fierce as it is for tenure-track positions, but don’t think you can land an adjunct position with just a JD. You’ll still need an LLM to qualify for most of these positions, even if they don’t offer tenure.
If you want to become a tax attorney, an LLM in Taxation can get you there. It’ll give you the specialized knowledge of tax law necessary to help clients will all kinds of taxation-related legal issues. However, that’s not the only reason you might want to consider an LLM. Whether you want to relocate, improve your job prospects, or land a teaching job, and LLM can help you achieve your law career goals.
How to Network for a Job in Public Health After Grad School
A Master of Public Health can give you the necessary training and skills for a career in public health, but a degree alone doesn’t guarantee you any job opportunities, especially in today’s economy. Who you know is far more important to your future career prospects than what is on your resume. Ninety percent of jobs are found through some form of networking, and only four to 10 percent come from submitting a cold resume to a company where you have no contact information.
You don’t want to wait until you graduate to start building a professional network that can help you find a job. By then, it will be too late. Start building your network of contacts as soon as possible after starting your degree program. Attend as many conferences and networking events as you can. Establish an online presence. When you make a new contact, ask the right questions, and never forget that you’re not going to get anything from someone unless you’re willing to give them something first.
Go to Conferences and Events
As a grad student, you’ll be pressed for time. So going to school online for your graduate degree can really help you fit courses into your schedule, and that’s a good thing, because aside from your familial, academic, and day job responsibilities, there’s one more thing you’re going to have to squeeze in — the networking events. Start going to networking events as often as possible, as soon as you know you’re going to be going to grad school. Conferences, seminars, exhibitor shows, and meetings of local professional organizations put you face-to-face with people who may be able to help you someday, or who may be able to introduce you to people who can help you some day.
Don’t confine yourself to attending events and conferences within your own field, either. You never know which contacts may be valuable someday. Even if you’re still a student, have business cards made so you can hand them out to people you meet at networking events.
Build an Online Presence
When you make an impression on a new contact, that person is bound to go home and type your name into a search engine to learn more about you. You want to make sure something comes up when that happens — if the search engine returns no information at all about you, your new contact may decide you’re not a valuable connection. Establish an online presence through Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, and other major social media sites. Set up a professional website for yourself. You might even start a blog about matters relevant to your field. Remember to keep it professional — that means no profanity, and no pictures of yourself doing shots with your friends on a Saturday night.
Ask the Right Questions
One way you can learn about opportunities in your field is by setting up informational interviews with people who work within your industry, preferably people who are rather high up. It’s usually best to email these people within a few days of your meeting instead of springing this request on them in the middle of a conference. You can also send a cold email to someone you haven’t yet met.
Explain in your email that you’re a graduate student at Such-and-Such University, and that you’re interested in entering the field, and you’d like to arrange a time for an informational interview to discuss opportunities. Most people will be happy to grant such a request — they know what it’s like to be starting out in the field. However, if your contact doesn’t answer the email, follow up, politely, one time, and then let the matter drop. If you do get the interview, use it as an opportunity to ask advice on how you can get into the field and how you can advance once you’re in. Don’t be afraid to ask the person to take a look at your resume and give you feedback that could help you better tailor it to the position you want.
Give Something Back
The secret to networking is often giving your contacts something that they want or need before you ask them for their assistance. People are more likely to be generous toward people who have already proven themselves to be valuable contacts. Figure out what you can offer your new contacts. Maybe you’re great at social media or have a marketable skill set from a previous career. At the very least, you can show genuine interest in your new contacts and spend time getting to know them as people before you hit them with requests for help.
A degree can give you the skills you need to succeed in a job, but you’ll need to network in order to get the job. Start networking long before you finish grad school. By the time you have your degree in hand, you’ll have companies lining up to offer you a job.
