Category: Common

It’s been found recently that the number of college students who aren’t able to contribute to their tuition is growing rapidly. With more adult students than ever before attending college while having families, independent students are in need of a great deal of financial aid and often can’t contribute to their own education.

This is scary! How many students will be forced to drop out of college due to lack of funding? Jobs are scarce, the economy is down, and things have gotten worse and worse since 2008. Wealthier colleges are assisting all the needy students they can. Other colleges are going broke because they have to provide financial aid to more students.

In the global sense, our efforts to get ahead educationally is threatened by the lack of funding and help for students. They will end up being denied the opportunity for a higher education not because of lack of ability but because of financial need.

So what are some solutions for some of the nation’s needier students? Of course there are several, but some of the most successful ways are also the most difficult and require a lot of extra work. Let’s go over some ways to raise money for college students, and ways to earn scholarships and find out about your college’s merit and other grant programs.

ChipIn.com

This is one of several fundraising web sites online that allow people to create a cause and raise money for it. You can also sell small things like trinkets with this site, like another college student did. She’s raising money for college because she isn’t eligible for financial aid. By utilizing this web site, a student (or a non-profit, or whoever) is able to raise funds for their cause and collect through donations.

Work Your Way Through

Obviously this works better in an economy that has more jobs. But these days, you can make money over the internet doing virtually anything. Even if you don’t have that much experience online, work is available… all it takes is some research and figuring out what you’re good at that you can do online. For some its affiliate marketing, for some it’s freelance writing or design… but if you have a skill that can be used to provide a service long-distance, then freelancing could be a viable option for you.

You could also go try to find a part-time job at a local business or store or restaurant… but honestly, that may or may not work, especially depending on where you live. If you’re a rural student online then the possibilities are pretty slim.

Win Scholarships

This, of course, is an excellent way to help pay for college. Winning scholarships is free, requires some effort but not too much, and there are a whole bunch of them that you can apply for. Sites such as Cappex and Zinch specialize in matching students and scholarships, so it’s becoming easier and easier to apply for and win scholarships on a regular basis. Some of them are smaller, some of them larger, but many of them are achievable by many people. Some companies even have a weekly scholarship.

The days of gliding by are gone. If you’re like me and your financial aid runs out, you have to begin considering these other options. My financial aid will be gone as of June… I will have no choice but to win scholarships or pay out-of-pocket.

The last – and least desirable option:

Private Loans

The problem with private loans is that interest is often not fixed, so you could end up paying back twice what you owe, sometimes even more. If you get a loan with a co-signer, your co-signer will then take responsibility if you can’t. I really prefer not to use this option… which is why I’m so grateful to be able to apply for scholarships as well as have my parents’ help when needed.

Unfortunately, a lot of other independent students don’t have the option to fall back on their parents.

That’s why scholarships are so important. For me, a thousand dollars pays for my tuition and books for a class. If I consistently apply for scholarships on a weekly basis, there’s a good chance that I’ll be able to win enough to pay for college. My education is important to me… I don’t want to have to miss out on it because of a lack of funding. Working hard to accomplish this will be more than worth it.

Know Where You’re Going or You’re Already There: Selecting Your College and Degree is a free ebook put out to address the plethora of concerns facing the soon-to-be college freshman. From deciding what you want to do in college to how to pay for it, this ebook is an invaluable resource for high school seniors and parents of any nationality looking to further their education in the United States. This ebook will take you through all of the necessary steps to get yourself into the institution that is the best fit, starting with readying yourself to apply, researching schools, and ending with how to find funding for your education.

Readying yourself for the application process consists of many steps, from meeting with your high school counselor, studying for and taking the SAT, choosing the right kind of institution that will best suite your needs, and learning how to fill out an application correctly. While these steps may seem easy, that is not necessarily the case. Our ebook provides a great reference guide should you get stuck anywhere in this pre-application process. It answers questions like:

Who can help me narrow down my choice of colleges to institutions that will suit me academically, as well as emotionally?

How is the SAT divided up and who scores this test?

Do I have to stay to the word limit on my college application?

And many more…

Researching college institutions can be a daunting process. To do so effectively, you need to not only know what questions to ask, you need to know the importance of how institutions respond to these questions, as well. Our ebook explains the importance of a school’s reputation, as well as stresses the importance of knowing any given institution’s policy on international students and students with physical and/or learning disabilities. It is important to know that all universities are not created equal, and our ebook will help you weigh various colleges against each other. You will learn the answers to important questions, such as:

How important is a college’s academic reputation?

How do I find out about the professorial staff of a college?

Do I have to tell my potential college about my learning disability?

And many more…

Higher education is expensive, especially if you don’t know how to access monies available to students to assist in the cost. It is important that you know what you’re financial obligation will be upon enrolling school, as well as what it will be once you have graduated. Our ebook clearly explains the difference between federal and state grants, need-based and academic scholarships, and loans to help you along the path to fund your education.

Nervous about beginning your college search? Look no further than our free ebook, Know Where You’re Going or You’re Already There: Selecting Your College and Degree!

In this past week, we have been looking at the different types of student organizations, from nationally recognized to major-specific to interest-specific. What if, however, you have browsed the student organizations at your school and have yet to find one that you want to belong to? Or maybe you already belong to an organization, but feel like there needs to be another one to fill a particular void. The answer: start your own organization! Every student organization was started by people who felt the way you do and it is important to remember that an organization does not have to be well established to make an impact. Today, we will be looking at how to start your own organization and look at how to find people with similar interests, how to create a mission statement for your group, and how to establish a solid membership base.

Step One: How to Find People Let’s say you feel like your school doesn’t do enough outreach to the elderly community in the city in which it’s located and you think there should be an organization that goes to nursing homes once a month to read to residents. You have spoken with some of your friends about this and they agree. Where do you go from here? Start by making fliers and posting them in high-traffic areas on campus, such as advisory offices and your major’s office. Give a brief–and by brief, I mean a sentence or two–about what you hope to do and list your email for folks that are interested. Or, ask your major’s office to send out a bulk email with the same information. This is a great way to find people and chances are, if you feel like something should be done for the community, other people do to.

Step Two: Building a Mission Statement Once you have received a response, set up a time for all respondents to meet in a casual atmosphere to talk over different possibilities of how the group should operate. Make sure that all ideas are written down and discussed thoroughly. Discuss how you want the group to operate and what the mission should be. Your goal at the end of this meeting should be to come up with a mission that all members endorse and to set a rough schedule for future meetings.

Step Three: Retaining Members Often, this is the place where fledgling organizations fall apart. This can be avoided if one simple thing is kept in mind. People want to feel like they are part of the decision-making process of anything they are involved in. Be sure that you allow members full input and instigate some sort of voting system for new ideas. Everyone should feel like they are involved in an open forum and that everyone has equal power to contribute to the group’s progress and movement. This can be done in person or by email, but communication must remain open for members to feel involved and remain involved!

Remember, anyone can start a successful student organization with the right tools and attitude!

The Royal Library of Alexandria possessed one of the greatest collections of papyrus scrolls of its time. Destroyed by fire, the history of its demise is surrounded in mystery. But there is still a great deal that historians do know about this ancient center of learning.

The library was built in the third century BCE in Alexandria, Egypt by Ptolemy II. Alexandria was the capital of the last Pharaonic dynasty. It was attached to a temple of the muses known as the Museion in Greek. This was probably a research center that concentrated on editing texts. This was an important work because of the variety of editions of a single text. A smaller library was attached to the main library and known as the Serapeum because of its dedication to the Greek god Serapis.

The Royal Library was situated in what was known as the Bruchion, the palace quarter of the city. Recent excavations undertaken by an Egyptian-Polish team have uncovered extensive sites, thirteen large halls in all, each with a podium in their center and large enough to hold five thousand scholars. This is the first discovery of its kind in the Mediterranean region.

The scrolls, several of which formed one text, numbered in the hundreds of thousands although no one can be completely certain of the actual number. What is certain is that they were destroyed when disaster struck the library and it burned to the ground. How this happened and who was responsible has been the subject of controversy and myth.

The Usual Suspects

There are three accounts of the destruction of the Royal library and each blames rivals. Politics and religion play the main role in this story. Of the three suspects Julius Caesar is a more likely candidate than either Theophilus, the Bishop of Alexandria during troubled times in 391CE, or the Muslim Caliph Umar in 642 CE. The evidence for all these reports is unsound.

Some hail the Royal Library together with the Museion and the Serapion as the oldest university in the world and the seat of Western science. That may be wishful thinking for, as Wikipedia tells, “Nalanda University, founded in Bihar, India around the fifth century BC conferred academic degree titles to its graduates, while also offering post-graduate courses.” This is just one of many ancient universities where scholars and students have gathered from near and far away for the purpose of study and learning. Today a new library stands in commemoration of the Royal Library. It is the Bibliotheca Alexandrina of the University of Alexandria and has space for eight million books.

When I was younger, I used to be completely rebellious against school. I figured college would be as pointless as high school was to me, especially since I didn’t want to go into nursing or medical billing or anything like that. My goal was always to be a rock star, a writer, or both.

Well, lo and behold, I ended up going to college anyway once I realized how competitive the job market is and how awesome it feels to have bragging rights about your GPA. If you manage to pull off a 3.5 or higher throughout your college career, you’ve got it made! That’s just one more thing to put on your resume that makes you look good!

Once I started attending college online, I realized the value of it. I couldn’t believe that I was learning so much, connecting with like-minded people, and getting genuine feedback on my work, all from the comfort of my home office. I immediately fell in love, even though I was studying something I had just started developing an interest in.

The point is, no matter what you’re interested in or how insecure you feel about not knowing what to do or where to go, the first hurdle to overcome on that journey is to just do it. Nike was so right.

So, what’s holding you back? Do you think there are answers to your questions? Or are you just kind of floating along, waiting for the answers to fall into your lap out of the sky somewhere?

The way we can damage ourselves is astonishing. It’s been said that you can talk yourself out of anything – which is extremely true – so my mission back before I started college was to stop talking myself out of things and start encouraging myself. I could make up one excuse after another all day long, but at the end of the day, I was still the same loser from that morning, with debt collectors calling every day and no job to make ends meet.

It would be so cool to have a little teleportation-looking machine to jump into for on-the-spot attitude adjustments, wouldn’t it?

If you’re serious about a career, about life, and about furthering your education and bettering yourself as a person, then you owe it to yourself to at least get information about attending school.  If I hadn’t finally just done it, I would still be unemployed and living with my parents. It’s a life decision, and life is meant to be lived, enjoyed, and savored! Do everything you can to make that happen.

Do you have gaps in your employment? One of the specific things that recruiters look at is whether or not you have large empty spaces of time between jobs. If you do, this may be a red flag. Of course, if you have gaps in your resume, you should never lie and eliminate them. Simply know that this may be something brought up in an interview. Have an answer ready for them as to why you were unemployed for any length of time. Be honest. Reassure them that you are serious about the job and do not plan on quitting it any time soon.

Were you in one position for many years, with no show of advancement or added responsibilities? If you have been at a job for a great length of time and your resume does not reflect advancement, this may be a red flag for a recruiter. Again, do not lie, but be prepared to answer any questions about this in a job interview. If you did advance, but there is no change in job title, reflect the added responsibilities in your descriptions about job tasks. Highlight any promotions or advancements in responsibilities or tasks.

Do you have the right skills for the job? Make sure that the skills that the recruiter is looking for and the ones that you have are reflected in your resume. Concrete tasks and quantifiable results are important to add when possible. Read the job ad and make sure that key terms and tasks that they identify and you possess are in that resume. Generic resumes are not well-liked. You want to tailor your resume to the job posting as much as possible.

When looking at your resume, recruiters are looking for gaps in employment, proof of advancement, and skills necessary to perform the job. Knowing this, you can easily tailor your resume to reflect what the recruiter is looking for. Do not lie on the resume, but be able to defend any gaps or lack of advancement in the interview. Do not put down the reasons for the gaps or lack of advancement in the resume itself, as generally, this personal information can further highlight any negative perceptions. In other words, the resume is not the place to defend yourself. It is critical that you know the job that you are applying for and that you know the company and what is expected of you in terms of the job role and you reflect this in your resume.

Student organizations are a great way to enhance your college experience. Through involvement in student organizations, you can meet people you might not otherwise, bolster your academic profile, and gain important leadership experience. We have spent the past few posts looking at the benefits of nationally recognized student organizations. Today, we will begin looking at student organizations through the university you attend whose membership is based on major.

Chances are your declared major has an undergraduate student organization. These organizations are usually run by students of the major with one or two faculty advisers. Unlike national organizations, these tend to be smaller and more specifically suited to their members’ interests and concerns. Because these organizations are based on major, they are a great way to foster relationships with people within your major and with faculty. While this might not seem all that important, these relationships are crucial upon graduation–both for professional growth and graduate school applications.

The only requirement for these type of student organizations is a major (or sometimes even a minor) in the discipline. While many people join as underclassmen, membership is open and available to you throughout your time in college. Because these organizations are smaller than their national counterparts, it is often easier to secure leadership positions as your time within the major lengthens. Remember, leadership positions are not only important while you are in school, they also give you an advantage when moving from college into the professional or graduate school world.

If you have yet to be invited to your major’s student organization, seek it out. Get on your department’s website or talk to your adviser. Often this kind of organization requires you to be a little more pro-active, but it will be worth it!

Last week, I wrote about the five majors with the highest unemployment rate. This week, it’s time to look at some majors that have a high employment rate!

I want to cover the five most employable majors in this post, so if your goal is to be highly employable and get a career in a field that offers people a great deal of success, then read on!

Some of these careers and majors are absolutely amazing, with a 0% unemployment rate and the ability to span across several different industries. Some of these careers and majors are extremely specialized – so let’s see which majors have the best employment rates!

5. Geological and Geophysical Engineering

This major has a 0% unemployment rate and involves learning about the earth’s various types of ground, rocks, and evaluating sites for resources that may be present. You learn to apply physics to the study of building foundations, drilling for resources, and many other aspects of building and drilling as well as designing ways to build on ground that may not be the sturdiest. You also learn about the effects of earthquakes on the earth’s surface and how this affects the region involved.

4. School Student Counseling

Another 0% unemployment major, a student counselor is present in high schools across the country to help teens with their problems. Beyond that, student counselors are there to provide students with the best possible help in all areas to ensure that each student has the best possible educational experience. Student counselors often work with individual students, teachers, and parents to prevent or solve an issue the student may be having. Things such as interventions and reactive actions come about when a student does something particularly harmful or gets into a pattern of self-damaging habits.

3. Educational Administration and Supervision

Another 0% unemployment rate field, Educational Administration and Supervision prepares leaders in the educational field to apply their knowledge in the development and improvement of educational systems, schools, and communities. An ambitious field, the requirements involve successful teaching and a Master’s of Science degree in Educational Administration. An important aspect to any educational system and institution, these highly-educated and trained individuals impact the way education is delivered to students and communities.

2. Pharmacology

Pharmacology is the study of the interaction of drugs or pharmaceuticals that occur between biological systems and the drugs themselves. These interactions are important in determining ingredients for medication, vitamins, supplements, and treatment of various ailments. A very behind-the-scenes field, Pharmacology also has an unemployment rate of 0% and plays an important role in the medical field in the developmental stages of medicine and treatments.

1. Actuarial Science

Actuaries work in the field of risk management, employed by insurance companies, financial institutions, and government agencies to determine risk, plan for it, and creatively solve problems that could occur in the business or financial world. This field also has a 0% unemployment rate and is projected to grow substantially over the course of the next few years as society and culture becomes more complex. Because the way we do things is advancing every year, risk management and problems that can come up are becoming more complex and need creative and innovative problem-solvers to deal with them.

As you can see, there are a good, solid handful of careers with a 0% unemployment rate. To view a full list of the most employable majors from The Huffington Post, check out their original slideshow of employable majors. Though not all of them are at 0%, some of these career fields include nursing, astrophysics, meteorology, and environmental sciences.

Some fields are more difficult to find schooling for while others have a vast array of possibilities. For optimal convenience, many colleges offer online degree programs, especially for things such as nursing and even some of the scientific fields. To read about some of the best online programs, you can begin by checking out a Kaplan University online review, or simply go to your favorite web browser to find the best online colleges and programs.

If any of these fields interest you or sound like the right path for you, don’t hesitate to get more information! It’s the only way to determine if this is the right choice for you.

Happy learning!

The House of Wisdom in Baghdad

University education is not new. The Bayt al-Hikmah, a centre of learning and translation, was founded by the Caliph Al-Ma’mun and his father, Harun ar-Rashid in the ninth century C.E. Islam had spread rapidly from the seventh century onwards and the genius of the new Muslim rulers lay in the fact that instead of destroying what they found they built on it and thereby laid the foundations for the flowering of a new synthesis of ancient skills and knowledge with the insights of Islam. Later, in the region of Al-Andalus, this was to lead to an unprecedented progress in the arts and sciences as well as metaphysical philosophy and pave the way for the Renaissance in Europe. The Bayt al-Hikmah was a pivotal mover in this history as it was here that the activity of translating ancient and invaluable documents was begun.

Origins of the Bayt al-Hikmah

The building of the Bayt al-Hikmah (House of Wisdom) was begun by the Abbasid Caliphs under the Caliph Harun ar-Rashid at the beginning of the ninth century. The library was originally founded on the collection of scientific works from his grand father, his father, and himself. His son, Al-Ma’mun, gave the project a new and significant momentum by inviting translators to pursue a project which involved the translating into Arabic of essential texts written in a variety of languages such as Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Farsi, and Latin. Al-Ma’mun divided the Bayt al-Hikmah into departments for each of the sciences and scholars from all disciplines met and worked within its walls. It was under Al-Ma’mun that the works of Aristotle were translated which through the Arabic editions were later to become available to European scholars.

The Terrible End of the Bayt al-Hikmah

In 1258 the brutal invasion of the Islamic heartlands by the Mongols reached the capital of Baghdad. The Caliphate was destroyed and the Bayt al-Hikmah fared no better. The mass destruction of its treasured library reduced the collection to pulp. Baghdad had been the centre of a golden age of Islamic Civilization with far-reaching influence in the arts and sciences. The last Abbasid Caliph was killed under the command of Hulegu and the scholars at the Bayt al-Hikmah also came under the swords of the invaders.

The Heritage of the Bayt al-Hikmah

Scholars of many faiths and cultures worked in Baghdad at the Bayt al-Hikmah and their work was not lost. The translations of the Greek texts, the medical, astronomical, mathematical, and optical discoveries of generations of scholars, informed scientific progress across the Muslim lands, through Al-Andalus and into Europe for centuries.

One of the greatest universities of ancient times was the Buddhist University of Nalanda near Bihar, India. A lot of the information on this centre of Buddhist learning comes to us through the writings of a Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, and traveller, Xuanzang.

As far as can be ascertained, it is believed that the university at Nalanda was built by the Gupta emperors in 450 CE. It consisted of separate compounds with dormitories, temples, and lecture halls. With over ten thousand students and two thousand lecturers, Nalanda was famed for its learning across South-East Asia, Tibet, Turkey, Iran, and China. Nalanda was already known as a place visited by the Buddha in 500 BCE so it was fitting that as an institution of Buddhist scholarship its influence proved to be significant to the Buddhist world. It is said that Mahayana Buddhism has its origins in Nalanda and Tibetan Buddhism was greatly influenced by scholars who taught at Nalanda together with the traditions of the Tibetan Bon religion.

One of the major activities in the nine story library was the copying of important texts and when Xuanzang returned to China after his seventeen year sojourn in India he took hundreds of Sanskrit texts with him plus translations of Buddhist texts. Translation was yet another activity of this formidable scholar.

The subjects taught at Nalanda also covered philosophy, grammar, medicine, and mathematics as well as Buddhist and Vedic texts. The area has been excavated and a museum built to house many of the artefacts found. These include statues of the Buddha, coins, and inscriptions. Although the excavated area covers many thousand square meters the writings of Xuanzang suggest an even larger extent of the university still remains unexcavated. The decline of Buddhism in India is related by historians to the demise of Nalanda which was destroyed by Turkic invaders in 1193 CE. Today a plan is in progress, instigated by Japan, to build a new, international university close to the site of the ancient university.