Graduate School: Will it be worth it?
Nov 22nd
Come senior year, many college students face a big decision: start to search for a job or to continue their education at graduate school. Join the real world or continue stress over assignments and exams and sleepless night. For the class of 2012, the recession and high unemployment rates further complicate the decision.
Several factors influence the decision to enroll in graduate school, ranging from cost, no guaranteed return, and the current economy’s influence on the work force. The cost of graduate school can’t be ignored and uncertainty as to whether there will be a better and higher paying job at the end isn’t clear.
For some students the competition has upped the ante. Franca Godenzi, a junior studying at Boston College said, “There is a much greater pressure to go to graduate school due to credential inflation in our society. Many years ago a high school education was sufficient and then a Bachelors degree, and now it’s a Masters or a PhD. Considering Read the rest of this entry »
Footing the Bill- College Loan Debt Fuels OWS
Nov 22nd
When Robert Dorman first enrolled in Rutgers University, he didn’t expect that ten years later he would still be paying back his student loans.
Pacing the sidewalks of Zuccotti Park as part of the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests, Dorman, 28, has one demand scrawled on his simple cardboard sign: “dissolve all student debt.”
“People are always saying we don’t have a single demand, well here it is,” said Dorman, who failed to find a job after receiving his environmental engineering major from Rutgers and works instead as a Fedex delivery man to help pay back $30,000 in student loans. “The system is structured so that you enter the workforce already a slave to debt.”
With record tuitions and a fluctuating economy, the risk of investing thousands of dollars into a college education for a guaranteed payoff is greater than ever. Read the rest of this entry »
The Choice to Slack or Act: Do Online Petitions Count As ‘Real’ Activism?
Nov 22nd
Illustration from The Express Tribune
Type ‘petition’ into Facebook’s search bar and what comes up is a slew of results: pages, groups, apps, all having to do with social activism. There are Facebook petitions to raise awareness of animal cruelty and petitions for women’s rights—petitions that fight to keep ABC soap operas on the air and petitions against Facebook petitions.
The creation of websites like Change.org, that specialize in organizing petitions on the web, are a sign of the popularity of petition-making that reaches outside of the realm of Facebook. With over 5 million members, Change.org is the biggest and most influential petition-promoting site on the web. Boasting a team of over 98 organizers, campaign directors, software engineers and strategists, Change.org calls itself an ‘organizing platform’ for citizen activists.
Speech Pathologist Finds Future in Fashion
Nov 22nd
Strutting out of her dorm room, NYU senior Amanda Ferrara is never without a pair of heels whether she is off to class or to her midtown office at Amerimade Coat. She works as a general assistant for her family-owned coat manufacturing company, which specializes in fashions for clients like New York & Company, Express, and Kmart. Upon graduation, Ferrara plans on eventually becoming CEO of her family’s business.
When the 21-year-old is not sporting Amerimade Coat’s latest fashions — from leopard print trenches to Chanel inspired glitter tweed blazers — she is dealing with the repercussions of an impulse decision in selecting a college major. She struggles to find the time and motivation to finish a degree in a subject she has lost interest in long ago, speech pathology.
So what is the future CEO of a fashion coat company doing studying neuroanatomy and physiology of communication? Read the rest of this entry »
Photo Intern to Full-Time Employment
Nov 22nd
Christine Waters, 21, is a senior at NYU in the Gallatin School of Individualized Study
While most college seniors are stressing about getting a job by graduation, Christine Waters is enjoying the perks of job security, with a full-time job she loves. Waters, a part-time senior in the Gallatin School of Individualized Study works Monday to Friday from 9 to 5:30, and earns a salary that pays for her apartment in midtown.
The tall and thin blonde has been working at Quadriga, a Paris-based agency that represents fashion photographers, since the spring of 2010. She started off as an intern and she is now working as a full-time Junior Agent at the agency. Quadriga opened up N.Y. headquarters in April 2010, and Waters began working for them in May 2010.
Getting the Job
Karine, [the owner of Quadriga], sent an email out over the NYU fashion listserv. She got about 100 responses and she barely even had time to read all of the resumes. I think [Karine] liked my previous work experience and interest in fashion, which is why I was chosen. Read the rest of this entry »
Jamie Weitzen: An Exception to Today’s Unemployment
Nov 22nd
When Jamie Weitzen, 22, graduated from Wesleyan University with a psychology degree last spring, she had her mind set on starting her career in New York City. Weitzen unlike the majority of recent college graduates, had a job offer, at Aflac insurance company. However after 3 months, she realized that not only wasn’t Aflac a good match, but a commission-based income selling insurance wasn’t going to earn her a enough to live on in the Big Apple. She decided to venture elsewhere. After much stress, chaos, and uncertainty Jamie took a chance with a paid internship at bitly, Inc., a URL shortening service, with a guaranteed full-time position in the near future.
Aflac: I can’t lie and say that I wasn’t overjoyed when I found a job right after graduating, and I really think that it’s a great company and I learned a lot of valuable assets. It strengthened my interpersonal skills and I don’t regret working there for the time that I did. For a first job’s income to be solely commission based was not the best scenario for me. It was discouraging and hard to motivate myself to follow through with tasks without seeing results immediately. Selling insurance isn’t easy itself, but add a struggling economy and that didn’t make it any easier. I wasn’t positive that I would leave, but when I was offered my position at bitly I knew it was the right decision.
bitly, Inc.: As an account manager at bitly, I have already taken greater responsibility than I had at Aflac. I couldn’t be happier with my decision. I think that this is the place for me to really excel in a way that I want to with a job and it also allows me to continue living in the city. At first I was nervous about the title of a paid internship, but I already know that a full Read the rest of this entry »
From Working “On The House” To Inside The Fashion House
Nov 22nd
Just last summer, Corey Moran spent his days slogging as an unpaid fashion sales intern in Manhattan and his nights catching winks on a shabby sofa in his brother’s New Jersey apartment. Two years ago, the Buffalo native could be found cramming for entrepreneurship and marketing exams at Northeastern University and assisting, without pay, the behind-the-scenes operations at a trendy Boston boutique. Today, the 24-year-old boasts a more debonair lifestyle. As one of two North American corporate wholesale managers for Acne, a Swedish fashion house famous for its denim, Moran has worked exclusively with big-name clients like Bergdorf Goodman, travelled internationally, and collected his fair share of free skinny jeans. With a little bit of elbow grease, some staunchness and a willingness to work gratis, Moran snared himself a job that any true fashionisto would likely kill for. No murder necessary, Moran’s offbeat resume speaks for itself.
Can a Relationship Survive Facebook?
Nov 22nd
http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2011/02/the_facebook_break_up_notifier.html
Too much information killed college student Katie Ulrich’s relationship. The NYU junior began to suspect her romance was on rocky ground when she and the new flame were not exactly simpatico: She dressed up for dates while he sported sweats; they’d make plans for a day’s outing to Coney Island and he changed his mind just before boarding the train.
Ulrich was willing to let the faux pas slip until an indie concert they planned to attend together. “He called to say he was not feeling well enough to go,” Ulrich said. “I decided not to go either, even though I already bought my ticket.”
That night when Ulrich checked her Facebook newsfeed, she saw her “sick” date’s status: He was going to the concert with a number of tagged friends. After that, “I was done seeing him,” Ulrich said.
Many people have experienced Facebook postings have ending a blossoming relationship. Through the constant status updates, location check-ins, and photo postings, Facebook puts a relationship in hyper speed.
With Facebook, the need for introductory conversations is eliminated. One can find all the information they need simply by friending a person and viewing the profile. A profile is a goldmine listing the entire history of a person’s life through pictures, postings, and status updates. The information overload creates problems for dating — no longer do people learn about each other through interpersonal relations, all it takes is some snooping on their Facebook profile. Read the rest of this entry »
If There’s a Wilk, There’s a Way
Nov 22nd
Keri Wilk holds up his underwater camera
As a child growing up in Canada, Keri Wilk had a rather unconventional pastime: underwater photography. The son of a rocket scientist and mechanical engineer, Wilk spent his childhood vacations not in blustery Toronto, but hopping around Caribbean Islands with his family to go SCUBA diving, an activity he began before he could even swim.
Now at age 26, Wilk has accumulated more underwater photography awards and acclaim than most divers will ever earn in a lifetime, with photos in publications like National Geographic and in the Smithsonian Museum. Although still based in his childhood home in Toronto, Wilk spends much of the year traversing the globe in search for the rarest of ocean jewels to photograph.
Above water, Wilk is a stern figure with a deep voice, spouting facts about the physics of light underwater. Under the waves however, he is far more relaxed—donning board shorts while hunting through mountains of tropical coral reefs for some for some unnamed, infinitesimal fish. He knows he has to shoot quickly: the fish might be gone in the “click” of a shutter.
9/11 Floating Lanterns To Heal The Heart
Nov 8th
Buddhist monks prepare to release signed lanterns onto the Hudson River on September 11, 2011.
A group of Buddhist monks, Sikhs, reverends and Imams congregated on the lawn next to the West Side High Way on September 11, 2011 for the World Trade Center Memorial of the Floating Lanterns. The event commemorated the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001 and the 6-month anniversary of 3/11/11, the date of the earthquake/tsunami that devastated Japan this past year.
Started in 2002 by Rev. TK Nakagaki of the Buddhist Council of New York, the Lantern Ceremony is taken from a Japanese tradition in which paper lanterns are made, lit and left to float in a river to celebrate the lives of those who have passed away. The festival was made to represent community and respect for diversity in times of mourning. Hosted by representatives from seven different faiths and religions, the event featured performances by Japanese and American musicians, food donated by United Sikhs of New York, and moments of prayer and blessing.