We’ve done it again – thanks to you! We were voted Best Website for Buying College Textbooks in About.com’s Readers Choice Awards, for the second year in a row. 
This makes eCampus.com the only company to ever repeat in any of the College Life awards.
When asked about the award, this is what Matt Montgomery, President and CEO of eCampus.com, had to say, “It is such an honor to receive this award once again this year. We truly appreciate all the support and positive feedback our customers have given us. eCampus.com is the oldest textbook focused e-retailer in the country and we have saved students more than $80 million since we were founded in 1999. We work hard to bring great deals and service to our customers and it’s always gratifying to receive recognition.”
The About.com Readers Choice Awards are given annually and chose by the readers to announce the best of the best. With so many websites available it can be difficult for students to know which ones are reliable, but Readers Choice Awards like this one point them in the right direction.
Thanks again for your votes!
So you’re about to graduate college – congrats! What now?
As the economy recovers, so does the job market, allowing new opportunities to emerge. This is great news for those who are currently in college! However, many of these jobs require candidates to have more than an undergraduate degree. It is predicted that 2.6 million new jobs will be created between 2010 and 2020, and that individuals with masters or doctoral degrees will be the ones to fill those spots.
Many students are turning to graduate school as a way of carving a niche for themselves in today’s competitive job market. Grad school can be a risky bet which could land you in a deep pit of student loan debt, or it could result in a dream job with a six-digit salary. Such a commitment requires a great deal of research, and with the growing number of programs offered it can quickly become an overwhelming process. Meeting with advisers and professors is a great starting point, but most students will want to do some investigating on their own. It is important to gather a wide variety of non-biased information, but with the endless amount of websites, books and blog articles dedicated to “facts” about grad school, it can be difficult to find high-quality sources. This is why I recommend U.S. News & World Report’s annual Grad Guide.
Each year, U.S. News & World Report surveys thousands of programs and academic professionals to create a guidebook that helps students navigate the world of graduate school. For the second year in a row, eCampus.com has taken some key information from this elaborate, 200+ page grad guide and created an infographic to help students streamline their research. The goal behind this piece, as with all infographics, is to take a large amount of information and condense it into a unique graphic that’s easy to understand. Similar to the 2013 grad school infographic, The Good & The Bad in Bad, this 2014 edition highlights trends regarding admissions, debt and salaries for the top five professional fields (Business, Education, Engineering, Health & Medicine and Law).
New this year is a section called the “Virtual Path”, which describes the growth in options for online graduate programs. There is also the option to attend a partially online program, where some classroom attendance is required. Such opportunities are favored among non-traditional students who may have children or a full-time job.
As graduate school becomes a more prevalent option for those holding college degrees, it is important that this decision is made with all of the right information at hand. This infographic should not be used to replace your grad school research, but it is a great way to quickly gather information and gain an understanding of new trends in the academic and professional worlds.
Good luck to all who join me in the pursuit of a higher-education!
To view the full infographic, and purchase your copy of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Schools 2014 guidebook at 10% off list price, visit http://www.ecampus.com/best-grad-schools.asp or click the above image.
Apps are perfect whether you want to make the most of your time or totally kill it. Phone and computer apps have been part of our life for some time now, but below are 5 top apps you may not have heard of that will make your college life easier (or more fun).
SnapChat
SnapChat is the latest craze as far as image sharing goes. More private than an instagram and safer than sharing pictures through MMS, Snapchat gave us something we never knew we were missing. With Snapchat you can send pictures and 160 character limit messages to your friends. The only catch? There is a time limit. You can only view the picture while your finger is holding on the screen and the picture will disappear after a maximum of 10 seconds. So get your selfies and weird pointless camera shots ready to share. Warning: This app is addicting!
Secret Tip: Photos can be captured for later by simply taking a screenschot. So think twice before sending anything too crazy.
Just Wink
Just Wink is a fun greeting card app. Don’t worry this isn’t your crazy aunt’s email birthday cards. Just wink incorporates contemporary design that is perfect for any daily pick me up. The American Greeting Cards app has tons of designs and subjects to choose from. Some of our favorites include breakups, “my bad,” and bromance. So start sending some cheer now through texts or email.
Favorite Feature: Cards can be customized by adding photos or by finger-signing your name via touchscreen.
Dunno
Dunno is used for when you simply dunno. It’s a great productivity app built around a search concept. Imagine your friend drops a reference that is over your head; you simply enter the reference, word, or phrase into Dunno. It performs a few searches and notifies you when you its complete. Search results are similar to anything you may find in any other search engine like Google. Dunno is unique because it saves the searches in a queue so you don’t miss a beat in the conversation. Review your searches and learn what you may have missed throughout the day.
Highlight: You can mark relevant notes and share them with others.
Evernote
Evernote is an organization and web clip app. You can sync it to your PC and your phone. There is even a Google Chrome Browser extension which makes browsing the web easy. You clip what you want and are interested in to save for later. You can share these clips with friends who can access them from any device. The app truly optimizes organization. The best feature of this app is a search from image. Great for taking images of class notes. Take an image of an instructor’s notes in class and research them later then share the results with your classmates.
Usage: Although this app works great on smartphones, you’ll enjoy it best from an iPad or Tablet.
Highlight
Highlight is a social app that is getting a lot of buzz from tech junkies. It has been featured by Anderson Cooper, CNN, NY times, and the wall street journal. Highlight accesses your Facebook and Linked In accounts to help you stay connected or meet new friends. Highlight alerts you when people who share your interests are nearby. This is a great app for traveling or getting adjusted to a new city. You can see if a lot of people who like the same sports team you do are all at the same bar, or if a local concert has a lot of people that have the same interest in music as you. Highlight takes the guessing out of social hot spots.
Caution: This app may stream detailed information about you and your location, so read the privacy policy and know what information you’re giving out.
The best part? They are all FREE! So go to your app store now and get started.
What app are you currently obsessing over? Let us know in the comments.
As we progress through different stages of life, we realize that many things we considered as constants have changed dramatically or vanished altogether. That naïve sense of security we felt as we were running through playgrounds is no longer there and neither is the soothing embrace of our parents after we fell and scraped our knees. In middle school, we realized that others could be mean. In high school, we suddenly realized that we were growing up and responsibilities came flooding in. Some lost sleep because of their social life. Others were kept up by academic anxiety or thoughts of the future. No matter the reason, what we all felt was frantic; it was startling, but it was natural.
Adulthood doesn’t lightly knock on the door – it often busts it down. No wonder that so many dream of being “forever young.” Being able to legally purchase a drink or enter your favorite social venue are meager payoffs for intrusive thoughts of complete independence. Doesn’t it feel so freeing to be away from mom and dad? It does…until your bank account begins to hover right above the big zero or you’re in your bunked bed, miserable with a fever, longing for a few words of encouragement that will certainly not come from your absent roommate. Oh, to be a freshman again! To harbor thoughts of college adventures beyond the wildest high school dreams. As eager we are to get away from the shackles of normality, the unfortunate truth remains – we long for steadiness and support. It’s easier being a dependent, and it really begins to show once you pass the midway point of your undergraduate career.
Lately, I’ve been losing sleep. These issues have been in and out of my head for the longest time, but they become especially prominent when you’re on the brink of graduation. Being a first semester senior spells many things, of which most prominent is sleep deprivation. Whether you’re obsessing over an upcoming exam (or, in my wretched case, the LSAT) or are just unable to fall asleep before an ungodly hour, you’re likely a walking zombie and you will remain that way. What’s that you say? Going to bed at ten tonight because you have a test in the morning? Interesting theory, but wholly impractical. Insomnia is within the essence of college culture. The time you’ll be spending tossing and turning in a dark room to the rhythm of the neighbor’s iTunes playlist would be better spent in your neighbors room raging uncontrollably. Okay, okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little. You shouldn’t blow things off just because your environment doesn’t allow you to pursue them in the way you’d like. It would be to your benefit, however, to discard any notions of normality that happen to be lingering in your brain from your cozy “normal” life. Welcome to adulthood, a realm where a “sleep schedule” is virtually an undefined term, where a helping hand doesn’t come cheap, and where your previous reality might as well be a fairy tale.
As important as it is for you as a college student to follow your passions, you first and foremost must find your passion. As I shared in the first post of this series, I had a hard time discovering what it was I was really interested in, and then applying that to my major choice. I think a lot of students get stuck choosing a career path based on what their parents are urging them to do, rather than discovering what they’re interested in themselves. Some students, especially with the recent decrease in available jobs, chose majors solely based on the potential salary or job security.
Granted, I’m still just a student (for 7 more months, at least), but I believe it’s so incredibly important for students to find a field that they’re truly passionate about, and to continue to pursue that career path, regardless of how unattainable it might seem. We’ve all heard it a countless number of times, but I think there is so much truth to the idea that you’ll never work a day in your life if you’re doing something you truly love.
The hard part for me was actually finding that one thing that I’m passionate about. Just recently, I became interested in photography, specifically wedding photography. I’ve spent the last six months or so getting as much experience with wedding photography as possible. This usually means volunteering countless hours to assisting professionals for free (more about this in the next post), but I am so relieved to have finally found something that I’m truly excited about and motivated to pursue.
What really helped me discover my interest in photography, was tuning into my everyday life, specifically how I was spending my free time. I became absolutely obsessed with Pinterest and spent countless hours swooning over dreamy images of exquisite brides and beautiful weddings. There were a handful of wedding photographers who I followed, and was constantly gawking over their photos every free minute I had. It wasn’t until I was gifted a pretty new Canon, that I realized this might really be something to pursue. I immediately enrolled in a photo class, contacted wedding photographers in the area, and began learning all that I could about the industry.
For those of you who are still struggling to discover your passion, don’t be discouraged, and trust that if you just stay true to yourself, it will all fall into place.
