Why is this so awesome? Everyone is already taking pictures in their last quarter of college and posting it on Facebook, but why not take video portraits of your friends? If you’re still a little confused, a video portrait / long portrait is just a 30 second clip of the person being themselves. This can be totally random, serious, funny, or off the wall.
It’s all up to you! So what are you waiting for? Maybe your friend will become the next President of the United States, and well this video will… it’ll be fun to look back on later!
Today’s graduation tips moves away from the classroom and more to everyday life. In your last semester at college, your spending may get a little out of control:
If you are currently working, hopefully these added expenses will not hurt you too much, but its important to keep track of money coming in and money leaving.
Be sure to budget out everything, as the last thing you’ll want to do is get into debt when entering the real world.
A great financial blog that we’d highly recommend is Get Rich Slowly. If you’re not really a blog research/reading type of person and prefer a book in your hand, check out the recommendations of the top 25 finance books available.
Graduation tip #2 goes along with the previous graduation tip, which was to talk to your teaching assistant. Today’s tip focuses on the simple rule of asking (at least) one question per discussion section. While this tip may seem very simple, you’ll be surprised at how many students actually do not do this.
This idea comes from another tactic that many shy people are taught, which is to say hi or smile at 3 strangers per day. The goal here is to become more comfortable with interacting with strangers you do not know and eventually striking up conversations.
The simple task of asking a question or two and engaging in conversation at least once per section helps show your involvement in classes. The trick here is to make sure the TA also knows your name! Think in the big picture, in the real world what good is talking to the big boss and giving him a great idea, and then leaving without even introducing yourself?
I remember when I was in college, I had some teaching assistants who in the 10th week still did not know the names of many of their students. Was this their fault? Were they partying too hard or just really bad with names? It was neither, it was my fault! Throughout the entire quarter I had failred to make a lasting impression that would force them to remember my name!
So to summarize, participate, participate, participate. Here’s a bonus tip. Email the TA before the discussion session with a quick question, or a follow-up question after the section. This helps ensure the TA knows your first and last name and to not confuse you with other students who may have the same first name.
This is the first of hopefully many in a series of graduation tips for seniors planning on graduating this year. While the focus will be on seniors, we’re sure most of these tips can be used by students in any grade level.
Today’s post focuses on teaching assistants, one of the most under utilized yet useful resources a student can have. Teaching assistants often hold the answer to tests before they are administered, control grades for their students, and can write a mean letter of recommendation when needed.
Here are 3 major reasons why you SHOULD talk to your teaching assistant:
Project Extensions:
It’s easier to ask for an extension on a paper or project once you’ve built genuine rapport with your TA. Most won’t mind and will be friendly to extensions. They’ve been through college, they know stuff comes up, and well… they’ll be backlogged with other students’ papers already, so what’s an extra day to them?
They Grade You:
In a lecture hall of 300+ students, they are the ones giving you grades and directly deciding if you made the A- or B+ cut. Get to know your TA, understand what he or she is looking for in papers and projects, and what expectations they have for their students. Spending 10 minutes a week talking to your TA could make or break your GPA for grad school, no joke.
Argue Grades:
Hopefully it does not come to this, but if you are borderline between one grade or another, knowing your TA will make it that much easier to argue for the higher grade. I think it goes without saying, they will be more lenient and willing to negotiate your grade if you had attended office hours all semester.