Education Articles from College Matching Service

It can take just a few minutes to a fill out an application but that application truly represents a few years of preparation. Everything depends on how much time and energy you can invest in the process. If you are genuinely serious about saving thousands of dollars on college tuition bills, then the more time you can spend preparing for the scholarship process, the better. However, it’s never too late to start preparing and organizing your scholarship application. Whether you’re a just a fresh high school pass-out or a senior, you can start organizing and preparing for your scholarship application.

• Pay attention to the Grades: One of the most important things that most scholarship committees require and pay attention to is your grade point average. The grade point average represents the cumulative grades received in all classes you have taken while in high school. If you’re still in school then give yourself a good start and try to attain the best grades possible. Remember that even a couple points on your grade point average can mean the difference between qualifying for a scholarship and just missing the required criteria. Many colleges and scholarship committees like to see improvement over a student’s high school career. So, if you haven’t done so well before then work harder to show the scholarship selection committee that you are motivated and enthusiastic now about your higher education.
• Standardized Test Scores – Many of the colleges and scholarship applications require your SAT score. The SAT score is not like your grade point average, which may be weighted differently at different high schools. Even if your college grades are not too high, your SAT score can make up the difference you will need. Students who receive perfect or very high SAT scores are often given high consideration even if their grade point average is low. Therefore study for the SAT sincerely, take practice tests, consult with friends who have taken the SAT and get going.
• Mention your interests: The selection committee may like to see your commitment an activity or sport that interests you so mention them in your application. Students are usually advised to present a well rounded application showing their involvement in many different programs. You can therefore pick one or two activities or sports that you not only excel at but are passionate about. This will make your scholarship application look much better.

Preparing yourself for a scholarship is of course not an easy task. Just remember that it’s never too late to start organizing your application and paying attention to it. The time and energy you spend now can mean a significant savings during college.

College life is often viewed as a critical turning point in the lives of students. Students across the world look forward to this time in their lives with a lot of excitement coupled with apprehension. Though the life of the students in one country may be in stark contrast to those in another country, there is one aspect that is common to students in all countries and at all times. Here is raised the indispensable issue of note-taking.

For most students, taking down lecture notes is an uninteresting activity; something to be avoided at all costs. However, class notes are indispensable when preparing for exams. Diligent class notes are a great help for distilling key concepts and in last-minute reviews before the exams. They help build the mind for reflection as well. Therefore it becomes necessary to acquire the art of taking down effective notes. Some key points that will help you take good notes are:

1. Record the date, topic/ title and the speaker’s name. Also number your pages

2. Sit in a place from where you can see and hear the speaker clearly. Avoid noisy partners and distractions

3. As an introduction, provide general information about the topic in discussion. State the speaker’s purpose

4. Mark important ideas, terms, concepts and critical information. Underline them or highlight them using asterisk or boxes

5. Write down anything written on the board by the speaker. These are obviously significant ideas, ones that are emphasized and bound to be repeated. Make a note of new words and ideas

6. When the speaker alludes to the text, make a mention of the page numbers in your notes

7. If you are unable to keep up with the speaker, jot down key words and phrases. Leave space for the information that you have missed. You can always check later with the speaker or your classmates to help fill in the gaps

8. Build an attitude of participation. Listen attentively and take careful notes. Keep a record of your ideas relating to the topic in discussion and also make of note of any queries. Ask questions and get your doubts clarified. The speaker will always be ready to help you out

To make effective use of the notes, students must review the notes regularly, read them aloud repeating the key concepts and reflect. These combined will help connect class ideas to the notes and other readings and aid the learning process.

You may consider it impossible to complete your assignment if you have to submit your essay just the next day, and you only have the entire night left .You may bee feeling depressed thinking, how you can start with it, at all.

• Splash water in your eyes if you are feeling sleepy: Be relaxed. Go and splash water in your eyes. Have a cup of hot coffee if you are still feeling sleepy. This will help you to stay awake and concentrate in your work all night.

• Be patient: Do not panic. This will increase your tension. Sort out what you have to do. Plan how you are going to execute the entire essay within next three hours time. Time management with a proper planning can help you to deliver a good essay.

• Meditate for five minutes: To increase concentration at this hour, meditate for five minutes. Close your eyes and try to concentrate.

• Start with your essay writing: Now start your essay writing. Follow the following tips to deliver a good college essay.

• Have a good night sleep: After you have completed with your essay have a good night sleep. Sound sleep is very important to concentrate in your college lessons the next day.

Steps to write a good essay

• Topic selection:

To write a good essay, the first thing you need to do, is to choose a good topic. If the topic is already given to you, then you need not bother about the topic selection. Basically, whatever be the topic, if you can justify it properly then you can compose a good essay, devoid of the subject matter.

• Arrange points:

As soon as you have collected points on a topic, try to arrange them logically. Unless you display your thoughts in a logical manner your essay cannot be a good one.

• Expression:

Use those words which can express your thoughts in the best possible manner.

• Logical progression:

Link up your thoughts and express them rationally. There should be continuity of thought between sentences and paragraphs. Overall, the entire essay should be a complete structure.

If you follow these tips, no wonder you can compose the best essay in your class, within three hours at the night time.

If you are a book lover and miss your high school friends to discuss the one you have recently read, you are not alone. There may be many other students at your college who fall under this category. Thereby, you can conveniently find a few such students and start your own book club. These types of clubs come in many forms and shape. Depending on your preference you can either include all sorts of books or focus on a specific genre.

However, if you are coordinating a book club for the first time, try to keep things a bit loose initially. Besides, you will also have to decide how frequently you will meet and a meeting place for conducting your first meeting. Once these decisions are finalized, start recruiting and pulling your group members together.

The following are some tips on how to start your book club:

• Ask your existing friends and acquaintances if they are interested in joining you or if they know other students with similar interest.

• You can contact the Alumni Association of your high school and find out if any of them are in your college and are interested in discussing books and literature.

• You can also pin up invitation at the college notice board.

• Visit your college’s student forum and post invitation and messages about your book club.

• Contact with your college library and figure out if you can publicize your new book club in their free bulletin board.

• While choosing books, you can either allow each member to take a turn or leave it up to the group as a whole.

• Try to select a discussion leader for each book and allow every member to take a turn. However, the leader needs to keep the discussion rolling as well as bring up new questions and relevant points.

Last but not the least, enjoy yourself. Do not focus too much on organizational details, rather try to enjoy the opportunity to read and discuss the books of your interest.

Many universities and colleges need college entrance essays as a part of the admission applications. The admission officers never accept an application with poorly written essays. If you use simple psychology while writing your college entrance essay, it will become difficult for the administrative officers to reject your application.

Admission essay questions are quite difficult to attempt. Yet, it is essential that you answer all the questions correctly in your essay. The basic question asks students to share their personal information. This allows the selection commission to know a student well – his goals or plans, his philosophy or beliefs, an important incident in his life, his financial condition, etc. Writing college entrance essay allows a student to prove that he is the most deserving candidate.

Things To Remember While College Entrance Essay

• Understand the question clearly. Then list down some appropriate answers to answer the questions.

• Never write a general essay that looks similar to the essays written by other candidates. Any answer you give must uncover something about you to make others think that they know you personally.

• If you face trouble in thinking of new ideas, try to accumulate it from different resources. If anyone has written recommendation letter for you, read it carefully.

• Proofread and check for grammar and spelling mistakes over and over again. Let friends, parents and teachers proofread your college entrance essays.

• Write what you know and understand. Never provide fake information about yourself. You do not need to be a good writer to write down your thoughts.

• Your essay must include concrete examples and specific incidents.

• Never use ambiguous vocabulary just to impress the commission; it will make your college entrance essay look showy and artificial.

• Try to follow the guidelines about things such as essay length and font size. Sometimes, you need to hand-write an essay, and other times you need to type it. Sometimes, your essay is needed in a separate sheet of paper, other times it is needed on application form.

When you are entering a Sorority or Fraternity you need to become friends with the old members. The best way to get introduced and break the ice is to bring in gifts with you. A popular one among the gifts is a paddle. It is regarded as a symbol of entering into a Sorority or Fraternity. So, when you are entering into a Sorority or Fraternity, get a good paddle. Following are the tips that you need to follow while making a paddle.

a) Buying the right kind of paddle: When you are going to buy a paddle you would find that there are lots available in the market. Choose the right one from the various sizes and shapes that are available. General rule is smaller paddles are for girls and bigger paddles are for boys. Also if you want to spray paint it after buying do not go for a finished one. If you want to paint it with a brush then take both finished and unfinished would do.

b) Painting the paddle: Before you start painting keep in mind to buy the right color. However, the colors vary if you are spray painting the paddle. Before you start painting, put the paddle on a newspaper. This will ensure that you do not paint anything else that comes on your way. While you use the spray paint ensure that the spray is evenly spread. If you are not painting any part you cover it up with a duck tape.

c) Letters to be used: It is always better to use stick on letters over the paddles. These letters have adhesive on their backs and come in various shapes and sizes. Choose according to the size of the paddle. You can color these letters with paint markers. These markers come in various colors and therefore choose carefully so that it matches the color of your organization.

d) Personal message: Do not paint the back of the paddle. Instead you write your personal message at the back of the paddle.

These are the basic steps of making a paddle for gift.

Sorority and fraternity are the two divisions of the females and males in colleges and universities. The system of dividing genders originated in Greece. Although chambered, the houses act as a second family to the philandering college students. Since a lot of voluntary activities are done, one cannot stay away from them. This makes them more dutiful and develops their character.

The Greek system in Universities:

The long held social systems in Greek University Campuses are known as Sororities and Fraternities. This is therefore a system which has been devised by the Greeks; but gradually the system made its impact in different places.

Sororities for females and Fraternities for males:

Sororities are generally for females, and Fraternities generally for males – some “sororities” are actually “female fraternities” as defined by their charter. The difference is negligible today although in the past there were differences.

Rampant Sexism in Greek System:

In the Greek system, sexism is quite rampant. According to the report, unofficial attitude which fraternities take toward women is extremely misogynistic. This can be exemplified: as in some groups, people, especially males, pledges for “tagging” female guests; they are labeled either as off limits to other members. There are also some instances of institutional sexism.

Sorority: Titled as bawdy house:

There are many schools which have labeled the sorority houses as “bawdy house”. This is because in the sorority house, all the members are female and live under an ordered title much to the agony of the fraternity house.

Drug and Fraternity :

Although drug is banned in most of the sorority and fraternity houses, in some of the fraternity houses, the practice is till in vogue. Thus in some fraternity houses, taking drug and alcohol is a common practice.

Rush to get chance in Sorority/ Fraternity:

You need to rush in order to get a chance into sorority or fraternity. The next thing that you should do is pledge. After that you shall be finally accepted as a member of that group.

Legacy System in Sorority and Fraternity;

A legacy system is still in vogue in some sorority and fraternity houses. If you have your near relative, like father, mother, sister or brother in any of the houses, then you can get ready entry. This is despised by many members of the house, and they do not honor this system.

Sororities and Fraternities are elitist still:

At present, both the sororities and fraternities are elitist people. Since they gave a Greek foundation, they have a strong sense of snobbery and selectivity in them.

North America and Sorority, Fraternity:

In North America, the primary purpose of this division is development of character and imparting leadership ability. Thus it is employed for a social cause.

Is there any benefit of staying at home? People may think that you are idle and don’t want to do any work! That’s why you prefer to stay back at home.

The case is not so. There are two different types of people; the lazy and the lively. If you belong to the former then you won’t work either at college or at home. If you are lively, then you shall always love to do work.

Staying at home becomes a nice experience for the energetic people. If you have the aptitude for doing work and really believe in yourself, then home is just the right place for you. If you stay at home, then juts follow the tips below:

• Creating a routine: Make a routine for your studies. Making a routine would enable you to divide your time and you can concentrate on each and every paper with care and attention. Dividing the time would be beneficial for your exams as well.
• Don’t mingle in daily hassles: Make sure to stay away from the daily hassles at home. If you interfere in the daily hassles, then you will unnecessarily fall into troubles and find yourself in deep waters. If you mingle in various domestic affairs then you cannot concentrate on your studies.
• Save money: While staying at home, you actually save a lot of money which is required for transportation. The money that you save may serve in course of time to come. So, if you are studying an online course, then the most important benefit is your saving money.
• Relaxation: You can actually relax while doing your work at home. Even if you are studying, options for rest is always open for you. Therefore, studying from home (online education, if you prefer so) would enable you to have a more comfortable and substantial time than going to college and wasting energy and time on transportation.

Parties are great ways to enjoy your life when you are in college. But it is not so easy to immediately know when the next party is happening as soon as you are in college. For this, you need to keep in mind some tips. In this article you will find the tips that you can follow if you want to get into any college party.

1) Get involved in every activity of the college: Try to be a part of almost all the activities in the college. This will help you be in touch with the people who are regulars in college parties. You should be friendly to everyone because you never know who can help you get into a party. A fraternity or a sorority is a obvious choice for joining if they are present in your college. If not then go and join any club or any other organization. The more you mix, more are the chances of getting invitations for going to college parties.

2) Do not get in a college party in big groups: It is always better that you and your friends break up into small groups for getting in to college parties. If you are in a big group, chances are that you might not have the opportunity of getting in.

3) Carry in your own alcohol: It is a smart thing to do because of mainly two reasons. One is that there is a chance of anyone fixing you a drink laced with drugs. Another reason is no one can think that you are too cheap a person who does not want to buy his or her own drinks.

4) Wear the right kind of shoes: It is important to choose your footwear carefully before going to a college party. Parties might be held in dirty basements, then wear those footwear which would not get ruined after a beer party. Do not spoil your expensive shoes.

Follow these tips and you will be a regular in college parties.

If you are reading this article, there are high chances that you are one of those hundreds of students, who would like to pursue higher education for vastly improved career prospects, but are unable to pay the exorbitant fees charged by educational institutions. If this is the case with you, then you have come to the right place. In this article you will get an idea about the loans for education provided by the Government.

Going to the government is a good idea when you are in need of a loan for education, because every year the U.S. Department of Education gives out over $67 billion as educational loans, campus-based aid and grants. Now before we move on to the process of applying for a federal loan, you will need to know the eligibility requirements for getting the loans. They are-

• You should qualify for financial need (some loans do not require this condition to be met)
• You must possess a General Education Development (GED) certificate, diploma from high school or at least a pass a test that has been approved by the U.S. Department of Education
• You must be studying towards earning a degree or a certificate
• The program for which you need the loan, should meet the eligibility requirements set by the U.S. Department of Education
• You must be a citizen of the U.S.A or at least be an eligible non-citizen
• Your past academic performance should have been satisfactory
• You should not have been convicted under the state or federal law for the possession or sales of drugs

Moving on to the actual process of application, you should visit the website of “Free Application for Federal Student Aid” or FAFSA (www.fafsa.ed.gov ). From there you can apply for all kinds of loans, campus based student aid programs and grants. You will find instructions that would guide you through all the required steps and processes. The process of application is divided into three parts:-

• Gathering all the documents and information required for the application process
• Filling your FAFSA in seven steps that would require you to provide details about your school plans, financial information among others
• After having filled up your FAFSA you can periodically visit the website to get various information like the status of your application, the student aid report among others

Tags: Education, Government Loans, loans