How to score scholarships
While applying for scholarship programs may not yield a windfall this big for you, yours odds of getting it are exactly zero if you don’t!
It has been said by many observers that a college degree is the new high school diploma these days. The price of admission to even decent jobs is often a piece of paper of varying specialties, be it from the arts, science or business, or another field of study. The problem with this is that while secondary school is free, having been paid for through our taxes through the years, colleges and universities shift the funding burden to the student.
While this expense had been easily payable through hard work and diligent saving on the part of former generations, the exponential rise in the cost of school has made it virtually impossible to get through these years debt-free even with a paying side gig. However, there is one avenue of funding still remaining that allows bright and deserving students the opportunity to get through college without stunting their post-school life underneath mountains of loan payments.
This method is none other than the scholarship, which allows applicants the chance to receive money in part or in full for the course of time that they spend in the school and program of their choice. So, how will you get your grubby little mitts on some of this life-changing money? The steps outlined below will help get you over your attitude of inadequacy and on with the task of applying for scholarship programs that will liberate you from financial worry.
1) Start by searching locally
Don’t look on wistfully at the high profile scholarship that require high grades to even qualify for applying – right now, in your community, there are businesses, service organizations, trusts, and religious institutions looking to give a motivated, hungry individual like yourself some badly needed cash to get you through school with greater ease.
If you can write an essay showing your passion for a subject, your community involvement, and your ideas for a better future (among other topics), there is an excellent chance that you’ll be able to score some cash at home before moving on to the heavier hitters.
2) Take your cash quest to the internet
The internet has changed the game in countless quarters of life – and the process of applying for scholarships are no different. Databases like Scholarship.com has organized countless post-secondary funding programs under one digital roof, allowing you to line them up and apply to these sources of money en masse. Using lessons learned from successful applications locally, use your best practices and track your results as you go, making changes where necessary.
3) Don’t give up
If your initial efforts are met with deafening silence, don’t get down on yourself. Try niching down and applying to smaller, lesser known scholarships, where you stand a better chance of being noticed by evaluators. Consider experimenting with specific aspects of your application, from citing specific activities over others, to writing essays on a completely different subject. Track the results of each approach, and go with the better performer.
The Most Beautiful College Campuses in the US
While most of us try to evaluate schools on honorable criteria such as the quality of its academics, student to teacher ratio, the efficacy of student services and so on, let’s face it: we are inherently emotional creatures, and as such, we are ably seduced by beauty. In this light, the look and feel of a college campus, from the architecture of its buildings, to the natural setting that surrounds it all indelibly colors our perception of a school.
Most of us would love to spend our college years in a place that feels like being on the set of the Dead Poets Society or Good Will Hunting, rather than be trapped in an institution so ugly the pigeons won’t even crap on it. As such, even if you are strictly making your decision based on pure logic, it’s still fun to look at pretty pictures of schools that represent the collegiate ideal (… and there’s nothing saying you can’t visit them on a road trip with your buddies)!
With that sorted, here are five schools that have been the apples of our eye for some time here at College Blender…
5) Wake Forest University
Filled with structures constructed in the Georgian style, this private college in North Carolina blossoms with cherry, apple and dogwood blossoms in the spring, burns with bright orange, yellow and red colors in the fall … with the occasional sprinkling of toilet paper strands when one of their athletic teams wins a major championship. This school also ranks favorably in teaching surveys on an annual basis, making this southern college a solid choice all round.
4) United States Military Academy At West Point
Think that joining the army means you’ll be spending all your time in uninspiring barracks? If your training has you bound for West Point, you will be in for huge surprise. Situated in the picturesque Hudson River Valley in New York State, this imposing collection of neo-gothic buildings will imbue you with a sense of power and strength as you work your way through the intensive academic programs that are offered here.
3) University of Wisconsin-Madison
Sandwiched between two deep blue lakes in the Wisconsin capital of Madison, there is ample room for inspiration and recreation on the campus of U of W – Madison. As if this wasn’t enough, the buildings on campus exude a traditional feel, and student life on campus has long been regarded as some of the liveliest in the nation, as the University of Wisconsin – Madison has consistently ranked near the top of party school rankings by publications such as Playboy magazine.
2) Pepperdine University
In some respects, the west coast often has it so good that it simply isn’t fair. The physical surrounds of Pepperdine University is a perfect illustration of this, as its campus in Malibu has an unbeatable view of the Pacific Ocean, with the steep foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains acting as the backdrop behind it.
This institution has buildings that take inspiration from Mediterranean and modernist schools of architecture, and palm trees and other subtropical shrubbery is found in abundance here. One caveat: this private school has a Christian bent in its underlying philosophy, so the scenery might not be enough of a draw if you have views that collide with those held by the administrators.
1) Elon University
When it comes to channeling the collegiate experience via the exterior and interior design, the creators and builders of Elon University have accomplished this masterfully over the years, as they have crafted a school that has ranked at or near the top of beauty rankings for decades. Much of the flora on campus is actively managed as part of the academic curricula of its horticultural faculties, aiding its placement at the top of our list as well!
Have any other contenders for the most beautiful college campuses in the US? Share them below in the comments!
How to write your resume
Want to get an interview with an employer like this dude? By learning how to write your resume effectively, you’ll get to this step quicker!
Your senior year is just over the horizon, and you’re scared witless. For three or four years, you have gone to class and learned everything there is to know about your chosen field, socialized with your fellow peers via clubs, fraternities/sororities, and volunteer organizations, and through it all, you’ve had a blast.
However, this chapter in your life story is drawing to a close, and the start of your working life is within sight. While you have the youthful drive to take on the problems that employers need solved, you have to first introduce yourself in a formal and professional manner. Of all the tools used to accomplish this, the resume has held fast through the decades as one of the most important of these. Companies use it to assess not only your raw skills, but your organizational abilities, attention to detail, as well as many other cues that reveal to them the type of candidate that you are.
Want to learn how to not only ensure that you are shooting yourself in the foot by committing an innocent mistake, or forgetting to include essential information? This article will cover how to write your resume, plus a few extras that will help you establish an edge in the 21st century world in which we live.
List your accomplishments
The central role of a resume to communicate everything you have to offer a potential employer, so include information on anything worthwhile that you have accomplished in the past few years. This obviously includes work, academic degrees and internship experience, but also include volunteer work (displays additional skills + your concern for society at large) and clubs (shows that you socialize, making it more likely that you play well with others).
Target the content of your resume towards a specific job or job type
Not everything that you have done in your past will relate well to certain positions. For example, your involvement in your universities’ video gaming club may not matter to a recruiter for a standard office job, but it becomes a big plus if you are pursuing a job as a programmer in the gaming industry.
Proofread your completed resume militantly
Once you have finished your resume check through multiple times and make sure that there are no misspelled words, misplaced words (many errant keystrokes when typing will result in a properly spelled word that is another word altogether from what you originally intended), or other tragedies of grammar. We don’t mean to intimidate you, but resumes with these miscues often get deleted on sight, as it is perceived as a lack of attention to detail on your part.
Leave a link to an online supplement to your resume
While the tips above have been repeated ad infinitum through the ages, change is ripping through the world of employment like a blustery gale. To avoid being sunk by this maelstrom of change, adjust your sails by enlisting the services of online accompaniment to resumes like about.me or LinkedIn.
The former provides you an online slate to express yourself in a way that paper resumes do not allow, while the latter provides social proof to your claims of experience from your colleagues, professors and peers.
Create a portfolio
If you are in a field that is is dominated by media or the visual arts, cobbling together a portfolio to go with your resume will put you heads and shoulder above those that are aimlessly carpet bombing resumes everywhere.
By detailing your best and most representative work, be it in the form of a web page showing off your creations, a Vimeo submission that demonstrates your cinematography skills in action, or a Flickr account that bears witness to your unmatched eye for photography, selling yourself to a prospective business becomes infinitely easier.
Experiment with alternate formats/strategies
In today’s increasingly congested job market, doing the same old thing as everyone else is a sure way to avoid getting noticed. Exciting and eye-popping templates abound throughout the internet, giving your submission to a business a look that will grant you a closer examination than other candidates. You could also write a proposal letter to an employer, explaining exactly how you would solve a problem in their field, or if you are so bold, you could cold call an important person in a position of influence and persuade them how you would add value to their organization from day 1.
This might be scarier than hitting send on a hundred resume e-mails and waiting for the phone to ring, but you’ll likely find yourself prospering in an entry-level position while your friends pile on more debt by going to graduate school because they couldn’t find a job after getting their undergrad degree.
5 Fun Drinking Games Anyone Can Learn!
Disclaimer: College Blender.com does not promote or endorse underage or binge drinking. All of these games are intended for those of legal drinking age and to be done in moderation.
While drinking alcohol isn’t a prerequisite to having a good time in college, let’s be realistic: a comfortable majority of students enjoy a beer…or many on a semi-regular basis. It’s not hard to see why: freshmen are celebrating their liberation from their parents, sophomores and juniors are stress-balling about making the excellent grades they need to graduate with honors, while seniors are freaking the hell out about their pending release into the Real World … and the start of those dreaded student loan payments.
But let’s forget about all that tonight, as we are all collectively in the present moment … why not be one big happy drunk family together? As fun as normal socializing is while consuming your favorite alcoholic beverage, sometimes a little stirring of the pot is necessary to elevate a party from awesome to epic.
This is where drinking games come in, as it adds equal parts of social interaction, shared laughs, and most importantly, wanton consumption of alcohol! So get started on that hefty pre-game meal to soak up the punishment that your liver is about to take, because after playing one or more of the games below, your head will be feeling the effects the next morning if you don’t prepare properly (drink water regularly through the evening as well, and have fun!)
1) Flipcup
Beer pong is so ten years ago. The plastic drinking glass game that is sweeping the nation these days is the intense, fast-paced game of Flipcup. The object of this contest is simply this: you take two teams, and line them up down a table (3 per side minimum).
Filling the cups halfway (all the way if you’re truly ambitious) with beer, the first grouping of drinking combatants chugs their beer, placing the cup upside down on the edge of the table when finished. The player then has to flip the cup so that it lands on its proper bottom without falling over. When this task is successfully completed, the next person down the line can drink. First side to complete these tasks successfully to the end wins!
2) Card games
There are many card games that can be made into drinking games, or were invented with drinking in mind. Asshole is a prominent one, where the deuce is the trump card, with values descending A,K, Q through to the worst cards, 4 and 3. The first player can lead with any card (the worst one(s) they have is the smart play), and the next player has to get rid of the same card or better.
Combos add more excitement to the game, where a player getting rid of three 5’s for example would compel the next to play a three card combo or higher, lest they have to pass on their turn. The president is the one who finishes first, vice president is 2nd, and the last two players are saddled with the titles vice asshole and asshole, compelling them to drink half and chug their beer respectively.
3) Drinking games based on movies or TV shows
These types of games proliferate widely throughout the internet, with combos of drinks and chugging being assigned for the cliché actions and sayings that actors/actresses in common movies and TV shows perform on a regular basis. An example out of the infinite number that exist: In one particular Walking Dead drinking game, one of the cues to drink includes when Rick tries to restore hope to the group (all the time without success, it seems!), and chugging happens whenever somebody gets killed by a zombie (even if they are a redshirt).
4) Quarters
This game seems simple enough at the start, but the sorry state of most people’s coordination skills (made worse by all the drinks you’ll consume by losing to someone more experienced than you) and understanding of physics make this a challenging but fun contest.
In order to play, start with a glass in the middle of the table. You then take a quarter and attempt to bounce it off the table and into said glass. A successful shot means you get to pick who takes a drink. The shooter keeps taking shots at the glass until they miss, whereupon the quarter goes to the next player. If you wish to try again after your first attempt, some versions allow you to declare “chance”. Hitting this shot allows you to keep going as per usual, but missing results in a penalty of at least two drinks.
5) Century Club (attempt with beer ONLY)
Also known as Power Hour in a toned down version of this game, players attempting to join the Century Club bring a shotglass and at least eight beers with them to the event. A song list with splits that occur once every two minutes needs to be prepared beforehand, as when the song switches, a drink of beer from their filled up shotglass must be taken. A fun thing to do during this 3+ hour boozefest is to pass around a pen and a large notepad/scribbler, noting the thoughts of participants as they descend the downward spiral into excessive drunkeness!
What other fun drinking games do you know? Share them in the comments below!
Thinking Global: How To Spend A Year Studying Overseas!
In the past decade or so, the way the world works has changed dramatically. The wide-scale adoption of the internet in most nations has created a truly global marketplace, putting pressure on the way work is structured everywhere, but especially in the developed world. The current young generation cannot follow in the footsteps of their parents, as they will not be living and working in the geographic bubble that their elders did.
The global marketplace will put them in touch regularly with cultures from across the world, and the ones that understand cultural nuances, speak multiple languages, and consider/adopt different philosophies on work and life stand the greatest chance of success in the years ahead. One way to get a leg up if you are currently in college is to seek out and apply for programs that allow you to spend a year studying abroad.
This will plunge you into an environment where your peers will have an entirely different outlook on life, speak a tongue completely foreign to your ears, and where nothing seems to make sense (at first anyway). This will teach you practical skills like different languages, and soft ones like coping and adaptation skills, giving you an edge over those drifting through life back home without ever being challenged.
Besides, it comes with copious amounts of wine/tequila/sake/soju/etc during numerous nights out with new found friends from around the world, so what are you waiting for, young adventurer? If you are all set to throw your textbooks in your backpack and take off for the other side of the pond, here are the steps that will get the ball rolling towards you landing at a foreign university in a wonderfully strange land next semester…
What experience are you seeking?
Do you geek out on all things Asian, like anime, Hong Kong martial arts flicks, and the endless permutations of Thai food? Are you a hopeless romantic, seeking to wrap yourself up in the lavish lifestyle of Italy? Maybe you have a taste for adrenaline, making the extreme activities of New Zealand and the surf breaks of Australia your best move.
The point of all these questions is to get you thinking about your passions and interests. To find your niche in this new world of ours, you need to embrace the person that you are deep down inside with vigor. Accordingly, pick a destination that suits your personality well, or your year overseas will feel like a decade.
Go it alone, or have your current school plan things?
If the idea of going through the onerous steps of applying for a school all over again (in a different country no less, and just forget about all the other logistics) make you curl up in the fetus position, then going through a program offered by your school will likely be your best option. You’ll go to a specific country with professors from your faculty, and all the incidentals like your housing will all be sorted for you.
The downside of this though is that you’ll be seeing the country of your choice in a bubble, as you’ll be taught by familiar faces, and you’ll likely be housed with people from your own country, If you select your own program or apply for a foreign university on your own, you’ll have to go through all the administrative and logistical headaches that goes with expat living, but this way, you’ll have an educational and cultural experience that is much more true to your interests and desires than the former option.
Adjusting to your new home
Once you’ve gotten through the rush of traveling to your new home for an entire year, the adjustment process to an entirely different culture will begin. To avoid awkward situations early on, be sure to read up on cultural practices before departure, and review them regularly. Look up and practice essential phrases, then extend your studying to words related to your area of interest (e.g. if you love playing soccer, learn words frequently spoken during games … if your subject is business, seek out the words in the local language for terms used both internationally and in the local biz community).
Most of all, practice your favorite hobbies and sports in your new place of residence, and look for opportunities to pick up new activities that the locals like. This will engender new friendships, and improve your social skills with respect to people of different backgrounds, which is something that will prove to be an invaluable skill in the rapidly changing world in which we live.
