Design Your Dorm

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Big City University:

A large university in a big city provides a ton of resources and options.  First of all you’re sure to find a crowd within the student body with which you feel right at home.  Whether that crowd is the Greek system, the engineering club, the modern dance team, or the volunteer club, there will likely be something for everyone.

Big universities often also come with high profile research, professors, and athletics.  Don’t be surprised to have your friends from high school messaging you on Facebook when your top-ten football team loses, or when they read a book in class written by your teacher.

Big cities also come with amazing avenues for fun away from campus.  Again, options galore can afford you with anything from a headline concert tour, to chow mein in China Town, to a museum exhibit or art gallery opening.  Don’t be afraid to turn to websites like yelp.com for advice on things to check out, and things to avoid, for that matter.

Small Town College:

If you feel more comfortable knowing exactly what you’re gonna get, go for the liberal arts college.  In this environment, you won’t have to deal with picking out the bad from the good, because you probably won’t have many choices.

It is likely that everyone on campus will know THE best pizza place and THE best movie theater.  There may only be one of each.  As long as you choose a school with a student body that fits your style, you’ll probably call everyone on campus your friend sooner than you think.

Your professors may or may not have the fame afforded by breakthrough research, but that might mean they dedicate more of their time and effort to giving you a great education.  And though your football team might not draw 100,000 fans per game, you’ll stand a much better chance at making the team.  Division 3 athletes don’t live in the national spotlight, but they get a chance to do what they love at a high level.

Each option has a ton to offer, and it’s hard to know exactly which will fit your ever evolving personality.  The best news is that it’s your choice to make!  Learn as much as you can about the schools on your list, and follow your heart!

Give us your input in the comments section, from experiences in college, or from experiences as you search for your dream school

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With US still in the midst of an economic crisis, a many colleges expected smaller freshmen classes than normal. But according to some colleges and universities, the opposite has occurred.

UC Riverside admitted a total of 23,640 students this year, compared to 21,224 last year. The University acceptance rate actually increased by three percent from last year

It seems that as a result of the financial crisis, some colleges anticipated a smaller number of students would accept offers. Not wanting to see the numbers of students decline dramatically these schools admitted larger classes than normal. Perhaps partially as a result of other colleges cutting their incoming class size, these universities saw an increase in the acceptance of their offers. As a result these colleges, public and private have far more students moving in this fall than planned for.

John Hopkins University in Baltimore, increased the number of students admitted to such an extent that the University does not have enough housing for all Freshmen students. Gonzaga University also had an abnormally large incoming freshmen class. As a result of the school’s policy, which requires that all students live on campus for 2 years, the administration has had to rent an entire wing at the Red Lion River Inn just to house the school’s record breaking 1,200 new students.

What does this information imply? In spite of the problems the US is facing, parents will still pay for their children to attend college.

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You won’t always have time to go enjoy a delicious gourmet meal in your residence hall, and studying in the dorms can make you hungry! Snacking is important, but the difference between healthy snacks and junk food could help you avoid the freshman 15. Here are some healthy snack ideas.

	Pretzels	Contrary to popular new trends and the South Beach diet, carbs are not the devil. Pretzels are a good source of energy. Having these in your arsenal assures you of some healthy and low fat carb intake.
	Fruits	Always a good source of energy and nutrients, you can’t go wrong with fruits. Dried fruits for the dorms are also a good alternative, and won’t go bad on you before your first set of exams.
	Air popped Popcorn	With a whopping 31 calories and 0 saturated fat per serving, not only does this popcorn taste good, its healthy as well. A small bag should fill your cravings without the high fat found in regular bagged popcorn..
	Nuts	Nuts in general are rich in nutrients making these one of the best healthy dorm snacks available. Almonds specifically are extra healthy, and if you’re not eating for a while, the healthy fats in nuts are the best way to hold you over until your next trip to the cafeteria. Chocolate covered or candied nuts don’t count!
	Vegetables	We hate to sound like your mother, but EAT YOUR VEGETABLES! Carrots, celery, cucumbers, radishes, and broccoli are all great choices. Try to avoid rich and creamy dressings like ranch or blue cheese, and stick with either vinaigrette or low fat dressings.
	Whole Grain Cereal	You can eat out of the box (wash your hands!) like shredded mini wheats (not frosted) or any cereal from the brand Kashi, like Go Lean Crunch! These snacks contain lots of nutrients needed by your body and also go great with a bowl of low fat milk.
	Oatmeal	One of the easiest to make and healthiest foods available. You can pick up packets of instant oatmeal to make on the go for class. Again, oatmeal on its own is ok, but watch out for flavored oatmeal with too much sugar. For extra nutrients and great taste, try adding a spoon full of peanut butter!
	Yogurt	Yogurt contains live and active cultures, meaning it has live nutrients that aid in digestion for better health. In addition, yogurt is found in a large variety of flavors besides plain vanilla, like strawberry, chocolate and raspberry. Perfect for a midday snack or an early morning energy breakfast!
	Low Fat Cheese	While typical natural cheeses like cheddar are about 30% to 40%, cheese from skim or partly skim milk have fat contents between 7% to 15%. Harder cheeses usually contain more fat than soft cheeses, but you can cut back on your fat intake by choosing brands labeled “low fat” or “fat free.”
	Water	Not because it’s liquid it doesn’t mean you can’t consider it as snack. Remember that 2/3 of the human body is water, so hydrating yourself is one of the most important things for your health. Water will also increase your metabolism and energy levels to keep you going all day…and night!

Now you know the exercises, and the snacks to help you stay fit freshman year. Staying off the beer and avoiding late night fast food trips will also help keep away the freshman 15.

Tell us your favorite dorm room snacks in the comment section below, and we’ll feature our favorites it in an upcoming post.

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Written By: Kelli B Miller of 3 Boys & a Dog

You might think it strange for me to be writing this post since my oldest is only nine. Is it really strange? Do you honestly think 9 is too young for me to start preparing him for college?
More kids today attend college than have in the past, but a higher percentage of college-bound teens flunk out now than ever before! Why? Americans, as a whole, fail to teach their students how to learn!
Nine years old, is a GREAT age for me to teach my child the skills he needs to excel in college.

1. Study Skills – Do you know how to study? No matter the age of your kids, they need to be taught to study effectively.

• Thinking Skills – Teach your children to think as they read or as they are listening to a lecture! Have them write down questions and main ideas.
• Survey – Everyone should look over the materials BEFORE attending class to get a feeling of what they will be learning. Obviously, if you tell me about Quantum Physics, it will go through one ear and out the other because I know ZERO about it. If I familiarize myself with it first, parts are more likely to stick.
• Recite – Stop reading ever so often and go through your head everything you just read. Write down questions as you read and answer them during reading breaks.
For more info, check out this great article on Effective Study Skills!

2. Money Matters – To go off to school, your child needs to understand how to budget and how to stick with it. Did you know that credit card companies prey on college students? According to a recent study by Sally Mae, the average college graduate starts their adult life already over 2,000 in credit card debt! That isn’t even counting the 20,000 dollars or so in Student Loans!
• Budgeting – Teach them to understand how to make their money last!

• Balance Checkbooks – How many college students all of a sudden have a checking account to handle when they have never done it before? Teach your child to balance their check book!

3. Basic Housekeeping – Whether your kid is going to have a dorm or an apartment in college, basic housekeeping skills are a MUST! Do you realize the number of people who get married and don’t have a clue how to do the basics?

• Cooking – Come up with some simple dishes and teach your child to cook them! This not only prepares them for later, but it saves money in the long run! It also helps them avoid the freshman 15!

• Laundry – Teach your kids the basics of laundry: reading labels, folding clothes, running the washer, etc.
• Clutter Control – Kids (no matter the age… 2-200) need to learn the basics of clutter control! Put it away when you are finished with it! Everything should have a specific home!

These are all very basic skills, but they are not always taught! Get your kids off on the right track NOW instead of trying to cram it in after Senior Year! Teach them when they are young! Remember, practice makes perfect. I don’t know about you, but I would rather my son practice now with his 2 dollars a week allowance than later with a couple thousand dollar credit card limit!
For more homeschooling and organizational ideas as well as great product reviews and giveaways, please be sure to visit my blog: 3 Boys & a Dog!
~Kelli

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What would you do if you went online and ventured over to TechCrunch and saw a story about Design Your Dorm? Well if you don’t know, then maybe you should click here and go to TechCrunch and see for yourself.

We know that the reason TechCrunch has featured us is because they have been hearing about us from many of their readers. So to all of you who wrote to TechCrunch about us, we appreciate it.

However, we were also featured on another enormous tech blog. It is actually one of Japan’s largest tech blogs, we just wish we could figure out what they were saying about us.

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Figuring it out
First off you need to figure out why you are joining a fraternity. This helps because it gives you an idea of what kind of fraternity you want to join. Some fraternities may put a greater emphasis on social life while others may put a greater emphasis on GPA, although most have a balance between the two. There are also fraternities that oriented towards certain religions or ethnicities. So think long and hard and try to figure out exactly what you are looking to get out of fraternity life.

Ask around
Now that you know what kind of fraternity you want to join, you should get opinions from people you meet about which fraternities may suit you best. Beware of people that slander certain fraternities, as they may either be incredibly uninformed or a member of a rival fraternity. Do not make your decisions based entirely off of what you hear about a fraternity, but do take what you’ve heard into consideration.

Rush
During rush go to all the houses that you would consider joining, and then go to a few that you don’t think you’d join (because you might end up changing your mind). Make sure that you meet as many of the brothers in the house, these people want to meet you and you want to meet them (after all, they are your potential future brothers). Also make sure that you ask questions: ask about membership dues, ask how long the chapter has been around, ask about alumni relationships, etc… These factors should come into play into your decision.

Making your decision
At this point you should have all of the pieces of the puzzle, but its time to put them together. Questions to ask yourself: Where did you feel most comfortable? Where do you feel you could see yourself being life long friends with the brothers of the house? Which house do you feel would best meet the needs of your college experience? Most importantly, you need to understand that nobody can make the decision for you. Ultimately it comes down to you and where you think you’ll be happiest.

So…. Good Luck!

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Say hi

It sounds simple, and it is. Introduce yourself to: people during the first week of classes, people in your hall, people in the cafeteria. It might seem weird at first, but you have to realize that everybody else there is just as lost as you are and they want to meet people as well. Give it a try.

Study groups

Joining study groups has two advantages. First of all you get to meet people, and second of all you can knock out some much needed studying at the same time. If you are adventurous and would like to set yourself up as a leader then you can always start your own study group.

Fraternity/Sorority

Look at the dates for Fraternity/Sorority rush. Even if you don’t think you’re interested in joining the Greek system you still might want to rush. This way you can see for yourself if it is something that might be fore you.

Student Groups

If you join a student group that interests you then you will obviously find people with similar interests. Some Student Groups host social outings and events. You can also start your own group.

Intramural Sports

Aside from being immensely fun, intramural sports teams allow you to meet tons of people. Most schools also have a lot of unconventional sports for intramurals, so if you are feeling adventurous you can always play innertube water-polo or broomball.

Leave your door open

Simple, easy, and very effective. Leave your door open and during the first week you will notice that a lot of people pass by, and some will stick their head in your room and say hello. This is a really good way to get to know the people who live in your hall.

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Here is the text from the Seventeen Magazine article:

Planning for college can be tough, especially when it comes to buying gear for your dorm room. But the new Web site DesignYourDorm.com can help! The site, which was created by two recent college grads, allows you to see an online version of your college’s dorm room. Various features let you virtually drag furniute (desks, chairs, beds) and electronics (iPod speakers, alarm clocks, lamps, etc.) to figure out the best and most effective use of your space. You’ll save tons of frustration (and energy!) on move-in day, when everyone else is rearranging their rooms for hours.

DesignYourDorm.com also lets you collaborate with your future roomie (or roomies). By arranging things ahead of time, you can split up who’s buying what. One of you can be in charge of buying the fridge, while the other takes care of the microwave. You can even buy some of those items right on DesignYourDorm.com – including funky blankets, comfy chairs, bookcases, even shower shoes – and it can all be shipped directly to your school!

17 Tip: Keep your door propped open during move-in week. It’s super-welcoming, and people will be much more likely to stop by and introduce themselves!

See the article directly at Seventeen

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It’s not completely uncommon for a college student to be the victim of identity theft. Generally they are targeted because they are thought to be easier ‘marks’. Hopefully with these tips you will learn how to prevent being the victim of identity theft.

Never give your SSN out

Do not give your Social Security Number out to anybody. The only time you should ever be required to present your SSN is in your initial papers to your university and when you first go to the student medical center. After this time they usually accept either the last 4 digits of your SSN or your Student ID.

Student ID

Generally you will get your Student ID number before you even get to school. They will assign it to you by snail mail or email. Although the ramifications of having your Student ID # stolen are not nearly as great as for your SSN it is still a good idea to keep it somewhat private. Grades are often posted outside classrooms and you may not want other people to be able to know what your grades are. Your student ID number can also be used to access a number of school databases that you will likely not want to share out.

Email

Be careful with your college e-mail account. You will use this to send e-mails to professors and TA’s and the like. The last thing that you want is to be the victim of a prank in which one of your friends sends some horrible e-mail to one of your professors. Your friends may not realize how seriously detrimental this could be. So be careful as to not check the box that allows your computer to remember your password for this one.

Computer

Take a minute to think about all the personal and important information you store on your computer. Now imagine how horrible it would be if somebody else were to access all of that information. To prevent this you should password protect your computer by allowing access only after the password has been entered. That way nobody can get on your computer.

Facebook and other social media networks

This is a very touchy subject for a lot of people. The types of things you put up on your Facebook account can come back to bite you. Be wise with what pictures you keep on your profile, a lot of people have access to see these pictures. It is also a good idea to make your Facebook profile private so that only people who you are friends with can see it. There are millions of people on Facebook and you probably don’t want all of them to be able to see what you are up to.

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Today we have a guest post by Chandra, the author of FSU Fashion Girl blog. Check her blog out!

1. Rate My Professors – this site is a great way for you to find out what you are getting yourself into when signing up for a particular class. Past students can rate the professor on easiness, helpfulness, clarity and rater interest. They can also write comments about the professor so you can decide if this is the right class for you or not.

2. Evernote – Evernote is a very useful site that will help you to keep every aspect of your life organized. For a college student, it is great when you are working on a class project. Instead of keeping a million tabs open on your web browser, you can store all of the information you need on Evernote. The best part about Evernote is that you don’t need to always be on the computer or internet to access your notebooks. Evernote can be used on the web, your desktop, Blackberry, Palm Pre and iPhone/iPod Touch.

3. Half.com – Half.com makes surfing Ebay even easier. Simply search for the item you are looking for and instantly find the BEST price being offered. They also categorize the items based on the condition of the item. Definitely a great way to save money on textbooks!

4. Craigslist – you can find anything and everything you need on craigslist. This site allows people to post items that they no longer want and its basically a first-come, first-serve. You can find furniture, DVDs, textbooks, pets and so much more!

5. Twitter – if you haven’t gotten into twitter yet, I would highly suggest that you do. It is a great way not only to keep in touch with friends and family but also to network with other people and businesses. Depending on where you live, you may find that local businesses have twitters and give away free stuff or special deals to people that follow them. What college student doesn’t like FREE stuff?

6. Student Universe – find great flight deals just for being a college student.

7. UrbanSpoon – whether you have an iPhone/iPod Touch or not, UrbanSpoon is a great way to find the best restaraunts in town. You can find restaraunts, where they are located, what other people think about them and more through this site. Great for those late night cravings when you know exactly what you want but have no idea where to go!

8. Quarterlife – interning is a HUGE part of the college experience. Most majors encourage you to get an internship and others force you. Either way, Quarter Life makes it easy to find the internship you are looking for.

9. Internship Ratings – debating between a few different internships? Not sure which company is right for you? This site may help. People who have interned with the company before can rate and review their experience which may make your decision a lot easier.

10. Unigo – are you about to head off to college for the first time in the fall? Get a feel for what the university is like ahead of time. On this site people can post their experiences and what they love/hate about the campus. It is also a good source on how you can get involved on
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