Blog

by Suada Kolovic

The students of Penn State have done it again! In an effort to fight childhood cancer, students from the university hit the dance floor for the annual THON. The dance marathon kicked off Friday at the Bryce Jordan Center and with millions of dollars raised, it was another record-breaking year. The exact total was a staggering $9,563,016.09 raised for the Four Diamonds fund to help fight pediatric cancer.

THON fundraising totals have rarely fallen short in the 38-year history of the philanthropic effort and this year was no different, said Public Relations Captain Colleen Hanrahan said. Hanrahan said fundraising efforts have come a long way since THON reached its first $1 million total in 1992 and since 1977, THON has raised more than $70 million for cancer patients and cancer research at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

Penn State’s THON is the largest student-run philanthropic event in the world with more than 15,000 students taking part and with such remarkable outcomes, the students of Penn State will surely dance the night away for years to come.

by Suada Kolovic

Curious as to what college students are reading this spring? Well, wonder no more! The Chronicle has compiled a list of the best-selling books from information supplied by stores serving the following campuses: American U., Beloit College, Case Western Reserve U., College of William & Mary, Drew U., Florida State U., George Washington U., Georgetown U., Georgia State U., Harvard U., James Madison U., Johns Hopkins U., Kent State U., Pennsylvania State U. at University Park, San Francisco State U., Stanford U., State U. of New York at Buffalo, Tulane U., U. of California at Berkeley, U. of Chicago, U. of Florida, U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, U. of Miami, U. of Nebraska at Lincoln, U. of New Hampshire, U. of North Dakota, U. of North Texas, U. of Northern Colorado, U. of Oklahoma at Norman, Vanderbilt U., Washington State U., Washington U. in St. Louis, Wayne State U., Williams College, Winthrop College, Xavier U. (Ohio). For more information on any of these schools, check out our college search.

• The Girl Who Played With Fire

  by Stieg Larsson

• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

  by Stieg Larsson

• Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

  by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

• Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything across Italy, India and Indonesia

  by Elizabeth Gilbert

• Sh*t My Dad Says

  by Justin Halpern

• Mockingjay

  by Suzanne Collins

• Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea

  by Chelsea Handler

• Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time

  by Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin

• The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents Earth (the Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race

  by Jon Stewart

• A**holes Finish First

  by Tucker Max

by Suada Kolovic

The University of Southern California has secured a major donation – the fourth of more than $50 million given to the university this school year alone – from Julie and John Mork. The couple donated $110 million to USC to fund the Mork Family Scholars Program, which will provide high school seniors “of extraordinary intellectual talent and capability full tuition and $5,000 living stipends,” the university said in a statement.

John Mork, a trustee who graduated from USC in 1970, is the chief executive officer of Energy Corp. of America, a private company that handles the exploration, extraction, production and transportation of natural gas and oil, based in Denver. “Attending USC is the dream of talented high school seniors from all walks of life,” said John Mork. “We hope this gift will help transform hundreds of young lives.” Julie Mork, who graduated from UCLA, is the managing director of the Energy Corp. of America Foundation, a charitable organization that focuses on children and education. According to the LA Times, about 100 undergraduates will benefit from the scholarships each year.

Now while this is the single largest donation in the university’s history for undergraduate scholarships, it isn’t the Morks first philanthropic gift to the school. In 2005, the family contributed $15 million to the USC Viterbi School of Engineering that resulted in the naming of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science after the Mork family. And this time around, to show their appreciation, USC will place a plaque with the names and images of the Mork family at Bovard Auditorium.

by Darci Miller

Graduation.

Depending on where in your academic career you are, the word has varying connotations. To high schoolers, graduation is IT. The ultimate goal. The sum total of four awkward, drama-filled years. The day that begins a new, much more fun and independent chapter in your life.

In college, graduation is a much more complex idea. You might be excited to get out there and start your new job and your new life in a new city or state. On the other hand, what if there’s no job? What if the thought of leaving your beloved alma mater is akin to the thought of a root canal?

After high school, you may be parting ways with your closest friends, but you have the safety net of knowing that almost everyone comes home for the holidays. After college, this isn’t the case. If you attend school in Chicago and have a friend that’s from Texas that’s graduating and going to grad school in Seattle, will you ever see him again? Will he be back to visit?

Of course, this could be me being a little selfish and a lot sad that I’ll be losing so many friends and coworkers to the real world next year. But nonetheless, from graduates and non-graduates alike, the impending ceremony is receiving mixed reactions. Honestly though, I think this is part of the beauty of college. For the first time, you get to choose where you live, learn and make friends. Being sad to leave is a weird sort of pat on the back – “Good job! You made some awesome decisions!”

To all soon-to-be graduates, congratulations! Future college freshmen, you’ve got some great stuff headed your way, so get excited! Future college graduates, I wish you true sadness upon leaving college (hey, I said it was weird!) and all the success in the world in your future endeavors.

Darci Miller is a New Yorker studying journalism and sport administration at the University of Miami. When she’s not writing for the school newspaper, you can find her at the gym, either working or working out. She loves all ‘80s pop culture (the cheesier the better!), and glues herself to her TV when the Olympics are on. She dreams big, and believes the sky’s the limit!

by Alexis Mattera

Starting college with a specific idea what you want to do with your life can make choosing a major, selecting classes and finding internships much easier than the decisions facing your undecided roommate. But is that specificity better? The answer is yes...and no. Well, actually, it’s a maybe.

With the increasing demand for expertise in narrow fields, some schools are putting programs in place to produce candidates perfectly suited for these niche jobs. SUNY at Albany, for example, has opened a College of Nanoscale Science to meet what The National Science Foundation estimates will be about 2 million workers with nanotechnology-centric backgrounds needed by 2014. The results so far are promising – even first-year students have already been offered summer internships with companies like Intel and IBM – but is this kind of specialization always wise?

To an extent, but career counselors, hiring consultants and academic officials think it’s more important for students to diversify their undergraduate years. Industry-specific skill sets may get a graduate into their chosen field faster but may severely limit career flexibility down the line. You may think you know your ideal career path but wait until you’ve taken a wide enough variety of classes to be sure...especially when employers report they value soft skills like effective communication, critical thinking and problem solving over precise training.

What do you think? Should you specialize right away or sample what your school has to offer before making a potentially life-changing decision?

by Alexis Mattera

Here in the U.S., surfing the Internet during class is usually frowned upon and accessing the web during an exam could warrant an automatic failing grade. Overseas, however, Internet usage in these situations will not only be allowed but encouraged to – among other things – inhibit cheating.

The University of Southern Denmark has announced that by January 2012, all exams will be transferred to a digital platform and administered via Internet software. In addition to making it possible for faculty to create tests aligned with course content that would better assess students’ problem solving prowess, analytical skills and ability to discuss particular topics, e-learning project coordinator Lise Petersen said this program presented an innovative solution to academic dishonesty. "One way of preventing cheating is by saying nothing is allowed and giving students a piece of paper and a pen," she said. "The other way is to say everything is allowed except plagiarism. So if you allow communication, discussions, searches and so on, you eliminate cheating because it’s not cheating anymore. That is the way we should think."

Do you think Southern Denmark’s plan is an effective one or an approach that will breed more academic dishonesty? What’s your school’s stance on Internet usage in class?

by Suada Kolovic

With racist rants at UCLA, degrading emails at USC and now insensitive journalism at Long Beach, we’re starting to wonder what’s in the water in the Golden State. Haterade, perhaps?

The Union Weekly, a student newspaper at California State University, Long Beach, is apologizing for running a negative critique of a Native American cultural event held on campus. In the article, entitled, “Pow Wow Wow Yippee Yo Yippy Yay,” campus editor Noah Kelly equated the annual cultural event hosted by the school’s American Indian Studies Program and American Indian Student Council with a “large, Native American themed flea market.” Kelly continued his rant by mocking the food and a traditional dance that involves some spectators throwing money to the performers, which he described as disingenuous and cheap. He went on to say, “Donations are great, and necessary, tossing them unceremoniously on the ground is crass and borderline obscene. Even the homeless have hats and cups.”

After a huge backlash – and even death threats – Kelly has published an apology where he explained, “What originally was meant as an unflattering view of the event itself has been construed by many as an assault on an entire culture. That was never my intention and I meant no malice towards Native Americans. What occurred was nothing less than a lapse in fact-finding, cultural awareness, and sensitivity on my part.” Do you think Kelly’s sincere when he says his piece was an attack on the event and not Native American culture?

by Angela Andaloro

Hi everyone! My name is Angela and I’ve just completed my sophomore year at Pace University’s New York City campus, where I double major in communication studies and English. I can’t believe I’m already halfway through college; I’ve learned so much in the past two years that high school seems like a totally different world ago. College was far from what I expected, but I’m definitely enjoying it nonetheless.

Becoming a virtual intern here at Scholarships.com is one of the most exciting things to happen to me recently. As my choices in majors might indicate, I love writing and think there’s so much importance to communicating feelings and sharing experiences. That’s what I hope to do through this opportunity: share my feelings and experiences about college life and the many things that go along with being a college student.

Like most things in New York City, I find my life and my college experience to be far from typical. I’m a commuter student, I took nearly a semester’s worth of classes online and I picked up my second major despite early graduation being a very real possibility for me. Still, I think there are many things that do connect me to your “average” college student: I like to hang out with my friends, go to parties, and yes, I’m addicted to social networking.

Combining my unique college experiences with my more common ones, I hope to be able to share something useful with everyone. I’d also love to hear from some of the readers of the Scholarships.com blog too, so feel free to say hi in the comments! After all, college is all about networking and it never hurts to get to know some awesome new people.

by Suada Kolovic

High school seniors, are you down about not getting a fat envelope from any of the colleges you applied to? Worried that your college dream is quickly fading? Seriously starting to freak out?! Well, turn that frown upside down because there are hundreds of colleges that are still accepting applications.

According to a Space Availability Survey by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), as of May 4th, 293 schools are still accepting applications. The list is comprised of schools that either didn’t fill all open spots for next year’s freshman class or have application deadlines later than the May 1 norm. "A lot of times, people think if there's any schools left, they can't be good schools," says Todd Johnson, consultant at College Admissions Partners. "It's not going to be the top liberal arts colleges or the top national universities, but there are some good, solid schools on there."

Check out a few notables below, for the full list of colleges still accepting applications, click here.

• Arizona State University
• Boise State University
• Columbia College Chicago
• Colorado State University
• CUNY Hunter College
• Eckerd College
• Fairleigh Dickinson University
• Georgia Southern University
• Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
• John Brown University
• Missouri State University
• Pace University
• St. John's University
• Texas A&M University-Commerce
• William Paterson University

by Anna Meskishvili

Personally, I think that choosing a roommate is one of the most challenging things about college. They are the ultimate lottery. But in order to pick the right roommate for you, you must first properly understand yourself.

I’m sure you have all completed (or will soon complete) some variation of the “roommate survey,” which might reveal to you a prototype of the perfect roommate but here’s a reality check: Roommates are not perfect. In order to be the best roommate you can be, evaluate yourself. Speaking from experience, I thought I wanted to be best friends with my roommate, wanted my room to be the social hot spot of the floor and didn’t care about order or rules. Turns out, when you’re busy as a bee like me and are exhausted when you come home, the last thing you want to see is a dog pile of frat boys on your bed trying to see how many grapes they can shove in their mouths. Don’t get me wrong, I work hard and play hard but I always idealized my room as a place I could go to do neither those two things.

The bottom line about choosing roommates, make sure you both are on the same page and don’t just assume you are – talk about it. This is someone you will be living four feet away from for a year and avoidance is not an option. Top issues to cover are:

• What time do you usually go to bed? Do you need the TV on to fall asleep?
• Do you plan on studying or partying in the room?
• If I vacuum the room on Mondays, can you do it on Fridays?
• Are you going to have a lot of overnight guests? Let’s make a code.
• Do you expect me to be in the room all the time?

And before you ask your prospective roommate any of these questions, ask them to yourself. Good luck, roomie!

Anna Meskishvili is a rising senior at Boston University pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Relations at the College of Communication. She is part of Kappa Delta at BU and has loved every second of it. She is also involved in Public Relations Student Society of America and Ed on Campus. Anna was born in the Republic of Georgia and considers herself a citizen of the world because she’s lived in Russia, England, France, Brooklyn and Connecticut. She hopes to someday work in Healthcare Administration Communication. She loves to travel, run and learn.