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Everyone knows that women mature faster than men. That said, as you wade your way through the college dating scene, you might find yourself growing tired of the undergrads on your floor, and that Sociology grad assistant might start looking mighty fine. Undergrads, grad students…on campus, the possibilities are endless! Here are some of the pros and cons of hooking up with guys gearing up for a Bachelors, and dudes who are striving for a Masters or PhD.

The Maturity Level
Grad students might be attractive if the undergrad who’s crushing on you still hasn’t quite grasped the concept of doing his own laundry. Grad students have been there, done that. At twenty-three and older, they’ve grown up a lot. They probably won’t be engaging in syrup-chugging contests when they have a research project on the horizon.

Still, what about yourself? If you’re trying to make the most of your own undergraduate career, your grad student beau might not be as excited as you are the first time your new fake ID works at the bar and you chug 50-cent Natty Ices for four hours straight.

Point: Grad Student. Read More »

You hear the same marketing crap all the time: you’re in college to better your future.

Of course, having a Bachelors doesn’t really do anything anymore. I’ve heard about a ton about people who have their Bachelors and are working at a Domino’s or something. Getting a Masters seems like the next logical step, for students and apparently their parents. So is it such a bad thing that I really don’t want to go?

Being around a ton of people who are all talking about getting recommendations and narrowing down their grad school list makes me realize more and more that grad school really isn’t for me. My mom’s look of horror when I told her this one day this summer is the only thing I see when I talk about wanting to go into vet tech after I get out of school. Issue is, as an English major, I’m mildly suffering with what-do-I-do- with-this-diploma? syndrome. Publishing and editing are options, sure, but I don’t want to deal with that crap. It seems that some people assume that because a field has something to do with your major, you will inevitably want to be a part of that field.

And of course, there’s that inevitable money issue breathing down the necks of graduates. Do you stay in school for another two years so you don’t have to pay off loans just yet? Everyone seems to sort of just assume that jobs are lining up to grab college grads, but with the economy the way it is, I’m thinking that this is somehow far from the case. More and more of my senior class seems to be regretting their major because there’s nothing they can do with it to get money. What ever happened to going to college to just learn? Read More »

This political season, everyone who is against abortion keeps rattling off about how it’s an easy choice for a woman. I hear words scrambled into arguments that are excruciatingly harsh. Words like…MURDER and SELFISH and HUMAN LIFE and RESPONSIBILITY. I am here to tell you that abortion is never an easy choice. For anyone.

No, I have not had an abortion myself. Thankfully, I have been using birth control and condoms consistently and I have never been pregnant. If I were to ever become pregnant somehow, I cannot say that I would have the baby. I know that choice is gut-wrenching. That is why I do everything I can to make sure that I don’t ever have to make it. I have been sexually active for almost 5 years now and my methods of birth control have always worked.

Some of my friends, however, have not been as careful as I have been. Some of my friends, including a best friend and a roommate, have gone through the process of an abortion. Believe me, it is not as easy as many people paint it to be. I have watched these girls cry for nights on end. The choice to have something taken out of your body that could grow into a life, regardless of whether or not you believe it is currently ‘alive,’ is one of the hardest choices a woman can ever make.

My old roommate, Carol, couldn’t speak for days after she found out she was pregnant. She was 21, in college, and a dancer. Going forward with having the baby would mean postponing her college graduation at least a year. She would have had no way to pay rent — since she was paying it through student loans — if she left her dance program. She would have to move back across the country to live with her mom and be apart from all of the friends she had made, including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend wanted the choice to be hers, but we all knew the truth: he didn’t have any money and hardly any responsibility. Read More »

The University Experience sure has changed. It’s now normal to take longer than four years to complete your degree; students are known to switch majors repeatedly (and often at the last minute); and transfer admissions offices are swamped with applicants who realize that the college they chose senior year of high school just isn’t making the grade.

I know all about the stress of transferring and adjusting to a new school. When I began my undergraduate career, I wasn’t content with attending the state university that 83% of my classmates were enrolling in. Oh, no - I had to get away. So I enrolled in a small private school in London, England.

My freshman year was a blast– I was in a major city, surrounded by hot men with hotter accents, and I didn’t even need a fake ID. But eventually, reality sank in, and I opted to transfer back to the same state school that I’d once adamantly rejected in order to prevent graduating with student loans up the wazoo.

My first semester at the state university was miserable. I’d missed out on all of the freshman year bonding, got stuck with a lame random roommate, and when I did go out, it was because one of my high school friends was kind enough to let me tag along with her group. It was so bad that I took a semester off to figure out if I wanted to go through the transfer process again. I ended up going back to the state school, and - thankfully - things got better. In fact, college kicked some major ass.

So, having been on the Maybe-I-Should-Transfer fence and a member of the Transfer Students Association, I thought I’d share some pro’s and cons with anyone who isn’t quite sure that they are attending the right school. Read More »

Last week, I warned you that the grad school application process is quite a time consuming effort. Well guess what folks? You’re going to need to put ample time into choosing your prospective grad schools too! Sure, this might seem a bit obvious, but this columnist doesn’t always think things through.

For me, grad school was a roll of the dice, and six possible schools came up for me: Georgetown, Rutgers, Ohio State, North Carolina State, San Francisco State, and the school I eventually chose, hereafter refered to as X University.I chose these schools on a whim. Georgetown was my “reach,” and the closest I could get to Ivy League while maintaining a glimmer of hope for acceptance. Rutgers was relatively close to my hometown (by close I mean a 5 hour drive); Ohio State is a party school notorious for it’s tailgating parties (I swear, that’s why I applied- don’t judge); North Carolina State was an hour from my only other friend attending grad school; and San Francisco just seemed like a cool city to live in, as did the location of X University.

Rule number one in choosing grad school? Don’t be superficial when planning your future! Read More »

Your dream has finally come true. You’ve made it into a private college, you’re paying upwards of $50,000 per year for your education, and you’ve just met the man of your dreams- a wealthy and intelligent man, who you plan to marry upon graduation. Congratulations, you have just been awarded your very own ‘MRS‘ degree… and will never have to work again!

Possible holders of an MRS degree (pronounced EM-AR-ES) are women who attend college just to meet potential husbands with high social standing and future earning potential.

This phenomenon, which occurs predominantly at private Christian institutions, has turned America’s ‘Bible colleges’ into ‘bridal colleges’. On these campuses, engagement is not only an eagerly awaited (and accepted) part of a relationship, but marriage is often promoted and planned around graduation.

“I don’t care how young I am. I love my boyfriend and I know we will get married and start a family when I graduate,” says one eager Baylor University female. “Never having to work - that’s just fine with me.” Read More »