6/17/2007

How to Choose the Right School For You

Now that the admission committees have handed you their decisions, it is time for you to choose which college to attend. For some, this choice is easy. Maybe you were admitted early decision or have a clear first choice. For others, the decision is more difficult. Perhaps you have not visited many of the schools on your list, maybe you and your parents disagree about what is best for your future, or perhaps you just can't seem to figure out what you want. No matter the reason, you must decide by the May 1st reply date. What should you do?

Identify your options.

Are you choosing between two schools or several? Have you narrowed down your choices? Are you comparing financial aid packages? Are you trying to get taken off a wait list at a school? What are the factors that you will use to make your decision?

Expand your research.

Now that you know what your options are, it is time to begin or continue your research. Hopefully you already know why each school is on your list. Review what you have learned and continue to learn about the schools. What are you looking for? What does each school offer? Consider how each school matches your interests: academic, extracurricular, social, and otherwise. Use the schools' websites, talk to friends, e-mail professors, visit the campuses. Have discussions with your family and others you trust. If you have not already visited the schools on your list, now is the time. One college applicant, Scott, visited the schools on his list only after he received his acceptance letters. Doing so gave him a new perspective on his choices: "I had applied to the University of Wisconsin-Madison on my counselor's recommendation. I didn't really think I would ever go there because it was so far away from home and I always thought of Wisconsin as a place of pastures and cows. But when I visited, I felt at home. The students were friendly, the classes were tough, and I had no idea Madison had such a fun night life."

Prioritize.

Amanda, an aspiring professional dancer, knew she wanted to attend college. She felt good about her auditions, and was thrilled to be admitted to several schools. After narrowing down her choices to SUNY-Purchase and University of Michigan, Amanda realized she needed to learn more about each school. "I found that the reputation of the schools said that Michigan had stronger academics and SUNY had better connections to the New York dance scene, which is where I want to establish a career. I am also really interested in literature and writing." Amanda had to prioritize. She asked herself, what role did she want her artistic and academic interests to play in her life? What was more important to her?

Be honest with yourself.

Radha, a senior from New Jersey, had narrowed down her acceptances to two schools: Boston University and University of Southern California (USC). Both schools were a good fit, as Radha wanted a city school with a lot of options and school spirit. After sorting out the pros and cons of each school, Radha was still stuck. Something else was bothering her. I asked, "If both schools were close to home, which would you choose?" Without hesitation, Radha replied, "USC. I just loved my visit and really loved the students I met." Suddenly, we had uncovered the issue that was hindering Radha: she wanted to go to USC, but she did not want to go far from home. After our discussion, Radha talked about the issue with her family. As an older sister with divorced parents, Radha had secretly decided she needed to stay near her younger sister whom she often looked after. Discussing her concerns with her parents helped Radha make the brave decision to attend the school she wanted. By looking deeper into the issue that was really troubling her-her fear of leaving home-Radha was able to make the decision that was best for her. It is important to remember that there are many factors that play into the decision of which school to attend. Going off to college often signifies the beginning of a more adult life, so this decision can be influenced by anxieties about leaving home.

Go with your gut.

We've been through the rational decision-making processes like making pro and con lists and prioritizing. However, intuition is often our best guide. Adam, now a few years out of college, recently said, "I don't know why exactly I chose Georgetown, but as soon as I got in I got excited. Somehow I just knew it would be the best place for me. And I was right." Pay attention to your gut. Trust yourself.

You can't be wrong.

Here is the good news: there is no such thing as the wrong choice. Like any experience, college is what you make of it. Take advantage of opportunities, choose challenging classes, become involved in your interests, and your decision will have been the right one. Chances are you will be happy at any of the schools on your list. After all, you applied to them because you discovered they were good matches for you. If you later find you would rather be somewhere else, you can always consider the transfer option. But most students are happy with the choice they made, and graduates often look back, saying: "I am glad I went where I did, but I think I would have been happy and successful at many colleges."

--Jackie Shapiro, MA IvyWise, LLC http://www.ivywise.com

Jaclyn Shapiro, MA College Admissions Counselor IvyWise, LLC 140 W 57th Street New York, NY (212) 262-3500

http://www.ivywise.com

Marketing Students: 5 Guidelines For Your Final Paper

Get motivated! ('Why do I write this paper?")

This is a basic question with a not-so-basic answer. In order for a job to be done well ? and your dissertation paper is, in fact, a job to be performed ? you should give yourself time to figure out why you will do it and get yourself motivated. No motivation ? no job quality, any professional can confirm that. Here are some possible answers to the motivational question:

- Because it is a must ? if you do not do it, you do not graduate;

- Because, if done with responsibility, it is an excellent opportunity to stand out from the crowd and your peers ? the Marketing job market gets busier with every day;

- Because you can practice your research skills while being directed and supervised by professionals (eg. your university professors);

- Because it could be a starting point for your career.

We all know the more you think about it, the more answers you can find. Once you have your motivational level raised, you will surely want to start your paper right away.

Choose your subject ("What should I write about?")

Allow yourself plenty of time to think what subject you would like to pick for your paper. In some cases, your professors already have a list of subjects from where you can choose one but sometimes they would happily accept your own subject, providing it is of interest and you convince them of your reasons. Consider the following, before you go for a subject or another:

- "Marketing" is a broad field ? which of its aspects do you feel more interested into, and more comfortable discussing about? Do you recall any particular course / chapter / subject that raised your interest at a time?

- Why would your subject be of importance and who would be your auditorium?

- Is your subject researchable? Is there any academic literature base on the subject?

- Do you think you can come up with a personal contribution to the subject?

- Do you see yourself developing that topic further on?

- Can you name at least a couple of persons who can guide you? Would they be willing to do that for you?

Documentation, documentation and... documentation

"Documentation" is a magic key for any successful paper. Student or acknowledged professional, once you made up your mind about the subject of the paper, most of your efforts will be directed (or should be directed) towards documentation. Depending on your subject, on your knowledge and your search capabilities, you might want to start with this even 1 ? 2 years prior to raduation date, in order to have enough time to collect and review as much information as possible.

Major information resources: libraries, bookshops, internet, newspapers and magazines (consider subscribing to main specialized magazines in your field!), university printings, company exhibitions and presentations.

Build your paper

You do not have to review the whole documentation before you start to lay the bricks of your paper. Usually, such works are done using the "top-down" strategy, meaning you start with the major lines and then you develop the minor ones. You can compare this strategy with the action of drawing a tree: you might want first to draw the tree trunk, then the major branches, you will draw then some smaller branches growing from the big ones, and at the end you draw the leaves and flowers.

Therefore, once you are clear with the subject and the basics of your paper ? the trunk of the tree, you can start organizing your chapters ? the major branches. Generally, you wont have less than 3 main chapters and more than 6 ? 7: remember your paper has to offer a valuable content but in the same time it has some space limits (for example you could be told not to exceed 70 pages including the appendix and graphics).

As you go on with your documentation, you will probably feel the need to reorganize the chapters and subchapters several times ? this is the way of any good writing, so don't be afraid of doing it as long as you stick to your subject and your chapters are part of a whole, "flowing" one from each other. Consult with you supervisor for any major changes, and ask directions if you feel the documentation is overwhelming, it becomes difficult to discern from the large amount of information and you feel like losing your coherency.

As a future Marketing professional, creativity is a basic skill as well as analytical thinking: you should prove them by including your own comments, opinions and conclusions upon the subject and not limit yourself to present only what other people said. Be critical to yourself and to others. Don't be afraid to bring out your own vision ? that's what counts the most!

Writing style

Your paper is an academic piece of work, and so it should look and feel like. Give a lot of attention to your writing style:

- language issues ? keep an academic and formal style, with no colloquial expressions and no slang terms. Be very precise and avoid hypes (yes, yes, we know it's hard to do it especially when you're a Marketing or Advertising professional-to-be) and irrational use of superlatives ("the best", "the greatest", "the most"? ).
For a professional look, avoid using vague expressions such as "some authors say?", be specific and precise! A common mistake is to assume some things are obvious or known: no, they're not obvious to everyone, so you have to justify your statements (okay? except maybe if you're saying that "1+1=2"...)

- grammar issues ? nothing can cut enthusiasm for a paper more than poor spelling and grammar! Check ? check ? check and check again your grammar before submitting your work: make use of the grammar facilities included in the word processors, ask your friends to proofread your paper, use dictionaries and grammar books every time you're unsure about something.

- layout and other issues: keep a professional clean simple layout, and stick to one font type (eg. Arial, Times New Roman or Verdana). Unless you're asked to submit your paper in another layout, you might want to leave 3 cm (1,2 in) edges on both left and right side, use line spacing at 1.5 and font sizes 10 to 12 (depending on the font type) for normal text, with chapter title sized at 14. Double check your quotations to be acknowledged, and make sure the tables and drawings are numbered correctly.

Take a final look at your work and ask yourself if you're feeling proud of it. If the answer is a strong "yes!", you're probably ready to present it.

Presentation ? the final torment!

Let's not forget these guidelines were written especially for Marketing students. For you, the presentation of your paper should count much more than for other students, since it is a way to promote yourself and your work. If you fail at marketing your own person, how can you be successful in marketing something / someone else? This is the reason why you should dedicate a lot of time and energy to this apparently insignificant last issue.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that since your paper content is great, it will speak for yourself. It will not! You have to bring out the strengths of the paper and try to minimize its weaknesses, if any. Treat your paper like it is a new product that needs to be launched, and your teachers are the consumers. Make them "buy" your paper, make them enthusiastic about it!

Start your presentation with an introduction of how the paper subject attracted you, then shortly point the elements of novelty you bring in. After that, you can proceed with the content briefing: keep short and very objective. Talk loud and clear and note people's attention level: try to keep them awake but if you see them drowsing, you can refresh the atmosphere by changing your tonality or inserting a joke.

At the end, don't forget to conclude: a paper with no conclusion is an unfinished pointless paper!
Sustain your speech with a proper visual support: in most cases, a projector would do a great job. Be careful of how you build your slides: use 80% drawings and figures and only 20% text, as the human eye and brain respond much better to suggestive drawings instead of regular boring text. Pay attention to coherency: your presentation must flow and your ideas must have continuity. Practice your speech at home or in front of your friends, ask for comments and critics.

Good luck!!!

Otilia Otlacan is a young certified professional with expertise in e-Marketing and e-Business, currently working as independent consultant and e-publisher. She developed and teach her own online course in "Principles of e-Marketing" and is also a volunteer Economics teacher.

You can contact her via her personal website at BRAINmarketing.net or check out her latest developing Marketing resources project at TeaWithEdge.com

The Challenges College Students Face on Secular Campuses

What is happening on the campuses of secular universities across America? Thousands of Christian students are losing their faith and non-Christian students are becoming entrenched in their unbelief. Why is this happening? Have they discovered that God, in fact, does not really exist, that we live in a careening universe with no divine Pilot at the wheel? Or does something else explain this trend?

The Intellectual Challenge
Christian students on a secular campus face a great intellectual challenge. The underlying principle of the university classroom is naturalism. Students find it everywhere, not just in biology, physics, anthropology, and geology, but also in chemistry, astronomy, psychology, political science, and so on. University faculties defend this pervasive naturalism in two ways: by banishment and by confrontation.

The Banishment Approach
The banishment approach is, of course, the more venerable and the less aggressive of the two. A science professor will state at the beginning of the semester: "Science involves the gathering and analysis of data as the basis for forming hypotheses regarding the nature of reality. It must, therefore, exclude any reference to the supernatural as out of bounds for scientific inquiry. Whether or not God exists, or angels, fairies, pixies, goblins, or the Boogie Man is irrelevant to scientific investigation. Hold to your religious or superstitious beliefs if you want to, but don't bring them up in this classroom. It is off the subject; we don't have time for theological debates here."

Students instantly get the idea that believing in God is anti-intellectual or at least one's faith should be compartmentalized and not allowed to spill over the transom into the science classroom. Be a believer elsewhere if you want, students learn, but come to science as a naturalist.

We Christians cannot accept this banishment. We have made Christ our life (Col. 3:4; Phil. 1:21), and His Lordship extends to every part of our lives. Certainly the One who created the universe at the beginning (Col. 1:16) and who even now sustains it moment by moment (Col. 1:17), has a right to enter a room where his handiwork is being examined and admired.

It is His macro- and micro-planning, organizing, systematizing, and engineering, after all, that makes all science possible. If we did not live in an orderly universe our scientists would be reduced to historians and statisticians who record the millions of haphazard events as they transpire, but can make no deductions, inductions, or educated guesses about what would happen next.

The Confrontation Approach
A more recent and increasingly popular approach in the university classroom is to take the creationist bull by the horns and attack belief in the God of the Bible by any possible means. This is the strategy of journals such as Creation/Evolution and The Skeptical Inquirer. Professors claim the mechanistic/materialistic explanation for origins removes all need for God. Naturalists in the classroom are not above using illogical arguments to win over their students.

For example, they may employ ad hominem arguments, associating belief in a Creator/Sustainer with witch-hunting, skinheads, and the Ku Klux Klan. Or they may use reductio ad absurdum arguments, such as asking how many dinosaur couples went onto the ark, or how Noah could be sure he had both male and female mosquitoes. Or they may knock down straw men, such as claiming victory if they can prove even the slightest changes occur, or limiting creationism only to those who believe the world began in 4004 BC. Or they may commit non sequiturs, such as claiming that since finches differ from one another, therefore, complex, mega-celled organisms evolved from single-celled life forms, and those from non-life.

Of course, we too must be cautious how we make our case, taking care to avoid the same mistakes. But it is difficult to wrestle with an opponent who refuses to fight by the rules.

We need Christian campus ministries because someone must stand up in our university community and affirm the biblical view of origins and of the ground and purpose for our existence.

The Bible clearly affirms these truths about our universe: (1) it had a beginning, all three persons of the Godhead being involved in its creation (Gen. 1:1-3; John 1:1-3; Col. 1:15-17); ( 2) at the beginning, it came into existence out of nothing (Heb. 11:3); and (3) its interdependent systems are all by God's design and under His ongoing control (Job 38-39; Ps. 19:1-6).

The Bible has a name for those whose dizzying intellects lead them to atheism. Psalm 14:1 calls them fools, referring not to the Stupids, but to self-deceived rebels against God. Just to ensure that we don't forget, the same psalm recurs as the fifty-third. Paul describes those who have given up their knowledge of God as those whose foolish hearts have become darkened and who then become arrogant (Rom. 1:21-23). In all three of these passages, the intellectual rejection of God's existence leads to a moral rejection of God's will (Ps. 14.3; 53:3; Rom. 1:24-32).

The Results of this Naturalism
This prevailing naturalism (or anti-supernaturalism) has at least three far-reaching results. First, our college students are taught that truth is relative. Without God as the everlasting, immutable ground of all reality, truth becomes little more than one's subjective perception of it. Those who hold to absolute truth are ridiculed and harassed.

In a recent speech entitled, "The Trouble with Being Open-Minded," Bruce Lockerbie said: "In today's university environment, absolutes dissolve into absolutism and are scoffed at with contempt. Ironically, however, today's students have been taught that some absolutes survive. Here is a sample of these campus absolutes, of which today's students and many of their teachers are absolutely certain! (1) I think; therefore, I am [René Descartes]. (2) God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him [Friedrich Nietzsche]. (3) There are truths but no truth [Albert Camus]. (4) We have neither behind us, nor before us in a luminous realm of values, any means of justification or excuse. We are left alone, without excuse [Jean-Paul Sartre]. (5) Life is hard, then you die. [bumper sticker]."

Modern American campuses are similar to the ancient Athenians, whom Luke describes in Acts 17:21: [They] spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas. Since Christianity, with its beliefs and practices, is nearly 2000 years old, they believe it should be jettisoned by all who intellectually have come of age. Second, the faith of our students is challenged in and out of the classroom.

As the Apostle Peter anticipated, people sometimes ask students the reason for the hope that they have (1 Pet. 3:15), and our students should be prepared with a good answer. But Peter also said in 2 Pet. 3:3-4: "in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, Where is this coming he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." This is naturalism's doctrine of uniformitarianism, contradicted at creation itself and a myriad of times since by the catastrophes and the disasters of nature. Our students must learn the flaws in naturalism's model so that their faith can stand firm and not erode away by wave after wave of faculty banishment or confrontational ridicule and the peer pressure from other students.

Third, our students are being taught that not only truth is relative, but morality is relative. Isaiah cries: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight" (Isa. 5:20-21).

The Deifying of Tolerance
On campus, tolerance is praise as the highest virtue, and intolerance as the greatest vice. Senator Dan Coats of Indiana spoke recently on the virtue of tolerance. Quoting G. K. Chesterton: "When the world next tries persecution seriously, it will probably be under some new name," Coats stated that persecution's new name is tolerance itself. Our students are taught not to be judgmental, which has the effect of encouraging them to have no moral judgment at all. Coats recalls that the poet Ogden Nash confessed: "Sometimes with secret pride I sigh / To think how tolerant am I / Then wonder which is really mine; / Tolerance, or a rubber spine."

This deifying of tolerance demonizes any who stand up for moral absolutes and who have the courage to say in love, for instance, to a homosexual, "What you are doing is wrong and is destructive both to yourself and to society." A colleague of mine told me of a Christian student we'll call Ann, whose work at a local AIDS screening clinic brought her into daily contact with practicing homosexuals. She made up her mind to be salt and light in that place, and as a result, struck up a friendship with a lesbian we'll call Florence."

After Ann was confident that Florence could sense her friendship, she asked her why she became a lesbian. "When I was growing up," Florence said, "I was always wanting to play rough, climb trees, go hunting, and other 'guy' things like that. I wanted to be like my father a lot."

"That's funny," Ann said. "I was a tomboy too. I used to follow my dad around trying to do whatever he did."

"You did? And you're straight, right?"

"Yeah."

"I thought only lesbians had my experience."

Ann left it at that for awhile. Then, a few weeks later, when Florence was sharing about her first sexual experience (a lesbian one) and describing how strange it all felt, Ann said, "That makes sense. Maybe it's like when I first went on a diet and had to drink Diet Coke. No one who first drinks that stuff likes it, but after awhile they get used to it, and then it doesn't bother them anymore. Maybe gay sex is like that. At first you don't like it, but if you keep doing it, you get used to it."

Florence didn't say anything for a moment. "Yeah, maybe you're right," she finally replied. These two conversations Ann had with Florence brought the lesbian a long way. Not yet all the way to Jesus Christ, but light years closer. If Ann had just shown "tolerance" and ignored the moral difference between her and Florence, nothing would have changed.

Coats says that the irony is how the virtue of tolerance has been stolen from us Christians. It's time for us to reclaim it. We serve a God who makes his sun shine on the evil and the good and sends his rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Into an intolerant world Jesus introduced tolerance as something revolutionary. He was branded a drunkard and a glutton and the friend of tax-collectors and sinners. Our friends in academia act as if mulitculturalism were something recently invented. But Paul announced it as the way of the Christ: There is neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian or Scythian, slave or free, male and female (Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11).

No one has more experience in multiculturalism than the church, which for 2000 years has been taking the gospel to every nation and culture as it fulfills the Great Commission.

We Christians believe in tolerance. But our tolerance is not shallow like that of the academic community. In his speech Coats points out that tolerance has two extremes: permissiveness and persecution. Our non-Christian colleagues on campus stand on the permissiveness extreme--standing for nothing and falling for everything. They believe that Christians are at the other extreme, equating us with racists, ethnocentrists, and homophobes.

But we are not there. We hold Coats' middle ground: persuasion (2 Cor. 5:11, 14-21). It is not that we try to force people into conforming to our (really, the Lord's) standards. To the contrary, we have learned from our Master that outward conformity has little value if the heart is not in it. Rather, we try to change people's thinking, confident that with changed hearts, their actions will follow.

Copyright © 2005 Steve Singleton, all rights reserved.

Steve Singleton has written and edited several books and numerous articles on subjects of interest to Bible students. He has taught Greek, Bible, and religious studies courses Bible college, university, and adult education programs. He has taught seminars and workshops in 11 states and the Caribbean.

Go to his DeeperStudy.org for Bible study resources, no matter what your level of expertise. Explore "The Shallows," plumb "The Depths," or use the well-organized "Study Links" for original sources in English translation. Sign up for Steve's free "DeeperStudy Newsletter."

6/02/2007

Need Money for College?

Finding money for college can be a challenge for many students and their families. While saving in advance is the best choice, many times saving money for college is not easy for families. Even for those who do save, many find that the savings are not enough to cover the full cost of a college education.

So what should students and parents do to find money for college? There are many programs available to help students get money for college including scholarships, grants and several types of loans.

There is one form the student needs to fill out each year which will determine his or her eligibility for need based programs including loans, grants and work-study called the FAFSA, found online at fafsa.ed.gov.

After submitting the FAFSA students will be notified by mail which programs they qualify for. Priority deadlines for most colleges are late spring to early summer. However students can continue to apply until the end of the school year.

If you have gotten your FAFSA results and didn't get as much money for college as you need, the first thing you should do is visit the financial aid office at your school. It is possible that there may be other sources of aid available. Some colleges participate in state funded financial aid programs and special need based programs that you may qualify for.

Secondly you can request that the financial aid office review your application and family contribution analysis. Perhaps there are circumstances such as a job loss, unexpected family expense or another factor that will reduce the amount of money the family is expected to contribute. This could possibly help you get more money for college in the form of loans and grants.

Most students qualify for Federal Student Loans (Stafford Loans) and the FAFSA results will reveal the amount students will be able to borrow. If this loan amount is not enough, students can inquire with the financial aid office about other loans.

Students may be able to take out additional Stafford Loans in the form of an unsubsidized loan. Unsubsidized loans are not awarded on the basis of need and students will be charged interest from the time the loan is disbursed until it's paid in full. Borrowers also have the option to add the interest to the principal amount of the loan until graduation. However additional interest will be based on the higher amount.

Other loan options that provide money for college students include Perkins Loans which are designated for students that meet low income criteria. The availability of Perkins loans are usually limited because each school participating in the Federal Perkins Loan program is given a maximum amount of Perkins Loan funds each year.

PLUS loans are available for parents to borrow money for college for their children. These loans are awarded regardless of financial need and allow parents to borrow up to the full cost of the child's education. To qualify for a PLUS loan the student must be classified as dependent.

Knowing your loan options is important but students should not ignore scholarship programs that give away free money for college. Many students think that scholarships are only available for straight A students, but this is not the case! There are many college scholarship programs based on a variety of criteria including essay contests, volunteer work or area of study.

Scholarship money for college can be found by inquiring at your college scholarship office, searching online and using scholarship directories.

By exploring all of the options available students and their families can successfully find money for college.

Michael Carter is a contributor at College Financial Aid Guide, an online informational resource for educational funding, scholarships and student loans. Find out how to apply for student loans.