You’re spending enough on $250 text books, so try to go light on the pencils, pens and note books. This isn’t elementary school where your mom buys 10 composition books, three packs of pens and five pink erasers. The bare necessities along with a couple of extras can be important for class life:
- Notebooks - It’s not necessary to have a notebook for every course. You’ll find 95% of your classes will only use 1/3 of the pages -- leaving 2/3 for other subjects. Consider buying a notebook with several dividers for each course. It’ll be less to lose and keep you organized.
- USB Drive - There is hardly a major that doesn’t require some computer work (think of the research papers!) and you might not want to store all of your information on the college’s servers because believe it or not, one day you’ll leave and want those documents. Therefore, buy a USB drive and try to find one that can connect to a lanyard or a key chain (it’ll be more difficult to lose).
- Laptop - Although a desktop computer can store more and perform better than a many laptops, sitting in one place for hours on end -- either browsing the web or writing a paper -- you’ll wish you had some mobility. A laptop (even the cheapest) can liberate you from your chair and give you the ability to take notes in class.
- Water bottle - Some lecture halls can be very dry and consequently make you quite thirsty. Instead of blowing your money on soft or energy drinks every class, simply buy a water bottle. Fill it up and throw it into fridge (or freezer, depending on what kind of waterbottle you use) before you go to bed. You’ll be able to hydrate without missing a beat of the lecture.
- Snacks - Now that you have your water bottle, you might want something to munch on - be it Cheetos or some crackers. Just as you don’t want to blow all your money buying $2 sodas every day, you also don’t want to overpay for cheap snacks. Go to a big box store and get an assorted snack pack and store in a safe place (or at least out of reach from hungry, lazy roommates).
- Gum - Gum is often understated as a means to stay awake. Your body is more likely to avoid drifting if you’re occupied with something. That should be the lecture but if it’s mind-numbingly boring, a piece of Juicy Fruit can be keep you off the ropes.
Students are starting to gear up for back to school, fresh from a long summer vacation. For the first couple of weeks, ambitious students will keep ahead of assignments but soon that momentum fades. What if you could earn $100 if you kept the momentum going?
It’s a bet Ultrinsic is willing to make with 34 new universities -- including Stanford, Harvard, New York University, Columbia and Princeton -- and hopefully online colleges soon.
Ultrinsic incentivizes students to achieve their academic goals by placing bets on grades. The site pays out more for A’s, less for B’s and so on. Students can even buy “grade insurance” for classes they might fail.
The system enables typically cash-strapped students to push themselves to succeed academically while earning some money.
Ultrinsic’s CEO, Steven Wolf insists the site is providing incentives, not gambles -- as online gambling is technically illegal in the US.
"There's definitely a lot of variables, but the biggest variable is how much effort the student wants to put in," Wolf says to the Huffington Post. "In general, if anybody would study 10 hours a day consistently for one class, they would get whatever grade they wanted to get."
Students upload class schedules and provide Ultrinsic access to official records, then the site calculates the odds of success over failure and wagers a bet with students that start at $25.
Freshman have the opportunity to earn the most money with long shot bets. Freshman that bet $20 they will graduate with a 4.0 GPA could earn $2,000 but with 100:1 odds, according to the Huffington Post. For ambitious students, $2,000 is a great down payment on a car or apartment.
Ultrinsic is currently working with traditional, bricks-and-mortar schools to expand its reach. What if the website worked with online colleges to create a system to track progress throughout the semester? The better students performed in class, their odds and pay out would increase.
If you’ve already graduated with a bachelor’s or master’s degree, now might be the perfect opportunity to bet on yourself and finance your online PhD.
eCollegeFinder.org helps you find degrees from accredited online colleges to start a new career or improve your current job. Search eCollegeFinder.org today and find the right online degree for you!
Overview
Engineering is essential to both the commercial job market and the research world. As an engineer, you will learn how to manipulate known resources by applying your knowledge of natural, technical and scientific laws in order to design machines and devices that will provide technological advances for the world. Engineers are the people who make our ideas come to life, making engineering a consistently in-demand field of study.
Requirements
Bachelor of engineering degree candidates should possess an aptitude for math and science. Students will be using and applying these skills in order to solve difficult puzzles, and it is expected that students will develop their analytical and problem-solving skills throughout the course of the program.
Students interested in engineering should be creative and willing to experiment, but also detail-oriented and hard-working. Engineers typically work in large teams, so clear and effective communication skills are essential as well.
Coursework
Engineering students will undergo intensive science and math coursework, including classes in chemistry, physics and calculus. Students will also take major-specific courses that vary depending on their engineering concentration. Some common concentrations include software engineering, general engineering, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. An undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering, for example, might include the following courses:
- Signals and Systems
- Gas Turbines
- Dynamic Systems
- Manufacturing Processes
- Thermal Systems Design
- Kinetics
Potential Jobs
A career in engineering offers the prospect to work in a high-tech field that is packed with opportunities. The variety of engineering majors will prepare you for work in multiple industries – computer, aerospace, manufacturing, healthcare, biomedicine and agriculture – upon graduation. With the myriad job options available, a bachelors degree in engineering is sure to be a good investment for the future.
Salary
In the Federal Government, mean annual salaries for engineers ranged from $81,085 for agricultural engineers to $126,788 for ceramic engineers in March 2009.
As a group, engineers earn some of the highest average starting salaries among those holding bachelors degrees. The Bureau of Labor statistics provides a detailed breakdown of engineering salaries by specialty.
eCollegeFinder.org helps you find degrees from accredited online colleges to start a new career or improve your current job. Search eCollegeFinder.org today and find the right online degree for you!
eCollegeFinder.org helps you find degrees from accredited online colleges to start a
new
career or improve your current job. Search eCollegeFinder.org today and
find the right online degree for you!
eCollegeFinder.org helps you find degrees from accredited online colleges to start a
new
career or improve your current job. Search eCollegeFinder.org today and
find the right online degree for you!
Overview
A doctorate in psychology opens up a wide range of career opportunities to students interested in the mental health field. Students holding either a PhD in Psychology or a Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) degree will be able to pursue jobs in counseling, teaching, research and clinical work. They can expect to work in various industries, including health services, primary and secondary schools, private and public corporations, academia and government.
Requirements
Students wishing to pursue a doctoral degree in psychology need to have completed a bachelors degree before entering an online PhD program. Ordinarily these students hold undergraduate degrees in psychology, but some students with bachelors degrees in biology, physical science or math also go on to study psychology at the doctoral level.
Coursework
Completion of an online PhD in psychology will take around 5 years. Students will learn how humans interact with each other, how environment affects behavior and ways to treat various mental disorders. A major part of the curriculum includes study of quantitative methods and research design. For a PhD in psychology, students will need to complete a dissertation of scholarly work. Those pursing the PsyD degree may complete practical experience and comprehensive exams instead of a dissertation. Counseling, clinical psychology and educational psychology specializations traditionally require one year of post-doctoral fieldwork, whereas specializations like organizational psychology do not. After graduation, all states require psychologists to become licensed; licensure requirements vary greatly state-to-state and by specialization.
Potential Jobs
If you work well under your own supervision, psychology may be the field for you. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates that around 34 percent of psychologists have their own practices or are independent consultants. There is expected to be growth in many areas of psychology including clinical practice, counseling and work in schools. Industrial-organizational psychologists can expect to have many jobs opening up for them, with a predicted 26 percent growth by 2018 for that concentration of psychology.
Salary
Clinical counselors and school psychologists can expect to earn an average of $64,000. Some senior level practitioners can earn over $106,000. The BLS shows that industrial-organizational psychologists typically earn more than their counterparts in a clinical or educational setting. Industrial-organizational psychologists average $77,000 per year and can earn upwards of $149,000 annually.
eCollegeFinder.org helps you find degrees from accredited online colleges to start a new career or improve your current job. Search eCollegeFinder.org today and find the right online degree for you!
eCollegeFinder.org helps you find degrees from accredited online colleges to start a
new
career or improve your current job. Search eCollegeFinder.org today and
find the right online degree for you!
eCollegeFinder.org helps you find degrees from accredited online colleges to start a
new
career or improve your current job. Search eCollegeFinder.org today and
find the right online degree for you!
Overview
Computer science as a discipline can give you the tools to find the job that you want. Although an online bachelor degree in computer science is highly mathematical, you will also be enrolled in a variety of classes that require different skills, and you will be given the chance to learn a multitude of computer skills. With an online bachelors degree from the top accredited online colleges, you will have the opportunity to integrate yourself into one of the fastest growing industries in the job market today.
Requirements
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) explains that the workers in these occupations must have strong problem-solving, analytical and communications skills. Because they often deal with a number of tasks simultaneously, the ability to concentrate and pay close attention to detail is also essential. Although computer science employees sometimes work independently, they frequently work in teams on large projects. As a result, they must be able to communicate effectively with other computer workers, such as programmers and managers, as well as with users or other staff who may have no computer background.
Coursework
An online bachelors degree in computer science usually takes students around four years to complete. Students will study theories of computer science, internet communications, software development, database management and basic programming languages such as C and C++.
Potential Jobs
The BLS predicts that overall employment of computer network systems and database administrators is projected to increase by 30 percent from 2008 to 2018, much faster than the average for all occupations. In addition, this occupation will add 286,600 new jobs over that period. Growth, however, will vary by specialty. People with online bachelors degrees in computer science can expect to work in a variety of industries such as academia, government and business. Upon graduation you may work in programming, consulting, software engineering, database development and software development and design.
Salary
The median salary for a computer scientist is $81,000, but certain jobs pay significantly more, depending on the importance of that role to the company.
eCollegeFinder.org helps you find degrees from accredited online colleges to start a new career or improve your current job. Search eCollegeFinder.org today and find the right online degree for you!
eCollegeFinder.org helps you find degrees from accredited online colleges to start a
new
career or improve your current job. Search eCollegeFinder.org today and
find the right online degree for you!