Should College Students Go Year Round?

For students looking to accelerate their college education, taking college classes year round is a great option. By taking classes during the summer, winter, and spring semesters, students can earn credits more quickly, potentially graduating earlier than those who take classes only during the traditional two semesters a year.

One of the advantages of taking college classes year round is that it gives students the ability to create an individualized schedule that works best for them. Students can tailor their academic program to their own needs, such as taking classes that are more difficult during the summer when they have more time to devote to them. It also allows students to take advantage of more diverse course offerings, such as international programs and classes that are not available during the traditional semesters.

Another benefit of taking college classes year round is that it can help students stay on track and graduate on time. By taking classes year round, students can make up for any credits lost during a semester or make up for classes they weren’t able to take. It also helps students avoid having to take extra classes during the traditional semesters, which can be more expensive and less efficient.

Finally, taking college classes year round can provide students with a more flexible lifestyle. Since classes are spread out over the year, it allows students to take advantage of internships and job opportunities without having to worry about conflicting class schedules. It also gives them more time to devote to extracurricular activities and other interests.

Taking college classes year round offers numerous benefits to students looking to accelerate their education. From creating personalized schedules to taking advantage of diverse course offerings, students can reap the rewards of taking classes year round.

Is Your Dorm Room Haunted?

It might sound ridiculous to some to suggest that a dorm room can be haunted, but to others, it makes perfect sense. If you think about it, more has happened in a single dorm room than happens in most apartments or houses. There are too many reports of hauntings in dorm rooms to ignore.

There are some things to consider before you decide if your dormitory is haunted or not. To start with, ask yourself these simple questions.

• Is your dorm building new or has it been around for a while?
• Is your campus historical or newer?
• Is the location of your campus near or located on any historical sites?
• Has any major event happened near or at the location of your dorm?

Let’s dissect each of those questions and why they are vital in determining if your dorm room is truly haunted or if it’s just old plumbing that is causing all of the noises you hear. If your dorm building is older then there is more of a chance for something to have happened where you are staying. Many believe that ghosts or spirits are commonly found in locations where something major has happened before. It might not seem like a life-changing event to you, but if something happened in the past that an apparition considers vital then it is possible you may have a lingering guest.

If your campus is historical then there is also more of a chance that some major event has happened on campus. It makes sense that if your campus is haunted then the ghosts won’t just stay in one place. If you are experiencing a haunting on campus then it is likely that others are too.

If your campus is located near any historical sites that might have not-so-pleasant pasts then it is also likely that some bad energy has ended up on your campus. Lastly, if a major event happened near your dorm that could cause a haunting then you are much more likely to be experiencing a haunting.

If you or anyone else on campus has experienced the following, then it is likely you have a real haunting:

• Hearing strange noises at odd times.
• Hearing someone saying your name or speaking, even though nobody else is around.
• Doors shutting, windows slamming shut, things falling over, even though nobody is around to have done it.
• Floating objects.
• Shadows or movement that is unordinary.
• Strange reflections in mirrors.
• Sudden change in temperature.
• Unusual fog or glowing orbs in photos.
• Flickering lights.
• Abrupt loud noises that don’t seem to have an immediate source.

Reports of hauntings in dorm rooms or on campuses are common, so don’t feel alone when looking into this. Sometimes the strange things that happen can be explained away with simple logic, but in many cases, there are no logical explanations other than to admit that an actual haunting might be occurring. This article is not to give advice on what to do if you have a haunting because every situation is different and might require different action, but rather this is to help you decide if you have an actual haunting or perhaps just live in an old building where old wiring can explain your sightings.

Please take time to let us know your haunted dorm room story in the comments section.

Monsters University: Because College is Totally Like That!

Pixar’s favorite monsters are scaring on the silver screen again! This time, they’re at college learning about what it takes to make it in the scaring profession. It’s not an easy task as Mike and Sully’s relationship starts out on a sour, envious note. Though they fight one another to be the best, they end up forming a bond with each other and some other interesting monster misfits in efforts to thrive and survive perilous situations. They get in trouble with the school, compete in some insane Greek life competitions, face social humiliation, and even work together to get out of the human world. Their shenanigans and misadventures unfortunately get them expelled, but the same optimism and determination that got them through college life got them to their dream jobs!

Walt Disney had once said, “I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.” In the nature of any Disney Pixar movie, Monsters University is, of course, an entertaining, family-friendly feel-good movie. And I feel it fulfills Disney’s vision in being a great portrayal college life for being a product of fantasy and imagination. The story line of the movie puts the characters in situations that are very relatable to the college bound and even current college students.

Just starting college can be scary, even though no big, hairy monsters actually roam the campus. The fear may come from being overwhelmed by homesickness, fitting in, facing a new social environment, or high academic expectations. But despite all that, many new college students are like Mike. They may have anxiously awaited and prepared for their opportunity to participate in higher education, and will feel a number of emotions when that time finally comes. They are giddy, excited, in awe and wonder, optimistic and full of plans for their days ahead.

You meet many unique people at college. Jocks, artists, emos, nerds, nontraditional students—college has them all, and they all have their own reasons for attending the same school as you. A big reason might be the programs offered, just as Monsters University offered a prestigious scaring program in which many monster students aspired to participate.  Some students, like Sully, may attend a particular school out of respect to a family legacy. Sully seems to come from a family of scarers well-known to people around the campus. Perhaps he is following in the footsteps of his parents in attending that school.

The important thing Monsters University emphasizes is the measure of success. Certain college programs or even college itself may not be for everyone. If you change majors in college, or if you are unsure of what to pursue, it’s alright. It’s a reality for many. Mike aspired all his life to be a scarer, and he eventually realizes he is not cut out to be one. It doesn’t have to be the end of your life though if that happens to you. Mike took his talents, traits, and his new friend Sully to the bottom rung of Monsters Incorporated and had nowhere to go but up from there. It wasn’t so much a college education and degree that made them the top scaring team of the original movie, but instead it was their determination, talent, and friendship that got them far. Like Mike and Sully, you may not have a college degree, but then again you may not need one. Success is how you achieve your dreams, and you probably already have what it takes to get there! Monsters University is great for everyone! Current college students or even former college students will enjoy its relation to the life of pursuing higher education. You just might see yourself in the unique characters or relate to their experiences if you’re one of those people. If you’re a high school grad or college-bound, I hope this movie and interesting insight inspires you! Don’t start the next semester until you see this movie! It’s definitely entertaining, and might even make you think on your life, your education, and your thoughts on success.

How To Make Money In College

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Every college student has been at the point where they could use a little extra cash at one time or another. The problem that most college students face is figuring out how to make money. Fortunately, there are lots of ways that college students can make money, in-person and online. We have gathered some of our favorite and most proven ways to make money as a college student all here in one place, just for you!

While these methods require a little extra effort on your part, they are often times the most rewarding when it comes time to get paid! First, let’s cover the ways that you can make money in-person as a college student…

Check With your College or University’s Career Office

Most all colleges and universities have an office or some place on campus or online where students can view open job listings or get in touch with someone who can help them get started with work study or an on campus job. If you live on campus this can be a great way to make some extra cash without having to leave the campus.

Make Use Of Bulletin Boards

Every college has bulletin boards around campus, chances are you find yourself stopping at them frequently to check out what’s new! Use this to your advantage. Post flyers selling old textbooks, dorm appliances, etc. If you offer a service, post it here too! For instance, if you offer tutoring or are looking for a roommate to split the cost of living on or off campus, post those here! Just make sure it complies with your college’s rules about posting stuff around campus.

Tutor

This may not be useful if you are the person needing tutoring, but generally everyone has a subject or two that they are really good at. You don’t have to tutor in every subject, but if you rock at math, by all means, tutor people in it! Make some extra cash while keeping the gears in your brain going.

Now that we’ve covered a few really cool ways to make money in person on or around campus, let’s get into the odd jobs and internet jobs that are for the student seeking some extra cash who doesn’t want to commit to any strict hours, like with a regular job. The pay is going to be a little less predictable, but these are ways of making cash that we know work! You’ll find that content creation, freelancing, and/or e-commerce are the most common money-making strategies on the web.

Selling stuff online

Yes, we’re serious. You would be surprised how much your unwanted books, games, and DVD’s are worth. Get creative and do some buying and selling with friends, buy cheap and resell it online for a profit. If this doesn’t sound like your thing, that’s fine, it isn’t everyone’s, but you can make some serious cash if you learn to use eBay or other e-commerce sites to your advantage! Other great sites include: Mercari, Poshmark, Facebook Marketplace, and Etsy.

Fiverr

You may or may not know about this website by now, but if you don’t and you’re a college student, you need to! All you need is a PayPal account to get started, that’s it. Basically you post a listing known as a “gig” on Fiverr for what you will do in exchange for $5. Now it doesn’t sound like a lot of cash, but trust us, it adds up fast! You can do anything from read over papers and check for spelling errors, take a picture of yourself holding a fan sign, distribute flyers around town or campus, etc. the possibilities are endless, and there are some super odd things people do for $5 on that website! Now, keep in mind that you only get to keep $4 for every “gig” you sell, Fiverr keeps a dollar from each sale you make. You also have to wait 14 days for each payment to clear, but this allows your amount to add up, so no worries.

Make YouTube Videos

This may sound a little “out there” for some people, but believe it or not, some people make hundreds of thousands of dollars making YouTube videos every month. Now we’re not saying that you will, but you can make some decent extra cash if you monetize your videos and get an AdSense account. Just keep in mind that you will need to pay taxes on your earnings.

Write A Book

You may think we’re joking, but you can make some really good extra cash if you write a book and publish it to the Kindle or in paperback using CreateSpace. You get a percentage from every sale, and this is something that a lot of college students like to do. Advertise your book on campus, if you have a large campus you may find yourself a local star! Do book signings on campus with your school or a groups permission. It’s a fun and creative way to make some extra cash.

Get A Student Discover Card

This is perhaps our favorite way to make cash as a student and no other card has all the benefits Discover has in terms of service, value, security, and rewards! Certain purchases can earn you up to 5% cash back. It’s also a brilliant way to build up your credit while in college! Use it responsibility and refer friends like crazy! You will be surprised how fast it adds up!

There are a million ways to make money as a college student, you may even want to try a combination of the suggestions we gave. Just do what works best for you, we know it’s tough being a student sometimes, but with perseverance you can find a way to make cash that works great for you!

No Fear Shakespeare Books

If you are like me, you love literature and always have high hopes for your English classes…then you attend the first class and realize you will be reading text written a million years ago that you can’t possibly relate to even if you wanted. In a frenzy to get the full original text editions of the books online I came across something that I don’t think a lot of college students really know about. You may have heard about “No Fear Shakespeare”, a really useful section on the SparkNotes website that has old books written in today’s terms. What you may not know is they also have published print editions of many classic drama books that have the original text on one side of the page and the modern translation on the other side.

There really isn’t much to worry about when you have a story written in terms that you can truly understand. I would go to say students, including myself, who read these books using today’s terminology will get more out of it than students who stick to trying to understand and interpret the original text themselves. In the age that we live in, if there’s some sort of assistance when it comes to hard classes or understanding the impossible, I say we should take advantage of that. Oh, and get this, on Amazon they are all around $6-$8. That’s super cheap, if you know anything about college books then you would agree. Just go to Amazon or your favorite bookseller and search for “No Fear Shakespeare, then your book or drama’s title”. I hope this little golden nugget of advice helps you out as it has helped me!

College Daily Deals

It may seem like students do not get many breaks in this day in time. One company out there is ready to change that! There should be benefits to wanting to further your education, am I right? College Daily Deals feels that college students deserve deals on the things that they buy, in fact they feel that students deserve some of the best deals out there! Wether it’s saving on textbooks, clothes or other things that students find themselves buying, College Daily Deals is the one place online that provides students with the help they deserve.

They don’t stop there, they also offer scholarships that are exclusive to those who submit their email for these amazing daily deals. There are few opportunities for students to save money anymore, and this is the solution to all of your college cash spending! They do all of the work finding you exclusive deals, all you need to do is submit your email and let them know where to send the deals! So go ahead, check out Collegebudget.com!

Chegg It Out

Chegg.com for those of you not in know is a website developed around in new trends in academic life. It’s a book store for college text books that not only allows you to buy these books but also gives you the option to rent. Renting text books is a trend that has grown quicker than the gremlin population at all you can eat buffet after midnight. Everyone is doing it know from the bookstores on college campuses across the nation to major corporations like Amazon. Now these website are useful for starving college students as they can save cash paying almost half price or lower for their text books, but there are several catches one must look at before deciding to rent books.

The first one is how responsible you are. You see me being the irresponsible college student I am, would forget to mail the books back to Chegg and since I used my irresponsible debit card to pay for it, the money gets taken out of my bank out when the due date hits. Putting people like my self out of money. The second item you have to look at when renting is whether you’re going to need the book in the future. College is supposed to get you ready for a professional career and further learning, as you might need to reference a text at your job because I actually didn’t learn anything like me. Go Me! So if I rented the book I can’t reference seeing as I had to return it, thus in my perfectly pessimistic world I lose my job. Anyway, so choosing whether or not to use Chegg ultimately depends on how responsible are you with time and money, with a little bit of foresight thrown in.

The Best Credit Card For Students

College is a time to mature and come to terms with who you are. That can be stressful enough without worrying about what you’ll be able to afford. Luckily, there is a safe and easy way to acquire money. The company Discover offers a credit card specifically for college students.

The maximum amount you are allowed to start out with is $500, but after a while there is an option to raise your limit. If you sign up for it, they offer up to a 5% Cashback Bonus on every purchase. This can include travel, gas, or department stores. To make the Discover Student Credit Card even better, managing your account online is safe. The company promises that their site is 100% secure. Steps that they take are: they have multiple firewall layers, constant system monitoring, and to make sure that your page is in fact secure, there is a padlock that will be on the top of every page you access while logged onto your account.

If you are struggling to make ends meet while attending college, signing up for the Discover Student Credit Card is a step in the right direction. You can even get a $50 cash back bonus just for signing up that will be applied to your account after your first purchase simply by applying with our link. So go ahead an click here to check it out and sign up to get your $50 cash back bonus, after all, there are benefits to being a student!

Haunted Halls At Concord University

If you were to visit Concord University, you would find a beautiful campus full of students who get along surprisingly well and one of the best learning environments you could possibly ask for. While this surface image of the campus life is certainly enticing and is usually enough to make one long to be a part of it all, what you don’t see is that this beautiful campus hides a dark secret. What many people on the outside don’t know, but many students have experienced first hand, is that Concord University is haunted.

The reports of paranormal activity mostly come from students who live in Sarvay and Wilson, which are both residence halls, and range from small things such as feelings and smells to major things such as full body apparitions and disembodied voices. One student from Wilson reports that they witnessed a figure of a girl in a white dress walk down the hallway and through a vending machine. In certain areas, including the elevator rooms in Wilson, there are intense feelings of uneasiness and feelings that you are not welcome there. In Sarvay, one student has reportedly felt as if there was someone in his room with him when his roommate wasn’t even there. He also says he has heard a child call his name and that once, while in the shower, he heard someone walk into the shower room and pull the window shut. He went to check it out and no one was in the room, in fact the door had not even been opened.

The activity, however, is not limited to these buildings. Throughout the school there have been reports of unexplained bad smells that seem to come out of no where. On the sixth floor in North Towers, residents claim that there are an increased amount of orbs in any photo taken. The paranormal also doesn’t seem to be bound to the physical world, but the mental world as well. Students who have never been depressed or had problems with anxiety suddenly appear to be overcome with feelings of fear and sadness. Some students even report having terrible and uncharacteristic nightmares about murdering other students or being murdered themselves.

Many students on the campus of Concord University in Athens, West Virginia have reported to have witnessed something out of the ordinary at one time or another but can these things be explained away by something natural? Some of it may have a natural explanation but some of it is too strange and out of the ordinary to explain away. Either way, these tales are chilling enough to keep one up at night.  As to whether or not they’re true, you’ll have to decide for yourself.