Archive for the 'College Life' Category

Marketing is critical to any business. Colleges and universities are no different.

Each year we are witness to some interesting efforts. For example, last year we were exposed to Harvard by the Numbers:

But in today’s YouTube, mash up world, such marketing videos are ripe
for alteration. No sooner had we been exposed to Harvard by the Numbers, we got this superb parody:

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Now comes the latest from the talented students at Yale University. For a generation smitten by the likes of High School Musical and Glee, it may well be the perfect marketing tool:

While we await the parody that will certainly be forthcoming (though we doubt it will attempt to match the length), it is interesting to see the current reactions making their way around the web.

For many current Yalies, it is, well ‘cringeworthy’.

“Next year’s class is going to be devoid of any serious academic talent,” offers ugh. “What a huge sap on our prestige.”

“This is so embarrassing,” adds whoa while another commenter called Crimson went on to suggest, “This is the best recruiting ploy Harvard ever came up with!”

It gets no better among the college elite. In “That’s Why I Chose” to Ram a Soldering Iron Into My Ears, Bobby Fineman of Ivygate lets loose:

“Oh. my. god. Yale has released a new admissions video called “Why I Chose Yale,” and it is bananas! Rotting, blighted bananas made of earnest on-key singing and poop.”

Ouch.

Zachary Warma at Stanford calls his piece, Hell Hath No Fury Like That of a 16.5-Minute Yale Admissions YouTube Music Video:

“Yale Admissions Office put together what can only be called one of the single greatest abominations ever to hit the intrawebs ……It is unknown whether the worst part is the elitist self-righteousness put into song …….in this incendiary affront to higher education.”

Ouch.

And the ever popular Gawker insists that “one of the Western world’s most prestigious universities has decided to roll out a sixteen minute and forty-nine second-long info movie, much of which involves current students warbling and dancing awkwardly, as most Ivy League dorks are wont to do. No one can ever agree on art. But what we can all agree on is: NERDS!!!!”

The popular site adds this comment from an Eli: “the film’s obsessive coverage of Yale’s social opportunities perfectly reflects the student body’s general trend of trading intellectual vigor for inebriate juvenility.”

Double ouch.

But while many are holding their collective noses, Tweed at the Chronicle blog almost gushes:

“When colleges try to appeal to prospective students through advertisements, they must walk a fine line between legitimate promotion and schmaltzy marketing that opens the way for genius satire.

“With its campy new admissions musical, ‘That’s Why I Chose Yale,’ Yale University proves you really can have it both ways. The video, a song-and-dance sketch that is clearly aimed at the generation weaned on High School Musical, simultaneously winks at its audience while feeding it images of successful, ebullient Elis romping across the campus like the cast of ‘Up With People’.”

Tweed is not alone with praise though Christopher Shea at Brainiac is more reserved and offers simply, “I think it works.” He even titles his little reference, “Yale plays dirty in the college-recruitment game” though he does wonder aloud who did the voice-over for those Yale professors.

What say you our faithful readers – good marketing??

Or??

Each year the Rhodes Trust selects an elite group of American students to represent the United States. These Rhodes Scholarships, “the oldest and best known award for international study,” are likely “the most famous academic award available to American college graduates.”

Chosen in a two-stage process, candidates must first be endorsed by their college or university. Committees of Selection in each of 16 U.S. districts review the applications and then invite the strongest candidates to appear before them for an interview. Selection for the interview is based upon high academic achievement, integrity of character, a spirit of unselfishness, respect for others, potential for leadership, and physical vigor.

This year, from 805 endorsed students, 216 applicants reached the final stage of the competition before the committee chose the 32 Rhodes Scholars recipients.

Today we give readers a chance to hear from one of the recipients for 2009, Caroline Huang of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As with the other Rhodes Scholars selected, Caroline is first and foremost an exceptional student.

A Brain and Cognitive Sciences major and sporting minors in psychology and political science, Caroline is interested in careers involving either health policy or psychology. At Oxford, her doctoral work will examine the ethical and policy implications of specific gene mutations that are linked to increased risk of specific cancers. Caroline wants to research how clinicians can help patients make individualized decisions about genetic testing and the necessary support mechanisms that should be put into place for people who have had or are considering genetic testing.

But in addition to her academic stature, Caroline is the founder of Camp Kesem at MIT, a free, week-long summer camp for kids whose parents have or have had cancer. Having been affected by the destructive power of cancer herself, Caroline epitomizes the Rhodes, spirit of unselfishness, criteria.

Read on to learn about this remarkable young lady, her work with Camp Kesem, her unique club imperfect@MIT, and what it felt like when she learned she had been selected for this prestigious award. When you are done, we are sure you will understand why Caroline was one of the 32 students selected to represent the United States.

As the valedictorian of your high school, you clearly had a lot of options regarding higher education. Can you explain the decision-making process you used to select MIT?

I applied early action to MIT and was fortunate to be accepted in December, which eased the college admissions process considerably. MIT appealed to me because of its hands-on undergraduate research opportunities, the interdisciplinary nature of the Brain and Cognitive Sciences program, and the wide variety of extracurricular projects in which students participated. (For a few examples, I’m helping to teach a trufflemaking class for the Laboratory for Chocolate Science this January, and I became a certified Emergency Medical Technician-Basic through MIT’s student-run ambulance service.)

Additionally, I grew up visiting and enjoying Boston – my mom grew up in North Easton, Mass., and my dad received his S.B., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from MIT, so I loved the idea of being able to explore Boston for four years. Lastly, I’m a huge Boston sports fan, so the idea of attending games and watching the New England Sports Network on a fairly regular basis was exciting.

The other colleges I seriously considered were Duke and Boston University, both of which would have been great choices. In the end, MIT seemed like a better fit.

One of your greatest accomplishments has to be the creation of Camp Kesem MIT. For our readers who are unaware of this nationally affiliated organization, can you explain what Camp Kesem is all about?

Camp Kesem provides a free, week-long summer camp for kids whose parents have or have had cancer. “Kesem” is the Hebrew word for magic; our goal at Camp Kesem is to provide these children with a magical week that allows them to escape the harsh realities of cancer.

Campers participate in normal camp activities such as swimming, arts and crafts, and sports; what makes Camp Kesem special is that during these activities, campers realize they are surrounded by other children in the same situation. Through love, laughter, and support, Camp Kesem helps campers to share each other’s strength and realize that they are not alone.

The other half of the Camp Kesem mission is to empower student leaders. In the process of organizing Camp Kesem, college students serving as volunteer organizers and counselors gain hands-on experience in running a nonprofit out of their dormitory rooms. The students involved are all part of a tight-knit community and help out when other counselors have family crises, schoolwork difficulties, and more. Best of all, student volunteers who invest their time and energy into Camp Kesem are able to see a positive, tangible difference in the campers in just one week.

My understanding is that your desire to start a branch of Kesem at MIT was somewhat personal. Can you talk a little bit about the impact of cancer on your life?

When I was 13 years old, my paternal grandmother died of colon cancer; almost exactly one year later, my paternal grandfather died of prostate cancer. As a teenager, it was hard to make sense of so much loss in such a short period of time and to come to terms with the idea that Grandma and Grandpa wouldn’t be able to attend my tennis matches or high school graduation.

When I visited Duke during my junior year of high school and heard about their campus branch of Camp Kesem, I knew that I wanted to be involved with the program. It combined two things that mean a great deal to me: summer camp, which I had attended since the age of five, and families affected by cancer. Once I knew I wouldn’t be attending Duke, I called up Camp Kesem National and asked if it would be possible to start a campus branch at MIT. Luckily, Camp Kesem National said yes.

Creating an MIT-affiliated camp had to consist of some incredibly hard work. Did you raise the funds for the program? If so, can you explain the process you used?

Fundraising has been, and probably always will be, the most difficult and time-consuming aspect of organizing Camp Kesem. Because of the financial burdens that cancer places on families, we offer it completely free of charge – which means that for Camp Kesem 2010, our target is to raise $55,000.

Our primary methods of fundraising are writing grants and soliciting personal donations; we also run mini-events throughout the year (e.g. bake sales, Valentine’s Day candy-grams, and care packages). In the past year, we’ve also added a few larger-scale events, such as an informational brunch called “Make the Magic” that combines student, camper, and parent perspectives on Camp Kesem’s impact. Corporate matching programs and community partnerships have supplemented our funds as well.

From 2007-2009, I served as the primary grant-writer for Camp Kesem and secured grants totaling over $30,000 from sources inside and outside of MIT. The fundraising coordinators and I also worked individually with each Camp Kesem coordinator and counselor to ensure that he or she reaches a personal fundraising goal of at least $400.

We try to be creative with our fundraising ideas: the most outrageous involved male counselors donning colorful bras and asking passersby to “stuff their cups” to raise money for camp. The trick was having other counselors there to explain that the weirdness was for a good cause, and that our male counselors aren’t afraid to humiliate themselves to help kids whose parents have cancer.

The saddest and sweetest source of funds comes from several of our camper and counselor families’ request that in lieu of flowers, well-wishers can make a donation in memory of loved ones who have died. The first time this happened was in October 2007, right after our first session in August. I was blown away that a family of three campers felt so strongly about Camp Kesem that in their darkest hour, they wanted to share our program with other families in need.

And you also were responsible for staffing the program? How did you go about recruiting others to work at the Camp?

Initially, recruiting students began with the people I knew: students in my dormitory, pre-orientation community service program, and freshman classes. After we had a small core group, we began to publicize the program to other undergraduates through e-mails, posters, and information sessions.

Being a Camp Kesem counselor is a fairly substantial time commitment. We require every counselor to attend 30 hours of training, split up over several Saturdays in April and one long day in August. Training consists of modules such as behavior management, grief and mourning, aquatic safety, and medical and emergency procedures. Additionally, every counselor is required to help us fundraise, serve on one planning committee, and attend camper reunions and publicity events. Yet in the past two years, we’ve seen applications skyrocket. For roughly available 25 spots, we received over 50 applications last year – and we’re expecting even more for the 2010 session. I think the number of applications is a reflection on the giving spirit of the MIT community, and how much the Camp Kesem experience gives back to the counselors.

I would think that affiliation with other institutions in Massachusetts would also be critical for the program. Can you talk a little bit about your community partnerships with local hospitals and cancer centers?

Aside from fundraising, I think finding families who want to participate in the Camp Kesem program is the most difficult aspect of planning. This was especially true our first year, when we did not have families singing Camp Kesem’s praises like we do today. We couldn’t exactly walk up to parents and say, “Have you or your husband/wife/partner had cancer? If so, do you want to send your kids to a college student-run camp?” Instead, we had to be more subtle and work with local social work/patient advocacy programs and support groups; these social workers and program leaders served as our liaisons to families coping with cancer.

During the first year, Camp Kesem MIT had the luxury of being advised by two local graduate students who had been Camp Kesem counselors at Stanford and UC-San Diego, respectively. Our two advisors and I met with social workers and other clinicians to explain the program, the meticulous national standards that we abide by, and the compassion shown by student counselors. We were able to convince these clinicians and families of the benefits of Camp Kesem. Over the past three years, we have continued to build strong relationships with Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and other hospitals and resource centers in terms of financial support and camper referrals.

Camp Kesem MIT was the only branch to earn a perfect internal rating of 100? What does that entail?

Internal ratings are based on the American Camping Association’s accreditation criteria, which is a combination of safety, staff training, and camp programming best practices. (For example, the list of standards includes proper aquatic safety and medication management.) We were proud to have earned a perfect rating because it meant that we prepared a program that was not only fun, exciting, and cancer-aware, but also completely safety- and health-conscious.

For your Rhodes Scholar essay you briefly told the story of one camper and the impact Camp Kesem had on him. Can you share with our readers his story so that they have an understanding as to how a program like Camp Kesem can impact children?

For context, the Camp Kesem Camper Care Committee requests that each parent fill out an application and questionnaire about their children that helps us better serve their family. One question asks about the campers’ knowledge of their parents’ cancer, including the effect that cancer has had on the children.

In one camper’s case, his mother wrote that he had low self-esteem since the time of her cancer diagnosis – another instance of the invisible markers that cancer leaves on the children of cancer patients. Sure enough, after his team lost a kickball game at the beginning of camp, the camper grew upset and told a counselor, “I never win in life.” At staff meeting every night, the subject of his self-esteem came up, and we resolved to try to boost his confidence if at all possible.

We had three such opportunities. With encouragement from the counselors and other campers, this camper was able to participate in all facets of the ropes course – no easy feat for a 9-year-old. Secondly, this camper had never been canoeing before and was a bit afraid of the lake. But he joined another camper and me for his first canoeing trip. He’d say, “I’m a little scared,” and I’d respond, “Do you want to turn around?” He’d then say, “No, just a little bit farther.” By the end of our canoeing session, we’d been as far out as the lifeguards allowed. The final opportunity came when we were deciding on our annual camper awards; we gave him the “Most Adventurous” award. That night, his counselors said that he kept flicking on his flashlight to look at the award just one more time, all the while with a huge smile on his face.

When it came time for parents to pick up their children, this camper’s dad saw him interacting with other campers and counselors and began crying a little. “He’s a completely different person now,” he said through his tears.

As touching as this camper’s story is, one of the remarkable things about Camp Kesem is that every one of our campers has an amazing story. The resilience that our campers have is astounding, and we are fortunate to facilitate their growth through the Camp Kesem experience.

Now you serve as the National Student Advisory Board Co-Chair for the organization?

The National Student Advisory Board (NSAB) serves as the liaison between Camp Kesem student leaders and the Board of Directors, who handle bigger-picture decisions such as our fiscal responsibility agreements and national branding. The other NSAB members and I are trying to eliminate the divide between student leaders and the Board by providing two-way communication. We want to explain to students how the Board makes decisions, and at the same time ensure that the Board understands the student perspective on national policies and campus priorities.

One of my main responsibilities of being an NSAB Co-Chair is leading conference calls with the regional and national advisory boards, and participating in the Board’s bimonthly conference call. The conference calls are a great way for campuses to gain fresh ideas for fundraisers, theme days at camp, sustainability practices, and more. Beyond the calls, my co-chair and I are in the process of setting up more information-sharing projects such as a campus buddy system and a wiki.

During your time at MIT you have also served as an ‘issues intern’ in Senator Edward Kennedy/Senator Paul Kirk’s Office. Can you explain what an issues intern does? What have you learned from this work that you would not have learned otherwise while in school?

An issues intern handles constituents’ questions and concerns about legislation. On any given day, I might help a social worker address insurance problems with a regional Medicare office or educate constituents about educational loan legislation. Though people say government is inefficient and ineffective, I found Senator Kennedy’s district office was just the opposite: we returned every phone call and answered all letters sent to our office.

As a result of working in the Boston office, I became much better informed about politics and especially legislation relevant to my issue areas: arts, disability, education, environment, Social Security, and women’s issues. Similar to my work with Camp Kesem and the NSAB, much of my work was about connecting constituents with resources and information, which I found satisfying. I also had a chance to practice responding politely to constituents who disliked health care legislation, such as the woman who said our office should keep our hands off her Medicare. Those experiences, coupled with years of living with an older brother who good-naturedly teased me, definitely helped prepare me to deal calmly with the intensity of Rhodes interview.

I am intrigued by one of your activities at MIT – my understanding is that you are a founding member of the imperfect@MIT club? Can you explain the purpose of this organization and your rationale for creating such a club?

The idea for imperfect@MIT came from a Duke study that found undergraduates felt pressure to be effortlessly smart, accomplished, attractive, athletic, and popular. The study described this phenomenon as “the myth of effortless perfection.” This myth manifests a little differently at MIT, in that some students brag about taking the most classes and having the most work, and consider sleep deprivation a badge of honor. This lifestyle puts students at risk of burnout, especially when they are accustomed to standing out the same way they did in high school: succeeding on intelligence alone, putting minimal work into classes, concentrating on a smorgasbord of activities, and somehow achieving enviable results. I have definitely had days when I felt that the work I was doing was not getting me anywhere, but the imperfect@MIT message reminds me that it is perfectly natural to struggle sometimes – and that sometimes struggles sweeten the subsequent rewards.

imperfect@MIT is still a project under construction. While it can be hard to have students buy into the idea that their best is good enough, we think it’s an idea worth communicating. I and the other students involved will continue to work toward dispelling the myth of effortless perfection and encourage students to have a healthy attitude toward success.

Can you talk a little bit about the Rhodes Scholar application process?

The Rhodes Scholarship application process is, in a word, intense. The written application consists of an institutional endorsement, five to eight recommendation letters, two-page curriculum vitae, transcript, and 1,000-word essay detailing your most meaningful college experiences and how they relate to your proposed field of study. About a month later, each District Committee notifies a small group of applicants that they have been invited to the Friday night cocktail party and Saturday interview.

The cocktail party is an informal way to familiarize you with the other applicants and the Committee members, engage in some interesting conversations, and eat some tasty desserts. The Saturday morning interview is more grueling: you sit at the head of a table in the library with seven Committee members for about 20 minutes, and they probe your knowledge about anything from current legislation to coursework you completed a year ago. Thanks to advice and preparation from MIT’s Fellowships Office, the 20 minutes flew by before I knew it. After that, I went back to my hotel to check out of my room, ate lunch in Haverford’s dining hall, and returned to wait with the other applicants while the Committee deliberated. Around 4 p.m., the Committee called us back into the library to announce their selections.

Interestingly, receiving a Rhodes Scholarship does not automatically earn you admission to Oxford. Over winter break, I submitted my formal application (primarily my research proposal and two 2,000-word essays) and chose which college I wanted to live in. I am glad that’s the last application I’ll have to fill out for a while!

So what opportunities will the scholarship offer you that you might not have had the opportunity to pursue otherwise?

I am interested in careers involving health policy or psychology. My doctoral work at Oxford will examine the ethical and policy implications of the BRCA1/BRCA2 gene mutations; mutations to these genes are linked to increased risk of breast, ovarian, and prostate cancers. My project will investigate how clinicians help patients make appropriate individualized decisions about BRCA1/BRCA2 genetic testing, as well as looking at the support mechanisms in place for people who have had or are considering genetic testing.

This research will expose me to both an understanding of ethics and communication in health care and the psychological effects of illness on decision-making. The best opportunity provided by the Scholarship is the funding that will enable me to conduct doctoral research with two great professors, Michael Parker of Oxford’s Ethox Centre and Anneke Lucassen of the University of Southampton.

Also, as someone who has never been abroad except for a short trip to Mexico, I am looking forward to traveling around Europe and gaining a firsthand perspective of European health care and political systems. In three years, I hope to leave Oxford with a better sense of whether to pursue a career as a health policy professor and researcher or a clinical psychologist.

I cannot think of any greater honor for a college student than to receive this prestigious award. Can you talk a little bit about how you felt when you learned you had been selected.

Unlike other scholarships that notify applicants of their status by e-mail or phone, each Rhodes District Committee gathers the interviewees in one room, congratulates all applicants for being strong candidates, and then reads out two names in alphabetic order. The people whose names are read out are the Rhodes Scholars-elect.

My name was called first, and I felt honored and humbled to be selected from a pool of such talented candidates. After that, everything just felt surreal – I went from writing for the campus newspaper, The Tech, to being mentioned in a front-page article alongside MIT’s other two winners, Ugwechi Amadi and Steven Mo. Most of all, I am grateful for the kind words and support from my family, friends, and the MIT community.

Photos courtesy of Camp Kesem MIT and Caroline Huang.

When it comes to higher education, there are two critical decisions to be made.

First, but not necessarily foremost, there is the choice of a specific school. A couple of weeks ago we took a look at the warning signs that you may have chosen the wrong school.

Just as important as to the decision of where to attend college there is the choice of major. In fact, in a good many cases, the choice as to area of study ripples into the selection of a school leading some to actually choose their school based a desired major.

Yetstories abound of students changing their majors twice, three times and more. These are not tales – data indicates that approximately 70% of college students will change their college major at least once.

Perhaps you are someone who has begun considering such a change.

But you have heard that each time you change your major you may well move from a 4- to a 4.5- or even 5-year plan. That also is a statement based in fact. But your choice of major is something you really need to get right.

Here are five warning signs that you may have made the wrong choice initially.

Boring Classes

There is a saying:

A job is the place where I have to go to work to earn money. A career, however, offers the chance to follow my chosen pursuits and even get paid to do so.

When the day comes, on Monday mornings you will want to be feeling positive about the work-week ahead. While in school, the same situation applies: you should be looking forward to the classes that relate to your major field of study.

If instead you are finding your core major courses a pain, that they are flat out boring or uninteresting, then you have made a poor choice. If you are finding that you have little interest in the courses you are taking, there is little chance you will be excited about working in a profession related to that major.

Poor Grades

Most college students struggle with certain courses. After all, some classes are more difficult than others.

But most students earn their highest grades in the courses related to their choice of major.

One sign you have made the wrong choice of major is that you are struggling to handle the demands of the core courses that set the foundation for your field of study. The basic question is simple: Are your grades for the core courses in your major lower than your grades in your other required classes?

If so, then you have made the wrong choice. A final transcript with poor grades in your major field of study is a red flag for employers – they will assume you are not likely to be able to bring the necessary skills to the job.

Not at All What You Thought

Now that you are in school and working on your field of study, you have a full sense as to what your major encompasses. Has that clarity reinforced or strengthened your original decision?

If you are having second thoughts, it could be that you chose your major for the wrong reasons. You may have been enticed by a hot career field or the earning potential of another option. Worse yet, you might have matched the popular choice of high school peers.

Now that you are actually involved in the coursework, is your major and area of study all you thought it would be? Is this a field that you can see yourself working in 40-hours a week, 52-weeks a year.

If not, you may have chosen the wrong major.

New Interests

Did you take an elective that brought you enormous excitement, a course where the work actually seemed enjoyable. A course where class time zipped by on a daily basis? A course that you truly hated to see come to an end?

Ultimately, the key question to ask is whether you were most content when studying the coursework in your major or did you find another area of study more appealing?

It is important that students differentiate between the course of study and the professor. It is the subject matter that we are talking about here, not how the material is presented or the ability of the professor to turn otherwise stale material into something palatable.

The bottom line is your major should be something you are excited about studying.

Changing Majors

If your sentiment matches any of the four mentioned above you would do well to review your choice. But before making the decision to change your major, be sure to think things through.

First, take advantage of the services available to you on campus. Set up some time to discuss the idea further with the appropriate on-campus staff.

Begin by finding some time to connect with academic department personnel related to your initial choice as to a course of study. Then, take the time to meet with academic department personnel representing your potential new area of study.

Second, after those two discussions, take the time to seek out a counselor in the career center. Talking with a person that is independent of the two areas of study and processing your concerns with that professional can be a real help.

Most importantly, if you are not happy with your choice of major but have not yet been drawn to another field, these counselors can help provide some career assessment options. Perhaps through them you can begin pursuing some new and more interesting courses.

They can also help you walk through the ramifications of making a change. That may include any added expenses as well as whether or not the change will require the postponement of your original graduation date.

On Wednesday, America will pause to recognize our veterans. Given the recent events at Fort Hood in Texas and the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is only right that we all find some time to recognize our military brethren this week.

In accordance with that day and the chance to get you thinking about the sacrifices these individuals make on our behalf, we offer a few poignant tributes.

This touching video is the perfect kick off – the back story is at our sister site but the basis is quite simple – honoring a moment of silence is not easy for some:

A reminder of the reason why we went to Afghanistan in the first place, sung by Alan Jackson and featuring a mashup of some of the most powerful images recorded:

Sadness and pain so easily tossed aside unless you are witness, yet another mashup featuring the haunting voice of Sarah McLachlan.

While there was a time when many of us may have been without a connection, today most of us have been touched and this is a great reminder that these military folks are our family:

And the amazing Marine Corps cadence, featuring the likes of “if I die in the combat zone, box me and ship me home.” It gives you a sense that these soldiers understand just what is asked of them:

And despite the demand, “mama don’t you cry cause the Marine Corps motto is do or die,” she couldn’t help herself. And neither could you. If you have attended a funeral of a loved one that served, it is virtually impossible not to shed a tear during the presentation of the flag amidst the most moving 24 notes imaginable:

Please, take some time to remember on Veterans Day.

How College Sports Continues to Sell its Soul.

I cannot remember the first time I heard someone suggest Division I athletics bordered on a form of prostitution. Though previously I had deemed such a suggestion excessive hyperbole, this past weekend we became witness to why that ugly word is used to describe college athletics.

On Saturday, Delaware State, a small 1-AA FCS football program, had the unenviable task of traveling up to Ann Arbor to take on the 1-A FBS Michigan Wolverines. As expected, the game, which should never have been played, was a rout of monumental proportions.

The Wolverines (5-2) set several team records including 442 total yards of offense in the first half and 727 for the game in a 63-6 rout. Michigan matched a school record by scoring 28-points in the first quarter and their 49 points by halftime were the second-highest in school history.

But truth be told, such routs happen quite often in the world of college athletics, particularly in football when teams with disparate resources get together to ‘compete’ on the field. Therefore, in most instances, the Michigan-Delaware State game would simply be relegated to the NCAA hinterlands if not for a back story that demonstrates the sometimes vile world of college athletics.

Two Losses the Same Day

Sports sites noted that Delaware State actually lost two football games on Saturday. In addition to the pasting they received at the hands of Michigan, the team forfeited a game against fellow Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference foe North Carolina AT&T, a game that had been scheduled prior to the agreement to play Michigan.

In fairness, the initial mistake of two games being scheduled on the same date came while Delaware State was searching for an athletic director. But the choice of what game to play, and subsequently which to forfeit, demonstrates why so many are down on the world of college athletics.

Seems that Delaware State was offered $550,000 to go to Ann Arbor and play the role of football fodder for the Wolverines. And administration at the school decided that sum of money was just too much to pass up.

The Decision

According to reports, given the opportunity, Delaware State signed a contract to play the game in Ann Arbor despite having already committed to playing AT&T on the same date. The contract did allow Delaware State to cancel for a fee, the amount of which was not made public.

Of course, once everyone realized a mistake had been made, Michigan could have done a classy thing and released Delaware State from the contract. But then again, if Michigan could afford to pay Delaware State $550,000 just to appear, one can gather that the lost revenue from a home game would represent a sum of money that made the half-million payout seem inconsequential..

At the same time, Delaware State officials could have done the right thing and honored their league commitment against AT&T. Of course, given Michigan’s stance, to do so meant State would have had to pay the required fee for backing out.

Instead of either school honoring the spirit of amateur athletics, i.e. handle a loss with dignity and class, both opted for the opposite. Both put large sums of money in front of integrity and, as a result provided a sorry message to the athletes on their respective teams.

Many Fumbled the Ball

Beyond the physical mismatch that constituted the so-called ‘game’, the decision by Delaware State to take the money also meant it put the integrity of its league at risk. The choice to forfeit could well impact the final league standings and ultimately, the status of numerous other conference teams in the process.

Given that both levels of football have a supervisory agency, the NCAA, one would think that leadership beyond the two schools would have taken issue with the decision to allow money to alter the integrity of the sport. Apparently, not so.

Today we understand why some would use the word prostitution to describe college athletics. Yes, such a statement borders on the outrageous.

But what these two universities did in the name of college football could only be described in such terms.

My first semester of college was an enormous wake-up call. For starters, the academic expectations were easily a shelf above those I had seen in high school.

But the greatest difference involved what I now call the level of hand-holding. As opposed to those wonderful and understanding high school teachers, my professors made only casual reminders of long-term assignments and they never postponed an exam simply because some students did not understand the material.

Simply stated, I made some mistakes my first semester that cost me dearly – by the time Christmas rolled around there wasn’t a single A to be found on my grade report and in at least two cases, classes that should have resulted in B’s had turned to C’s.

Fortunately, I had greater expectations for myself. I also was a relatively fast-learner – I say relatively fast because it did take me one full semester to figure things out.

Established students will likely find my missteps obvious but perhaps those of you starting your first semester can learn from my “Seven First-Semester Mistakes.”

Mistake 1. Failing to Realize You Are on Your Own

This one of course is one of those obvious ones for established students but it permeated my first semester of school.

The best thing about going to college is you finally are on your own. There will be no one nagging you about getting to bed at a certain hour or about spending too much time at the gym. No one, not even your resident assistant, will be hovering over you, asking you about whether or not your homework is done or when your next test is coming.

At the same time, the academic expectations begin with the very first class. Add to that fact that semesters are short on class time (much less frequent than in high school) and you soon learn that you have much greater work expectations between class sessions than you ever did in high school.

Still, the academics pale next to the expectation that you are, and will be, a responsible young adult. Ultimately, the nagging is replaced with a basic assumption that you are old enough to handle responsibilities without being reminded of them daily.

Mistake 2. Being Unorganized

Another major mistake I made was the failure to create a master schedule of my courses and the assignments for the semester. Though I did create a notebook with separate sections with each syllabus, I never synthesized the materials on one master calendar.

The bottom line was that many times I got caught not looking far enough ahead. On more than one occasion I found myself running out of time as materials became due or test dates arrived.

That first semester I learned the importance of taking the entire syllabus for each course and plotting all daily assignments, major projects/papers and exams on one master calendar. Doing so in future semesters helped me to understand that while this Tuesday I might have had little to do, next Tuesday the expectations might be so great I would need to be up half the night to complete all that was expected.

Every Sunday night I would review the upcoming week in detail, then scan the expectations for the following two weeks to see what I should begin working on ahead of time. Of course, creating such a calendar is a time-consuming first task – but it was a life-saver in future semesters.

Mistake 3. Being Unorganized – Redux

The second organizational aspect related to retaining all materials for the semester in their appropriate notebook. Those materials included all the original handouts, the additional ones provided during the semester and all returned assignments, quizzes and tests.

On many occasions I spent five, ten or even fifteen minutes searching for a certain document that was on my desk somewhere. On other occasions, I actually lost some graded materials, papers I could have definitely used in preparation for final exams.

I learned that first semester that I would receive and produce more materials than I ever did in high school and that taking care of those materials when I received them saved countless hours of time over the course of a semester.

Mistake 4. Multiple Course Sections Are Available

Another element I learned the hard way was that at college you had choices as to which courses and sections you opted to take. You can pick classes according to your learning style as well as quality of teaching.

For example, lecture-based classes were not my forte and taking them on Tuesday and Thursday meant longer class periods and an even greater test of my attention span. Such classes were far more manageable for me following a Monday-Wednesday-Friday format.

Perhaps even more importantly, the multiple sections of courses means you do not have to put up with a low quality instructor. That first semester I mistakenly sucked it up and stuck out two such classes, both to my detriment.

College is difficult enough without having to try to deal with poor quality instruction or a disorganized professor. In such cases, even first semester freshman can seek another section of the course immediately.

Mistake 5. Thinking Your Dorm Room Is a Great Place to Study

The need for a quiet place to do some real studying is essential. Yes, most times you can work in your dorm room or the lounge, but no matter how good your roommates or dorm-mates are, even at the quietest moments there will be distractions.

To get some real focused time you must find a place where you can truly disappear. I have heard some say you must find a cave somewhere on campus.

They exist – I found mine in the back stacks of the library. And you must use your place whenever you need to find some real quiet time.

Most importantly, you and only you, the young adult, can determine when such a time is needed.

Mistake 6. Asking for or Accepting Extensions

Because of my somewhat lackluster organizational skills, I remember struggling to complete one major paper for my Economics class. As I stated earlier, I simply had not plotted out an overview of the semester and all of sudden I seemed to be struggling to find the time to meet a group of expectations as final exams approached.

Naively, as the deadline for that major assignment drew near, I overheard a classmate discussing a possible extension with the professor. The professor offered some simple extension terms, one-third of a letter grade per class period (one period late, a B+ would drop to a B, two periods late that B+ would drop to a B-, etc.).

I convinced myself that the extension terms were reasonable and would help me. Given I had decent writing skills, I foolishly decided to take one additional week (three class sessions) to turn the paper in.

At the time I assumed my final product would earn an A or A- meaning at worst I would take home a B- or C+ for the paper, a good enough score to maintain the B average I had worked all semester for.

Evidently I wasn’t quite the writer I thought I was – remember the point about increased expectations earlier? The professor scored my original paper a B-, with the docking it became a C-, and because of the grading weight of the paper, my B average for the semester fell to a C+.

I learned the hard way to get my work done when it was due.

Mistake 7. Limit the Social Scene

At college, social events occur virtually every night of the week. From athletic events to open-mic nights to movies there is always something available to do that seems more enticing than your studies.

Add to that the Thursday night party group, the students taking a less demanding academic program (and content with earning Cs in those courses) and you always have someone trying to get you to take a few hours off for some social activity.

Taking time from studies is critical to maintain an emotional balance. But if you are not careful, it is all too easy to get pulled away by your roommate or other dorm-mates at times when you really should be getting some much needed work done.

Remember there is always something social to do and someone you know will be doing it – that simply means you can skip specific social opportunities when work demands prevail as there will always be another fun thing to do tomorrow.

There are times when I realize I simply graduated from school too soon.

Back in our day, passing notes was the surest way to get removed from class. I can only remember seeing it happen once in college and the results were not pretty.

Especially when the person found himself banned from attending the class he had already shelled out big bucks to attend.

Now, we are hearing cases of students instant messaging and checking their Facebook pages right under the professor’s nose. Without repercussions.

Still we could not believe that there would come a point where a professor actually encouraged students to pass notes in class. And certainly not via Twitter while he was lecturing.

An Invitation to Distraction
But such is the case with Cole W. Camplese, the director of education-technology services at Pennsylvania State University at University Park. According to published reports, Camplese teaches with two projection screens.

One of the screens features what one would always expect, the professor’s notes. But directly alongside of those slides, the professor provides a second screen featuring Twitter comments from students in the room. The theory is for students to enter into a discussion of the material as it is being presented.

But, to be honest, I cannot envision myself in such a setting. Which screen would I pay attention to? And how attentive could I be if I entered the Twitter discussion at any point?

Of course, whatever the students write is visible on the screen for all to see, including Camplese. So talking about the keg party at Bernie’s on Friday or that gorgeous young blond from Sweden who just enrolled second semester simply is not conceivable in such an environment.

So it is not the equivalent of passing notes from my day. And there were a good many lackluster lectures that could have been far more enticing if we had used the Camplese format. Certainly, the more tech-savvy, multi-tasking crowd would find this structure far more in keeping with their Facebook life style.

And while I was at first shocked by the concept, I was even more surprised to learn later that the process had a name: back channeling.

Most adults, myself included have expressed concern that the process will create nothing but chaos in the classroom. However, Professor Camplese insists that it is the first step towards new educational processes that feature the student more and the professor less.

Hmmmm.

Readers, what say you?

If you are a college sophomore or upperclassman, you have experienced the full-frontal assault of the end of the year dorm clean out.

Because some students have exams right through Friday afternoon, then have only until 12:00 p.m. Saturday to be out of their room, there is no time to appropriately deal with all the items in the dorm room or on-campus apartment. Not only is there simply too much accumulated stuff to fit all of it in your car without making multiple trips home, you simply don’t have the time to deal with breaking the stuff down so that it might fit.

The result, loads of valuable items get tossed into the dumpster or in most cases by the end of the week, piled alongside an overflowing trash unit. Chairs, couches, tables, VCRs, and even television sets can be seen sitting on top of these containers or resting on the curb beside these huge bins.

Perhaps the most appalling aspect is the realization that the space in your car is already spoken for yet you are now witness to literally piles of items that you would scoff up in a minute if it were the beginning of the school year.

Schools and Students Taking Action

More and more, as green-eyed students across the country become aware of the earth and the need for greater sustainability, recycling programs have started to emerge for this end of the year clean out. The goal is simple: reduce the number of reusable items heading to a landfill or transfer station and get them into the hands of another potential user.

There are many successful ways to deal with the process. One simple step is for a group of students to locate a place for storage of viable items, especially the larger units such as mini-refrigerators and other electronic gear. Then, using a group of student volunteers, these unwanted items are collected and taken to the storage facility to be sorted out.

The following fall, those very same items are put up for sale to the incoming students at the school. Any collected funds that remain after the costs of storage have been taken care of are either donated to worthy charities or to the school’s nonprofit sustainability organization to further sustain a school’s green mission (if one exists).

Another common method of dealing with the leftover items is to involve community organizations and use them to solicit volunteers for all the handling tasks as well as the storage of items. Instead of selling them to students, the collected items can be sold in a massive community yard sale. Later, the proceeds from any sales can then be divided among the nonprofit groups according to the time each specific organization puts into collecting and selling the items.

Want to Start a Program?

Many other programs are underway with variations on these themes. In certain instances, students can simply leave unwanted items in their dorm room where they will be collected later.

Still, there are a number of schools where the idea has not caught on.

If you are interested in getting such a program started at your university, a nonprofit called Dump and Run helps interested groups. They can offer ideas regarding item collection, donation and storage, as well as appropriate ways of handling the cash that comes from selling the collected materials.

If the end of the 2009 school year has come and gone and your school still is not on board, it would make a perfect project for next year. Students interested in starting a program at their school can contact Dump and Run for assistance and advice.

Ultimately, the end-of-the-school-year recycling program is a true win-win. No student ever feels good about throwing such material in a dumpster. And our landfills/transfer stations are already strapped with mountains of trash.

When things get really tough and I find myself a bit down, I am one of those people who likes to search out sources of inspiration. I honestly do not think any can top that of double amputee Aimee Mullins.

Born with fibular hemimelia, Aimee had both her legs amputated below the knee when she was just one year old. The difficult decision of her parents to amputate was based on a simple fact:

If she had her legs amputated, she would eventually be able to learn to walk with artificial limbs. If she had kept her legs, it would have meant a lifetime confined to a wheel chair.

Her parents took the option that would give her the best chance at an independent life. Ever since that day, this awe-inspiring young lady has been showing people how to respond when life throws challenges your way.

Despite being a double amputee, Aimee would play numerous sports as a youngster. Eventually she began competing in track at Georgetown where she had earned a full academic scholarship in the foreign service program. Competing against ‘able-bodied’ athletes she became the first disabled athlete to compete in NCAA Division I track and field.

As for one of her identifying traits, the idea that “true bravery is not the absence of fear, but the ability to conquer it” comes from her about her famed college coach and her concerns about running the 200-meters in the Big East Championship meet. She was enormously fearful of competing in the race as issues with her prosthetic in the 100-meter had her believing that her leg might fall off in front of thousands of spectators while running the 200-meter.

She acknowledges pleading with her coach to withdraw from the race. He does not cut her any slack, instead offering with his deepest Brooklyn accent:

Aimee, so what if your leg falls off! You pick it up, you put the damn thing back on and you finish the God-damn race.

If you need a little pick me up or are interested in this young woman’s wondrous spirit and 12 pairs of legs, including the high-tech appendages that she uses for running, check out her appearance on Ted.com:

It was rare, at least with my college experiences, to have a professor waive the deadline for a major paper or project for any academic reason. By academic, I mean the one or two times that I found a new resource or experiment later in the process, information that produced a conflict with my initial position.

It seems that every professor saw such a request as a sign that I simply had not started the assignment in a timely manner. In their eyes, I had simply run out of time more from dereliction of duty than the development of any new insights.

Not only did my requests for a push for a later time result in a pledge that my grade would be adjusted if I failed to meet the initial due date, it was also immediately accompanied by a short lecture on the importance of meeting deadlines, particularly when one gets outside of the academic world.

The theory was, “in the real world” deadlines were an important part of life and meeting those deadlines was considered to be non-negotiable.

New Study

The importance of deadlines appears to be overstated according to a study by Harvard researchers Daniel Carpenter and Justin Grimmer. In “The Downside of Deadlines (PDF),” it appears that when it comes to the FDA and drug approvals, deadlines are a significant problem, particularly when a payment structure is connected to the deadline process.

The study offers a very technical look at FDA drug approval variations. But the bottom line is that imposing deadlines results in a finished product that may not meet the expectations set forth: “as in my project is done but the quality could be improved if I had more time to work further.”

Within the study, deadline bonuses or pay tied to deadlines will in fact decrease the time taken to review a case. But the critical finding of the study involved the application of deadline bonuses and the subsequent error rates.

Not too surprisingly, as the time to review a case decreased, the propensity for error increased. Within the drug approval process, such a situation could prove to be extremely serious.

Approving drugs that are not safe is the last thing the FDA wants to do. Yet, at the same time, reviewing drugs quickly may well allow patients access to a beneficial treatment in a timelier manner.

I must acknowledge that the study does not state that deadlines are a net negative in terms of the welfare of society. As the study notes, the “benefits from speeding up regulatory decisions may outweigh the costs of added error” for those cases where early approval of those drugs that would have been approved anyway reach patients sooner.

Still, the study indicates that the imposition of deadlines upon an agency’s decision-making process may render the agency’s decision-making more variable in the long run. Moreover the study suggests that inserting bonuses into the process “can generate greater administrative error.”

Ultimately, when it comes to the issue of deadlines and decision-making, the jury is out as to what is the best method for dealing with the issue. But it does beg the question:

In what instances should a deadline be imposed upon an agency?

A Feeling of Vindication

Needless to say, I have embraced this study as evidence that my requests during my undergraduate years were in fact valid. I even toyed with sending my professors a link to the study.

But I soon realized that unless I spent countless hours reviewing my initial request with them and the course I was taking at the time that neither of them would likely have a clue as to what I was talking about.

Then again, perhaps those of you currently involved in the process can make use of this little tidbit if necessary. Be sure to use it responsibly – it is not an indictment of the deadline concept, only that in some instances, deadlines and not lack of effort are the basis for a less than stellar final product.