There is much to be said for Emily Post. She wrote the book (literally) on manners and standardized etiquette customs for the general public. I adore her books full of old fashioned advice, and while some of it is still relevant, much of it is dated. I constantly wonder what kind of place our society would be if Emily were still around to impose properness upon us all.

Unfortunately, she is not–as evidenced by many of my college classmates.

We’ve all seen those people in class: the ones who act like they’re too important to be there, don’t care what the professor has to say, rudely answer their phones and are generally a disturbance to those of us trying to learn. If you are an incoming freshman you probably haven’t witnessed such obvious rudeness, and you most certainly do not want to become one of said rude people. So, read on, my pretties, and enter the world of higher education with grace, manners and –ahem–class (haha…)

Don’t Be Cell-fish.
Gone are the days when your cell phone was contraband (absurd, I know). Instead of focusing on your under-desk texting (ala your dinosaur of an AP Chem teacher), your professor will most likely be concentrating on imparting you with knowledge during your class sessions. So this means you can feel free to text, Blackberry message, IM away with your cell held at –gasp–eye level, right?! Wrong! Your professor has assumed (rightfully, I hope) that you are a respectful and mature person who is attending (and paying for) their class to learn something useful from him or her. Do not prove them wrong by blatantly expressing that you have better things to do. Read More »

You have enough things to worry about during your first few lectures; you need to size-up the professor, skim the syllabus to see which books to avoid buying, and ogle the TAs. One thing that shouldn’t give you grief is finding a good seat. If you want to start the semester on the right foot, here are a few folks you should steer clear of.

- Tweedledee & Tweedledum: They signed up for the class together, the live together, they went out to the bars over the weekend together, and they probably hooked up with the same skeezy dude. Now they want to recount the entire experience for everyone in class in the loudest whisper ever recorded…from right behind you.

If you can’t switch seats: Give them the old GASP treatment. It’s a 4-step process, Glare, Ahem, Say Something, and the last ditch effort — punch them in the face.

-Kitchen Sink Guy: He brings a traveling coffee mug, a laptop, two coats, all of the textbooks for the class, and a sack lunch. Worst of all, he tries to squueze it all onto his little desk, or worse, yours.

If you can’t switch seats: Grin and bear it but draw the line at your desk, or at least make him share some of the sack lunch in trade.

-Ms. Magoo: She can’t see the board, she can’t hear the professor and she can’t stop asking you to repeat and or clarify everything that’s going on. Essentially you’re playing Annie Sullivan to a second-rate Helen Keller; an annoying girl who listens to her iPod on high and thinks her glasses give her a case of fat face. Read More »

With everyone heading back to school (yay!), there are so many things going through everyone’s minds. “Will that guy from last year still want to hang out?” “Am I going to survive living in an off campus apartment?” “What the hell do I do about choosing my major?”

And for incoming freshmen…it is only worse. They are entering a scary new world. They will once again be the babies. They are going to experience their first Welcome Week, their first oversized lecture, their first time being sexiled by a wild roommate.

We at CollegeCandy feel it is our duty to steer those college newbies in the right direction; it would be unfair for us to let them make mistakes (and take the same awful photos…) and miss out on great opportunities. After all, college only happens once, so we want to ensure everyone does it right.

This week, we asked our writers to share some advice with the lucky ladies who are still in school and the even luckier ones who are just beginning. We have learned a lot from our time in college, so listen up and heed our advice….

If I knew then what I know now:

Kelly - UMass: I would not have spent my entire 4 years in a relationship. I would have not trusted every single person I met. I would have taken some yoga and art classes and I would have definitely brought some more Lysol.

K - NYU: I’d have gone to office hours. For everything. Even if you hate freshman year calc and your professor says things like “There are going to be lots of flunks on this exam” and routinely asks if he is speaking English, my GPA would’ve been much more promising.

Sara - NYU: I would be less pretentious. I’m almost 24 now, and, looking back to when I was in undergrad, I can’t believe how seriously I took myself. God, loosen up!! 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 »

When I was in high school I made my teacher cry. It wasn’t my fault she was in her first year of teaching and couldn’t keep her sh*t together. It’s not like I spit at her or called her names; I simply disagreed with her argument that Cyrano de Bergerac was the best book ever written. And it was a Literary Criticism course! If you can’t handle a difference of opinion, then maybe you should consider teaching Kindergarten.

Had I known then that I could have been sued for such a disagreement, I probably would have thrown independent thought out the window and nodded my head in agreement like the rest of the class.

Thankfully, my teacher just excused herself to cry alone in the bathroom, unlike one Dartmouth lecturer who took it to a much more serious level: by seeking legal counsel.

I actually got my degree in education, so I can say from experience that teaching is a very difficult and thankless profession. You spend 16-18 hours a day either with the students, preparing for the students, or grading their crappy work. Then you come into the classroom where they are disrespectful and often times annoying. It is a job that drives you to drink countless glasses of wine and wonder why you ever wanted to do it in the first place. (Note: It is also incredibly rewarding!)

But, that is all part of the job and something you surely expect getting into a profession that deals with ungrateful children. (Don’t hate; you know you made your teachers’ lives hell back in the day.) Surely this woman cannot be naïve enough to think that Dartmouth kids would be any different? Read More »

All of my classes are from 4:40 to 7:10PM. It feels like a really long time. It’s over dinner and it’s hard to stay awake. My saving grace is the few instances when we can get out early. I recently had one of those days.Those extra 15 minutes were like a glimmer of hope. I was drowning in research, boring questions and pointless worksheets. Those 15 minutes were my life preserver…and they were quickly dashed away by a little group I like to call Suck-Ups.

I’m sure they’re in your classes too. They sit in the front. They ask last minute questions. They actually do the reading, even the optional chapters. They send links and articles to the professor. Some of you may be thinking, “Those people are just good students.” And yes, the aforementioned habits are something good students and Suck-Ups share. The difference is in the intentions. Good students do those things to better themselves and learn the material. Suck-Ups do it so the professor will notice and give them a good grade or a reference.

You’d think this behavior would stop in high school, or at least the early stages of undergrad, but I think it gets worse. I am currently in my first year of grad school and I’ve never seen such devious behavior. Today my instructor told us he received an e-mail from a concerned student telling him people were on Facebook during class.

Are you kidding me? Read More »

Ew. January. So cold, so gray, so….ugh. You’ve been back in school for a few weeks now and there is no vacation in sight. Just days upon days of reading, writing and cramming. Not the most exciting outlook.You have probably already gotten to the point where you will do anything to avoid heading to the library: your room is spotless, you have emailed every member of your family to update them on your daily life and have changed your Facebook profile pic. Twice.

What else is there to do? How else can you put off studying now that lying out in the sun or taking a long walk are soooo out of the question?

And what about all those hours spent in lecture? How on earth can you pass the time until you’re back on your couch, cozily bundled and watching movies with the roomies?

Being a “real person” (meaning out of college and trying to survive the working world) I have learned a thing or two about passing time. I sit at a desk ten hours a day. Ten hours is a looong time to be looking at Excel spreadsheets and employee files, so I have had many a-opportunity to find some other things to pass the days.

So, being the generous person that I am, I will share with you some top-notch websites to pass time, avoid studying and just make your day. Read More »

It’s 9:55. You can barely open your eyes. Your room is a mess and you never got around to doing the readings for the class you have in 10 minutes.

So, the last thing you have time to do is pick out a cute little outfit to wear to class. I know, I understand.

But think about it this way…your pajamas are ugly.

Huge cotton pants with Care Bears all over them are cute when you’re watching TV at 10 PM…not so cute when you’re fetching coffee at 10 AM.

And as the day goes on pajamas scream “I didn’t take a shower today!” louder and louder until it’s 3 PM and (one would hope) you feel utterly silly.

So, I’m taking the time to beg all of you: Don’t wear pajamas to class! Unfortunately, this PJ trend is picking up a bit of steam and while I’m no fashion guru, I am so disappointed!

How difficult is it to throw on some jeans an a t-shirt? Put on an old hoodie!

Geez, I’d even allow UGGS if it meant you didn’t wear slippers. I mean, even those are picking up steam as totally trendy! Read More »