I have been working on undergraduate research for several months now. Tomorrow I leave for the Mid-East Honors Association Annual Conference. Going to the conference is probably the most exciting thing I have done in college so far.

My Research Topic - Maximizing Academic Performance through Meditation

This Saturday I will be presenting my research on Meditation and how it can benefit students. I am really excited to present my research. I have yet to write out a paper of my research, but when I do I will probably post it on the blog.

Other Topics at the Conference:

• Is the Stem Cell debate over?
• Causes and Effects of Color
• Holistic Health
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder treatments for today’s American Soldiers
• Tracking the Changing Faces of Vampires (sounds interesting!)
• Post modernism: The Dominance of Visual Media in Western Culture
• The Decline of the Print Media and its Successors

The research topics sound very interesting. Hopefully I will be able to see most of the presenters.

Life of an Honors Program

Many schools will also be sharing how their Honors Program has developed, types of courses offered, organizing an honors council, and many more topics that apply to, not only honors students, but all campus organizations and students.

When I get back from the conference I will share with you my experience at my first conference.

Do you fear speaking in front of a crowd? As a college student you will probably have to give many presentations. This is a good thing, because important people are asked to give presentations. PowerPoint has become the norm while giving a presentation. Having a well developed PowerPoint will give you confidence, engage your audience, and make an influential presentation.

I have been working on a presentation for a research conference, and I went Googling to discover tips to improve my PowerPoint presentation. I found some great resources that I would love to share with you. Instead of just giving you a bunch of links, I’d like to set it up as a lesson.

First,I would like you to watch this basic video of a teacher giving PowerPoint advice to other teachers, but the concepts can be applied to all PowerPoint presentations.

At the end of the presentation he mentions a few important people. Why are these guys important? Because they are good. They have given hundreds of presentations.

The first video you will watch is a presentation by Seth Godin. Pay attention to:

• How he interacts with the PowerPoint.
• The stylistic elements of the PowerPoint.
• The type of information on the PowerPoint, if any.
• Measure the simplicity of the presentation.
• Also observe Seth. He seems comfortable.

Seth discusses Marketing. Note: Marketing is not only for businesses but for anyone who needs to market themselves to get a job.

Another person you should watch is Larry Lessig. He has a very unique presentation style.

Watching other people perform can be very beneficial to you. More so than reading a book on how to make a PowerPoint presentation. Not only can you learn from these excellent presenters, but they can give you inspiration.

Other Resources:

Presentation Zen is an fabulous blog about giving presentation.

Need pictures for your presentation? Flickr.com is the number one place to get pictures.

If you need information concerning copy right with presentations visit these two links:

• Memorial Library
• DWU Copyright

Having a presentation remote can be very beneficial when practicing your presentations. I suggest the Logitech 2.4GHz Cordless Remote.

Do you know of more PowerPoint sources? Share the links!

1. Calling your parents

You forgot about them didn’t you? Well, your parents do care and they do want to hear from you. Make sure you block out time in your schedule to call your parents. You may consider just writing an actual, send in mail, letter. Writing a letter takes time, and when your parents read it they will recognize the effort. And you can always benefit from extra writing.

2. Monthly Reflection

Do you ever worry if you are going to school for the right thing? Schedule one hour a month to sit and dwell upon your life. Students change their majors all the time. Some decide, college is not for them. During your reflection time think about:

• Where you are?
• Where you plan to be in the next few months?
• Does everything feel right?
• Is there something missing in your life?
• What are your ambitions?

These are questions that we find ourselves asking everyday. By scheduling time to tackle the questions we can reduce our stress, because we know that we will deal with the issue. Worrying about whether you are on the right path is not something you should be concerned about while taking a test or writing a paper.

3. Toilet Time

Alright, this one is for the guys. Most guys would agree that they think best while sitting on the toilet. Well, I have noticed that my schedule has become so hectic that I do not appreciate my Toilet Time. Once a month, you deserve a 30 minute toilet session to think or read the newspaper.

4. Read a Book of Your Choice

In the course of the semester. Read a book that you actually want to read. Make it a part of your Sunday ritual if you’d like (Follow a Sunday Ritual by Cal Newport).

5. Play an Instrument

Did you play an instrument in High school? Don’t forget to keep at it. One day you will want to teach your kids to play an instrument. I play the piano all the time, for me it is a perfect stress reliever. Playing a musical instrument also enhances brain function and it counts as a physical exercise. I play the piano every other day. Don’t have a place to play? Yes you do. I am sure that there is a practice room in the music department that is not being used.

6. A Meeting with a Professor

Getting to know your professors is very important. They will be the ones writing letters of recommendations, possibly hooking you up with your first job, and forever a person of advice, and all for you. Go to their office; they wont bit. What should you talk about?

• Ask if they have a book they recommended pertaining to the course.
• Discuss a book your professor wrote. Extra Brownie Points!
• Discuss news regarding the course.

Remember, your professor has to eat too. If it is lunch time, they are probably eating on campus. There is no reason why you can’t ask to eat with them.

7. FOOD

Plan what you will eat every week. Why? It lets you look at what you will be eating. If you write down McDonalds for everyday, you recognize that your weekly diet is not that great. If you planned day by day, you may not notice it.

8. A Community Service

I am not talking about Community Service that you put on your resume, but community service, for the sake of serving. One year of college is a lot and doing something to help another person will lift your spirits. Don’t bother putting it on your resume. Don’t bother telling everyone what you did. Just be proud that you did something for someone else.

9. Car Maintenance

Remember to check your car fluids. You can save a lot of money by checking your car. Don’t take it to a shop to have them check your fluids, ask a friend, someone on campus will check it for you. It takes 5 minutes, and you can save future expenses. Don’t have a car? Lucky you!

10. What Would You Add?

Share the important things you put in your schedule.

The first day of class your professor makes the effort to say “You should not have a job! You should be spending three hours studying for every hour in class!”

You just laugh, because if you are like me, working is absolutely necessary if you want to live. Eating is important, and it is nice to go to the movies on occasion or go to a concert, just to keep your sanity.

But are there other options for college students? Can you get by without working during college semesters? I believe that working, at a restaurant, Wal-Mart, Target, at a grocery store, or other typical college and high school student jobs, is unnecessary. I will offer you other possibilities that will supply you with enough money to live during college without a “job”.

If you had a job, how many hours do you think you would work? 20 hours? At $8 dollars an hour, 20 hours a week would be $160 dollars a week. That would be $640 a month. Do you really need $640 a month? I know I don’t. This is how much I need

• $100 car insurance
• $20 cell phone
• $100 gas (if you don’t have a job to drive to you don’t need as much gas!)
• $40 fun (You should be able to have fun with $40 a month.)
• $200 food? (You may not even need food, if it is part of room and board.

That is a $460 total. To make that much a month, you only need to work 15 hours a week. See, I am already saving you some time!

Use Your 15 hours of Work as 15 Hours of Study Time

Think if you had 15 additional hours to study! Alright so take away 3 hours, because you would have a breaks at work so you should have breaks while studying. So you still have 12 hours extra a week to study! The average reader reads about 200 words per minute. At that rate, during your extra 13 hours you could read a 450-page book a week. That is a book a week. Wow!

And that is for the average reader. If you are reading 400 pages a week if you start as an average reader, I doubt you will remain one for long. You could reach a reading level of 600 words per minute. In that case, you could almost read 3×500 page books in a week.

With that much time to study, there is no reason that you should not have a 4.0 GPA.

But you’re asking, “Where is the Money?” Well, that is the difficult, there is no guarantee that you will get scholarship money, but if you can maintain a 4.0 GPA, I bet that you will get some scholarships.

And if you are going to university that costs $5,000 a semester, and you end up getting all of that. $5,000 a semester is a lot more than the $2,800 you would be making working 20 hours a work at $8 an hour, and don’t forget, if you work Uncle Sam takes some of that cash away. If you get a scholarship, you keep all of it!

Blogging (What is a blog? Read the Wikipedia article)

Before I continue I would like you to read this article regarding how much a Blogging can make. According to the survey, about 20% of bloggers make between $100 and $500 dollars a month. Some make even more (if you blog and make more than $500 congratulation!)

Blogging Supplements both your Income and Your Education

You spend 15 hours a week in school, spend 15 hour studying, and eventually your mind is consumed by everything you study. So what is the best thing to blog about? Your Major! I am a history and economics major; therefore, I will blog about history and economics. This will work out perfect for me. Let’s go through the steps with history.

1. I take a course on the American Revolution.
2. I learn a lot from the text I read and from the professor.
3. I blog about what I learn.
4. Because I am blogging and I want to offer something unique to compete with other internet sources, I am greatly inclined to go beyond my basic studies and do more research concerning the American Revolution.
5. My blog now has more information and I attract more views, and increase my profits!
6. Not only do I earn more money by increasing my Blog profit, there is a greater chance of me receiving more scholarships, because I have become well informed regarding the American Revolution and I impress my Professor. (In another words I kick all the other student’s butts.)
7. My Professor gets together with his colleagues and they decide to give me a $1,000 scholarship!

This is of course an ideal scenario; however, it is not that difficult to see why it could easily become reality.

Your blog will also supplement your summer job, because your blog will still be on the internet, still making money. When you get that full-time job during the summer, you will be making $1,000 a month plus $100-$500 from your blog. (Learn to make a blog)

Internships

Internships will be beneficial to you depending on your chosen degree. Many internships do not pay you. Darn! Well, it’s not so bad. Doing an internship will increase your chances of getting a well paying job right after you finish college. An internship could be the difference between a $40,000 a year job and a $60,000 job. Sounds good to me.

If you are going to do an internship, you will need to begin planning early in your college career. Start looking at possible places to intern and research what will make you a better applicant to be accepted into the internship.

If you have to get a job, Get a Job on Campus

If you can get a job on campus, get it. Most Campus jobs will pay you less than other companies will; however, campus jobs usually do not require much work. You probably have seen someone “working” on campus, usually the person is sitting at a computer browsing the internet or studying.

If you can guarantee that as a campus employee, you will be spending most of your time doing nothing. Then it may be perfect for a blogger. You could be being paid to blog, as your blog makes you more money.

Even though blogging while working sounds perfect, I do not suggest you do so. If you are working on campus, you have a great opportunity to get involved and meet all of the University Faculty. In the future, those faculty members can write an excellent letter of recommendation, which will be more beneficial to you later in life than your blog. Also, if the faculty members see you spending all of your time on the computer, while you could and should be working, their letter of recommendation may end
up a letter of rejection.

Things You Should Not Do: Paid Surveys

If you do some internet browse of online jobs, you will probably come across things called paid surveys. Paid surveys are the worst thing you could do! Just take my word for it, I have attempted paid surveys, you will end up making $5 dollars an hour. They are just not worth it.

You have been accepted to a college, and you are about to turn in your scholarship application. You may ask yourself, “Will I see the money?” If your parents are paying for your school, you will not see the benefit of receiving scholarships, because the money will go to your parents and not to you.

Prior to filling out scholarship forms, you may consider sitting down with your parents and discuss a plan that will allow you to get a part of the money.

Your parents may wonder what benefit they will receive if you get a percentage of the scholarship. Their benefit is that they may expect more scholarship money to come in.

Even though money is not the most moral motivation, it is a motivation, and one that works very effectively. If you, as a college student, do not receive any percentage of the scholarships you will lose motivation. If you know that by working hard in college you have a chance of making money then you will be more motivated to become involved and attempt to get more scholarships.

What % Should You Ask For?

If your parents are paying for your college they should get most of the money, because whether you recognize it or not, your parents have put forth a lot of effort to get you through elementary school, high school, and now college.

However, it would be realistic to ask for 10-20% of the scholarships.

Let’s say that you were a good student in high school, and you end up getting half of your college tuition paid for. To go to college for four years will cost you $40,000 dollars ($5,000 a semester). Half of it is paid for by scholarships, so your parents will pay $20,000.

You set up a plan with your parents where you will get 20% of the scholarships, which motivates you to be active and work hard and you end up getting the full $40,000 paid for by scholarships. With your 20% profit from the scholarships, you end up with $8,000 after four years of college. That’s Awesome!

But what about your parents. How did they fare? Do the math. Originally, your parents were going to pay $20,000, but after you got a full ride scholarship and take away your awarded 20% they are left only paying $8,000. They end up paying 60% less than what they would have previously paid if you had not been motivated to receive more scholarship money.

Both parties have something to gain in this situation.

The idea of the student receiving a percentage of the scholarships may not work with every family. 20% may be too much to ask, but it won’t hurt to at least discuss the possibility.

When you sit down with your parents, make sure that both you and your parents are open. Perhaps your parents have hidden their financial information from you, but now is not the time for them to do that. As a college student, you are becoming an adult, and if both you and your parents want to make it through college successfully you must communicate as equals.

You love history. On your homepage is the history of the day and you start by reading it then you end up spending another hour on the internet seeking more knowledge of the past. You just can’t seem to get enough of it.

At the same time, you are attempting to decide what you want to do with your life. Could you be a historian? That would be your dream career. To travel the world, unearth ancient civilization and find truth in the stories of old. Unfortunately, this image of an adventure historian that is portrayed in the movies may not be possible as a career.

Career Options for a Degree in History

• Diplomat

• FBI agents

• Department Heads

• Researchers

• Archivists

• Administrative and Legislative Assistants

• Lawyers

• Management

• Government Agencies

• Writer

• Professor

Career with a B.A. in History

If you get a B.A. degree in history and stop there, your chance of having a career as an historian will not be secure. The field of history is one in which to advance you must continue to with your education beyond a B.A. or B.S. (Click here to find out the difference between a B.A. and a B.S. degree.) However, a degree in History can be very beneficial in other professions, especially if the history degree is in addition to another degree.

For example, I am getting a degree in History and Business Economics. As of know I intend to continue to graduate school; however, if I chose to go directly to the work field, history can greatly benefit me.

History gives us wisdom. Perhaps the phrase is overused but history does repeat itself and by studying history, we are less likely to repeat its flaws and grow from its strengths. History is also very applicable to the ever continuously growing Globalization. If you plan to rise up in any field there is a very likely chance that you will be a need for you to cooperate with people from a different country. By studying history, you will better understand other cultures. And if you are open minded you can discover common ground among others.

Being able to discover similarities with other people is very important in building mutual respect for one another; and therefore, building your professional network.

A Career in History with an Advanced Degree

If you do intend to go to graduate school you will have many options. Just because you get a degree in history as an undergraduate does not mean you have to get a degree in history as a graduate. You can continue your education by studying such things as: architecture, archeology, economics, sociology, etc. When you go to graduate school, you will choose a very specific specialty or geographic location that you are interested in study. You will need to ask yourself “Do I want to study Asian history?” “Or American?” “Do you want to study wars?” “Or economics?” “Politics?” “Or even the arts?”

Depending on what you decide your specialty will be will determine where you will attend graduate school, because every school will have a different program with a specific specialty. I suggest that you visit the American Historical Association’s career advice for graduate students.

My General Career Advice

No matter what you decide to do, finish with a B.A. degree in History or a B.S., what will determine your success is your ambition. Because there is not a high demand for historians it is a very competitive field, and if you want to have your spot in the field then you need to make that spot. Be creative, open your mind to all possibilities, and if you have an idea do not throw it away without at least sitting down and logically thinking about whether or not the idea could be a success.

If you are curious of how to obtain both a degree in history and economics, you can follow me along my journey of obtaining the degrees. I will be getting a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Economics and Public Policy and a Bachelor of Art Degree in History.

Because I am getting two degrees it will be required of me to go beyond the normal amount of credit hours. This will have been my first year in college; however, during high school I took Advanced Placement courses and I received college credit. I am ahead of the game. According to credit hours after my first semester of college I am a Sophomore. If all goes as planned I will be able to graduate with both degrees in a total of four years. Doing so will require taking about seven courses during summer semesters.

What is the difference between a B.S. and a B.A.?

If you are new to the college world you may be asking what is the difference between the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree and the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree.

The differences of the two degrees will vary depending on the University you attend. Both degrees will require some sort of General Education requirements. These will consist of course in all fields and generally will be 100 level courses. In both the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) and the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) the General Education requirements are very similar. The differences at my university consist of the Bachelor of Arts requires an additional science course and also requires four semesters of a foreign language.

What’s the difference between a degree and a major?

The terms degree and major are used interchangeably; however they are different. If I were to say I am getting a degree in History, that is incorrect. The degree is the Associate of Arts (A.A.), Associate of Science (A.S.), B.A., B.S., Masters, or Ph.D. The major would be History. I am actually getting two degrees, which is different than a double major. (An example of a double major would be a B.A. in History and English.)

The biggest difference between a Degree of Science and that of Art is that a degree of Science has more focus on the major and there would be less elective courses.

So for me, my B.A. in History will actually require less history courses than my B.S. in Business Economics will have in business and economics.

How do you go about getting two degrees or a double major?

Getting a double major is really not difficult and it should not keep you in college for a longer duration of time.

The reason being is that every degree requires you two do three things: complete all General Education courses, complete the requirements for the Major, and take an amount of elective courses.

In the case of a double major, lets say History and English, you will complete the General Education courses, you will take History Major courses, and you will take English Major courses. Your English courses will count as electives for your History Major, and your History courses will count as electives for your English Major. Chances are you will not exceed the required amount of total credit hours that everyone must complete.

The Pros and Cons of a Double Major

Pros

• It sounds good. Saying you are getting a Double Major sounds intimidating, and it sounds as if you worked very hard to achieve that goal(and makes your parents proud).
• It gives you two fields that you have mastered. In the future this will give you two specialties when it comes to finding a job.

Cons

• You do not take electives; therefore, you can not take that philosophy class on John Locke, or the biology course on evolution, or the course on Buddhist Monks.
• If you decide to change your major late in the game, your junior year, then you will not have many of your new major requirements completed, because you did not take electives that could have counted toward your new major.

I’ll Keep You Updated

I will continue to update you on my degree progress. If you are getting a similar degree and wish to share with me I would greatly appreciate it. My education is very important to me and the greatest part about being educated is being able to share your knowledge with others. If you doubt that sharing your education can be fun, I bet I can get you to enjoy it.