Greek Life: A Thick Line Between Races

By: Alexander Merriweather

One part of college life a section of students experience is the greek life. Some students already heard of them from high school and heard of a few stereotypes about them. But there are two different crowds of people that hear about greek life, the whites and the blacks. White people mostly hear about the Interfraternity Greek Conference and the National PanHellenic Conference while black people hear about the National Pan-Hellanic Council.
As a black man, I only had real experience meeting black fraternity members while I was in high school. This showed me how they give back and how positive of an impact they give. The only impression I got from the IFC is that they only party and get drunk everyday. A white man may say the opposite thing because they may have interacted with the IFC more. The reason for this is that the IFC at my school has less than a handful of black men. This can be the opposite from a white man's perspective because the NPHC is mostly black.
A person's instinct to stick to people of their own race when going to somewhere new could be the reason for thinking this way. There will be one point in time where there will be a lot more black people in the IFC and NPC and vice-versa with the white people and NPHC. Where will be moment in time start? I don't know.

Diversity in Higher Education

Seth Reeves

More and more colleges and universities have diverse student populations now than ever before. This statement makes sense seeing as how America's own population is more diverse now than in its entire history. There could not be a better example than Georgia Tech. There are 79 countries represented at Tech and every state in the United States is represented as well. This is an astounding fact that one couldn't find at many other universities across the country. But is a diverse student population good for students and doing well in school?

There has been much research about whether diversity will actually help students enjoy a better college experience while also becoming more successful in the classroom. Studies have actually shown that, "Socializing with someone of a different racial group or discussing racial issues contributes to the student's academic development, satisfaction with college, level of cultural awareness, and commitment to promoting racial understanding...." To learn more click here.

So now the only question left to discuss is whether or not students are taking the risks to get out of their comfort zones and meet new people of different ethnicities in college. Many reasons why some students are never able to do this is that they allow themselves to make first impressions of people, and judge them without really getting to know them. Through personal experience I can say that it is worth the risk of getting to know other people of a different race than your own. There is not a better time or place to do it than now at one of the most diverse schools in the country, Georgia Tech. My advice would be to branch out, get to know other people, and experience the diversity at Georgia Tech. You will probably have an overall better college experience and make better grades by just interacting with other people of different ethnicities. So why not try ? It's not like America is going to get any less diverse in the future anyways.

Time Management

By Gerardo Alfaro



Time management is something of huge importance for almost anyone, and it is something which many people consider to be hard to achieve as you need skills in order to do so, skills which you obtain mostly through practice. Therefore the first months are the hardest, and for college students this might translate to the first semester or even the second semester. This can be very detrimental for college students because the first two semester hold great importance. It can have an effect on a students self esteem as poor time management can lead to poor academic yield. Furthermore it can hurt a students GPA which can then lead to a lose of a scholarship or it can make it even harder for them obtain one, which in turn can harm their ability to obtain a higher education.

Time management does not mean that students should dedicate all of their time to academic work, it means that students need to find time to dedicate to studying as well as time for them, so that they can relax, leisure time. This is crucial because students need to unwind in order to be yield effectively.

An effective tool towards time management is keeping a planner, in which the things to do are written, and time is allocated for each. This way students are less likely to do their work the night before and by allocating a little time each day students will have time for themselves as well as finding the work as less burdening for them. It takes practice and self discipline but it is definitely worth it.

Decision Making

Abhinav Sawhney

Life at college is all about making the correct choices. In college there will be lots of times when one will be be presented with several options and paths. It's entirely upon the individual to choose what is right or wrong for them. It is impossible for a person to always make the correct decision, but a successful person is always one that makes more right choices than wrong.

The decision making process starts well before getting to college. The first thing a student has to decide is what college they want to go to. Several factors influence this decision. The first and probably the most important being the choice of major. Some colleges are favorable for certain courses more than others. An example would be how Georgia Tech specializes at its engineering courses. The next factor influencing the choice of college is the cost. A college education is extremely expensive so families must consider their financial situation before applying to certain colleges. Proximity from home also plays an important role when deciding where to study. Individuals who know that they get homesick a lot will prefer to go to college somewhere near home. Once admitted to college a lot of other choices are presented to you.

One of these choices will be whether or not to go "Greek," in other words whether or not to join a fraternity or sorority. This decision again varies from individual to individual. Some people can handle all the work from their fraternities/sororities as well as all the academic pressure. But there are others that can not perform this balancing act. So each person should consider their own style of working rather than being influenced by their peers.

A few weeks into college and one has to make a few more critical choices. This time I am talking about alcohol consumption. A lot of people tend to experiment with alcohol when in college. The reason for this being that parents are not present to take the right decision for you. So it is the job of the students to decide whether alcohol is good for them or not. They need to think about how it impacts their health, how it makes one loose control over him or herself, how it becomes the reason for a large percentage of the road accidents today.

So life in college is all about choices and decisions. If a student takes these decisions sensibly he or she is bound to meet success.

Should Student Athletes Be Paid In College?

By: Jasmine Blain
College athletes are not getting paid for the amount of work they put in their sport. Is this right or wrong? Most people and of course athletes believe that they should get paid, not just because they are playing a sport, but because they are playing a sport and still going to school. Athletes are also bringing a lot of publicity to the school as long as they are doing well in their sport.

This topic is very arguable because most people believe that athletes should get paid because the professional league gets paid and all they are doing is playing a sport. Well athletes in college are playing their sport and going to school, which isn't a easy task at all. Then there are the other people who believe that athletes already get enough privileges like: getting a full scholarship to school, getting free food everyday, free housing, and plenty more stuff.

From my personal perspective i would say that i think student athletes should be getting paid in college. Being a student athlete myself i know how much work we put in everyday and how we are determined to do well in our sport and school. We also are few out of the whole world who have the some what the same talent as we do, but we got chosen out of the many, so we should be rewarded for our talent. I mean the NBA and WNBA get paid for doing what they love, so why cant we? But then again i fell like we do get a lot of gifts and other privileges that not many people don't get so we shouldn't seem greedy or anything. Its really a hard decision to choose whether to get paid or not, because there are pros and cons to both decisions. I just see it like dis, even if we don't get paid for what we are doing, we still make the best out of it and look forward for the next level where we will be getting paid.

As i was doing some research, i found out that NCAA had stated that "paying college athletes is very unlikely to happen because they have already established the Special Assistance Fund in 1991 to help college athletes in financial need to cover basic or emergency expenses. A maximum of $500 an athlete year can be used for traveling home, school supplies, medical costs, and personal expenses. There is also a Student-Athlete Opportunity Fund available to all athletes regardless of financial need. This can also be used for school supplies, medical costs, and personal expenses." Now i sort of don't agree with this because if you think about it 500 dollars isn't enough money to cover some things, for example medical bills, blood test, or just the necessities that we need for everyday living.

Keeping up with Technology

Jorge Castillo

Since the coming of the twentieth century, technology has been advancing at a rate very hard to keep up with. Every day it is way more advanced and powerful than the day before, forcing society to adapt to its rapid changes and learn to take advantage of the benefits it provides. Technology is present everywhere nowadays and in college campuses around the world, it provides with many advantages that students and faculty get the most out of. Whether it is to do homework, research, or just have fun, technology in college campuses make life much more easier and aid students in their academic preparation and productivity.

Technological advantages in most college campuses in the country include wireless internet, visual aids (projectors, big screens, etc.), an advanced and coordinated transportation system, online software, web-based aids, and the list goes on.

With this much technology at the students reach, studying gets easier since one has all the help one may need at the touch of a bottom, or is it? Well, according to Neil C. Rowe, from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, technology provides students with many aids in their work but also opens a window for them to cheat. In his article Cheating in Online Student Assessment: Beyond Plagiarism, Rowe discusses how technology is altering the learning process of many students as studies suggest that approximately 75% of college students have reported to cheat sometime during their college careers.

By furthermore encouraging students to use technology as an aid in their studying preparations, one is at the same time exposing them to cheating opportunities. Nonetheless, technology serves as the primary aid in a college student's academic preparation and for this reason cannot be ignored. On the contrary, it should be implemented in every student's preparation but always kept at a close watch.

Depression and Stress in College

Matt Martz

College students all have to deal with stress in their daily lives. Unfortunately, sometimes the stress builds past a healthy limit and turns into something much worse, depression. Despite what many people think, depression affects a significant number of college students. From home sickness to having too much homework during the school week, stress and depression are serious problems for freshman and even upperclassmen in college.

Depression often doesn’t show for days or even weeks in college students lives. It all starts as a failed test or a break up during a relationship. Eventually all the stress becomes overwhelming and being young adults, most students don’t know what to do about all the stress. Colleges should provide more noticeable and affective help for stress and depression. According to the mtv-U polls around 85% of college students feel stress in their daily lives. All the stress is certainly not good for the student body, as stress leads to antisocial students and in the worst case, suicidal tendencies. Here at Georgia Tech there doesn’t seem to be a big problem with depression but I haven’t seen many organizations that aim to help those in need.

Stress causes mental problems but physical problems can arise too. Stressful college students release excess hormones which cause harmful imbalances in the body. The immune system can weaken causing diseases to be more prevalent, and at a place so dense with people disease is certain to spread around. Keeping stress to a minimum and keeping depression from controlling student’s lives is an important task for colleges to work towards. A stress/depression-free college would be a much brighter and stronger place.

Common College Problem: Lack of Motivation

Seth Reeves

One of the biggest problems many freshman college students will have to face is trying to stay motivated to do homework and study for exams when there are so many distractions on a college campus. Many people in high school were procrastinators because they could do it and still get by making good grades. However, once in college, students find that they are all on their own, and do not have anyone reminding them to finish their homework. With all the distractions that new students will face, finding a way to stay motivated will be a key to their college academic success.

I can speak from my own personal experience about procrastinating in high school. Especially in my last couple of years in high school, I became less motivated to study and finish homework assignments. I put things off until the last minute. I definitely created some bad habits. But once I got to college, I realized that I was too busy to procrastinate and had to change my ways. These were a few things I did that helped me get out of my poor habits:
1. Find an environment that allows you to focus without any distractions. (Dorm room or library)
2. Set a start time and end time for how long you will study and hold yourself to it.
3. Take short breaks so that you can focus during your given "homework time."
4. Start studying a little each day. This will soon become a routine and you will realize homework is not too bad. Also, you will see how much better you remember the material, then by just cramming one night before a test. Lastly, I believe that you should also try and come up with your own fun ways to get your homework done and stop becoming a procrastinator. Use your imagination and see where it takes you! You may be surprised on how much faster you finish your homework.

Try using these simple tips that have helped me a lot in my own experience. Even going to a schoool as academically demanding as Georgia Tech, I have found that the work is not too bad if you can just use your time wisely and not PROCRASTINATE!

Clubs: An Enhancement to Social Life

By: Alexander Merriweather

A problem with moving from high school tosollege is making new friends. Clubs and organizations can become an enhancing part of a student's social life. they can provide the student with an opportunity to increase their interest in one thing or try out some new things. They also provide them with a chance to communicate with other students. College contains many clubs that contain many different things, including things that people barely heard of. My involvement in clubs and organization improved my social life in my 3 months of school so far.
There are many types of clubs and organizations. They can range from intramural sports, campus ministries, student organizations, and student-led clubs. Intramural sports are played by making a team made by students. They are played for fun, but usually there is a prize for first place. Campus ministries are there because student often lose their faith when they enter college. student organzations plan event for the students on campus to make sure they have fun. Student-led clubs are made to fit students that have the same interest with the club.
Many students become friends through class or a club. The reason clubs and organizations become a good source for friends is because they are most likely to share a common interest with each other. They can be made throughout competitions, intramurals, or campus ministries. These sources can improve your social life and make your academic life easier because those people can also be good in a subject someone else is struggling in. In the end, students enjoy their lives being in clubs.

Importance of College Athletics

Gerardo Alfaro

College athletics is something most people would consider to be of great importance, however they might not think why. In fact some people might underestimate the value it has just because its so wide spread and they take it for granted. However nowadays college athletics is an important part of the "college experience". In fact many people once graduated will remember going to the football games and cheering on for their team more than they will going to class.

College athletics plays a major factor in creating college spirit and loyalty, because most people will take pride and privilege on their college teams even if they are not the best. Additionally events such as football games bring colleges together as everyone is supporting the same side and for many it is a gratifying experience and something they can take away once they have graduated.

However it must be noted that college athletics can also take the form of varsity teams, which involves more people and allows them to play in a mix of a competitive and recreational way the sport they like. This can be a self esteem builder as well as promote such traits as leadership and team work. Furthermore it can help keep students away from activities such as drinking and consuming drugs because it gives them something else to do, and it helps them find friendship and camaraderie which can later on help them overcome problems. All in all college athletics brings many benefits to a campus and it is definitely something students can enjoy.

Time Management

Abhinav Sawhney

One of the biggest problems that undergraduates across the world experience today is time management. Universities are aware of the fact that students have busy schedules, but are unaware of how these schedules are prime reasons for stress among students.

It’s an extremely tough task for a student to balance academic activities with extracurricular, and at the same time to also ensure a healthy eating and sleeping routine. More often than not students have to sacrifice their sleep or meals or both in order to meet with success in their academics. What I would like universities to emphasize on by including it in their curriculum is ways in which students can strike the right balance between academics and their life outside the classroom.

It’s an extremely steep ask to expect students who have just graduated from high school to manage their time well. Universities often like to address this issue by referring to it as a gradual learning process. The problem with doing this is that by the time a student actually learns to prioritize and balance his/her time a grave to big has already been dug.

The crucial phase for an undergraduate is at the very beginning of his/her college degree i.e. freshman year. At this time students are fresh from high school and are used to having most things spoon fed to them. So the fact that students have to do a lot of things on their own for the first time is quite a challenge in itself, and to further expect them to cope with the work pressure from class is far from just.

Not surprisingly those students that are not able to manage time impeccably fall into a ditch. University administrators need to realize that even the brightest of students fail to balance their activities, so it should be the responsibility of the university to instill these skills in students.

Classroom Etiquette in College!

By: Jasmine Blain

People think that when you get to college you can act any kind of way in the classroom. Well they are going to be shocked when they get to that point in their life. College is very much like high school when it comes down to classroom etiquette. There are many different ways college student should act in class like: being on time, following the dress code, and lastly respecting the professor.

First,being on time is a choice in college and can determine a lot of things. If you are early to a class everyday, you will get a lot of positive reactions to that choice. For example, you will make yourself look good and set a good impression to the professor. Being on time is also important because it avoids people distracting the class when they are late. It also lets the professor know that you actually interested in your school work and that you aren't here just because you have to. So remember being like 10 or even 5 minutes early will have a lot of pros rather to cons.

Second is following the dress code. Now this is very different to high school because in high school principals and teachers are a lot more strict about dress code. In college they could care less but they just want to make sure you aren't distracting classes. Once you cross that line where you are distracting your peers in class, then they will enforce the dress code but other than that then their really isn't a dress code. Students should go to class comfortable, not meaning the boys should have their clothes hanging off their butt or their clothes way too big, or the females have on very very tight clothes. Like i said before, as long as you are not distracting the class by the clothes you wear, the everything should be fine.

Lastly is RESPECTING the professor at all times. Respect can take you far in life as long as you don't abuse it. Now respecting your professor just doesn't mean call them Mr. or Mrs. Respect means no CELL PHONES OUT!!, raising your hand when you want to talk, looking at the professor when they are talking, not talking to your neighbor, doing the work that is assigned and especially no SLEEPING! By doing all of these task the professor will look at you in a different and good way. They will know that you are interested in the subject and that you are there to learn, not just because you have to be there.

In college some students may forget how to act when they are in class, because they feel independent and feel like they don't have to follow the rules because they are grown and on their own. Well this is all wrong, no matter where you go and how old you are, you should always have classroom etiquette when you are in that type on environment.

Choosing your major

Jorge Castillo

Many students come to college with their minds set on what profession they want to study and have made that decision early in their lives. Nonetheless, there is a large group of students who enroll in college and are still clueless on what they want to study. Making students who fall under this category of undecided mayors understand that it's perfectly normal to be in the position they are is key to help them discover themselves and decide what they want to do with their lives.

The best advice in this topic according to Dr. Randall S. Hansen, founder of MyCollegeSuccessStory.com, is not to panic. Considering the facts that most college students arrive to college unsure about what career paths they are going to take in life and that most students change their majors at least once throughout their college careers, arriving to college with no idea of what one wants to study is no problem. Therefore, don't panic since in college everyone is in the same position. College is all about discovering yourself and deciding what one really wants to do with one's life.

Basically, one must first examine things that interest you and the abilities one may have in these fields. Then one must think of the type of work of your preference, like for example, whether working in groups or alone, under pressure, in large projects, etc. Once one is sure of the type of work you like to do, one must then research on the different careers that match your interests, abilities, and preferences. There are an infinite number of careers out there, so even though you don't find the perfect one for you, at least narrow down your search to a couple of them.

Even when one is completely sure of a major to pursuit and actually graduate, it doesn't necessarily mean one will spent all of one's life doing that. Even so, studies show that most people will change their careers at least four times throughout their lives. This being said, there's no definite major that will prepare you for life. Just try to make the wisest decision and decided on the major(s) that best suit your goals and interests.

Problems with Hazing

Matt Martz

Hazing has always been a topic many colleges hate to talk about. Controversy over innocent college students who have no idea what they are getting into with fraternities and other clubs. Colleges all like to say their schools are completely haze free, but the sad truth is, it’s more likely they are not. Of course, hazing is not only in college, sometimes the workspace or even high school students can experience the harms of hazing. Hazing can never be completely stopped, but colleges can do a much better job to stopping it.

Most of the public thinks hazing hardly exists, and when it does it’s only in the crazy fraternities. Movies like Old School portray partying and hazing for the freshman class of the fraternity. However, studies show that hazing reaches into many different social groups. Apparently some performing arts clubs and even academic clubs experience hazing of some sort. Even with all the possible hazing opportunities, most of the time it is never reported to the colleges or administrators. If college students felt like consequences weren’t so bad for turning their organizations in, more cases of hazing would be known. Typically, students would rather be in the clubs even if they have to deal with hazing for a semester or two.

Hazing involves more than just paddling and group humiliation. Many times hazing turns into demeaning and intimidating actions, whether it be threats or true. Even acts such as hair cutting or forced drinking involve hazing. Most college kids think it’s all just part of the fraternity life but really it’s only hazing. College students need to know what they are getting into with hazing before it is too late. Hazing can cause injury or even death.

Midterms and Stress: A Lovely Combination

By: Alexander Merriweather

Freshmen coming into college have some sort of tests to take in the middle of the semester. Some have midterms while some have a project. Last week I turned in an English essay and a digital poster to go with it. When I completely finished both of them, I was relived because I thought that I did a wonderful job on both of them. The point of my recent experience is that midterm week can be very stressful on students. Some schedules may have a midterm in all the classes or maybe none. If there is a midterm on the schedule, stress will be sure to follow.

Midterm projects and midterm tests are two different things. A midterm project is usually told in advance so the student can think and determine whether to ration out the work or to do it all on one specific day and continuously check. Waiting until the last minute can put so much stress on a student that way. This is because midterm projects usually take more than a day to finish. For example, it took me a complete week to finish my English project because I had to think of a great title, thesis statement, and images that match my point. Then I still have to write the essay one day and piece the poster on a different day. Midterm projects can either stress a student out or calm them down depending on how they use their time.

A midterm test is just that: a midterm test. It’s based off the information the student learned from the first half of the semester. Stress usually comes into many students heads because this is a test can probably counts 20% of their final grade. They have to do well on these tests so they can pass the class with an A. The stress that comes into the students is great though. All the studying proves to work though. It’s just that if a student doesn’t do well, it’s because of one or the other. They just need to study and take a break to do something that releases stress. When I study for a test, I take a little break and play video games to release it. As long as the student does both methods, they can pass the midterm with no problem.

College Lifestyles Then and Now

Seth Reeves

In the book, American Higher Education, by Christopher Lucas, he explains that in the early parts of the 1900s, college students were less concerned about their grades, and all about having a good time. He gives even more information saying that back then, intense study was frown upon, and it was "poor form" to earn anything better than the "Gentlemen C." Now times have definately changed since then, but is this sort of college lifestyle still relevent among college students of today?

I believe that this lifestyle is still around today, but not nearly as much as it was back then. For instance, being a student at Georgia Tech, I have noticed that mostly every single student puts a lot of their time into their grades. They all really care about their grades because they want to earn a good job in a particular field that interests them. I also, think that students at colleges and universities around the country care a lot more and have been putting more and more time into their academics. So I definately think this is a big difference from the lifestyle back in the 1920s.

However, it is still quite obvious that students see college as a place to have fun. There are many ways for college students to enjoy themselves. For instance, there are always a lot of parties to go to on a college campus. Many students like to join clubs or be apart of greek life. Also, many students today enjoy going to sporting events to cheer on their school. One thing that colleges today, is that they provide many ways for students to enjoy themselves aside from academics.

In conclusion, I believe that students do go to college to have a good time similar to students in the early 1990s. Although, students today take their academics very seriously. Especially now since jobs are hard to find, students today are putting academics before "fun time," and that is the biggest diffence between today's students and students in the early 1900s.

The Importance of Exercise

By Gerardo Alfaro



Working out is something for which everyone should save some time. Most adults argue that they are out of time during the day so they don’t exercise. This is also true among college students or at least for some of them such as Dionne Hemming a freshman at the University of Maryland, in the article Workouts not working for college students, who says “at the beginning of the semester I worked out everyday, but now I have too much work, and I am too tired after my classes.” It is however important for college students to workout and exercise because 7 out of 10 Americans according to the article feel better mentally and physically after exercising. So one might wonder why college students don’t exercise more often?

Students should really exercise more often to allow them to blow some steam because college life can be stressful especially during exams or when deadlines for big projects are closing in. Additionally students don’t have to go to the gym they have other choices like dancing, kickboxing and yoga to name a few. There are many activities to choose from and even if the university doesn’t provide those classes students might find them in places nearby their campus. This way students can have a hobby they like which means that they can enjoy themselves and also blow some steam as well as do something towards their health all at the same time. This can be very helpful for all college students, who should really try to make time to exercise.

What Should A College Education Entail?

Abhinav Sawhney

This is an issue that will receive a highly diverse opinion from different individuals. So the question is what should a student learn when at college. Should they only be taught what is required of them at the workplace and in their careers or should all college students go through a certain number of similar courses that may not necessarily be relevant or required in their ultimate field of study.

One way to look at it is that the sole purpose of a college education is to get a good job and build a successful career. So if that is the main criteria, they should only learn material that will benefit them at their respective work places. Taking extra courses that are not a requirement for the particular degree programme do nothing but elongate the time needed to attain a college degree. This extra time is accompanied by an extra cost. Each course taken by a student at college has a handsome cost associated with it. So the question is, why should a student have to pay for courses that will not help in his her career.

Often colleges pay tremendous amount of emphasis on theoretical matters. Students are given firm historical background on every concept that they learn. So, especially for majority of the Tech students that are doing engineering, such theories may seem erroneous. Skills that are directly applicable and will be required at the job place should be given most emphasis. For example an electrical engineer may fail to understand the need for him/her to learn about the different types of medicines for an illness in a mandatory health class.

On the other hand this issue may be looked at from a very different perspective. Each college student should have a certain minimum amount of knowledge on several subjects. So each college student is expected to know certain things. Also having certain mandatory courses for everyone ensures that each person that goes to college will be quite well rounded, and will avoid the one dimensional view that studying just one specific subject may create. For example an English course may not seem very important for lots of engineering students but what they fail to realise is that the valuable communication skills that they pick up in this class will serve them throughout their careers. Another question that needs to be asked is, if colleges do not take the responsibility to preserve history and classical views then who will? Is it the responsibility of parents to instill these values and views in their children?

Sexual Violence a Problem on Campus!!

Jasmine Blain

Sexual violence is a very serious situation that no one wants to ever be apart of. It is one out of many issues that face us on the campuses we walk on. In fact "sexual violence includes sexual harassment, incest and childhood sexual abuse, and sexual exploitation, in addition to those behaviors commonly called “rape” or “sexual assault.” Sexually violent behavior can be physical, emotional, verbal, or a combination" according to the Georgia Tech Violence Prevention. Now that you understand the definition of sexual violence, you may want to think twice before you make that certain decision.

The real question is, what drives these people to be perpetrators? Well as we all know the kind of people that are the perpetrators are extremely aggressive. Some lines they use to find this out are: "“I never take ‘no’ for an answer”,“She calls it ‘rape,’ but she wanted it”, “A real man ‘calls the shots’ in his relationship”, “When women say ‘no,’ they really mean ‘yes’ or ‘maybe”,“I’m just ‘playing the game”, and “It’s a man’s job to take the initiative when it comes to sex. All of these lines are signs of an aggressive person who just might be involved in sexual violence. "About 55% of men reported one or more instances of non-assaulting coercion to obtain sex, and The percentage of female students victimized during their careers at GT may be 20-25% … given that nearly 5% of college women are victims of rape or attempted rape each calendar year". THIS IS NO JOKE!!

Now don't always blame the men, even though it is mostly them, the women are often giving them signals and leading them on, which isn't good if that girl isn't ready. So.. people out there, if your partner or some stranger at a party is using verbal pressure, playing mind games ,making you feel guilty, giving you alcohol or drugs to make you less likely to resist sexual advances, making you afraid by using looks or gestures, making threats, or even displaying or using a weapon, then you shouldn't be around that person or go anywhere alone that person.

People aren't realizing the effects that this may cause the victim to do. The victim is usually unable to sleep or they often sleep way too much, Abuse of drugs or alcohol, may start thinking about suicide, and not being able to study or finish homework. This may effect the university in many ways. So some ways to get away from these type of situations or not even be involved, you can easily think twice before you do certain things, make wise decisions, get help if you are ever involved, help out your friends that are in the same situation, talk to close family members or people you can trust before just doing what you feel, and lastly just always be aware or the things and people around you.

To be or ot to be....a frat boy?

Jorge Castillo

College is more than just studies and getting good grades, it's also an opportunity to develop leadership skills and meet new people, well at least to greek students. Although there is a stereotype that greek life is just partying and alcohol, there's more to it. There are actually many good values and skills fraternities and sororities cultivate among their members. By avoiding stereotypes and actually studying the pros and cons of greek life, student's may decide if going greek is appropriate for them and if it suites their lifestyle and ideals.

Every person has his or her own opinion about greek life depending on the stereotypes they may have on their minds or their backgrounds. In most cases students don't really know the pros and cons of greek life and so cannot make an informed decision as to whether greek life is for them. According to California State University, greek life is full with benefits one should be interested in incorporating into one's life. Some of these benefits include the opportunity to develop one's leadership potential, providing lifelong friendships, building character through philanthropic events, and academic support.

Many students opt to join a fraternity/sorority for other reasons. These may be for the parties, to build up their resume, or making connections in the world with other brothers/sisters. Connections are very helpful since they can make finding a job easier. It isn't the first time we hear of someone who randomly meets a member from another chapter of his fraternity/sorority and end up getting offered a job on the spot.

Although there are many benefits in becoming part of the greek life in campus, there's also a negative side. All of this doesn't come for free, being greek requires a large investment of money. Costs involved with greek life may range from the $500s to the $5000s, depending on your university and which chapter you are pledging. Time is also a major issue since there are many mandatory meetings and activities one is supposed to attend while being a member. Members must adapt their schedules giving priority to these activities, something that may be tough to most college students.

There are many points of view in this topic and there is no right or wrong answer. One must think deeply about all the pros and cons and if one's values go along with those of the fraternity/sorority. After analyzing your options, whether to join or not is your call.

College Athletics: Good or Bad?

Matt Martz

College athletics are a big deal to many students and their alumni as well. Many colleges depend on their college teams to bring popularity to their universities. Big state schools have more students that attend football games than classes. Athletics provide schools with great publicity and money but students shouldn’t let athletics become more important than education.

In the ACC, each college has a football and basketball team totaling around 100 players together. While no college player is getting paid to play sports, the team brings in millions of dollars to the school from television and other media sources. This money often gets spent by the university rather than the sports teams. This in turn helps the college focus on creating a better academic society to match their athletics. Here at Georgia Tech, education certainly comes first to most undergraduates, but most students still love watching and participating in sports teams.

Sports teams are also helpful for students by relieving the stress of college work. Having a team to root for on Saturday afternoons helps bring the campus together and raise the overall morale of the college (if we win that is). The only problem arises when students focus all their time on watching and playing sports and end up failing their classes. When the student body learns how to balance both education and sports at college, the performance of the college itself will strive. Students will be both happy and engaged in their schoolwork. College sports help strengthen their student bodies and if controlled correctly, don’t hurt their education.

Living with a roommate

By: Gerardo Alfaro


For many if not most college freshmen, it is the first time they have to share a room with someone. This can be both exiting and scary as many freshmen do not know what to expect from their roommates. So colleges should help roommates get to know each other in order to allow for a year to go along with the least amount of problems possible, so if colleges do activities for roommates to get to know each other this can help to break the ice.

One such activity could be for roommates to go out together to get to know each other or play some sports such as beach volleyball against another set of roommates, as this can help to create friendship and build trust in the relationship. The first couple of weeks are probably the most important ones because if everything goes well then the roommates might have a easier time accepting each other, but if something goes wrong it is more likely for problems to recur.

Of course one cannot expect for roommates to do everything together, they must have their own space even if they are sharing their living space. Therefore boundaries need to be set so that they can live together. These boundaries need to be discussed by all the parties involved as well as agreed and respected. If this happens then there is a good chance for a successful relationship. After all if students can find an escape in their rooms from stress rather than trade academic stress for another kind of stress it might be easier for them to succeed in achieving their goals.

The Freshman 15

Abhinav Sawhney

The transition from high school to college brings with it a lot of challenges. One of which is to remain fit and avoid the “freshman 15.” For those that may not be aware of this phrase, the “freshman 15” is used to describe the weight gained by freshman in their first semester of college.

On moving to college most freshman students are witnessing dramatic changes in their lives. The biggest change for most of them is moving away from home and living away from their parents. This means they have to make several decisions on their own without any guidance. One of these issues is pertaining to what they should be eating and what they shouldn't be. Since this choice is now on the students, they tend to eat what tastes good as opposed to what is healthy and nutritionally balanced.

Another reason which does not help the cause too much is the inconsistent meal timings. Due to a different schedule of classes every day, it becomes very hard for students to eat at a certain time consistently. This also leads to unwanted weight gain. On a certain day a student may have a schedule clustered with morning classes, and hence his or her first meal maybe at 1 in the afternoon. Likewise a student with a busy afternoon schedule may have lunch and dinner at the same time. What this does is make students eat junk food in the small intervals between their classes. All these factors collectively lead to the “freshman 15.” Studies show that freshman gain an average of 4.2 pounds the first 3 months of college.

So how can the “freshman 15” be avoided? One of the best ways of remaining fit is to eat at consistent timings. Although this might be tough for college students due to their busy schedules, it must be done to remain healthy. One must also avoid munching on things constantly throughout the day. What this does is, makes your body develop the habit of being fed all the time hence increasing the food intake.

It is also very important for freshman to work out regularly. Even if it’s just thirty minutes a day,one must visit the gym and burn the excess calories. At the end of the day it would not be wrong to conclude by saying the “freshman 15” can indeed be avoided, but only if the freshmen put in an effort to avoid it.

Study tonight - or find something else to do?

Jorge Castillo

In college, most of the time you get a syllabus at the beginning of the term outlining all the tests and other works to be handed in. Even though students receive this syllabus with anticipation, most either leave it for the last minute and others simply forget, or didn't have time to do it. This is called procrastination, that is, leaving the work for the last minute even though you had plenty of time before to do it. College students must realize that procrastination only leads to more stress, more accumulated work, and lower grades. By realizing this, college students may better organize their time and start the assignments ahead of time to avoid the negative consequences due to procrastination.

According to California Polytechnic State University, many procrastinators leave their work for the last minute because they are over-confident about their skills in completing the work. They feel they're in complete control and that they have plenty of time to complete the work. As days pass by, he suddenly realizes he must complete his work since he now has no time left. So he might stay up all night finishing his work. After the student receives his grade he might feel proud because he managed to finish just in time and angry because he didn't get the grade he expected.

College students must learn from their mistakes and in this case realize that if he or she would have started the work days earlier, he or she might have earned a better grade. Instead, many students get a false feeling that they work better under pressure and so keep doing it. This makes no sense since you have no other choice, either you do the work and finish your work or you don't do it and fail.

Procrastination is very common in students of all levels, from high school to college. It is something that students should learn to avoid to furthermore help themselves. It will only get you frustrated and tense and will affect your grades and develop in you bad habits.

"Procrastination is the bad habit of putting of until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday."

- Napoleon Hill

The Big Move

By: Alexander Merriweather


When transitioning from high school to college, there are many differences. For example, students won’t be in classes with around 20-30 students. They will be in a classroom with around 100 students with only one teacher. The best way for those students to get an education in this classroom is to sit in the front so they can see the clearest. That way you can receive the best notes and the teacher can actually see your face.
Another difference between high school and college is that professors in college usually grade on a curve rather than leaving the grades be. This changes the students’ goal from “trying to get an ‘A’ in the class” to “I have to beat the curve for a good grade.” When I was in my summer program at Georgia Tech, my goal quickly became this after the first test. Also, this curve is not like the curves in high school, where the highest grade gets curved to 100 and the teacher add that many points to everybody’s grade. This is a bell curve, where the curve is based on the average of the grades. This way, the average is usually considered a ‘C’.
In high school, most students used to studying alone for graded assignments. But in college, they will be placed in dorms where they have people around them taking the same classes as them. So if there is a major test is coming up, they can form study groups to focus more and get the information faster than if they were in a room alone trying to study everything at once. Also, if one student understands one part of the class while the other one doesn’t, that student can go to the other one for help with just a little walking rather than driving and wasting gas.
Transitioning from high school to college can be easy or difficult depending on what the student does. He can slack off and make it difficult or focus and make it easy with the freedom that he has. But once that transition is complete, that’s when the student’s true potential comes out.

The Qualities of a Good Teacher

Abhinav Sawhney

So what makes a good teacher? This is a question that everyone should ask them self. Each person will have a slightly different opinion but they will be lots of similarities in the descriptions of a good teacher. The stereotypical view to this is that an individual that has a PhD in a subject is best equipped to teach that subject. However this is not the case.

Having a PhD does not certify anyone to be a good teacher, and on the other hand it also does not make anyone a bad one. There are certain characteristics that all teachers must have in order to be effective at their craft. The most important of these is the urge and desire to teach. It is not possible to perform at your best in any job unless you really want to do it. So to begin with a good teacher should really want to teach. If they are teaching only for the sake of it or to make some money, then this will definitely reflect on the class' performance.

A teacher must also have thorough knowledge on the subject matter to be taught. Not to contradict my earlier statement, this does not mean they need to have a really 'big' degree but they should know the subject well enough to teach it and clarify any queries that the students may have.

A lot of students will agree with me when I say that there are times when a lesson can get extremely boring! During such phases it is very easy for one's attention to drift away from class. Managing to keep a class' attention for an entire lecture is one of the signs of being highly effective. To be a good teacher it is very important to communicate well with your students. Communication must not be one sided. A teacher should encourage students to ask questions and should be willing to hear their opinion. A teacher must always try to create such an atmosphere in the classroom where students feel no hesitation in clarifying a doubt or challenging something that has been taught. This two-way communication is critical for a successful learning.

Making a class enjoyable is also of extreme importance. If students want to attend a certain class, or look forward to a certain class they're bound to perform better at it because of their enthusiastic approach. On the other hand if a class is really boring then it's extremely tough for students to contribute and pay attention. So a teacher must consider all these things if he/she wants to be as effective as possible.

College Athletics shouldn't be everything.

Seth Reeves

Many people may not know how good a certain college's academics are, but mostly everyone will know how good that college is in athletics. These days, a college's athletic program can be very important. It can bring in a lot of revenue in for the school, and even be a good way to advertise itself to the world if they have a successful sports team. Also, many people will go to a college or university just to because the school is known for its football or basketball team. Academics could come second to going to a school with a superior athletic program. But why do colleges and universities across America spend so much money trying to make their athletic programs so successful? Yes, having a very successful athletic program can do a lot of good for a college, but based on The Chronicles of Higher Education website, many smaller schools are losing money trying to give their school a top-tier athletic program.

This is a perfect example of having the right intentions, but doing the wrong thing. Many of these smaller schools that have lost loads of money trying to build a thriving athletic program, all had good intentions. They wanted to make their school "better." One way to make a school "better" is to not only have good academics, but also excellent athletics because sometimes a college is not only judged by its academics. But, these smaller schools need to be realistic. Not every school can be like Ohio State, Florida, or USC. By putting all of their money into trying to replicate those schools' programs is very unwise, but that is what many schools have done. They need to realize that even though an admirable program can do a lot for a school, it is not worth losing money over and hurting the more important things like academics, research, etc. Building a successful program should be a slow process. It won't happen in a year. Every school across America needs to realize why they really exist. It is not to win football games, or win a college world series, but to educate the young people of today.