Every year an increasing number of students are joining the list of college hopefuls who are letting admission officers in on their whole life through friending on Facebook. A recent Kaplan, Inc. survey indicated that 71% of admission officers had received themselves or knew of someone who had received a friend request on Facebook or MySpace from an applicant to their college.

Some admissions officers are all for the friendships with applicants, but others see the whole situation as having access to too much information. Before social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn the admissions process only included the application and transcripts sent by students to the college and, therefore, the admissions officers saw only what the student provided and nothing else. These days, admissions officers have many more resources & materials to utilize to make their acceptance decisions.

What’s your take? Are you going to jump on the bandwagon and go in search of the people who decide your college fate and let them know everything your friends know about you? Or are you going increase your privacy settings and hope no one important sees those photos of you from that party last weekend? Let us know what you think in the comment section.

Want to learn more about Zinch and get connected with the college of your dreams? Create a profile on Zinch and Shout Out to the colleges you’re interested in today!

At Zinch, everyone is more than a test score, but it is still important to be as prepared as you can to take either the SAT or ACT. Kaplan has put together a list of things that all students should consider as they’re applying to colleges.

The college admissions process can be confusing and frustrating, to say the least. Each college has unique requirements, ranging from what standardized tests it recognizes to how many years of a foreign language you’ll need to take. Luckily, there are some common benchmarks universal to almost every school. A national survey¹ of college admissions officers identified the four most important factors they consider when evaluating candidates.

1. Grades in College Prep Courses – Grades in AP, International Baccalaureate, or dual-enrollment courses

2. Strength of Curriculum – Both the amount of course work you complete in high school and the quality of those courses

3. Admission Test Scores – Scores on either the SAT or ACT* (most schools accept both interchangeably)

4. High School Grade Point Average – Calculated by dividing the total number of grade points received by the total number attempted

Other factors found to have considerable importance include the college essay, teacher and counselor recommendations, class rank, and a student’s demonstrated interest, which were all ranked similarly.

Next Steps

You might not be able to go back in time to fix that less-than-stellar biology grade from sophomore year, but you can make sure you have an impressive SAT or ACT score to add to your college applications. Walk into Test Day confident and prepared—start prepping now! And if you enroll in select Kaplan SAT and ACT prep programs in March, you’ll save $100.*

Prep smarter, score higher—guaranteed or your money back!

1 Source: National Association for College Admission Counseling, “The State of College Admissions 2009.”

*SAT is a registered trademark of the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product. ACT is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc. Save $100: Offer applies to SAT or ACT College Prep Advantage, Premier Tutoring, and Small Group Tutoring only. Must enroll by 11:59pm, March 31, 2010. Cannot be combined with any other offer, rebate, or discount. Higher Score Guarantee: Conditions and restrictions apply. For complete guarantee eligibility requirements, visit kaptest.com/hsg.

Why do you care?

It’s a common question. Maybe it tends to be a little defensive, but nonetheless still a common question.

But really there’s an even more common answer that is demonstrated by today’s youth. And that answer is, “I Don’t.”

There is so much apathy in today’s society, yet what do we do to stop it? Nothing. Nothing, because you can’t fight apathy with apathy, just as you can’t fight fire with fire. We don’t care, and we certainly don’t care enough to stop it.

It would be irrational to say everyone doesn’t care about anything. But ask yourself what it is you care about? It is the well being of others, or is yourself? While youth today had exceeded past generations in their service activities, studies show that youth service has actually begun a decline. Even with the importance placed on service due to college admissions and high school graduation requirements, there’s a decline.

While this anomaly can be pretty depressing, there is a big ball of sunshine behind these clouds. And thats you! Because apathy only goes as far as we let it. While I certainly didn’t enjoy reading “7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens” , you should do one thing. And that’s be Proactive. Do something. Join your school Key Club or other service organizations in your school and community.

Because quite frankly, this IS something we should care about.

On Thursday I had the pleasure of attending an absolutely landmark event. An occasion so emotional, so touching, so revolutionary, that no other milestone can even compare.

I’m talking about, of course, my brother’s six grade graduation.

Watching four feet tall adolescents dressed as their parent’s mini-me, their yet-to-be-broken-into dress shoes squeaking across the newly cleaned gym floor, shaking hands with the principal to receive their certificate – I mean diplomas – was definitely the way I planned to spend my first day of summer.

In fact, I was so eager to watch the event that I couldn’t help but pull out my iPod and surreptitiously slip its white ear buds beneath the curtain of my black hair. This sincere gesture was enough to provoke some dirty looks from the parents beside me, as if they expected me to personally congratulate their son or daughter.

That would be a slightly difficult task, considering that I only knew about three kids of the eighty that were lining up to acquire their diplomas.

However, my guilt was alleviated when I noticed one of my brother’s classmates, having all ready obtained her certification of graduation, pull out her pale blue cell phone and begin texting.

If you thought I was astounded by the fact that a child, not even in middle school, was blatantly texting (in the middle of her graduation, mind you), you should have seen my face when I leaned over to see just who she could be texting. Could it be one of her very many friends in the procession of getting their diploma? It couldn’t be her parents, who were sitting right beside her. Maybe it was possibly one of her siblings who couldn’t make it to the ceremony.

No, it was Twitter.

First of all, since when did cell phones become available to elementary school kids? (I didn’t get mine till freshman year) Secondly, don’t you have to be thirteen to operate Twitter? And thirdly, what could be so crucial in her complicated, soon-too-be-a-seventh-grader life that the girl felt compelled to publish an it for all the world to see?

Well, maybe six grade graduation is a big deal. But still. How many people are interested in following a six grader’s tweets? What could be so interesting in their lives that we must read it, published in Twitter format?

It’s not the fact that a Twitter owned by an elementary school student that angers me. It’s the fact that they have access to the internet where they post private on goings of their lives without any care of the consequences. Yes, those that can legally own a Twitter, a Facebook, a MySpace, are in equal danger of, at best, being stalked, at worst, having their identities stolen. Yet, these dangers of the worldwide web are unknown to the younger users who are slowly, but surely, entering it.

If it hasn’t struck you how young these kids are, think about it. Most haven’t finished, or even begun, sex ed. Most have never used a locker. Most are banned from watching PG-13 movies by their parents.

Are these kids exposing themselves to the vast and unsecure world of the internet too soon (armed with a cell phone, no less)? I think so.

Wander around an arena crammed with teens (think the mall, concerts, or even opening night of the Hannah Montana movie) and it won’t take long for your ears to pick up something like this:

“That was so lame.”

And yet, not one brain registers this blasphemous misuse of language, much less objects.

Improper remarks litter our daily conversations, slipping past our tongues without even a second thought to the meaning. No, the phrase is not a stab at the disabled, but rather another synonym to the word “stupid”. Yet, have we ever paused to think of the connotation of the language?

Stop for a second and think about the conversations that you’ve had in the past 24 hours. Do the words “retarded”, “Jew” and “gay” ring a bell? Derogatory epithets are especially prevalent in this generation even if they are not necessarily targeted at a certain group of individuals.

Take the word “geek” for example, used to refer to the “nerds”, another offensive term. Originally in the 19th century, the word meant a bizarre circus performer. Specifically, a bizarre circus performer who likes to bite the heads off chickens.

So essentially, we’re equating the academically successful to a freak who enjoys ripping heads of live poultry.

That’s saying a lot about our Hollister-clad, I-can’t-live-without-my-cell-phone, Twitter-obsessed teenage culture. And not in a good way either.

Given, the evolution of language is completely natural and unavoidable. For example, as a person born in the 30’s the definition of gay and they’ll answer “bright and merry”. Ask another born a couple of decades later and they’ll respond “homosexual”. However, ask a typical teen today and they’ll most likely reply “stupid”.

Survival of the fittest (word that is). It’s enough to make Darwin proud…

Why do we have such a predisposition to adopt words negatively? There are a plethora of other terms synonymous to stupid (foolish, dumb, boneheaded, etc.), why is it that our language have solidified incorrectly used words appropriate synonyms? Ultimately, the connotation is that being different, whether regarding religion, ethnicity, political position, physical appearance, or sexual preference is a bad thing.

Reality check: The grand old U. S. of A., known an the “Melting Pot” for a reason, will never be homogeneous.

It’s time for a language update. Eliminate these words so that we, as a society, don’t use them anymore. Filter he slangs and eventually, the meaning will die out.

As almost everyone knows, last week a group of Somalian pirates boarded a U.S. cargo ship. The captain of the ship, Richard Phillips, offered himself up so the pirates wouldn’t hurt the crew. The pirates obliged and held the captain hostage on a lifeboard for five days. The life boat was followed by a fleet of various Navy ships, and President Barack Obama and the government tried to “communicate” and “negotiate” with the pirates for Captain Phillips’ release. Finally, the Navy said enough is enough, and the captain jumped overboard into the ocean and Navy SEALs sniped three of the pirates and captured a fourth. Bravo. The Captain Hook of the Somalian renegades wasn’t too happy with this, and threatened retaliation for the loss of their comrades.

Now everywhere I see, the media and liberals in general are showing the pirates as some misunderstood, discriminated against group of misfits just looking for social acceptance. I call BS. What they are doing is ILLEGAL. It’s not ok to set sail, find a cargo ship belonging to another country, hop on board, kill the crew, and take the goods.

The media is also praising Barack Obama for rescuing Captain Phillips. What did Obama do? For five days he tried to negotiate with these pirates, talked about how they felt, why they were doing it, etc. etc., but in the end, it got NOWHERE. You know what resolved the issue? Good, old fashioned eliminating the enemy. That should have happened on day one. The offer from the U.S. should’ve gone something to the effect of, “Hi, this is the United States speaking. How are you? Good! Ok, so it seems you have kidnapped one of our citizens and iare holding him for ransom. We see you and are aware of your intentions. Release him safely to us now, and you will stand a fair trial in a United States court. If you do not release him, we will kill you. You have five minutes.”

Now we have people saying “Oh no! Now the pirates are just going to take more ships in retaliation! We should’ve just negotiated!” First off, if we had negotiated, Captain Phillips would be dead. Second, there is a simple solution to the problem:

Every U.S. cargo ship should be armed to the hull. Huge guns on each side and a squad of marshalls to operate them. If another ship gets too close, a warning. If they get any closer, they get blown out of the freakin’ water. Problem solved. We wouldn’t have to worry about another pirate except for Captain Crunch. I know Obama wants to set an example by keeping ships unarmed, getting rid of our nukes, downsizing the military, repealing the second amendment, etc., but the pirates aren’t going to say “Aw aren’t these nice and trusting people. Let’s all apply for a job at McDonalds and live happily ever after.”

Sometimes I hear people talking, or I read what they’re typing, and I say to myself “Wow. Are people really this stupid? I didn’t know people could actually be so dumb to believe this stuff. I bet they have to pay their girlfriends just to stay with their sorry, whipped butt.” The day for trying to please everybody else in the world is over. Diplomacy is good, yes, but if you mess with the bull you get the horns. It’s time for America to start behaving like the world superpower they are, and not little schoolgirls trying to get an B+ on their english test by fluttering their eyelids at the teacher. The whole dang world in general needs to stop walking on eggshells to not bother these pirates; instead, go their caves on the beach, and wipe them out. No more pirates, no more killed and captured innocent people, no more stolen goods and lost profit. In short, when the world is without pirates, you win.

It’s so good to be back! I’ve been away from the blog thanks to my big, all-important 12th grade board exams (the last and most important exam for an Indian school-goer). It gives me boundless joy to report that they are over, and went off beautifully, thank you very much. The end of these exams also spells the end of school. Period. In comes the next phase of life: embracing adulthood, and setting up the machinery for life (going to college, deciding on a career…)

I can’t help feeling that there’s so much afoot, but for some reason nothing seems to be happening. Here I am holding the book of life after having finished the enormous chapter entitled ‘my school life’, and suddenly I find myself residing in a set of blank pages; a confusing, frightening, yet relaxed set of blank pages. Each day seems a coequal of the last, and nothing special marks the end of the week - I’m living in a perpetual weekend that shall end the day I get my results (which happens some time in the closing days of May). The first two weeks after the end of the exams were amazing: no more school induced worries, home work, exams, nor anything else of the sort; I finally caught up with some old friends, had some parties, played lots of soccer, turned 18, and thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it! OK, Enough! This ‘absolute freedom’ has become unbearable. My mind has become sloppy, and I’m generally becoming super lazy. Time to oil the good ole machinery, and prepare it for whatever lies ahead. Perhaps I’ll read some good books, get into shape, and find out what I’ve been missing out on for the past few months.

For some odd reason Dumbledore’s deep voice booms in my head:

“Dark, and difficult times lie ahead, Harsh. Soon we must make the choice between what is right and what is easy”

I’m not convinced about anything being dark, or sinister, but something about it sure seems sprinkled with some difficulties. Secondly, I’m not one for the easy path. An unexplained excitement seems to show itself every once in a while, and makes me feel happy. I’m ready for the next big thing!

So I’m gonna open up the floor.

Not entirely for random talk; I’m in the pursuit of the solution to a particular conundrum. I want to make it about more than simply me, droning in prose. So, eh hem…

Life

A Multiple Choice Quiz

A: Random

or

B: Deliberate

-My Answer:

B: Deliberate

The world is full of human beings who can see themselves, and full of questions we seemingly have no reason to be asking. Evolution is impossible in the fact that the atomic structure would not be able to recognize the difference between light, sound, and heat, let alone develop proper sensory organs.

Randomness cannot be a factor. We are a purpose-driven being, separate from the animals we have around us.

-Your Answer:

Let me hear it…

Recently I experienced the worst day I’ve ever had at work. I had to deal with more crabby and clueless customers in that one day than I had in the whole last 3 months combined. I almost got ran over in the parking lot while pushing carts numerous times by oblivious and arrogant idiots on their cell phones. People found each and every little thing that annoys me and exploited that annoyance to the fullest. My friends, working retail will make you abhor humanity in ways that you never thought possible. “Oh no!” you should be saying to yourself. “How can I show poor retail goons I am different? That I am a considerate and kind soul? How can I be remembered not as a blundering jerk with attitude, but as a thoughtful, understanding customer?” Fear not, for I have written Ben’s Guide to Being an Excellent Customer and Efficient Shopper:

 1.Upon entering the store, if you enlist the services of a shopping cart, do not throw half the contents of the corral around looking for a cart you feel suits you.

2. Be aware of your surroundings and say “excuse me” when passing someone else. Don’t ask an employee to look “in the back” for an item. Back rooms contain almost nothing and chances are various customers have already asked for that item numerous times.

3. If you decide you do not need an item you had previously placed in your cart, do not leave it in what you determine to be an inconspicuous place. Put the item back where you found it. In addition, if an emergency or other event requires your attention elsewhere, do not just leave a cart full of $300 in product sitting in the aisle, especially if it contains frozen foodstuffs. Find an employee and explain the situation and s/he will be able to handle the items in your cart.

4. When approaching the check out lanes, only enter a lane whose corresponding “open/closed” light is on. Never ever ever enter a lane with the light off even if there is a customer already checking out. I hate it when people do this gahasdfasdfasfadf

5. Greet your cashier by name. This says, “Hi, I understand you’re more than a robot ringing up my items and you’re just doing your job and you’re a person with feelings and emotions as well. I am going to make this as painless as possible for you because I am willing to bet you’ve had a crummy day.”

6. PRESS THE PAYMENT TYPE BUTTON BEFORE YOU SLIDE YOUR PAYMENT CARD

7. If an item did not “beep!” when it got moved past the scanner on the first try, do not make the “It’s free today! Guffaw guffaw!” joke. I will personally find you, and cut off your pinkie with a can opener.

8. As soon as your checkout process is complete, evacuate the check stand immediately. Do not linger and block the lane for everyone else in line.

9. If an item did not ring up for the price you had believed it to be, go to customer service, not back to the check stand.

10. Upon exit, RETURN YOUR CART TO A CORRAL CONVENIENTLY LOCATED IN THE PARKING LOT. DO NOT SET THE CART IN AN EMPTY SPOT. DO NOT THROW OUT IN THE STREET. DO NOT SET ON CURBS, ROCKS, GRASS, OR ANY OTHER SPOT NOT DESIGNATED FOR CARTS

Have a nice day! :-)

In what could be the biggest cultural backlash since the hippies were run out of California in ‘70, the American Apparel-clad, indie-loving crew known as Hipsters are being shooed out of urban cities, in an act of desperation to preserve what little cool they think they still have (Urban cities are so ‘05, everyone knows Cow Country’s where it’s at.)

Time Out New York has gone as far as using the cover of their beloved magazine to rally citizens of the Big Apple to take action. Although Time Out didn’t see the pitchfork and torch reaction they were hoping for, the issue did get the city talking about what some say is a tired, no longer hip scene.

Defined by their exotic tastes in music (By exotic I mean nobody’s heard of it but them), their puzzling career choices (”I need to take a year off before I go back to art school”), and they’re quirky fashion statements (Homeless meets Steve Urkel meets Studio 54), the hipster way of life has emerged from the grimy streets of Brooklyn and made its way across the globe. The result: Young people everywhere wearing non prescription glasses, cardigans, and listening to music that’s “So not mainstream.”

Like any scene that’s destined to thrive before something dubbed cooler comes along, the hipsters as far as I’m concerned, aren’t really hurting anyone. In fact in a world where Lil’ Wayne rules the airwaves and ridiculously baggy jeans are the norm, hipster fashion and music is a much-needed breath of fresh air. Comedians like Demetri Martin and Bo Burnham appeal to the crowd that has grown tired of the worn-out antics of Dane Cook. The rise of bands on independent labels offers an alternative to the few who weren’t in attendance at the Britney Spears concert.

Personally, I think any scene that contributes something to society and culture, and doesn’t sacrifice to many innocent youths along the way, is a good thing. Cities like New York and Portland, and even my beautiful utopian paradise Seattle, should be grateful they have a group of people striving to put life and color back into their city. If Time Out New York spent as much time cursing their city’s growing gang activity, they could actually be changing their city for the better.

People come to large cities to be a part of something. If the law school bound yuppie wants to stop shaving and begin making sculptures in his living room out of soda cans, by God let him.

There’s a hell of a lot worse things plaguing American metropolises.