College Life

Posts about college life, students, professors, and grades.

Dress for the Job You Want, not the Job you Have

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

The title of this blog posting is the best advice I ever got when entering the work force. Sure, there are times when you can’t, such as when you are forced to wear a uniform (or a “costume,” as they told us at WDW), but I have followed my own advice for 12 1/2 years.

When I was teaching at a small community college, I always wore a suit jacket and skirt or dress pants. My colleagues frequently attired themselves in shorts, T-shirts, and sneakers. I now teach for a major university, while they are still employed at the community college. I always dressed up; this lead to my not having any behavior problems with my students, in comparison to my co-workers, who did. I called my students “ladies” and “gentlemen” and expected them to behave that way. They did.

So, how do you get ready for that all-important first job after college? Buy quality clothing that will last for years (instead of the cheap stuff that will wear out quickly). It’s better to own two really good, high-quality blazers (black and navy, never brown) and some mix and match pants or skirts with quality shirts. You may not have a very big wardrobe, but it should be good quality.

For jewelry, keep it simple. A nice watch, maybe a bracelet (if you are female), tasteful stud earrings (save your glitz for after-hours), and a nice necklace and pair of leather shoes (shine them). Do not go fancy, unless you are in the clothing industry.

Fingernails should be tastefully polished, if you are a nail polish person. (Sorry folks- this is not the time to have all of the Dwarfs painted on your nails, with Snow White on your thumbs!) Remember, you may be taking an entry-level job, but that doesn’t mean you want to stay there!

Study and learn from everyone and keep yourself looking like you belong in the board room, instead of the food court.

Do you have any specific questions about dressing for the job you want? If so, just post a comment and I will answer.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Organizing Your School Work so You Don’t have to Work on Holidays

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Every once in a while, students will complain that I have given them an assignment due date on a major holiday. You’re right, that stinks. But there is a very simple answer to the problem: work ahead.

Now, don’t work so far ahead that your instructor hasn’t had time to give you complete instructions, but try to stay a couple of days ahead of the game so that you aren’t working through Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving Day, or the 4th of July.

By being a bit more organized, you can get the task done far enough ahead to be able to enjoy your family and friends without the looming deadline. Do this by working backwards. What is the deadline that you would have to meet in order to be comfortably ahead of the curve? When would you have to be finished writing? When would your research need to be complete? When must you decide what to write on?

Some students get all in a tizzy over things I can’t control. The school calendar is one of those things. I didn’t make it up and sometimes I don’t have control over the syllabus. But, with a little planning ahead, you can enjoy the Easter egg hunt or participate in Black Friday.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Tornado Warnings are Like Approaching Deadlines You’ve Tried to Ignore

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Today, we are having severe weather. Tornado warnings, flash flood warnings, and thunderstorms abound. Amazingly enough, they are very similar to approaching deadlines that you have tried to ignore.

How so? Perhaps you have kept up with most of your assignments. Oh, maybe you missed a few exact dates here and there, but you’ve been almost on time for everything. You have sobbed out a story for the professor and he or she might have accepted it. But the end of the term is here and what are you going to do?

You’ve put off and delayed beginning work on that really huge end-of-term project, telling yourself that you work better under pressure. Really? I doubt that. You work faster under pressure, to be sure, except when you have a massive brain freeze. It’s like drinking a Slurpee too fast or chugging a massive smoothie without regard for the consequences.

The word “procrastination” is spelled “put-it-off,” for those who are deadline-disabled. And now, my friend, you are out of time. Your professor has deadlines, as well. He or she must get final grades posted by a certain date or take a hit on future classes. You see, our bosses take the deadlines they give us seriously and our failure to post grades can result in our not being given classes for the next term. While you may not care, we certainly do. So does our mortgage banker!

So, what can you do? Begin work immediately. Everything that you normally do for fun is now on hold. You must finish up or take a very bad grade (some of my final projects are worth three letter grades- you can’t afford to ignore them in my classes!). You will not be going to the movies or out for coffee or to your Zumba classes or anything else that might distract from the tasks at hand.

You might feel like you are in the midst of a tornado…maybe you are, for now. Next time, plan early, plan well, and work ahead, not behind.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Me go to class? Why?

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Wisdom isn’t just for owls. It’s for you and me. Why go to college if you aren’t going to go? Good question.

Here we are, almost at the end of my courses for this term. There are some students who show up for class so infrequently that I have forgotten what they look like. Really. I asked one gal for an introduction recently because I didn’t know who she was.

So, what happens if you don’t show up? You flunk, most likely. You miss all of the announcements, you don’t hear about deadline changes, and (if you are on a team) you are a no-load. Do you really want that reputation? I think not.

Good luck trying to get a letter of recommendation from me to get a job or go to graduate school. I was on a team once where, when we wrote a 42-page paper, one of our teammates showed up to say “good job, guys” (I’m not a guy) and “you spelled my name wrong. It’s Steven with a “v” instead of a “ph.” Right, Steven. A few weeks later, he asked me for a letter of recommendation for a job. After i picked my jaw up off of the floor, I told him “no.” Surprise, surprise.

So, the long and the short of it is this: Show up, study up, and finish up. Be wise, not foolish.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Getting Home from the Airport Successfully

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Traveling has become a recent occurrence in my life ever since my mother died. About once a month, I go from Point A to Point B to visit my elderly father.

One thing I learned pretty quickly was that it is very easy to lose your car in a 9-story parking garage at the airport. Covered parking is only one of the options available at the airport, so how do you know where you left your car when you get back? I have run into folks who were clueless, telling me, “Oh, I left my car in the garage. Won’t the bus take me back to it?”

Well, yes, in a manner of speaking. The bus, if you hop on the right one, will take you to the garage. Keep in mind that there are a boatload of parking options at larger airports, so which bus will you get on? Daily? Long term A? Long term B? Amtrak? Metro? You get the idea.

Let’s say you get on the right bus. Now, at which stop do you get off? With the Daily Parking Garage, you have four more choices. Then you have to decide which floor to go to. There are nine options with this decision.

“Whoa,” you might say. “Slow down here.”

Let’s work through this backwards, to figure out how to find your vehicle. You arrive at the airport and decide on the Daily garage. Superb. If this is the first time you parked there, write it down. Next, pull into the parking space, making note of which floor, which aisle, and which space you are in. For example, 7H 42. Write it down and put the piece of paper somewhere you can find it easily. Do not leave it in your car. Do, on the other hand, leave your parking ticket in the car (see the next paragraph).

Make sure you put enough cash in your car, along with the parking lot entrance ticket, to pay for your parking expenses when you get back. You may return from your trip penniless. (My record is 25 cents.) That way, you can get your car out of hock without having to go to a strange ATM with your suitcases in tow.

Do not lose the parking ticket or you will have to fill out forms galore and prove when you took off and landed, in order to get out of the garage. I will be the poor, in-a-hurry slob behind you in the cash payment line who has to wait for you to fill out the form, pay through the nose for your parking, and chat with the employee about how unfair it is….I’ve been behind plenty of those folks and had some unkind thoughts about them during the ten minutes it took them to pay their way out of the garage. Help me keep my Baptist, folks. Don’t lose that ticket!

So, you are on the right bus. Take a minute and locate your piece of paper that has your floor, aisle, and parking space written on it. Get off the bus when you get to the garage, take all of your baggage (and small children) with you, take the elevator to the right floor, and there’s your space!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

The Fast Track to New Glasses

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Have you ever gone to get new glasses and found the process long, complicated, and boring? I have a fast way to get glasses that will look great and will be everything you’d hoped for.

First, make sure your hair and makeup are exactly how you usually wear them. You want to give the salesperson your usual look, not something you just tried for the first time this morning.

Second, go to an eye glasses shop that you trust (this is key).
Do not pick up any glasses and do not go into the shop with any preconceived ideas of what you want. You may be surprised, like the ladies sometimes are on “Say Yes to the Dress.” (They pick a dress they never thought they’d want but their consultant or Randy begged them to “just try it.” The professionals know what they’re doing.)

Ask for an experienced eye glasses salesperson and ask, “How long have you been selling glasses here?” Run for the hills if the person has only been there since breakfast (or ask for someone else), but stick around if he or she says it’s been a few years. [The idea here is that you want someone who knows the stock.]

The next question to ask is, “You see the shape and size of my face. This is how I always wear my hair. Which glasses do you think will look the best on me?” And then shut your mouth. Wait silently for the individual to look you over. Answer any questions he or she has but don’t monopolize the conversation. You are not there to chat: you are there to buy the best glasses for your face.

Take the pair of glasses the person offers and ask if these are the best for you, in his or her humble opinion. Try them on. If they look good, buy them.

I did this the last time I got new glasses and I get more compliments with this pair of glasses than I have ever gotten before. The gal knew her stock, knew her faces, and knew her business.

When we sat down to go over the options, there was only about $50 difference between all the bells and whistles for those glasses and the cheapest version I could buy. Since I plan on having the glasses for five years or so, that worked out to be ten dollars a year or less than one dollar per month. I got all the bells and whistles.

This entire transaction took about fifteen minutes, including placing the order and paying. I could see the shock on the saleswoman’s face, but I love the glasses she knew would be best for me and have enjoyed them immensely. Not bad for about fifteen minutes of my time.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

When Should You Email the Professor?

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

I was online with my classes this afternoon, which is completely normal when my online classes are in session. It is my goal to be there every day. It is even more important, in my mind, to show up right before a deadline when I have new students in my classes, which was the case today.

Even when an assignment isn’t worth much, new students are especially worried about messing up. That’s understandable. Emailing the professor is a great way to get your questions answered about an assignment. I would, however, highly recommend that you not wait until the day before an assignment is due to start asking questions. Waiting until the day of is pure insanity.

Instead, try to look over your week’s assignments as soon as the week begins, if not sooner. That way, you aren’t sending panic emails to the professor all afternoon when an assignment is due that night. Most of us are not waiting by our computers to see who waited until the last minute to begin researching an assignment.

If you do have a boatload of questions, getting a head start on the assignment means that you will get your answers before the true panic sets in. As a longtime professor, I am happy to clarify things for you. I am not so happy to do this at 10 pm when the assignment is due at 11:30 pm. In fact, I am asleep by then. I was not even remotely happy with the student a few years back who looked up my home phone number to ask me a question at midnight. She didn’t even apologize for waking me up! She got mad at me for being asleep! Go figure.

So, start early, and do ask questions. Just ask them before the 11th hour!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Show up for the First Day of Class or You May be Playing Catch-up for the Rest of the Term

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Today, I had four online classes start. They were all pretty full, meaning that I have 70 new students as of today. You know how many showed up for class? Less than ten. Less than 1/7th of the students cared enough to be there. In a residential program, that would make for a very empty classroom. It did online, as well.

Guess what? The first deadlines are tomorrow. But if those students don’t come to class tomorrow, they will already be behind. The next deadline is Wednesday, the third day of class. They will be getting even further behind.

These classes last eight weeks. If you don’t show up for the first week, you now have seven weeks to do eight weeks of work. Stay out until the second week, and you will only have six weeks to complete eight weeks of work. With one of my classes, students are automatically locked out of some of the assignments if they are not completed on time. That work cannot be made up.

Is that really the way to start things off? I would argue not. So, when you take classes, show up ready to work and you will have a huge advantage over those who don’t. You don’t want to be on a sinking ship of undone work, right?

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Using Your Spring Break Wisely

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Spring break! How wonderful! A great time is to be had by all, right? Well maybe it shouldn’t be.

There was a gal in my Spanish class at UMD who talked about her spring break at length when she returned from a holiday. She had gotten SO drunk in Mexico that she…. but, no, this is a family-oriented blog posting. I won’t tell you what she did but she could have been seriously harmed by her actions. Fortunately, she was found by her female friends before she ran into anyone else. It could have been very unfortunate. Sadly, she did not appear to have learned anything from her experience.

Instead of hoping off to some wild and crazy place, irritating all the locals even as you boost their economy, how about using your spring break in a more productive way? I know, I can hear you saying “it sounds boring,” but how would you like to work ahead a little and end up being at the top of the class for the rest of the term?

Here’s what you do: Look over the syllabus and work ahead on your assignments, if possible. If there is an area where you are struggling, this is the time to do a little additional research on that topic (or get some additional help) so that you aren’t so clueless when classes resume.

Put study notes on note cards and read over them as you exercise, dry your hair, or wait in a line. It’s amazing how much studying you can get done during otherwise unproductive time.

What tips would you like to share on getting ahead, rather than staying behind?

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Beware of tunnel scams

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

I was faced with another scam recently and I wanted to pass it along to you. Based on the website for the Elizabeth River Tunnel company, I am not the only person who has been charged with running their toll gate without paying. Here is my reply to their bill for about $6.00. It’s not the bill; it’s the ethics involved.

Beware of Elizabeth River Tunnel Scams