Forbes Magazine printed a few opinion pieces about the recent findings in several social science journals that two career couprles run a higher risk of having a rocky marriage. Not surprising considering how stressful it can be to juggle life, family, and career. Evidently male breadwinner marriages are most stable. I was surprised by these factoids however:

According to a wide-ranging review of the published literature, highly educated people are more likely to have had extra-marital sex (those with graduate degrees are 1.75 more likely to have cheated than those with high school diplomas.) Additionally, individuals who earn more than $30,000 a year are more likely to cheat.

Marriage, Careers, Divorce

Princeton Review has just come out with it’s 2007 rankings.

UT Austin, where an 18 year old college freshman recently died from drinking too much, was named the top party school. School officials are not exactly celebrating. Spokesman Don Hale brushed it off and said, “”I think we’re known as one of the nation’s leading public research universities, and that’s really our reputation.” I interned at IBM’s Austin office when I was a Junior in college, and among my fellow interns were many Longhorns. I can confirm that they were bright and hardworking. But, they definately spoke of UT’s active party scene.

Rice University, also in Houston, was given the #1 ranking in the country for “best quality of life.” And here’s what Rice President had to say about his school’s ranking versus UT’s. “Between those two rankings, I’ll take ours.”

The University of Chicago is ranked as the school giving undergraduates the “best academic experience.” And, Brown University is where students are, apparently, the “happiest.”

I looked up my own undergraduate institution - Carnegie Mellon - which came in at #7 for “Their Students Never Stop Studying” and at #12 for “Worst Food.”

Want to find out what the rest of the rankings were? Then register here.

Posted by Sindya Bhanoo
College | College Rankings| Princeton Review

Recently, Al Roker investigated hazing, an integral tradition in many fraternity and sorority initiation ceremonies. But sometimes, things go too far.

Roker investigated the story of Ben Klein, a member of the ZBT Fraternity at Alfred University. He disappeared on the night his fraternity was selecting new member, and 24 hours later he was found dead in a creek behind his fraternity house.

Sadly, hazing sometimes begins as early as high school. Roker interviewed the father of a young man who had been hazed in high school. The father admitted that “there may a place for hazing.” He himself had been through hazing rituals as a fighter pilot. Yet, he was quick to state that it wasn’t a kid’s game. His son signed up for the wrestling team to wrestle, not to be physically and emotionally beaten and humiliated.

At UT Austin, an 18 year old freshman was found dead. His family is suing his fraternity, claiming that they were the cause of his death.

Not all the hazing rituals that I have heard about involve drugs and alcohol, but many involve illegal, humiliating, vulgar activities. When things go beyond fun and games, the repurcussions can be truly tragic. And the fact that young people have died in what was meant to be a “joke” is absolutely unacceptable. I’m not sure what the solution is to this, but I hope that university officials and school administrators come up with something that works.

Posted by Sindya Bhanoo
College | Hazing| Fraternities

Left-handed male college graduates make 26% more than their right-handed counterparts, according to researchers at Lafayette College and Johns Hopkins University.

There are “several suggestive and economically and statistically significant results that suggest further support for the notion that handedness matters,” they wrote. “We do not
have a theory that reconciles all of these findings.”

The lefty effect did not apply to women however….

To find a copy of the report published by the National Bureau of Economic Research:
http://papers.nber.org/papers/w12387.pdf

I got into Berkeley two days ago. I have about four more days before my graduate program’s orientation begins. Coming early turned out to be a good thing. There are many “details” to take care of when you move to a new city and start graduate school. It’s nice to be able to handle them well in advance, so that when orientation and classes start, things are in order.

This is what I’ve done during my two days here:

1) Got my student ID card
2) Signed up to use the recreational center
3) Took the written test at the DMV (I’m now a CA driver’s license holder)
4) Registered to vote in CA
5) Set up my Internet connection
6) Explored the neighborhood
7) Met some old friends
Met some professors
9) Walked around the UC Berkeley campus

Here’s what I plan to do before orientation starts:

1) Stock up on groceries and other items (shampoo, soap)
2) Explore San Francisco
3) Finish reading a book for class
4) Cook a little
5) Hang out with some of my future classmates

It’s actually been a tiring few days, and I am really thankful that I choose to come a few day early rather than at the last minute. I am actually living in a furnished apartment, and didn’t have much of a “move-in” to do. But for those bringing furniture, or those planning on buying furniture upon arriving, I definately advise buffer time! Give yourself even more time if you don’t have a car. I’ve been relying on public transportation which, though quite convenient in the Bay area, involves waiting an extra 5-20 minutes here and there for trains and buses.

In case my message isn'’t clear …if you’re starting graduate school, arrive early if you can. You’ll be glad you did. I sure am.

Posted by Sindya Bhanoo
College | College Tips

In his book, Colleges That Change Lives, author Loren Pope profiles 40 schools. In that list, Evergreen State College is one of two public schools talked about. Pope deems only 40 schools in the country worthy of being classified as life-changing, and only two (only two!) are public. That’s just a whole rant I can’t go into right now about public schools and standardized education and being a number, faculty who must publish or perish, etc.

I graduated from Evergreen State in Olympia, Washington 7 years ago. Disclosure - I only spent my senior year at Evergreen. Pope’s book aims to help college freshmen avoid the circuitous-path-taking scenario that my college career became. (It bordered on epic.) Pope wrote the book and profiled all of those schools in the hopes that kiddos choosing a college will be armed with some solid info and options and will hopefully begin and end their undergraduate career at one school. It’s entirely possible that if I had started at Evergreen as a freshman instead of finishing there as a senior, I may have stayed at one school throughout my college career. Too bad I suck at taking advice.

You Get What You Give
Here is the grand, sweeping declaration that I feel I can make about Evergreen: you will get out of it what you put into it. I do not believe that to be true of the majority of the schools out there. I’ve attended several, and know of what I speak. Most schools have a check-list which an undergrad is expected to complete. Do everything on the list and please stay inside the lines while you do it. They stamp their name on your forehead at the end, and shove you out into the world. Educated in the nuts and bolts, but not necessarily having a clue about the big picture. How does the world work? A standard Bachelor’s-wielding 20-something might not know. Fortunately, being in the real world requires knowledge of red tape, long lines, catch-22s, and memorization of your social security number; all skills you will know inside and out by the time you graduate from Check-List U.

Getting Down to the Business of Education
Evergreen has somehow managed to cut through the red tape so that the faculty and the students can get down to the business of education, which seems like such an obvious goal for an institution of higher learning, but you’d be surprised. I spent 20% of my time at other schools filling out forms or waiting in line or covering my ass or hacking my way through the jungle of red tape and misinformation and those effing catch-22s. At Evergreen, maybe 2% of my time was spent doing the paperwork part of college.

So what do you do with your time at Evergreen? You learn. The faculty at that school will stay with you as far as you want to go with something. Coloring outside the lines is not only allowed, it’s encouraged and commended. I worked harder at Evergreen than I had at any other school ever. I was so exhausted and so happy. It was completely different than anything else I had ever experienced. Finally, a place where I could use my powers for good, not evil. At Evergreen, there was no weeding out, no survival of the fittest. Cooperative rather than competitive doesn’t mean its easy; it means you can do more, learn more, grow more, go a hell of a lot farther.

Base Camp
Here’s what Evergreen is: the most stellar base camp ever. They have everything you could possibly need to get up the mountain. Including some badass guides (the faculty). For any given quarter at Evergreen, you’re required to make it halfway up the mountain. If you want to do more or go farther, your supplies will be replenished and your guide will stick with you until you decide it’s time to head back. I always felt a little selfish at Evergreen: it seemed to be all about the students and the faculty and never about the administrative machine. I realize that that’s the way it should be, that schools should cater to the reasons they’re there: the teachers and the learners. But you’d be surprised. I want to be optimistic and believe that colleges and universities are there for higher learning. It just ain’t so. It’s all about money. Finding a school that has education as its first priority is rare. If you come across a school like that, put your money there. (more…)

Best Web Tools for College Students

I have a set of Web sites / Web tools that I use on a regular basis. As a student, they’re handy because they either a) help me get things done or b) educate / inform me about things I need to know.

Here’s a medley of sites and tools that I love to use (or plan to start using very soon)!

1) Writely - The “Web word processor.” Allows you to save your work and documents on the Web, and access them from anywhere.

2) Soundslides - Storytelling management made easy. Allows you to easily merge sound and audio to create and audio slideshow presentations. Requires a small registration fee.

3) Bluedot.Us - A great social bookmarking/networking service. With the click of a button, you can “Dot” a Web site / page that you find interesting and instantly share it with all of your friends. Perfect for groups of students who have similar interests - it’s an easy way to share information.

4) eFax - Need to receive a fax? Do it for free over e-mail! eFax will hook you up with a phone number that you can give to people…your faxes will show up in your inbox.

5) PDF Online - Create PDFs for free. I’ve used this on numerous occasions in conjunctions w/ e-fax. It’s great when you don’t have a scanner handy. Just e-fax yourself the document and then convert it into a pdf.

6) Google Calendar - Add events and activities to this simple and easy to use calendar. You can also share your calendar with other people, have multiple calendars, and have events e-mailed to you or sent to your cell phone.

7) Google Spreadsheets - I’ve only just started using this, but it seems like a great way to create and save spreadsheets online.

8) Bloglines - A way to search for and subscribe to news feeds and blogs. Not so new anymore, but I use it every day.

9) Technorati - They claim to track 51.3 million blogs. You can search for pretty much any type of blog you are looking for. However, I have heard there are other (perhaps better) options to Technorati these days.

10) mynoteIT - mynoteIT is a free service built for students to help keep school information organized and have it easily accessable whenever, wherever.

Posted by Sindya Bhanoo
College | Careers |College Tips

Interviews are something that can give you a very competitive edge. When you talk to an admissions officer, you immediately become less of a number and more of a person. If the college rep gets a good sense of who you are, what your goals are and what you would like to achieve it becomes harder for them to ignore you in a sea of applicants.

It also gives you a chance to explain any of your academic shortcomings that may show up in your application, such as GPA, SAT scores etc. The interview is a good time to explain a hitch in your transcript or discuss any personal circumstances that affected your studies. Problems that you may find difficult to write about in the application are often easier to discuss with a sympathetic admission counselor.

Like other parts of the application process, college interviews tend to be very similar to one another. You don’t need a tailor-made answer to every question, but it’s good to have a game plan. Write down a list of your accomplishments and goals. Knowing what you will say allows more confident and eloquent speech.

It helps to have a list of questions to ask the admissions officers. You should always have a question in mind about the college or your major field to show that you have a deep interest in attending the school. Asking questions can help you discover qualities that colleges can’t convey in a catalog.

Unless you show up late chewing gum, wearing shorts and a death metal t-shirt, and tell the school they’re just your “safety” just be yourself and you’ll do fine.

Posted by Jessup Meng
Education | College