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getting into the study for another year

#study blog #studying #studyblr

howigotthrunursingschool

I’m a visual learner! This is a good one!

appblrgirl

Cliches to avoid for essays

The Prospect

1. The Immigrant Essay

Going back over the essays I received during the college essay extravaganza, 50% of the Common App essays I read were about students and their families moving to the US and learning to adjust. Now, I’m not saying that your familial struggles aren’t intense and worthy of talking about; after all, many students wrote about the loneliness they felt being the only new kid in school or having to adjust to American customs, and those are all absolutely valid conversations.

However, if you put all of these “moving to America” stories in a pile and read them one after another, they start to bleed together. The story lines and characters all sound the same. And for you, that means less of a chance to stand out and more of a chance of being labeled “one of those immigrant kids”. Is it fair? Absolutely not. Is that the way it is? Unfortunately, yes.

2. The “They Taught Me More Than I Taught Them” Essay

Please for the love of all that is admissions don’t write about the time you went on a service trip to a third-world country and learned from the locals. Not only does it typically come across as condescending and privileged (since most high school students are not aware of how to talk about cultures in politically correct terms), but it’s also so overdone and bland.

3. The “Ski Slope” Essay

When many students answer the quintessential “talk about a time you overcame an obstacle” prompt, they tend to write something that I call the “ski slope” essay. In this scenario, the author was given a physical challenge (like a ski slope, mountain, scary water slide ride, etc.) and was eventually convinced overcome it. Again, it’s an essay that I’ve seen over and over (and over) again, and there’s no real way to write these essays well. They usually involve a lot of cliche adjectives and some other person convincing the writer to go down the slope. Inspiring? Not at all.

Look at it this way: Thousands of people learn how to ski every year; it’s boring and totally not unique. If you’re going to write about an obstacle, it needs to be an obstacle that only 0.00005% of the world has overcome. Otherwise, you’re just like everybody else.

4. The “Look at How Super Deep I Am” Essay

Kids, don’t try to go on a philosophical rant in your college essays. Not only do you typically sound like a pretentious, self-important twerp pulling stuff out of your butt (and admissions officers know it), but these tirades also tell the reader absolutely nothing about you as as potential member of a college. Don’t get meta. If you want to talk about all the great deep thoughts inside your head, start a blog.

5. The All-Dialogue Essay

Note: Spending half of your 650 words going through a conversation you had with your sister is a complete snore and a total waste of time and space. Cut our dialogue unless it’s funny or actually moves the story along. Something like this is just really dull fluff:

“Sister,”I said to her.

“Yes?” she said back.

She looked at me with angst. “What?” she asked again.

Three lines in and you’re bored already, right?

6. The Way-Too-Extended Metaphor Essay

What do dumplings, crayons, and hoop earrings have in common? They’re all inanimate objects that have been used as extended metaphors in college essays, and all of those essays were not good.

Pulling off the extended metaphor essay is hard, and as you’ve learned by now, it’s best to go into essay writing with the mentality that you are the rule, not the exception. So stop trying to compare your life to a squashed kumquat you saw on the side of the road and find a different topic.

7. The “Lesson about Failure Where You Didn’t Really Fail” Essay

Remember that an admissions essay is still a story, and the best heroes and heroines have legitimate pitfalls. If your biggest failure is that you had a hangnail but you eventually took care of it, not only do you look shallow, but you also look dull. Failures need to be actual heart-stopping, “OMG, NOOO!” failures. Either commit to going all the way or avoid writing this type of essay altogether.

8. The Bat Mitzvah Essay

When the Common App prompt asks for something that marked your transition into adulthood, stay away from cultural or religious events that actually mark adulthood, like a bar/bat mitzvah or a confirmation ceremony or something. The best essays about transitions into adulthood deal with unforeseen shifts, not obvious ones (for example, my friend wrote about the different types of boxers he bought throughout high school. Shift to adulthood? Yes. Totally freaking clever? Heck yeah).

9. The Straight Up Cliche Essay

There are many topics that are way overdone besides the ones listed above. Some examples of what I mean:

The “What I learned at this academic conference/camp/event” essay

The “What my mom/dad/family taught me” essay

The “How I felt about moving to a whole new place or being in a new environment” essay

The “How I learned to fit in” essay

The “Death of person x” essay

The “How my parents’ divorce changed me” essay

The “Here’s a very vague essay about my family’s culture” essay

Again, these are just a few of the many examples of cliche essays.

studyingwithclass

FRIENDLY REMINDERS!

Take 15 minute breaks when your brain can’t function any longer or after some time. Play Temple Run, nap, shower, stretch, fix yourself a snack, use the internet, etc. But don’t forget to set the timer.

Don’t attempt to pull all nighters. You don’t want to fall asleep on the commute to school - you might be mugged. You also don’t want to fall asleep during class - you will be humiliated and you will fall behind.

Be on time. As for me, my classes start at 3pm, Mondays to Saturdays. I leave my house at 12pm because it is a two and a half hour commute at the most. I could always stay at the library to squeeze in some studying time if I arrive in uni early.

Don’t wear eyeliner or mascara or any make up that would get smudged especially if you are a careless person who tends to rub eyes when flustered. You don’t wanna waste time in reapplying your make up.

Don’t do the 3Ds: doodling, dozing off, daydreaming.

Recite, report, volunteer for extra credit, ask questions.

Have one study buddy who doesn’t mind having company. You could work quietly but side by side or you could study together while interacting. Have a rendezvous point. Also set your studying sessions on a specific time.

Get some of your homework done on vacant times.

Multitask if possible. So you can get more done.

Anticipate surprise quizzes, exams, recitations. So study a lot. Reread all your notes. Read everything. READ!

Learn how to make coffee. Stock up on snacks and/or candies.

Get an internship as soon as possible. It will be very impressive.

Make your syllabus your rule book. Follow everything on it.

Press save a lot. Back up all your files.

Take all deadlines seriously. It’s better if you finish your assignment a week or two before the deadline.

Take good care of yourself.

positive-procrastination-b-blog1

My favourite thing to draw in human biology is the heart. It’s great way to visualise how it works. (I also get to use loads of colours which is awesome).

leightaylorwrites

I just tweeted it and I figure I should also post it here.

This website literally GRADES YOUR ESSAYS. You can choose your grade level, if you’re using American or British english, what type of paper it is (essay, short story, biography…), and it even checks for plagiarism. THEN once it’s grading your essay, it shows you grammatical errors, suggestions for better sentence structure, and a lot of other things. Reblog to save a life.

quotesfromgreys

Have some fire. Be unstoppable. Be a force of nature. Be better than anyone here, and don’t give a damn what anyone thinks. There are no teams here, no buddies. You’re on your own. Be on your own.

Cristina Yang (via studyright)

miewrites

Haven’t been the most productive today so i’m going to have an early night (tip: if you’re tired and force yourself to study, a 100% you will learn nothing) and wake up early to get a head start.

legallychic

Every time I journal she just appears and wants attention 😻✒️📖

raisedbyascorpio

https://www.facebook.com/LifeBeginsAtConception

fight-for-equality

Actually you’re not considered dead when your heart stops beating. This is why many medical professionals still try to revive those whose hearts have stopped. Because medicine and science has found that death is not considered when your heart as stopped, but once all brain activity has ceased. Which is why they usually have around six minutes before there is no chance to revive. Because when the heart has stopped, your brain cells are deprived of oxygen and start to die.

Fetuses do not have regular brain activity until 25 weeks. At this point in gestation the only time an abortion would be performed is out of medical necessity to save the mother’s life, or to spare the fetus from a short and painful life. These only make up 1% of all abortions. And therefore by this argument, but with the knowledge of what is actually classified as death, a fetus isn’t ‘alive’ until roughly 25 weeks. Far after 99% of abortions are performed.

Please do actual research before trying to use emotional manipulative photos of babies that are born and NOT fetusesbefore parading it out and believing it as fact. Because you are only seriously misinforming yourself, and many others and furthering contributing to a movement that tries to control women’s bodies, when what they do with it does not affect you.

If you are so adamant about helping lives, try doing things for those who are in need and are actually sentient beings. Volunteer at a soup kitchen, donate to an organization that helps feed hungry children, support adoption of older children who are in foster care and are more likely to age out. But this? This does nothing.

raspstudying

11.4.2015 - Here are some more notes with the same style as the earlier one! This time about the heart and circulation system. :) Happyhappy weekend for everyone!

rissineps

Wow..

miss-evening

A quick tip for writers out there, who use Microsoft Words:

Change the background colour of the pages to a mint green shade.

It is said that green is a calming colour, however, the main reason why I like this, is because I can write for a much longer period of time now, as a white background I used before made my eyes dry and exhausted after just a few hours of working.

It is basically much more soft and careful to the eyes. I can’t precisely explain why that is. I think it’s that by making a pinch softer contrast of the text and the background, your eyes does not get exposed to as much light.

Just make sure to not make the background too dark, or else your eyes will get exhausted do to over-fixating the lack of contrast between text and background.

And maybe you find a nice pastel/light background shade that fits you; give it a try.

Different things work out and fits for different people. And I just felt like sharing this.

Here’s the shade numbers I used to get my preferred colour:

Thanks for reading.

tejoxys

DUDE

You just solved a very real problem for me! Thanks!

gretchensinister

For those who might not know where to find this: It’s in the Page Layout tab.

I had no idea this was possible before today!

roobickscube

Interupted my notes 😼

study-well

STUDYBLR COMMUNITY MAP (LINK HERE)

Finally! You should be able to use this to find studyblrs in your local area. I will continue to update it as people request to be added so just because there’s no one in your area at the moment doesn’t mean it will stay that way.

I’ve been having one or two issues with markers moving around so if you notice that your marker is in the wrong place or says something incorrect let me know and I can update it (for some reason it sometimes copies information from the previous person).

Please let me know if the link works and what you think of the map.

Also please reblog to spread the word of this map. If people want to be added to the map, please check this post and send me an ask with the appropriate details.

There is also a link in the sidebar of my blog. I think that’s it! Enjoy the map!