More Effective Scheduling Help Than Rate My Professor

Know what you're getting into. Image via Flickr User DavidSilver under CC 2.0.Ya know what'd be really nice? Knowing what work is expected of me for a class prior to committing to it during scheduling season. Unfortunately, students have to do some serious forensic work to decide what classes are best for them. That's lame.

Here are two tips to make the best schedule possible with out having to drop any classes after the semester starts. Because who needs that grief?

Obtain A Syllabus

Looking on sites like CourseHero, Koofers, or StudyBlue where students gain access to the site by the amount of content they post. Syllabi are easiest for students to post, so it's likely that there will be some there.

After receiving said syllabi, look over them to see what kind of work they entail. Is it a lot of reading, or just a ton of high school busywork? Is the teacher a hard ass about attendance? These are all questions that can be answer by having this packet.

You might be saying to yourself, "That Mike doesn't know what he's talking about, I'm just going to go on to Rate My Professor to find out how easy this class is." Okay, let me explain this a little more.

While a site rating professors sounds like a good idea in theory, you don't know the people who are rating that poor shlub. The students who go on to this site might have been the only person to have a bad experience with said professor. The students who enjoyed his/her class might not have wrote a review because they were content with the experience they had.

Plus, going by what the syllabus say about the professor will hold up more than John "No Work Ethic" Shmoe on Rate My Professor because it is a binding document. The professor has to do what they say in the syllabus.

Use Friends Experiences as Case Studies

Now, you're thinking, "Mike, what the hell do I do! I can't find a syllabus for this class anywhere." In this case I would like to refer you back to another post, one that shows how friendliness be the best thing for you at college.

If you build a network of people, especially within your major, you'll be able to find out much more concrete information about what happened to your classmates when they ventured into your prospective classroom before you did. So, while this is similar to a site I've mentioned beforehand, it's possible you will find more detailed accounts of experiences with professors by actually having a conversation with someone about them.

These people you talk to, maybe the ones you study with, will have a better grasp on how similar your learning style is to theirs. This will help them make the judgement call on whether a certain class is good for you or not.

Hopefully you find classes that work well for you next semester. Good luck scheduling!

Has what you read on Rate My Professor not been the case when you walk into class? Comment below to share!

This Week's Best Questions on Discuss Campus - February 20, 2010

Sweet puzzle, dude. Photo by Unhindered by Talent, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

We are continuing to add more rewards to the list over at Discuss Campus. We just added laptop skins for the first 10 people that reach 1,000 reputation points. Best of all, collecting these rewards do not disqualify you for the others. Sweet!

Here are this week's best questions:

What are your favorite time-wasters?

I understand that we college students need to engage in efficient, productive, pro-active activities in order to not live in a box in our later years.

However, I am also part of the school of thought that everyone needs some down-time. My roommate finds herself on Tetris when she needs a mental break while I enjoy the occasional clip from Viral Video Film School.

For those of us who aren't robots and need a break, what do you do?

What's in your first aid/getting sick kit?

Do you have a first aid kit in your apartment/dorm? What stuff do you keep on hand in case you get sick? Anything unexpectedly useful?

How many computers do I need for college life?

Basically I'm going to college next year for the first time, and I own a desktop computer, i.e., the Dell XPS 720. Let's just say it's about the same area of a mini-fridge, and twice as heavy. It's aptly named "Bubba", and plays just about anything.

Anyways, I hope to take this bad boy to college next year, but I also am getting a laptop for in class notes. Since I got a really healthy college tuition break, I hope to get a really nice one, i.e., the 15" Alienware M15x.

Without going much further, should I bring both? ...

Think you've got the answer? Head on over to Discuss Campus and join the discussion!

Be Prepared for A Group Interview

Standing out; you're doing it right. Photo by Flickr User: Amrit... Licensced Under CC 2.0For summer interships, jobs and research oppourtunities, spring is application and interview season. And now that you have a personal brand and resume set up you'll probably score a few interviews with your desired employers.

In this day and age it's a huge accomplishment to even get one interview, you should be prepared for whatever they try to throw your way. Group interviews are a different type of interview than most people are used to. Here are a few pointers in case you aren't caught off guard.

Being prepared is doubly important for group interviews because, it will not only look good to potential employers, it'll keep you calm in a more social (nerve racking) setting.

It's also important to note that while the other applicants and you are competing for a small number of spot, don't make it a competition. When you are answering questions have a tone that sets you apart but don't stomp on the other candidates, especially if you think that you are more qualified.

Another dynamic to group interviews is what qualities interviewers are looking to bring out with this style. The main one is leadership. If you are asked to do any activities in your interview, like team building exercises try to be the leader of the group. But, like I said before, don't stomp on other people in order to get to the top. You don't want the interviewers focusing more on how you became the leader and not your actual leadership abilities.

 Have you ever been in a group interview? What did you think? Comment below to share!

Guest Post: Summer Research Interships

This is apparently bacteria. I'm not quite sure though, consult Mohammad for more information.

This is a guest post by Mohammad Arfeen from Pre-Med Hell where he writes tips for succeeding as a pre-med student. We weren't planning on covering summer research internships since that's outside our expertises, but he offered to pitch in. In this post he writes about finding a summer research internship in the sciences.

What is a Summer Research Internship?

Summer research internships tend to go by many names such as SURF (summer undergraduate research fellowship), REU (research experience for undergrads), summer research fellowships, student summer research and many more names. Some of these programs are funded by various agencies like the NIH, NSF, HHMI, and others, while others are funded by individual universities. The majority of these programs are very similar in that, they tend to focus on hard science research, last approximately 10 weeks, you are required to work full time in research for those 10 weeks, and they are usually attached with a $3200-$5000 stipend. Some programs include housing, while others require you to find your own. Most applications are due by the middle of February to the first week of March, I have seen the occasional program with a application deadline in April, but I would apply early.

Click to read more ...

Your Resume in the 2.0 World

With the recent boom of FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn and as Gary Vaynerchuk puts it, “The Internet as a platform,” your web presence has become more important than ever. Now that business cards have gone digital (or obsolete in my opinion) and networking has been replaced with 140 character messages, the wayImage courtesy of Flickr user Socialisbetter jobs are sought out and obtained has changed dramatically compared to 5 years ago. But what about traditional resumes? Have they become irrelevant? How do you present your experience, skills and accomplishments in the 2.0 world?

LinkedIn - Your Digital Resume

LinkedIn is part digital resume, part social networking site with the goal of connecting with colleagues and potential employers. Upon completion of your profile you’ve essentially created a digital resume with the option of making certain parts public to other users. LinkedIn is perfect for staying connected with co-workers in a semi-professional environment, allowing you to call upon them for references, recommendations or other similar favors. LinkedIn is the future of resumes, make an effort to keep your profile up to date because you never know who will be looking up your profile.

Traditional Resume

Maintaining a well written and up to date resume is important for employers who still go about things the old way. Visit the career office at your campus, most offer free resume tuning. When submitting a resume be sure to attach a cover letter with your resume, without one your application will likely be thrown in the trash without being read. 

Portfolio

Content based jobs are in season, so it’s a good idea to keep a collection of your best work handy to show potential employers. If you’re writer or a blogger it’s easy to keep a collection of your best posts, likewise for web design and programming works. Don’t forget those school projects you rocked, they’re fair game too. Check out Chris’s for a solid example.

Bottom line, If you want to prove you’re the most qualified for a job, it’s best to have a solid resume and a strong command of the social web. Don’t hesitate to network and get your name out there, every little bit helps. 

Good luck in your hunt for internships and summer jobs. Post any tips in the comments.

Back for the Spring - HackCollege S4E1

After a long time. We are back with some video content for your utmost enjoyment. You read correctly, friends. Season 4 will be characterized by shorter, more intense episodes. Just like your college love life. (Happy Valentine's Day!)

Show notes after the jump!

Click to read more ...

"Doing Without" as an Experiment This Month

Today's the first day of Lent -- a forty-day period where Christians traditionally make a sacrifice to better themselves (and overindulge in that vice the day before). Whether you're religious or not, we can all learn a lot from giving something up as an experiment. 

This month's issue of Esquire featured a section called "Doing Without" which focused on giving up different "essentials," like sex, for a month. (Unfortunately, it's not available online, though, the badass designer posted the neat layout online -- pictured here.) We've given up drinking at HackCollege and the writer who did the same for Esquire reaped similar benefits:

Your mood is better; you feel more optimistic. If you're an athlete, you become better at your sport... You work out harder-- and feel better afterward. It's nice, at the end of the night, not to have to think about whether you can drive home or not. You're hungrier, which may be a mixed blessing. You sleep more, not less. And as the month of your estrangement from alcohol winds down, each of the positive effects get a little more pronounced.

Though giving up email or Google (like some of the other Esquire writers did) could impede your productivity, there are other websites you might consider dropping. Cal Newport recently covered a student who gave up Facebook and saw his GPA go up. As Cal puts it: 

Although most students don’t need to leave Facebook, every student should at least give the idea serious consideration. 

Personally, doing without meat for a one-month experiment convinced me to become a vegetarian for the past year. However, I don't think it's saved me any time day-to-day -- unless you count the number of years I will statistically out-live meat-eaters. 

So: Can giving something up make you more productive (or just a better person) this month? Give it some thought. 

"College Will Make You Stupid"

Oh boy! I am giddy. A clip from the Fox News show Fox and Friends unveiled a new study claiming that college "turns you liberal." Oh no! It's the plague! While we don't discuss sex, politics and religion too much on HackCollege, you can probably take a guess as to which way we lean. This video is insulting to the entire higher education system, no matter how flawed it may be.

What starts off as a seemingly alarming statistic (that one third of college students can't name the three branches of the federal government), this clip quickly descends into bullshit. As my roommate Paul puts it, "Fox News proposes that we diversify universities' ideas, while blatantly outlawing one method of thought."

The video is punctuated by quotes such as "What is the answer? How do we fix this?"; "If degrees are more likely to make people support same sex marriage, how do you fix this?" and "Is it better to not go to college at all?" This video seems to be the result of a crunched deadline and a not-too-well-thought-out spin put on things. Usually, even Fox News has more tact than this.

I suppose the only answer now is to drop out to save our "values."

What do you think?