College Jolt

Are you a high school student interested in playing a sport in college? Well, here’s some advice about how to start the whole recruiting process. In my last post, I talked about the Do’s of writing to college coaches, so here is a continuation of that advice, highlighting things to avoid. Writing to college coaches can be really stressful, but here’s some solid advice to make the process a little more manageable.
(more…)

So you’re in high school and interested in playing college sports? Good. Right now, it’s important to get your name out there. Even if you are the next superstar and coaches should be knocking down your front door to sign you, introducing yourself isn’t a bad idea. Sending coaches a letter of introduction, a skills DVD, a player profile, or an invitation to watch you play at a tournament or camp are good ways to get their attention.

I would not recommend sending out anything until at least your freshman year of high school. On the other hand, starting senior year is usually too late. When in doubt, starting earlier is better than later, but keep in mind, that due to NCAA rules, coaches can only reply to what you send them and they cannot contact you on their own in most cases. (There is a difference between DI, DII, DIII, and NAIA institutions in regards to these rules. For further info, check out the NCAA website.)

Here are a few do’s about writing to college coaches:

Do:

• Use a much more formal tone than you usually would, but still sound friendly. You want to convince these people that you are well-educated and respectful.
• Edit! Make sure you don’t have any glaring errors, because that makes it look like you don’t really care. Have multiple people look it over to make sure it has the right tone. Double check (triple check!) that you are sending the right email/letter to the right coach, especially in mass mailings. Many coaches will just delete an email that’s addressed to another coach or disregard anything that mentions another school or has misspellings of their name or the college’s name. Can you really blame them? Wouldn’t you disregard an email they sent you addressed to someone else?
• Be brief and concise. If you’re inviting a coach to watch you play at a tournament, just give them the facts. Who. What. Where. When. Be as specific as you can (include field/court numbers). They just need the information. At the end you can throw in a more friendly “Hope you can make it!” or something like that.
• ALWAYS include your graduation year. That is the most important information that a coach can have about you. There are different rules for how they can talk to seniors vs. juniors vs. sophomores, so help them out. The easiest thing is to put your class year after your name in every email/letter and mention it in the FIRST sentence of an introductory letter.

Sincerely,

Your Name

Class of 2012

• When making player profiles, make the information very easy to read and don’t get too fancy with fonts or graphics. Including a small picture is appropriate, but try to choose a photo where you’re wearing your uniform or playing your sport. No glamour shots, please.
• Fill out interest forms. Most sports will have forms that you can fill out right on their website. Filling these out puts you in their database, indicates a specific interest in their school, and makes sure that all of your information has made it to them and is accurate.

As your name gets out and you go to more tournaments, you’ll receive mail/emails/calls from various coaches. Some of these places you’ve probably never heard of, but look into them. You never know where and how you’ll find the right school, and it never hurts to check it out. Also, don’t forget that the sports team and the coach are only a small part of the school. It’s important to make sure that you’ll fit in as a student and a person as well.

Look for Part II: “The Don’t of Writing to College Coaches” coming soon.

Pictures are courtesy of Google Images. The author played 2 years of varsity softball in college and has worked in the Athletic Office for 3 years.

Planning for your first year of college, or a returning sophomore, junior, or senior?  Healthy eating should be one of your main priorities.  Planning is key when thinking about college cooking.  You may only have a microwave at your disposal, and Ramen noodles get old.  Fast.  Here are some great college recipes that anyone can cook, even if you’re living in a dorm room!

Want a great dinner?  Try this Mexican Manicotti from www.microwaverecipe.net!  You’ll need:

• large microwave-safe bowl
• large microwave-safe casserole dish
• 1 pound ground turkey (or beef, if you really like beef)
• 1 diced onion (try a yellow one!)
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 can refried beans
• 1/2 tablespoon cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon paprika
• 1 8-oz package of manicotti noodles
• 1 cup water
• 1 3/4 cups salsa
• 1 cup sour cream (if desired)
• 1/2 cup shredded jack cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup black olives, sliced (more…)

Planning for your first year of college, or a returning sophomore, junior, or senior?  Healthy eating should be one of your main priorities.  Planning is key when thinking about college cooking.  You may only have a microwave at your disposal, and Ramen noodles get old.  Fast.  Here are some great college recipes that anyone can cook, even if you’re living in a dorm room!

Need a tasy lunch?  Try making a Cheesy Potato Soup.  You’ll need the following materials to cook this lunch up:

• microwave-safe bowl and microwave-safe plastic wrap
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 large potato, peeled and chopped into cubes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (try wheat to be extra healthy!)
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded mozarella (more…)

Contrary to popular belief (and Hollywood), classes are an important part of a college education. On the one hand, it seems silly to point out that a college student should spend time in classrooms, but on the other hand, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a student on TV or in a movie studying or doing homework, so there you go. I just want to emphasize that on the average college campus, students are indeed encouraged (and sometimes even required) to attend classes, do homework, write papers, take tests, and study. In light of those startling facts, it seems pretty clear that choosing classes and making a semester schedule is an important process and can make a huge difference on your semester (not to mention your grades!). Here are a few things to keep in mind when scheduling:

1. It’s more important WHO’s teaching the class instead of WHAT they are teaching.

(more…)

Part of what makes college an enjoyable experience is meeting new people, and if you’re a guy, you probably want to meet new girls.  Hot girls.  Friendly girls. So where are they? 

College Prowler has graded the females at every school we review, and we’re sharing the results with you!  Just so you know that this isn’t completely shallow (i.e. only based on looks), here’s everything we base these grades on: attractiveness, athleticism, creativity, friendliness, fun, geeky, hardworking, into partying, outgoing, smart, and stuck-up. These grades also take into account student ratings of the social scene on campus and the ratio of males to females in the undergraduate student body.

The Best Girls Go To:

Arizona State University

Student Opinion: “Guys & Ladies at ASU are very attractive for the most part. Many take care of themselves and work out. ASU is a dating campus. Most students enjoy dating and are not necessarily in a serious relationship. ASU students enjoy joining greek life and there are many gatherings that are not class related.” (more…)

Planning for your first year of college, or a returning sophomore, junior, or senior?  Healthy eating should be one of your main priorities.  Planning is key when thinking about college cooking.  You may only have a microwave at your disposal, and Ramen noodles get old.  Fast.  Here are some great college recipes that anyone can cook, even if you’re living in a dorm room!

Need a great breakfast?  Try a Chili Breakfast Puff.  This delicious egg dish has the right amount of cheesiness, with a little chili for spice.  To make, you’ll need the following supplies:

• A 2-quart microwave-safe casserole dish
• 1/4 cup butter (margarine works, too!)
• 6 eggs
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (try wheat if you want to be extra healthy)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup small-curd cottage cheese
• 2 cups shredded jack cheese
• 1 can diced chiles
• Salsa or another spicy sauce as topping (more…)

Transportation needs are often overlooked when picking a college.  Academics, athletics, and facilities all usually rank higher.  But don’t underestimate the availability of good transportation.  When you’re late to class, you want to know you can find a bus pronto!

Luckily, the College Prowler has a staff of experienced students who can rank their campus’s transportation.  They’ve put college buses, shuttles, and roads to the test and come up with a grade.  The following are the schools that scored an A+:

Barnard College

Student Opinion: “The subway is easy.” (more…)

Weather plays a huge part in college life.  Walking to class in the middle of a downpour isn’t exactly desirable.  Neither is slipping on ice, freezing outside, getting a sunburn, or sweating while walking around.  So, picking a college where the weather is tolerable is always a good choice.  Now, everyone’s weather preferences differ.  Some like it hot, some like it cool.  So how do you know where to go?

The student authors at College Prowler are here to help!  Students have ranked and graded the weather on their campuses based on the following criteria: Weather grades are determined based on student reviews of weather on campus, average high and low temperatures during summer and winter, and average summer and winter precipitation amounts..  And here are the results. 

These schools scored an A+ on weather:

Pepperdine University

Student Opinion: “Sixty percent of the time, it is 80 degrees with the sun shining. The other 40 percent is nighttime.” (more…)

Picking a college is hard enough, but for all you “undecideds” out there, picking a major might be even harder. Most students enter college at 18, and how are you supposed to know what you want to do with your life at that age? There are forty-year-olds who still don’t know what they want to do, yet they’re pressuring you to make the tough decisions! Majors 101 is here to help. We’ll break down all of the major options one by one so you don’t have to.

If you’ve ever had an interest in learning a different language, or you are curious about studying the sound patterns and patterns of speech and writing, then a career in languages and linguistics may be for you.  These professionals may work as translators and interpreters, FBI linguists and investigators, foreign service officers, researchers, or teachers, so the career field for these majors is vast. 

As a language major, you may want to study the romance languages – Spanish, Italian, Romanian, French, and Portugueses – or a harder language.  Chinese, especially Mandarin, is always useful, as is German or Sign Language.  As a linguistics major, you’ll study speech and writing patterns.   You may apply this study to identifying authors of ancient documents by comparing patterns of writing and common phrases in different documents.  Or you may use it to study speech patterns in different cultures. (more…)