College Jolt

For all you men out there that think “The Bachelor” is a show for sissies, then I’ll just tell you to go cry about it while you are drinking beer with your frat brothers. Meanwhile, I’ll sit down, every Monday night, with several attractive ladies on my couch. For all you ladies out there, I’m taking applications now to watch it with me… making out after is only optional, but it’ll probably help your chances.

So for those of you who have spent your entire life under a rock with ear plugs in, “The Bachelor” is one of the best original reality shows out there. It has spawned a total of 13 seasons (including this one which premiered last night, thus the blog post!), 4 “The Bachelorette” spinoffs, 2 current engagements, and 1 marriage. The premise is one bachelor (or bachelorette) with 25 people of the opposite sex to choose from. Imagine “Tila Tequila” but with some dignity, some intelligence, some chance of a successful relationship, no bisexual crap, minimal STDs, and you’ve got the Bachelor.

This season is a whole new ballgame though. (more…)

I’m sitting here (at the Coffee Bean) racking my brain and trying to put all of my resume tips into one post. If you have a resume, grab it. If you don’t have one - be prepared to put together a great one using the tips below.

How To Create the Perfect Resume OR Make Over Your Current One:

1. STRUCTURE. Your resume should be split into the following sections: contact information, education, and previous experience. Everyone should start out with this basic structure. This is considered “standard” resume formatting. Now, if you didn’t get the best grades in school but you have great previous experience, than put education at the bottom of your resume. If you don’t have much previous experience, you will also include more specific information in your education section (more about this below). If you don’t have much previous experience to list, you should add a section labeled “Skills”. If you have won any awards or are involved with any impressive clubs, associations, organizations, etc., I suggest including a section called “Awards/Leadership Positions” at the bottom.

2. CONTACT INFO. This section of your resume should always go at the top of your paper. You can put this information on the left, right, or center of your resume. Your contact information should include your first name, last name, and middle initial. Under your name list your current mailing address, cell phone number, and email address. If you move around lots, I suggest listing your parent’s permanent address. (more…)

We’ve always heard that the key to succeeding is “putting your mind to it.”  If you don’t passionately want something, there’s a pretty good chance that you won’t get it. This theory applies for fitness and weight loss goals too, and it’s the reason why the majority of people who make these kinds of New Years Resolutions ultimately fail. There’s a disconnect between what we want to look like, and what our plan is to make the vision of being Jessica Alba’s body double a reality.

As someone who works out religiously 5-6 times per week, I can confidently tell you that it doesn’t just happen without effort. Sure, I genuinely like to exercise, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not just as difficult for me to muster up the willpower to drag my butt to the gym, as anyone else. You can make 2009 the year that you stick to your fitness resolution, and to help you, I’m going to share my tried-and-true willpower tips.

Here are five easy ways to motivate yourself to exercise:

1. If you’re more of a morning workout person, either wear your workout clothes to sleep or lay them out so you can quickly throw them on in the morning. I wear my exercise stuff to sleep if I’m waking up super-early, so it’s one less reason not to get my butt out of bed in the morning. (more…)

Sometimes I get bored of the plain old scarf, but at the same time winter is rearing its ugly head and I can’t help but wrap one around my neck day after day. Sure, they come in different colors and materials, but it’s all essentially the same rectangular piece of cloth that you wrap around your neck various amounts of times depending on length right? Wrong. I realized this past semester while procrastinating studying that there are a lot of other options out there, so how about giving the gift of fashion and function this holiday season? Here are my top picks:

1. Yokoo Scarves

Um, just look at how warm this looks. Easy to wear and perfect for the cold mornings, pretty much all of these scarves remind me of the warm feeling you get when you’re sipping hot chocolate by the fire…or a really warm room. If you like other knitted things, I personally find this chain “necklace” awesomely quirky. Only downside is that you’ll be paying a bit more than you normally would, but I say treat yourself or get someone to treat you. After all, tis the season of giving no?

2. Necklush

I like these because it doesn’t go by the solid piece of cloth route and instead makes it look like you took the time to layer up your scarf (or rather, layered it string by string). Also, the solid colored ones look interesting in a chic way, but if you like to be a bit more fun with your colors they also got you covered.

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If I’m having a bad day, there’s one surefire way to instantly change my mood. Receiving chocolates?Flowers? A brand new BMW? Nope. Watching an “Indian” YouTube video. Not only do I become instantly memorized by the beat of Indian-flavored rhythm, but the corners of my mouth begin to upturn until I am grinning like a chimpanzee who discovered an all-banana tree forest.

So if you’ve had a bad day, don’t go listening to Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day” or Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”. Watch my Top 5 All-time Favorite Indian-inspired Youtube Music Videos:

1. “Tunak Tunak Tun”

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As part of my preparation for studying abroad in Tokyo next semester, I am constantly bombarded with e-mails from my study abroad program (not to mention I bombard the poor lady who e-mails all of us 24/7). But the one thing that even my own school stresses is packing some insurance with you when you go abroad. What do I mean? I mean that things happen abroad, and if you end up needing a doctor you’re going want to know you can actually pay for it. Here are some places to look if your current plan won’t cover you:

1. ISIC (International Student Identity Card)

Price: $22/card (which lasts 1 year)

My home school, in addition to my study abroad school, required that I get this. It only costs $22 and provides basic insurance while you’re abroad. This includes:

• Sickness medical expense coverage of $165 a day to a maximum of 61 days

• $25,000 Accident medical expense

• $25,000 Repatriation of remains

• $300,000 Emergency medical evacuation (mental health problems are excluded)

• $5,000 Accidental death and dismemberment–air

• $1,000 Accidental death and dismemberment–other

• $500 Travel document protection

• $100 Baggage delay

• $100 Travel delay

Not to mention it gets you loads of discounts both in the States and around the world. Check out the discounts here. You can get your ISIC at any STA Travel location or online. (more…)

Scholarships.  How do you find them?  How do you get them?  Everyone needs them yet it seems that everyone has trouble finding suitable ones to apply for.  Though there are hundreds upon hundreds of scholarships available, each having various qualifications and surprisingly, not all of these scholarships are academic based.  If you aren’t aware, there are some obscure scholarships out there, yet some of these may be beneficial to certain people.  Ranging anywhere from the fact that you are left-handed to probably even more specific qualifications that you were born at 11:11 P.M. or something along those lines…

You may think these scholarships are maybe a little out there - but hey, if you have the chance of winning some sum of money for being born on a leap year then why not take advantage of it?

I’ve compiled a list of the 10 weirdest scholarships I have come across:

1.  The Chick and Sophie Major Memorial Duck Calling Contest

This is open to any high school senior in the United States.  You have a chance to win $1,500 if you can make 4 different duck calls:  hail, feed, comeback, and mate.  I’m not even sure what it entails, but hey - if you have that talent to talk like animals??

2.  Patrick Kerr Skateboard Scholarship

One $5,000 scholarship and two subsequent $1,000 scholarships are awarded to skateboarders in high school who are attending a university/college the Fall after high school graduation and maintained a 2.5 GPA throughout high school.

3.  Last Name Scholarships at Specific Schools:

• The Zelp Scholarship - If your last name is “Zelp” and you attend Loyola University in Chicago, you will be provided with a full tuition scholarship for your 4 undergraduate years.
• John Gatling Grant - The North Carolina State University provides a scholarship for students who were born with the surname of Gatling or Gatlin.  If qualified, this scholarship provides up to $9,000 for in-state students and $18,000 for out-of-state students.

4.  Little People of America Scholarship

If you are a member of the Little People of America (LPA) association (must be 4′11” or shorter), here is the scholarship for you.  This organization was founded by Billy Barty, who acted in movies such as Rumpelstiltsken.

5.  Duck Brand Duct Tape Scholarship

Creative?  Future career in fashion design?  If so, maybe you’d like to create your prom dress out of only duct tape?  Enter into this contest and recieve a scholarship for having the most innovative duct tape prom dress!

6.  Starfleet Academy Scholarships

For members of the “Starfleet Academy” - an organization that trains people in Star Trek Trivia.  So if you are a member of this organization, you are in luck!

7.  National Candy Technologists Scholarship Program

Do you love candy?  Who doesn’t?  Though if you are a confectionary genius majoring in food science, chemical science, biological science, or a related area you can apply for this $5,000 scholarship award.

8.  The National Make It Yourself With Wool Scholarship

Want to recieve $2,000 for making wool clothing?  The National Make It Yourself With Wool organization will accept your wool garmet and judge it based on various categories.  Though the winner receives $2,000 and the first runner-up receives $1,000.

9.  American Fire Sprinkler Association Scholarship

Okay, I don’t know much about the fire sprinkler system in my town, but if you do - right an essay on it and submit it to the American Fire Sprinkler Association.  You may be awarded one of the seven $3,000 awards.

10.  LaFontaine Aquatic Entomology Scholarship

So personally, bugs creep me out.  But if you have an interest in water insects you may qualify for this scholarship given by the Federation of Fly Fishers.

And if some of these scholarships are a little TOO out there for you…you can always check into the College Prowler Monthly Scholarship.

If you ever come across a strange scholarship and would like to share it…let us know below!

(photo courtesy of www.flickr.com)

Success in the entertainment business still has a lot to do with luck.  Just watch any of the final episodes of “America’s Got Talent” and you’ll see dozens of people with more raw talent than most megastars who end up being insurance salesmen rather than platinum artists.

No, I’m not saying that Britney Spears didn’t have to work long hours in the studio or workout for hours a day to get to where she is.  I’m just saying that some great talents never catch their break no matter how hard they try.

Luckily social media is empowering millions of these unknown talents by dramatically reducing the barriers to getting “noticed” and gaining widespread appeal.

There’s literally hundreds of examples of existing artists who went mainstream thanks to social media.

One of the best examples on YouTube is Ok Go’s famous video for “Here it Goes Again”

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Diversity.  Is it really necessary?  Does it actually promote not only tolerance, but a happy acceptance?  In this great big melting pot that we are all spinning in, blending together pieces of our own ethnicities and cultural traditions, are we thereby becoming these well-rounded, socially manicured individuals that these institutions of higher learning promise that we’ll be?

Some people seem to think so.  But what does that mean for the skeptics?  Sure, I attend a school in the heart of a major metropolis- thriving on its own eccentricity.  Just yesterday I dropped 25 cents into the cup of a pan handler and casually brushed shoulders with a girl who had green hair and I didn’t have enough fingers and toes to count the piercings on her face.  Does that make me, or even my school, better than someone else- say, someone enrolled in a rural college blanketed with white?  Is a leather jacket better than an argyle sweater?

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Is the daily drone of trudging back and forth for four years to less-than-fascinating classes just not your style?  I hear ya.  Coincidentally, so does the rest of the country.  Online schools are more popular than ever: offering students an educational experience that can be completed more efficiently, while still at the student’s preferred pace, and also give them just as much knowledge and critical skills as conventional universities.

Like the sound of earning your entire degree at home in front of your computer?

Check out these facts:

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