Posts filed in college

College Students

How to Pick the Right College for You

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Congratulations high schoolers! Another school year is over and summer has just begun! While we’re certain that you’re all out to have a good time and unwind, the summer is also an opportune time to start thinking about next steps, and it’s likely that a good number of your summer vacations revolve around touring college campuses. Do you know where life will take you after high school, and what might be the right college for you? If the answer to that question still eludes you, we know a great resource to help you figure it all out.

Imagine if there was one simple infographic that pointed you to the exact college for you: one in the right state, that offers the right major, and comes at a great price. Choosing the right campus would be a breeze, right? Well, you’re in luck! Because Affordable Colleges Online is just that:

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eNotes News

eNotes Visits UW, Brings Free Coffee and Free Passes

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This weekend, our social media team here at eNotes helped sponsor TOSA’s Taiwanese Carnival at the University of Washington. We stocked our booth with five gallons of free coffee, 300+ donuts, boxes of super awesome eNotes pencils, fistfuls of eNotes passes, and a ton of Homework Help advice. We also set up a drawing for a free Kindle Fire (hey, we love free stuff!). Although Seattle’s weather competed against the carnival’s promise of music, food, and multicultural fun, we did meet and hang out with some great UW students who braved the rain. Check out pics of the event below. If you would like eNotes to bring free stuff to your school or university, leave us a comment. We’ll enter you into a contest for a year-long free pass to the site.

Office and community manager Brandi Haker rocking the eNotes booth with Katie Rounds, our publicity and editorial intern.

Office and community manager Brandi Haker (left) and publicity/editorial intern Katie Rounds (right) rocking the eNotes booth.

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College Students

eNotes Student of Change: Amena Mian, and the Fashionably Conscious NGO

“I dreamt up Project Sina in college and always thought that I would pursue the endeavor later on in my career. I guess there is a perception that one has to be of a certain age and have collected a number of accolades before doing something entrepreneurial… Frustrated by a narrow job market, I was compelled to create my own opportunities regardless of who or what entity deemed me qualified.” — Amena Mian

In our new blog series, we’re interviewing students and recent graduates who have taken their studies and done something profound with them. Some are doing great work at home, while others have traveled to far off destinations to help communities in need. Whatever path they’ve chosen, these inspirational Students of Change prove that being young and recently graduated are never hindrances to doing what you want to do.

amenaAmena Mian is a graduate of UC Davis, with a degree in Global Community Development. She has an extensive amount of experience working for mission-driven nonprofits both in the US and South Asia and she was selected as a Fellow for the IDEX Fellowship in Social Enterpise ’12-’13. Her non-profit fashion label Project Sina is “generating opportunity for women through a stitch,” employing Pakistani artisans to create beautiful, hand-crafted clothing and repaying them with fair wages and education. 

Amena’s efforts to promote literacy and equality for South Asian women make her our hero and this week’s Student of Change. Read on to learn more about her and her co-founders’ noble cause!

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College Students

eNotes Student of Change: Emily Thomas, The Social Media Do-Gooder

“At 24 years old having 61,000 followers on Twitter, people always ask me if there’s something profound I did to make that happen and my answer is always no. I just showed people that I cared.” – Emily Thomas

In our new blog series, we’re interviewing students and recent graduates who have taken their studies and done something profound with them. Some are doing great work at home, while others have traveled to far off destinations to help communities in need. Whatever path they’ve chosen, these inspirational Students of Change prove that being young and recently graduated are never hindrances to doing what you want to do.

Take the subject of our first interview for example, Emily Thomas. Emily is 24 and just recently graduated from Seattle University. Her writing has been featured on Huffington Post and she’s currently involved with a number of PR projects, the biggest of which is #standwithme, a campaign for a documentary about the issue of child slavery. She’s a social media guru with upwards of 61,000 followers on Twitter. We at eNotes believe that she exemplifies the ideal eNoter through her upbeat attitude and never ending quest for knowledge. Read on for your daily dose of inspiration.

You’re a self-proclaimed do-gooder, what does this mean to you and what led you to aspire to this identity?

standwithme1I got the phrase “do-gooder” from one of my favorite quotes by Minor Myers which is “go into the world and do well, but more importantly, go into the world and do good.” While being an established writer and successful social media strategist is important to me, I always remind myself that true success comes from two things: doing something that makes you happy and doing something that makes the world a better place than when you found it. The truth is that we aren’t going to live forever, but we have the ability to forever make the world a better place by choosing our actions wisely.

Before I embark on any social media campaigns, I ask myself if it’s a project that I feel is going to make a difference in the world. What I have found from working on projects like #standwithme and Snap2Live is that my ability to use social media strategy helps companies tell their story in the best way possible through cyber space. I know that my efforts with these two projects are affecting more lives than just my own. Continue Reading ›

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College Students

The High Cost of College

How to decide whether a four-year degree is right for you.

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In a post from May last year we pondered the question, should everyone go to college? And what might still be surprising to some, the answer was a resounding no. As eNotes editor and college professor Jamie described it then,

I believe anyone who wants an education should  pursue one. But I also see many incredibly gifted students who have skills that they are actively discouraged from mastering because they are supposed to have a Bachelor’s degree.  I see young people who have no real interest or desire to stay in school another four years who are miserable and many who are racking up debt when they could be doing something they enjoy, avoiding debt, and making money.

The prevailing opinion in America is that every student must go to college; if they don’t, they’ve somehow failed, or been failed by the system. Yet the cost of an American college education is among the highest in the world. So, if that college degree does you no favors in the job force, or if you drop out before completing your four years, you’re burdened with a mass of student debt to shoulder for the next twenty years.

That’s why it’s important to look at the costs of a college education, weighing out the pros and cons of each side and determining what’s right for you. If you plan to spend your life in academia, of course a university education is a necessity. But if you’d be better suited to a skilled trade, would the debt and time spent out of the workforce pay off? Here’s an excellent infographic from affordable-online-colleges.net to help you weigh your options. You might be surprised by what you find, like the high success rates of those who choose a two-year college over pursuing a Bachelor’s degree.

Read on and let us know your thoughts and questions!

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College Students

Become an eNotes TA!

Are you a high school or undergraduate student interested in helping your fellow peers? Perhaps you tutor on the side, or go out of your way to help friends with their homework? Well, now there’s a place at eNotes just for you!

eNotes is looking to enlist a small team of student contributors that we’re calling our eNotes TAs.

keep-calm-i-m-a-teaching-assistantWhat’s a TA?

A TA (Teaching Assistant) is somewhere between a student and a teacher; they have the required knowledge to help others with the subject matter at hand, but can explain it all in a way that their fellow students will understand. eNotes TAs will work in our Homework Help section, writing original answers to eNoters’ questions from around the world. Along with our team of real-life Educators, eNotes TAs will help to make Homework Help your top choice for expert answers and instruction provided in the clearest way!

To join this team you must be enrolled in school (high school or undergraduate) and possess an enthusiasm for learning and sharing what you’ve learnt.

In return, eNotes TAs will receive:

  • free premium membership to eNotes (unlimited access to our 250,000+ study guides, plus up to 5 Homework Help questions per day)
  • valuable resume or college application experience
  • special gift card rewards based on the attainment of pre-set goals

How to apply:

If you’re interested in becoming a part of the eNotes team, please submit your application to become a TA to jgardner@enotes.com. Make sure to include a little bit about yourself, your grade level, and what makes you a strong candidate for the TA program. We look forward to hearing from you!

Check back at eNotes.com later this Fall term to see our TAs in action!

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Books

16 Days of Summer

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eNotes’ editorial intern shares his tips of how to make the most of your high school summer. Or any summer, for that matter!

I’m a huge Harry Potter fan.  My grandma bought me the first book when I was 11, and from then on I read every book within the same week it was released.  My extreme anticipation and excitement for the release of the final installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, back in 2007 should be understandable then.  However, I was conflicted.  The release date for the 7th book was set for the end of July, which is far too close to the end of summer from a student’s perspective.  You see my dilemma.  As a typical high school student, I wanted the long carefree days of summer to last forever, however, I now had this exciting event to look forward to at the end of summer.  For the first time in my life, I was looking forward to summer ending.  This turned out to be the slowest summer ever.  My summer that normally felt like it was only 16 days long now felt like the setting of a slow-motion dream I couldn’t escape.  Ultimately, I became comfortable with the pace of that summer in 2007 and learned to enjoy my time and stay in the moment up until that long awaited release of the Deathly Hallows.

That summer was a stark contrast to a typical high school summer, which moves way too quickly and is filled with sobs of students during the final weeks.  The days meld together and may begin to pass you by.  Let’s take a look at some tips to ensure that you’re making the most of your summer and emerge into the next school year after a productive and fun vacation.

1. Break it down.  You have two and a half months ahead of you with no academic obligations.  Plan your summer by answering these basic questions which will provide an outline for your time ahead: 1. What will I do with my time?, 2. What are my obligations?, 3. What will be fun?, 4. What will be beneficial?

2. Travel.  One of my biggest regrets of high school is that I considered leaving my street to be “traveling”.  Travel and learn to be comfortable making your own decisions, being your own boss, and not having your mother force you to clean your room.  You will gain experience, confidence, and surely return a changed person.  More importantly, you will be better equipped to handle college. And anyways, girls like well-traveled men (and vice versa).  If a trip outside of the US isn’t plausible, spend a couple days in a neighboring city.

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