Added Benefits.

Planet College emphasizes the benefits of finishing your degree and regularly publishes information about these benefits. It has been widely acknowledged for some time that graduates, workers with degrees, earn more than those without.  That is a benefit a real substantial benefit. There are other additional benefits and one Planet College would like to point out is health care costs.

Health Care and its costs have been widely discussed recently. Opinions, formulas and predications about health care and its cost have now become integral parts of most political campaigns. Traditionally, for college students the cost of health care has not been high on their list of interests. Too many other more immediate cost compete for college students few dollars.

Soon after graduation, however, most graduates find that health care costs become a factor in their finances. Unless a student is still on their parents health insurance he or she begins shopping for some kind of health care.  This is where possessing a diploma begins to become financially useful. Surveys have shown that college graduates pay less over all over time for health insurance.

That is it. That is a benefit. Graduates pay less for health care insurance than those with out a diploma.
Over time, your money, your earnings, you save some of that money with a college degree.

That is a plus. Graduate. You'll earn more. You'll save more.

Rootie-Toot Tutors

The entrepreneurial spirit is actively engaging many, many students on Planet College. The urge to make something of your own in your own way is  is irresistible. One student, Devon, who did so tells his story here.

During my last year, I was a business major, there was a contest for Entrepreneurial proposals. It had a cash prize and was only open to business majors. I decided to enter but I knew I needed a partner to make it work. I knew Marlene from Student Government. We were on the events council together and put on some programs that went well. A couple of slams and some djs. I liked working with Mar, she could get things done but she's totally chill. When the entrepreneur competition came up I asked her if she wanted to partner. She's an ed major but only one person had to be in the business department to enter. We put together our proposal, it was for a tutoring company, and we entered. The winners were announced and we did not even place. A lot of people liked our idea, though, so we decided to do it anyway.

Our plan was a tutoring company that focused on local families. We would higher tutors from school and assign them to individual students we had found as clients for our business. We made up a catchy name for our business and distributed flyers at locals schools and churches for parent's who wanted their child tutored by a college student. 

Because Mar is an Ed major she knew a lot about lesson planning and student assessment. She is also organized to the max so she took the scheduling and payroll and general administration stuff. I've always been a good talker and sales comes naturally to me so I met the prospective clients and if it looked like a fit signed them up.  Our focus was younger students who were not functioning at grade level. Mar would figure out what the student needed and I recruited the tutor from the students who applied.

Our plan worked OK for a while but after about a year business fell off seriously so we decided to fold it up. I don't think I'd do it again but I sure learned a lot. First of all, it is a lot harder to get someone else to work than it is to do it your self.  We had a lot of problems with tutors who did not show up. I'd have to call around and find some body real fast or else I had to do it myself.  There was a lot more to it than we thought.

Mar and I are still friends but we won't be working together on anything.  That's another thing we learned; real world business is a lot different than planning school functions.

That is the adventure of one entrepreneur on Planet College.

Cold Calling For Spring.

This link from a Planet College post a while back might be some small consolation if you are too broke to engage in the usual festivities this coming break.

Another take on Spring Break can be found here.

The explanation is part of a longer interview with a screenwriter who currently is enjoying some success.  That link has  more detailed exposition about how, as a student, the writer spent one spring break calling for possible internships opportunities.

From his calls he got an interview, went in and did get an opportunity.

From that opportunity he has gone on and is now, several years since,  enjoying some success and some recognition.

There was definitely some preparation and possibly a bit of luck in that the interviewer and the writer had similar interests. Clearly, none of this would have happened, had this student not used this 'opportunity' - the opportunity presented by the fact that he was too broke to go anywhere - to cold call to see what he could find.

"Cold calling', a term derived from direct sales, is often daunting for anyone, even experienced sales professionals.  The 'cold' in cold calling comes from the fact that the caller is unknown to the potential customer, i.e. no introduction, no warm-up.  Still, often, this is the only method available to contact prospects and experienced canvassers will use it in spite of the potentially 'chilly' reception.

Examples such as these, where 'cold' calling has paid off for the cold caller, are typical of the kind of
self-help examples which are used to encourage people to move forward in their careers.  This entry is no exception.  The combination of preparation and luck which resulted in opportunity for this student are not the usual results of cold calling.  But, what would have happened if he had not tried?

Revenge Of The Interns

Due to the frequency of internships occurring in the potential work life of students on Planet College this site has occasionally posted explanations and updates about this subject.  The original post here generally explains internships and your possible position with a company.  Subsequently Planet College posted an update here. 

Since those posts at least one lawsuit has been filed by former interns. Reviewing the details of the complaint, which has been filed as a class action lawsuit, may clarify for you when such 'internships' become intolerable.

 Recent and ongoing difficulties for students and even graduates with degrees to obtain any employment at all in their particular fields, fashion and media come immediately come to mind*,  have led many desperate job seekers to accept "internships' in their field.  Internship, Planet College emphasizes DOES NOT MEAN  unpaid grunt.  If you are considering or are already in such a position now, available here are the Federal Governments guidelines for internships.  Please peruse them promptly.

*The lawsuit referenced above involves over a hundred workers for a film production company on a film which grossed a very large sum of money, over a hundred million dollars, internationally and received numerous awards including an Oscar for the leading lady.

Make That Speech

A survey conducted a while back revealed that many people are more afraid of public speaking, getting up and making a speech in front of a group, than they are of death.  This led to a television comedian observing that in the case of a funeral where at times friends or relatives of the deceased are asked to speak very often the potential speaker would prefer to be in the casket rather than alongside of it.

     By now you no doubt have observed that Planet College offers many opportunities for your to speak, some in the relaxed casual atmosphere that friends offer, others in the formal and demanding setting that classroom work calls for.  In particular your curriculum, the courses you are required to complete for your degree, probably contains at least one Speech requirement.  Often to fulfill this requirement there are a few options; Public Speaking, Oral Interp, Argumentation and Debate, may be among them. Additionally some campuses allow students to complete a theater class such as Introduction to Acting to complete this requirement.

     Whatever options are available to some students none of them seem anything less than terrifying. Given the above observation about the survey this is understandable.  Still if some speaking course is required on your campus ultimately avoidance is not an option. Sooner or later, and Planet College definitely suggests sooner, you must enroll in and complete with a passing grade some such course.

     If, up until now, you have avoided this right now is a good time to decide how you will accomplish this requirement.  All accomplishments benefit from at least some planning.  And this plan can benefit for a little basic research.  First thing to do is survey the options which are available to fulfill your speech requirement.  If the catalog or class schedule is not helpful make an appointment with the Advising in your department or on your campus to learn first hand what courses will suffice.  After you have a general idea of the classes which will fulfill this requirement, think carefully and decide which one presents the best opportunity for you to complete.  When you have decided which course you will take you probably by now know the rest. Find the schedule of classes for next term and register and attend.

Sounds simple, of course, but these basic steps will help you accomplish this, at least for you, difficult, difficult meaning scary, requirement.  By now you know that, finally, the only way to do it is to do it. Planet College regularly reminds average students that universities and colleges practically never waive basic required courses. Speech's inclusion into your curriculum is intended to prepare you for the many, many times you will be required to speak. And you will, in the future, very often.

So, here goes, again, survey, enroll, attend, do the assignments, make the speeches and pass that speech class.

Just One More Thing About A Late Add

Several terms back Kai changed majors from History to Psychology.  On Kai's campus all Psych majors are required to complete an Introduction To Statistics course.  At the beginning of his first term in his new major Kai found an open Statistics class that fit his schedule.  Although his campus requires all Statistics students to have completed College Algebra as a pre-requisite before enrolling, a pre-req which Kai had not met, Kai convinced the instructor to add him anyway.  The instructor did so and Kai passed the course. Shortly before Kai's intended graduation he receive a notice from the registrar's office that he needed to complete a College Algebra course before he could graduate.  When Kai inquired at the registrar's office he learned that even though he had completed the required Statistics course without having passed College Algebra his university still required him to complete that pre-req. These were the school's requirements and Kai could not be exempted from them. Kai found a summer College Algebra course at a local community college, walked through his scheduled graduation, and completed the course. Upon receiving notice of Kai's grade from the community college his university posted his degree, released his transcript and issued his diploma.

Important point. The daily, weekly and annual swarm of activities and requirements on Planet College demand your attention. Being permitted to add for a course for which you have not completed the necessary pre-requisites is a courtesy from the instructor and the supervising department.  This courtesy does not automatically exempt you from any necessary pre-requisites for this course which are required by your university.

Be aware of this. Don't expect to be exempted from pre-reqs just because you completed the course without taking them first. At some time after completing the course you added you will have to complete the required pre-requisites.  That is the way it is on Planet College.

Late Adds Recommended Best Practices.

Late adds happen especially if a course you need for your major opens up unexpectedly.

 On some classes students can add as late as three weeks into the term.  Some even later.  When a late add happens and you can join a course already in progress you probably have come catching up to do

If you have added as late as that then simply  put you have three weeks of course work to catch up on. Just as if you had missed three weeks later during the term.

This calls for a little ingenuity and resourcefulness on your part. You will have to survey the course outline to determine which assignments you need to accomplish in order to get caught up.  You also need to be sure to down load all of the other course materials you will need for the term. If there are books required get them.

If you know some one who is taking the same course or even in the same class ask them what you need to get caught up on.

Finally, as soon as possible speak with the instructor.  Tell her you have added late and you are working hard to get caught up. While you are speaking with her tell her you want to do as well as you can in her class.  If she replies with specific hints be sure and remember them, maybe even write them down and follow up on what she suggests.

Late adds can be a help in your way back to Earth from Planet College. Just be sure and follow through.