Peter Thiel and the Higher Education "Bubble"

Pst...Peter Thiel thinks we're all wasting our time on this college thing. Image courtesy of Techcrunch and licensed under CC 2.0

By now, many of you have read Peter Thiel's thoughts on higher education that have been making the rounds on the internet all week. Thiel, the billionaire founder of PayPal and early investor in Facebook is certainly an intelligent man, but let's remember that his specialty is in entrepreneurship, so it's not surprising that he'd evangelize the concept of dropping out of school to start a business.  That being said, let's deconstruct the two main points his argument.

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Recharge Yourself To Power Through the End of the Semester

I wish it was this easy to recharge my brain's batteries... Photo courtesy of matsuyuki. Licensed under CC BY-2.0.

I don’t know about y’all but this is the time in the semester when I am absolutely exhausted. I’m managing my schedule for next year to make sure I have the right credits to graduate (damn you science credit), trying to find an apartment, worrying about internships offers, applying for leadership positions on campus, and then there are those darn classes that are always getting in the way of college life. Tests, readings, papers, rewriting those papers. Just thinking about all the stuff on my plate makes my brain ache. Ugh.

However, there are still several weeks left in the semester and so giving up now just isn’t an option. So I’ve been looking for ways to keep myself motivated and energized through this last big push of the semester, and I’ve found a few interesting tips to help those of us who feel the weight of the semester crashing down on our shoulders.

Identify “Energy Zappers”

One good thing to do is to identify the things in your routine that are bringing you down and sucking out all of your energy. Click through to see some examples.

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Five Favorite Free Programs

This software is free as in "freedom" and as in "beer." Score! Image courtesy of Flickr user Lisa B. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 I just recently upgraded my Mac to OS 10.6, and I griped the whole time about having to pay $25 to do so. It was at that point that I realized that there are maybe three pieces of software I pay for, ever--a premium Evernote account, a Cinch license, and the OS itself. The rest of my computing load is done via freeware. With that in mind, here are my favorite free software projects which come in handy as a student.

1. OpenOffice: People have mixed feelings about OpenOffice (and Shep has relied primarily on GoogleDocs for his year without Microsoft Office), but this is my workhorse for churning out papers. It allows me to tweak the formatting as much as I need, which is why I prefer it to any internet-based text editor. It can run slowly and is sometimes finicky, but the very occasional trouble I have with it is more than worth the ability to edit papers without having to buy software upgrades. Impress, the OO version of Powerpoint, works fine for the very basic powerpoint creation that I have to do in my life. There are also clones for Excel and the rest of the Microsoft Office suite, but I hardly ever use them. If you're in the 90% of the student population that just uses your productivity suite to churn out papers and powerpoints, OpenOffice is great.

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Guest Post: 5 Social Sites that Students Need to Try

Grab your friends and check out these sites that can help you with homework, registration, or even finding a job. Photo courtesy of Flickr user Nic's Events and licensed under CC by SA 2.0

Today's guest post is fom Lior Levin, a student at Tel-Aviv University and marketing consultatnt at the MA in Israel Security Studies and Political Science programs. He has some great sites for students, many of which you may not have heard of yet.

Every student could use a little help to make it through college. In this connected world, there's no better place to look for that help an online. Luckily, there are dozens of social media sites geared specifically to students. Here are our picks for the five social media sites every student should join.

1. RateMyProfessors

Rate My Professors provides a great way to check out the classes you plan to take, the books you will use and, most importantly, the professors who will teach you. It is the internet's largest listing of college professors. There are more than 1 million professors in the database and they have received more than 11 million student ratings. Best of all, it's absolutely free. Students always checking professors with other students -- this site just make the process easier. It's a wonderful way to make sure that you have a smooth ride through college with only the best classes and professors.

2. CampusBug

CampusBug provides homework help for students. It calls itself a social learning network which combines educational and social networking tools. It's a huge information sharing community where you can meet students from all over the world, share photos, upload blog posts as well as get help with tests. While the site has its fair share of spam, there is also a lot of useful information in the wiki categorized by tags and labels.

Read on for the rest of the list!

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Track Your Progress with Grades 2

In my experience, most iPhone apps designed to help students manage their lives are a waste of time. I'm happy to say that Grades 2, which came out earlier this week, is an exception. 

The app itself is quite simple. You add the courses you're taking, use your syllabus to fill in all of its assignments and their weights, and then you feed the app your grades as the semester progresses. Grades 2 then averages your scores and tells you your current grade, semester GPA, and even what scores you need on upcoming assignment to achieve your targeted final grade. For added convenience, you can also add due dates and sub-grades. 

The interface is, quite honestly, one of the best I've seen on iOS, and I love that it just does one thing well.  Too many student-centric apps try to completely replace your workflow with calendars, GTD task lists, and tons of other features you probably don't need. Grades 2 simply keeps track of your grades, and it does it quite well. Downloading it will even earn you some feel-good points, as it's designed and marketed by Jeremy and Josh Olson, two brothers currently enrolled at UNC Charlotte. An app by students, for students is something I think we can all get behind. 

Grades 2 is free and ad-supported, but ads can be permanently removed with a $1 in-app purchase.

How to Conquer Anxiety About Your Big Day

Anxiety can run high before your big moment. Are you prepared? Image courtesy of Flickr user SashaW and licensed under CC by 2.0

Yesterday was a big day for me. Yesterday I directed my first episode of one of Trinity’s TV shows. Yes, yes, please hold your applause for my awesomeness. I know, you just can’t help yourself. It was a big deal to me to direct this episode because we film live. If something goes wrong, it will be broadcasted all over campus for all to see. I felt like there was a lot of pressure for me to get everything perfect.

As a first time director, I was pretty nervous. I was in charge of what was on air for an entire half hour. Thinking about how many things could go wrong just made me more and more nervous. What if the cameras screw up? What if the teleprompter stops working? What if no one understand what I’m saying? What if I say the wrong thing? The world will positively end. However, yesterday came, the show aired, and here I am today, still alive from the potentially tragic event.

Getting your shot at doing something monumental is one of the best, most terrifying feelings. Whether you’re directing a play, being the lead actress, or giving a speech, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with nervousness and fear that you might mess up your first time at doing something. However, there are a few things to keep in the back of your mind that can keep yourself grounded as you prepare for your moment of awesomeness.

Read on to find out what they are!

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Guest Post: Communicating Your Crisis

Not feeling up to class? Be sure you communicate well with your professors. Image courtesy of Flickr user Alicia Nijdam and licensed under CC by 2.0Erin Breedlove is back again with a follow-up to her last guest post about surviving college when you're sick, be it a cold or chronic illness.  Remember to check her out at her blog: Healthy, Unwealthy, and Becoming Wise.

Last week, we discussed surviving school in the face of sickness, but what happens if you are really just too sick to go to class? What do you do?

For me, and I’m sure many other college students, communication with professors has always been crucial when I’ve got what seems like a crisis situation. But how do I write that e-mail, make that phone call, or show up at that office door confident that the professor will understand the situation? Here are four simple steps that may help you to easily communicate with your professors to, in essence, avert your “crisis”.

Keep in mind whether or not the “crisis” is a recurring issue. If the situation you’re dealing with causes you, or will cause you, to miss class frequently or regularly, be prepared with background information for your professor. Expect to give some anecdotal information and recount experiences where the current issue has previously affected your academic performance. Ask about ways that you can compensate and make the “crisis” work for you, despite academic requirements set forth by the professor in the syllabus or otherwise? For example, if a class meets Monday and Wednesday, and you’ve got an assignment due Tuesday, it may be possible for you to turn in the assignment on Wednesday at the beginning of class if that works for you and for the professor.  The key here is to simply be as flexible as possible. Understand that any accommodation your professor allows is, in most cases, in concordance with the law, but often, it’s an act of generosity.

Read on for more tips!

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Review: Virgin Mobile's Beyond Talk Plan

Phone service and beer: two great tastes that go great together. Image courtesy of Flickr user Jose Betancur. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

I recently made the decision to jump ship on my family's cell plan with Verizon. It was a perfectly fine plan and the reception was great, but I was looking more and more for a phone with data capacity and my parents didn't want to pay for it (understandable, given that Verizon is crazy expensive). Given that my contract expired last month and my dumbphone's case was so beat up that the battery routinely fell out when you picked it up, it seemed like a good time to go.

The situation: In looking for my new plan, I wanted unlimited text, a high data cap, and the ability to cancel service easily since I plan to spend half of next year in Senegal. I also wanted it to be cheap. After shopping around, I went with Virgin Mobile's Beyond Talk plan. For $25 a month ($27 with taxes) and no contract, I get unlimited text, web, and data and 300 minutes. You buy the phone from them, so that was an additional $150. I went with the Optimus V, which is a low-end Android phone.

The bad: The plan isn't perfect. Particularly in rural Georgia, where I spend most of the year, the Sprint service that the phone piggybacks off of isn't great. The phone took over a week to ship, and it didn't ship with a tracking number. The Virgin Mobile website, though usable, is a bit of a pain and setting up payment for the first time is more confusing than it should be--I managed to pay two months' worth of bills rather than the one that I had intended.

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