The facebook craze has taken the college community by storm.  I’d go as far as to say that almost all college students are hooked up through this college social networking site.  Here is a list of the tips you need to know to keep your Facebook experience as easy and useful as possible.

College V2:

The Age Checker 1.1: This script automatically calculates the age of the profile you are viewing.

AIM Staus Icon: Lets you know the AIM status of the profile you are viewing, even knows if you are away.

For the full guide, click here.

Do you have trouble taking notes?  Do you find yourself struggling to remember what your professor said when it comes time to take a midterm or a final?  Well then check out The Cornell Note-Taking Method.

LH Special Reports:

Using the Cornell method, you split your notes page into three sections:

• Notes column (right) Record the lecture here during class using short sentences and fragments that transcribe the facts you’ll need. Eliminate all unnecessary words. Use bulleted lists for easy skimming, and as much shorthand as possible (without sacrificing readability.) Develop a vocabulary of abbreviations you always use, like “ex” for “for example,” “v.” for “very,” “tho” for “though,” “1st” and “2nd” for “first and second.” See this useful list of common abbreviations that can help you get lecture points down as quickly as possible. Finally, leave lots of whitespace between points and paragraphs so you can go back and fill in sections later.
• Cues column (left) After class, review your notes and jot questions and memory joggers in this narrow column that help connect ideas listed in the notes section. When you’re studying, you will look at these cues to help you recall the salient facts in your notes, so keep that in mind when you create your cues.
• Summary area (bottom) After class while you create your cues, sum up the notes on each page in one or two sentences that encapsulate the main ideas in the bottom area. You’ll use the summary section to skim through your notes and find information later.

By using the Cornell Method, you can avoid those last minute crams getting ready for your exams.  To read more, click here.

College Day, a new holiday for college students will be celebrated for the first time on March 5th, 2007.  College is an amazing experience, and it’s time to celebrate!  Like Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, every family and student will celebrate this holiday in it’s own way, although many families are planning on sending a care package or present to their relative in college.  If you like care packages (and who doesn’t?) then make sure your family know about College Day.

If you go to our website at collegeday.org you can learn more about the holiday.  There will be lots of exciting things happening in March, such as special deals for anyone with a college ID at local businesses and lots of events occurring on campuses throughout the country to celebrate College Day.  Our website also has information about our philanthropic efforts: a focus on depression and mental illness among college students here: http://collegeday.org/college-day-cares/

The more people that know about College Day, the bigger and better it will be this year.  There is a global facebook group that everyone can join here: http://berkeley.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2211144859 and most schools have their own group with info about College Day specific to that school.  You can use the form here to tell more of your friends about College Day: [add link]

Have a happy College Day!

Cheers,
The College Day Team

Apparently the college dorm rooms are increasing their posh factor.  No longer are students living in the 10 x 12 shoe box.  Oh no.  Students today just won’t settle for anything less than the best. 

CNN with the story: 

On a number of campuses, students are able to hire personal maids to clean and do their laundry. They pay moving crews to pack and transport their stuff — plasma TVs and other high-end electronics included. And they’re living large in housing that looks like anything but a dorm.

“You know it’s good when your parents walk in the room and say ‘Can I live here?”‘ says Niki Pochopien, a 21-year-old senior who just moved into swanky new living quarters for students at DePaul University in Chicago.

Known as Loft-Right, the mod-looking structure has all the amenities: expansive city views, granite countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms, modern designer furniture and satellite TV hookups. The lobby lounge — like something out of a hip hotel — has a pool table and fireplace, and soon will have a Starbucks and tanning and hair salons next door.

But what are they losing by living in the high rise dorms and is it worth the cost?

Article continued:

…the focus on living the good life is driving up the already burdensome cost of college — and causing some students to ask for more grants and rack up more debt than they normally would.

“Students and school employees are living in increasing luxury while taxpayers are getting soaked,” says Neal McCluskey, a policy analyst for the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

Still others think there’s something to be said for basic communal living, especially for underclassmen.

“The traditional college dormitory with two students to a room and a bathroom and common room down the hall is a pretty good way of getting students out of their rooms and away from their computers,” says Tom Kepple, president of Juniata College, a liberal arts school in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. “In this environment, it’s pretty hard to avoid getting to know your fellow students and how to live in a community.”

Is this the path that college life is taking?

Yale University, like most Ivy League schools has a reputation for being accessible only for the elite. But recently, the university has decided to post certain courses on-line, for free, giving everyone access to various courses.

MSNBC reports:

While Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and others already offer course material online without charge, Yale is the first to focus on free video lectures, the New Haven, Conn.-based school said.

The 18-month pilot project will provide videos, syllabi and transcripts for seven courses beginning in the 2007 academic year. They include “Introduction to the Old Testament,” “Fundamentals of Physics” and “Introduction to Political Philosophy.”

But does this actually make the elite education accessible?

Article continued:

Students at Yale — one of the nation’s most exclusive schools and the alma mater of President Bush — can be expected to spend nearly $46,000 for this year’s tuition, room and board.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for us to share a vital and central part of the Yale experience with those who, for whatever reason, are not in a position to pursue a Yale education at first hand,” Yale President Richard Levin said in a written statemen.

The courses being offered, although accessible to everyone, cannot be used towards the attainment of an undergraduate degree.

Facebook.com, the popular college social networking site, that recently turned down an offer for the site has recently entered into negotiations with Yahoo.

Yahoo!News Reports:

Social-networking Web site Facebook.com is in serious talks to sell itself to Internet media company Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) for an amount that could approach $1 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Facebook, which has been at the center of takeover rumors for months, also held separate discussions with Microsoft Corp., the world’s largest software maker, and media conglomerate Viacom over the past year, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

In March, BusinessWeek reported that the company had turned down a $750 million offer and hoped to fetch as much as $2 billion in a sale. It has been separately reported that Viacom held talks to buy Facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and creator of Facebook, created the site as a way to network with individual friends and friends friends.

Article Continued:

It took off on college campuses in the wake of the rapid rise and subsequent decline of Friendster, the pioneering social network in 2004. In two years, it has become the primary online meeting place for a generation of U.S. college students.

Today, Facebook is rapidly expanding, moving outside of the college community into high school social networks.

Daily, students are logging into their Facebook, Myspace, and countless other social networking sites to catalog their lives.  But these sites aren’t just being seen by friends.

USA Today Reports:

College student Michael Guinn thought the photos he posted of himself dressed in drag would be seen only by friends. But he made a mistake. And when someone showed the photos on Facebook to administrators at John Brown University, a Christian college in Siloam Springs, Ark., it was “the last straw for them,” says Guinn, 22, who is gay.

In the past few months, college, high school and even middle school students across the USA have been suspended or expelled, thrown off athletic teams, passed over for jobs and even arrested based on their online postings. (Related items: Survey: Should a person be expelled or passed over for online postings? | Blog: Share your thoughts: Is the issue free speech or risky behavior?)

Students post pictures of themselves holding cans of beer and bottles of liquor — even when they’re underage. They pose suggestively wearing little — sometimes no — clothing. Some appear to be smoking marijuana in bongs or joints, even holding firearms. They openly write nasty comments about each other or their teachers and coaches online.

Apparently a new sport called squirrel fishing is taking hold at the Harvard and University of California campuses.

According to Wikipedia:

There has been some debate over where squirrel fishing originated. The practice was popularized either by Nikolas Gloy and Yasuhiro Endo, at the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, or by the Berkeley Squirrel Fisher’s Club (BSF), an official student group at the University of California at Berkeley. BSF has been featured in several local periodicals.

Though nuts may seem at first to be the perfect bait for the rough and tough squirreling angler, apparently there have been deviations from the original practice of nut baiting.

Article continued:

… some squirrel fishers now choose to use prunes or apple slices as bait, by running fishing line or string through the fruit. This creates a tougher challenge for the squirrel, as it must chew its way through the fruit to free it from the line.

Bear fishing soon to be implemented on campuses near you.

We’ve all had the uber-liberal professor who spouts off his or her left-wing political interpretations, and they seem to represent a much larger percentage of the academic world. But how liberal is academia?
The New York Times reports:

“Many campuses are intellectual versions of one-party nations — except such nations usually have the merit, such as it is, of candor about their ideological monopolies.” The political tilt of American college faculties is a fact well established, though the actual ratio of liberals to conservatives — just under 3 to 1, according to the most comprehensive survey, conducted by U.C.L.A. researchers — is routinely exaggerated (10 to 1! 20! 30!) by those who believe that we liberals are actively conspiring to keep dissenting voices off the faculty roster.

But should professors need to worry about presenting their own political ideologies?

Article continued:

Every responsible teacher should think of the classroom as a relatively safe space, free of intimidation or coercion. But in return, every responsible student should realize that the classroom is only relatively safe, because arguing about ideas isn’t risk-free. Of course, students sometimes have qualms about taking classes with overtly partisan professors. “As conservatives,” Julie Aud, a student at the University of Indiana and press secretary for her chapter of the College Republicans, told CBS News, “we should never have to feel uncomfortable in the classroom because of our beliefs.” Perhaps so, but as students, you should expect to feel uncomfortable about your beliefs as a matter of course — that is, if your professors are doing their job properly, and keeping the floor open for every reasonable form of debate and disagreement.

Visit Michael Berube’s Blob for related material.

Thanks to our man Levon Abrahamian, our very own youtube commercial is nearly complete.  Through his innovative cinematic work, we have developed a unique look at what you don’t want for College Day.  Watch for the commercial to launch by September 25th, and view it for a complete and accurate depiction of an alternative College Day care-package.