It happens to the best of us. You start the semester with a game plan and every intention to avoid the mistakes of the past. Time drains such as the internet, partying, and anything else have been sorted out. Your finances are in order, you have your health, and your personal life is drama free. Then, it happens. Life, whether over ...

As I was exploring topics to cover for my final story in my newswriting class, I came across the issue of whether or not liberal arts education affects the religious practices of college students. The issue really intrigued me because I attend a liberal arts university, and have been taught about many different perspectives since beginning classes in the fall. I’ve ...

You’ve made it. You’ve graduated high school. You’ve proven your tenacity, or at least your ability to stay awake for 6-8 hours a day, and now it’s time to take the first steps into adult life… with parental consent of course. Unfortunately, you’re still 17 (or 16, or whatever young age you are you genius, you), and you’re already begun college, ...

When I first graduated with my Bachelor's degree, I was confused. While I had a sense of accomplishment, I also wondered what my next step should be. After a year of agonizing over how to advance my career, I decided to go to graduate school. Surely after completing a Master's degree my future endeavors would be laid out in front of ...

I’ve come to find out in my first few months of college that most students will do anything, anything that distracts them from the homework/studying/job that is at hand. And hey, I’m not blaming anyone, in fact, after spending a few hours focused on schoolwork, I need a break to continue functioning. I’ll let you in on another little discovery of ...

Sitting in the dining hall and eating ice cream at 10 PM one night, my roommate excused herself from the table to get some cereal. When she was gone, one of the girls sitting with us laughed and said, “I don’t know how you live with her.” It was a good-natured joke, but also a good question, since we hadn’t met ...

In college, staying healthy is often the last thing on your mind. Just finding time to eat dinner seems like an accomplishment, and forgetting your essay and sprinting back to the dorm totally counts as a workout. But making sure to focus on your health means more than just driving away the Freshman 15 – it’s about making sure you’re at ...

Senioritis: we’ve all heard of it, but you never really know what it’s like until your senior year. Second semester seems to be the time when it strikes most vindictively, transforming even the most diligent of students into unmotivated clock watchers—college apps are done for the most part, ACT/SAT scores are in, and it really does feel like there is no ...

When you first start college, you are gung ho about following your passions. How fun will it be to get to study a subject you love in-depth, have great classroom debates about ancient philosophers, works of art and literature, or to analyze Sigmund Freud’s theories? Hindsight is often said to be 20/20. Some college students graduate excited to enter the workforce ...

The fading sounds of applause echo across the huge hall, dying down into nothing as we begin our final set. Our first song of the night is a showstopper, the second a laid back interlude. Our last song, however, is much darker, striking a melancholy theme that will haunt the audience throughout the final moments of our performance. The hall is ...

“She sells sea- She sells- She sells seashells by the seashore.” It was a problem- a minor one in North America, but big elsewhere. In Mandarin Chinese, there are five consonant sounds I still struggle with, especially when presented in rapid succession, and two of them appear in that line. Generally, I avoid saying certain phrases in English (“we were where”), ...

It’s quite an easy thing to become lazy in your first semester of college. Nobody is yelling in your ear for you to get up (unless your roommate just cares that much), you can skip class more easily (depending on your professor’s attendance policy), and at any given time, you’re probably no more than 300 feet from an Xbox. A lot ...

Kristen has been contributing to Fastweb since August 2011 and has garnered a lot of attention from our readers for her personal and prolific pieces, like Accepting Rejection (or a Deferral or Waitlisting). So we thought it would be nice to introduce you all to even more of Kristen! What are you studying in school and what are the biggest challenges ...

“What is the best piece of advice you can give a freshman?” It was a question that popped up over and over again during my time at Dawg Camp, an optional weekend retreat in the summer for incoming freshmen to the University of Georgia. Some of the answers were predictable, like make a lot of friends or don’t forget to call ...

With over 3,000 colleges and universities in the United States alone, there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to find one that fits your personality perfectly. With so much enormous variety, it might seem difficult to narrow down exactly which one that is. One of the most important factors in your school experience can be its location – you’ll get a ...

With the new year comes new resolutions and a fresh start, and this is no different for high school seniors. Now that you have some idea of where you’ll be a year from now, it’s time to make sure you can afford it. While nearly everyone fills out the FAFSA and waits to hear back from schools on their financial aid, ...

In the age of the Internet, information is at our beck and call with the push of a button. Smartphones are no exception, making it easier to get up to the second news and information. It’s almost like carrying a laptop around in your pocket. Usually, high school graduates view purchasing a laptop a must before heading off to college. Now ...

I hate this time of the year, and it is not because taxes confuse me. For American students, it is time to register for classes again, which means lines, paperwork, and money. All three of those are problem areas, but no more! This year, I conquered registration. Advising The first step in choosing classes is meeting with an advisor, so I ...

Some people know what they want to do for the rest of their lives before they ever step on campus, which is wonderful. I was not one of those people. There was a vague idea of what I wanted to study, but the only concrete idea was the reasoning: I wanted to help people, preferably without looking like an idiot. Many ...

College can be one of the most memorable times in a person’s life. Learning new subjects often helps a student to see the world differently. Making new friends, gaining independence, and for some living away from home for the first time are all unmatched experiences. However, in the wake of sexual abuse scandals, hazing deaths, college shootings, and student abductions, it ...