My first day of college, just over 20 years ago, was filled with the anticipation and excitement of every other college freshman. I was on my own and preparing for success in my double majors of education and business. Months of preparation and planning culminated in the moment I sat in my first college class, Business 101. Perhaps it was the ...

Four years is a long time. It hasn't seemed like it to me, but by June I will have been doing this high school bit for four years now. That thought has led me to ponder what these years have meant and will mean in the future ... of course I've learned a lot about endoplasmic reticuli and asymptotes and syllogisms ...

Clutching a white rose and an unlit white candle in my hand, I followed a procession of 35 inductees into the small auditorium. The audience stood up as we entered the room and I could see my husband, in-laws and five children craning their necks to find me in line. A violinist played classical music on the podium until we took ...

In high school, I went to tennis camp for three years. I figured I'd come out with a sweet backhand but ended up coming out with better sportsmanship, while my form stayed the same. In other words, I expected one thing and ended up with something else. Here are a few unexpected things I got out of each of my important ...

Ever look at successful people and wonder how they got there? Next Step asked five celebs their advice on how to have a successful college experience. Here’s what they want you to know. "I went to Indiana University at Bloomington. I wasn’t the first one in my family to go there—actually, my parents met there! Grades are so important, but if ...

Life at a huge school is quite different than what I thought it would be. I went to an extremely small high school (approximately 800 students) and it got to be too small after four years. When I looked at colleges, I knew I wanted to go to a HUGE school. I pictured lots of school spirit, amazing football games, lecture ...

It seems like the sophomore year is one that you don’t remember. It’s not like your freshman year when everything is new and exciting. It’s not like your junior year when you start the college search process. It’s not like your senior year that is fast-paced, application-crazed, and meaningful yet fun. It’s the often-overlooked sophomore year that isn’t given nearly enough ...

You’d think we would have been over it by the time we got there. My university orientation class was already so intellectually, academically, athletically and artistically accomplished. We had friends we were close to, families we cared about. Put together, we’d performed thousands and thousands of hours of service to church and community. This, you would think, was an emotionally and ...

The back-to-school jitters kicked in just as I climbed into the elevator. Trying to appear calm and self-assured, I surveyed the swarm of younger faces around me. I made my way to the fourth floor classroom for my first “publishing your writing” class. Arriving early, I tentatively chose a seat and waited for my professor and classmates to trickle in. Fully ...

The cherry blossoms are starting to fade and fall to the ground, reminding me that spring semester is nearly over. Summer break looms like a child’s birthday balloon buoyantly hovering above a crowded room. From this vantage point, the next 12 weeks seem like plenty of time to tackle those neglected home decorating projects, catch up on nearly 20 years of ...

I’m old enough to be these kids’ mother, I think to myself as I observe my younger classmates lining both sides of the hallway. While we wait for the professor to arrive and unlock the door to our classroom, I wonder about these young people only a few years older than my teenage son. What are their personal backgrounds? What has ...

We asked Fastweb users to share their advice on college life, based on their personal experiences. Here's what they said: "Try not to hold on to what is familiar to you. You have a chance to be anything you want. Let the world around you influence you and teach you. College prepares you for the future, but everything else helps you ...

On my first day of school, I feel a tingling in my fingers as I search through my closet for my black dress. I usually wear this gloomy-colored attire to funerals, but this dress will not witness any melancholy tears or expressions of farewell today. Bolles, my high school, carries an abiding tradition of letting the senior women wear black dresses ...

If an omniscient viewer peeked into my life for a period of time, he or she would notice that I follow a simple and set routine. I wake up, brush my teeth, pick out my day’s attire, and go to school. After school, I toss my dirty clothes into the laundry basket, take a shower, and slip into a more comfortable ...

So this is the end of one journey. It feels like everything in my life has closed its doors lately. The weird thing is usually one door closes and another one opens, but I haven't seen any doors open. And some of those doors have just slammed in my face ... without any warning, if you catch my drift. One particular ...

By the time this blog posts, I will officially be a college graduate! The event I've been talking about forever will have finally happened -- and it's starting to hit me. The reality will be even harsher when I wake up that fateful August move-in day later this year, only to remember I'm no longer at Hofstra... I'm getting sad just ...

Welcome back and Happy New Year! I hope you had a great holiday and a relaxing break, and that if you returned home, my advice from the previous post was useful. Of course the buzz in the first month of the year always includes the same subject: What is your New Year's resolution? I usually don't believe in making resolutions, but ...

This week I’m going to write about persimmons. Oh yes, that most noble of fruits. No, hang on, that’s wrong. You’ll have to excuse me (well, you don’t have to, but it’d be a very generous move on your part). I’m graduating from college on Sunday and my brain’s just about full to capacity. Bet you didn’t know that could ...

“As you walk across the stage—take a bow and hear the applause. And as the curtain falls, just know you did it all the best that you knew how. You can hear them cheering now, so let a smile and show your teeth because you know you lived it well.” – This is Not an Exit, by Saves the Day I ...

Seeing the University of Virginia’s men’s basketball team make it to the second round of the NCAA tournament brought me back my own basketball career. Though it was short-lived, I made good use of my two-inch vertical leap and attained virtual stardom in my 175-person high school. Oh yes, my fingers were like the jaws of steel traps. My speed was ...