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The United States may not have thousands of years of educational history such is the case in Europe, however it can boast of some grand and fine Colleges and Universities. Here’s the list of the nine oldest Colleges in the United States, which collectively are commonly referred to today as the “Colonial Cottages.”

1. Harvard University: 1636

Initially known as “New College,” Harvard was established by a vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

It was later renamed in 1639 after John Harvard, who bequeathed the College his library of four hundred books and 779 pounds, 17 shillings, and two pence, a sizable sum in those days.

Although never formally affiliated with a church, Harvard trained Congregationalist and Unitarian clergy.

2. College of William & Mary: 1694

Founded in Williamsburg, Virginia, the College of William & Mary was established by a letters patent issued by King William III and Queen Mary I which stated that the College was to “make, found and establish a certain Place of Universal Study, a perpetual College of Divinity, Philosophy, Languages, and other good arts and sciences…to be supported and maintained, in all time coming.”

The College was originally founded as an Anglican institution. The college became the first (formal) American university with the establishment of its graduate schools in law and medicine.

3. Yale University: 1701

Originally known as the Collegiate School, Yale was established by an Act of the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut on 9 October 1701 as an institution to train clergy.

Yale was changed to its existing name in 1718, and is named after benefactor Eilhu Yale, the Governor of the British East India company.

4. Princeton University: 1746

Princeton was originally founded by the New Light Presbyterians as the College of New Jersey in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey to train Ministers.

Following moves to Newark in 1747 then Princeton in 1756, the institution did not get its current name of Princeton University until 1896.

5. University of Pennsylvania: 1740/ 1749

There’s some conjecture when the University of Pennsylvania was established. The first building was originally built in 1740 and was intended to be used as a charity school, however the first meeting of the board of Trustees did not occur until 1749. Further the University did not receive a formal charter until 1755.

Unlike other Colleges of the period the University did not just focus on education for the clergy, but offered (for the first time in what is now the United States) a multidisciplinary model, had a non-sectarian board, and study was open to the public.

6. Columbia University: 1754

Columbia was founded as King’s College by Royal Charter of King George II in 1754 with funding from the General Assembly of New York.

Columbia has a tumultuous early history, having been closed and ransacked during the American Revolutionary War as American and British forces both traded places in holding the New York itself. At the end of the war the “rebels” renamed the Kings College to Columbia University.

7. Brown University: 1764

Brown was founded as the “College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations” in 1764 as a Baptist College to train Baptist Ministers.

It is renamed Brown University in 1804 after Nicholas Brown Jr, who between 1786 and 1804 contributed $5,000 toward an endowed professorship.

8. Rutgers University: 1766

Chartered as Queens’ College in 1766, Rutgers was founded by the Dutch Reformed Church to train those who wanted to become Ministers.

The College closed between 1795 and 1807 and for a period following the War of 1812 and 1825. Its named changed to Rutgers College in honor of American Revolutionary War hero Henry Rutgers the year it reopened (1825,) until finally becoming know as Rutgers – The State University of New Jersey by two acts in 1945 and 1956.

9. Dartmouth College: 1769

Dartmouth was founded by Puritan Minister Eleazar Wheelock as a school to primarily train Native Americans as missionaries.

It is named after William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth and early supporter of Wheelock.

College is an expensive proposition, even if you have a scholarship, aid or parental financial assistance.

We’re not claiming that the following 10 ways to stretch your budget while at College are all easy, but following this advice can make your money go further.

Plan!

The biggest mistake most College students make when it comes to money is failing to have a plan. You can go as far as having a formal budget, but even a basic plan of where your money goes can help you with your long term financial needs.

Get rid of your car

Cars are great to own, but they’re also a sinkhole for money, from registration through to maintenance, insurance and sometimes even parking. Most College campuses have public transportation, and there’s always the option of walking, riding a bicycle or using ride-sharing services instead.

Eat in

Buying lunch of campus, or even regularly buying any of your meals can quickly run up a big food bill where as you could be saving money and even eating more healthily by making it yourself. Learn to cook, take a packed lunch, and seek out food co-ops and bargain supermarkets. If you share food in a dorm, or you’ve got some extra storage space, consider bulk purchases from outlets such as Costco: the savings quickly add up.

Buy Textbooks cheaply

Buy used books where you can, and with all book purchases (new and used) keep them unmarked and in a great condition so you can resell them at the end of term. There’s also a growing number of options for digital versions of your textbooks, so hit Google as well to try and save some money.

Try to avoid credit

Credit cards are pushed at College students like drugs to addicts, except the former is legal. Credit cards are not your friend and try to avoid obtaining one if you can. If you absolutely must, look for a low interest rate, low limit card so your debt doesn’t get out of control and becomes unmanageable.

Resist impulse buying

It’s tempting when you have money in your pocket (or a credit card) to impulse buy something when you’re our shopping in the mall or local stores. Try to resist impulse buying, and if you do buy something you later regret, don’t be afraid to return it.

Be a bargain hunter

The internet is your friend. When you do need something the chance is that you will find it offered somewhere online at a cheaper price. Browse at your local stores by all means, but be sure to check the price online before you make your purchase.

Set aside a fun budget

Just because you need to save money doesn’t mean you’re not entitled to some fun. Set aside money on a weekly or monthly basis so you can go out and enjoy yourself

Find work

The job market is difficult but that doesn’t mean that work isn’t available: even if it’s a couple of hours a week it all adds up. Tutoring (other College students or High School students,) music lessons, baby sitting, yard work…there’s always someone out there who needs a hand.

Pay your bills on time

Late fees can blow your budget alone, so it’s important to pay your bills on time. Paying your bills on time is also an investment in your future as it helps you establish a good credit history for when you finish College and want to rent an apartment, buy a car or even start a new business.

 

When choosing a name for a College mascot, most would choose something fierce, strong or iconic, a mascot that the school could rally around like a bear or hawk.

But not all Colleges play by this rule book. Here’s 7 really weird College mascots.

The Fighting Okra, Delta State University

Did someone say a piece of fruit wearing boxing gloves and brandishing a fierce expression would make a great mascot? Well the students at Delta State University in Mississippi thought that this was a great idea.

The Fighting Okra was first embraced by the students in the 1980′s as an alternative to the College’s traditional mascot of a Statesman, which they argued wasn’t particularly frightening.

The Fighting Okra was officially elected by the student body as their mascot in the 1990′s, and the mascot now even has a number of myths about it, including it being based on a stubborn okra planet at first base on the baseball field that grew back every time it was cut.

The Banana Slug, University of California Santa Cruz

When UC Santa Cruz started participating in a the NCAA intercollegiate sports in 1981 the then Chancellor was keen on adopting a sea lion as a mascot…but the students were having none of that.

Instead at a referendum in 1986 the students voted by an overwhelming margin to declare the Banana Slug as their official mascot.

Not everyone thinks The Banana Slug is a weird mascot though: ESPN Sports Travel named the Banana Slug as one of the best ten nicknames in college basket in February 2008.

Big Red, Western Kentucky University

Big Red is a red, furry blob that is meant to symbolize the spirit of WKU students and alumni, as well as the sports teams’ nickname, the “Hilltoppers.”

Apparently Big Red’s head is meant to be shaped like a hill because WKU sits on a hill…get it?

Big Red also partakes in team sport as well, being a member of the All-America Mascot Team…which isn’t a bad achievement for a giant red blob.

WuShock The Shocker, Wichita State University

We prefaced this post noting that teams usually go for a mascot that says strong and fierce, but what we forgot to consider that Wheat is apparently strong and fierce in Kansas.

WuShock is (you can’t make this up) “a big, bad, muscle-bound bundle of wheat” who is derived from a period of time when the University was simply known as Wichita University or WU.

His official site claims that among other things he’s even stared in a movie.

The Boll Weevil, University of Arkansas Monticello

The Boll Weevil takes us back in history to 1925, when then School President  Frank Horsfall came up with the idea to use a weevil mascot.

Horsfall is said to have said to a crowd of students at a pep rally “The only gosh-darned thing that ever licked the South was the boll weevil. Boll weevils! That’s what you are – Boll Weevils!”

The Weevil is famous in the South for having decimated cotton growing areas in the 1920′s, despite growing to no larger than 1/5th of an inch in size.

Scrotie, Rhode Island School of Design

With a hockey team first referred to as “The Nads” and then later renamed to “The Balls” Scrotie the dancing penis actually seems like a logical choice for the Rhode Island School Design.

Scrotie was first created in 2001 and as you may note from the picture is anatomically correct, besides being a touch over sized a 6 feet and a touch blue and red.

Scrotie is seen at College basket ball games leading fans in a cheer that goes “When the heat is on, the Balls stick together!”

The Stanford Tree, Stanford University

The Stanford Tree is the official unofficial mascot of Stanford University.

Officially accepted by students as their mascot, it’s not accepted by Administration who has never actually got around to selecting an official official mascot, despite the Stanford athletic program being known as the Cardinals.

It could be worse though: other student suggestions for a mascot included a french fry and steaming manhole.

The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate scholarship established in 1902 and awarded to selected foreign (non-British) students to study at Oxford University.

Regarded as as one of the world’s most prestigious international graduate scholarships, the award is named after English businessman, mining magnate and politician Cecil Rhodes and is funded by his estate.

The scholarship is not only extremely prestigious, it also has amongst its alumni a range of students who went on to achieve fame in leadership, science and sport.

Here’s 10 famous Rhodes Scholars.

Edwin Hubble

Hubble (Rhodes Scholar 1910) was the astronomer who played the crucial role in establishing the field of extragalactic astronomy and it today regarded as one of the most important astrologists of the 20th Century.

Before Hubble the prevailing view was that the Galaxy consisted only of the Milky Way Galaxy; it was Hubble who first argued that not only was the Milky Way one of billions of Galaxies in the Universe, but the Universe itself was expanding.

His name was given to the Hubble Telescope.

Howard Florey

Florey (Rhodes Scholar 1921) was an Australian pharmacologist and pathologist who was credited with jointly with the Noble Prize in Medicine in 1945 Sir Ernst Boris Chain and Sir Alexander Fleming for first making penicillin.

Florey lead the team that gave the modern world penicillin based antibiotics 1941, and went on to lead the team to deliver the ability to mass produce modern antibiotics.

As well as being made a Life Peer in 1965 (an honor higher than a Knighthood) in recognition of his work, he has a building named after him at Oxford, and also featured on the Australian $50 note between 1973 and 1995.

Bill Clinton

Clinton (Rhodes Scholar 1968) was the 42nd President of the United States of America from 1993 to 2001, overseaing a period in American history that is generally regarded as a prosperous time, with Clinton bring the deficit under control and taming unemployment.

Prior to becoming President, Clinton served as Governor of Arkansas from 1979-1981 and 1983-1992.

Since his term in office he has advocated for for the Environment and headed the Clinton Global Initiative that attempts to address world problems such as public health, poverty and religious and ethnic conflict.

George Stephanopoulos

Stephanopoulos (Rhodes Scholar 1984) is a television journalist and former political adviser.

Stephanopoulos first rose to prominence as the Communication Director for the 1992 Presidential Campaign of Bill Clinton, and then went on to become the White House Communications Director, then Senior Advisor for Policy and Strategy before departing the White House in 1996.

Today he is chief political correspondent for ABC News, co-anchor of Good Morning America, and host of the show This Week.

Kris Kristofferson

Kristofferson (Rhodes Scholar 1958) is a country music singer, musician, and film actor.

A member of the supergroup “The Highwaymen” with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash, Kristofferson has had a career spanning 50 years, winning multiple music awards, as well as a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

He has been inducted in to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and has received the Johnny Mercer Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Naomi Wolf

Wolf (Rhodes Scholar 1985) is an author and former political consultant.

Credited as being a leading spokesperson of the “third wave of the feminist movement” Wolf’s works include The Beauty Myth, Promiscuities, Misconceptions, The End of America, Give Me Liberty, and Vagina, a New Biography.

Wolf also worked on both the Clinton and Gore campaigns as a political consultant to target female voters.

Rachel Maddow

Maddow (Rhodes Scholar 1995) in a television host, political commentator and author.

Maddow started her career on radio in Holyoke, Massachusetts, before eventually ending up on Air America. After becoming a panelist on MSNBC’s Tucker, MSNBC’s Race to the White House, and Countdown with Keith Olbermann, her big break came in 2008 when she finally scored her own evening program The Rachel Maddow Show.

She is the first openly gay anchor of a major prime time news program in the United States.

Bill Bradley

Bradley (Rhodes Scholar 1965) is a Hall of Fame Basketball player, three-term Democratic Senator from New Jersey, and nominee for the Democractic Party’s nomination for President at the 2000 Election.

Bradley started his rise to prominence as an all-state basketball player in high school, later becoming a member of the Gold Medal winning 1964 Olympic basketball team. After a stint in Europe, Breadly joined the New York Knick in 1967, going on to play for the team for 10 years until retiring in 1977.

Bradley served as a Senator representing New Jersey from 1979-1997, and lost to Al Gore to run for the Democratic Party in 2000.

Bob Hawke

Hawke (Rhodes Scholar 1953) was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia between 1983 and 1991, and former Guinness Book of World Records holder for the fast consumption of beer.

Hawke rose to prominence in Australia through the Union movement, going on to lead the Australian Council of Trade Unions in 1969. He was elected to the Australian Parliament in 1980, and became leader of the Australian Labor Party in February 1983, a position that would take him to the role of Prime Minister 4 weeks later.

He is perhaps best known outside of Australia (and is still well known in Australia) due to his Guinness Book of World Records title by drinking 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds at University College, Oxford in 1955.

Susan Rice

Rice (Rhodes Scholar 1986) is a diplomat, former Brookings Institution fellow and the current United State Ambassador to the United Nations.

Rice first came to prominence in the Clinton Administrations, where she served in various capacities from 1993-2001, including the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.

Following a stint in business, Rice continued to pursue her interest in Foreign Affairs, joining the Brookings Institution as Senior Fellow in the foreign policy program. She served on Obama’s campaign in 2008 before being appointed to the United States’ highest diplomatic role: U.S. Ambassador to the United States.

 

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Skyscrapers are modern day symbols of power and economic prosperity. They are shrines to capitalism, towering marvels of modern architecture and design, and a window cleaners worst nightmare. The higher the skyscraper, the more power and wealth it adds to a city’s skyline.

But these days, bored with simply inducing an inverted vertigo, innovative architects around the world are blending modern art and architectural design with bizarre, wacky, and quite breathtaking results.

From the Shard in London to the glorious Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai, the new symbols of power are cutting edge, abstract-looking mutant skyscrapers that push the boundaries of what’s possible and reshape our preconceptions of beauty and design. Here’s our pick of the ten wackiest skyscrapers in modern history.

10. China Central TV Headquarters Beijing, China

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The locals call it big boxer shorts. And we’re not quite sure why. The first radical skyscraper on our list is China Central Television Headquarters, a 44-story, 768ft marvel of modern archtecture located in Beijing’s busy CBD.

Construction began in 2004 and was only completed in May this year. On top of the structural challenges that come with building an unusually shaped skyscraper in a seismic zone, the project was delayed by a fire breaking out at the adjacent Television Cultural Center in 2009.

Finally realised, the building is a long-term combination of European and Chinese engineering and innovation. The unusual loop shape is a tribute to the interconnected process of television making. Tower 1 is the editing and office area, while the lower tower, Tower 2, is used for broadcasting.

9. Western City Gate Belgrade, Serbia

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Hulking above its surroundings like an Orwellian shrine to the industrial age, BelgradeÕs Western City Gate sticks out like a sore thumb on a broken hand. It also looks like something out of Total Recall, or Escape from New York!

Completed in 1980, Western City Gate, aptly named Genex Tower, is a 460ft, 35-story, brutalist monster Ð canÕt you just picture flames shooting out of the top while Vangelis does the soundtrack?

The taller of the two towers is a residential block and the other is vertical office space. And the two-story bridge that connects the two towers has an observation deck and revolving restaurant perched above it.

In the 70s, Architect Mihajlo Mitrovi? envisioned a futuristic high-rise gate, greeting people as they arrived into the city from the west. But in 2012, Western City Gate represents an unrealised future: the kind of stylised, flying-cars-and-hover-boards future anticipated in the 70s and 80s. The future, as weÕve seen, is a lot curvier and more artistic.

8. National Architects Union Headquarters (Paucescu House) Bucharest, Romania

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Bucharest’s National Architect’s Union Headquarters looks like it got dressed in the dark Ð over the space of a couple of centuries. Basically, it’s a mid 19th century French Renaissance style European heritage building, with a modern skyscraper plonked on top of it. Which makes it one of the wackiest skyscrapers on our list, donÕt you think?

Naturally, opinions on this man-made hybrid are strongly divided. Some see it as an insult to BucharestÕs heritage and a symbol of the local authoritiesÕ failure to preserve the past. Others, however, see it as an eclectic combination of old and new and an architectural representation of modern BelgradeÕs embrace of contrasts.

The original building was named Paucescu House and was once the residence of Grigore Paucescu, a politician in the second half of the 19th century. In 1914, the building was partially demolished. Still, the remaining structure could be described as remarkable.

In 2000, the Union of Architects took over the building. Instead of restoring it or demolishing it and starting all over again, they took the road less travelled, creating an odd tribute to BucharestÕs historic past and a nod to its progressive future.

7. Lippo Centre Admiralty, Hong Kong

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The twin towers of the Lippo Centre on Hong Kong Island stand like two massive, 48-story totem poles to the gods of commerce. Further adding to the centre’s wacky credentials, the towers were designed to look like a series of koala bears climbing trees. Now thatÕs something you donÕt hear every day.

Completed in 1988 and originally known as the Bond Centre, architect Paul Rudolph designed the building with the idea of making it seem softer and less harsh than other modern skyscrapers. A gentler approach to sky scraping: sky tickling, if you will. Still, we wonder if he could ÒbearÓ how the result looks today.

As far as height goes, the taller of the two towers, Lippo Centre 2, is 610ft tall, while the slightly shorter tower, Lippo Center 1, stands at 564ft.

6. HSB Turning Torso Malmš, Sweden

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Sweden’s Turning Torso residential block is about as wacky and Ôout thereÕ as modern skyscrapers get Ð we get motion sickness just by looking at it. Even the name sounds like the latest piece by bizarre English artist Damien Hirst. We’d hate to come home drunk if we lived on the top floor.

With a height of 623ft, the HSB Turning Torso is the tallest skyscraper in Sweden. Completed in August 2005, the twisted 54-story building was designed by sculptor, architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava.

Illustrating just how blurred the lines have become between architecture and modern art, the building is an elaboration of Calatravas 1991 steel and marble sculpture The Twisting Torso. Inspired by his own creation, Calatrava designed the skyscraper to look like a contorted human body. And if that isnt wacky enough, an exposed structural spine on one side of the building emphasises its anatomical predisposition.

5. Robot Building Bangkok, Thailand

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Bangkok’s retro-looking Robot Building was designed for the Bank of Asia in the mid 80s by Thai architect Sumet Jumsai, who was asked to represent the computerized world of modern banking. The building was completed in 1986, which explains why it looks a lot like the famous 80s movie robot Short Circuit’s Johnny 5 or R2-D2.

Jumsai modelled the Robot Building on one of his sonÕs toy robots. And his idea was to illustrate the successful merger of the human race and technology, challenging the idea that modern technology was remote to mankind. Jumsai explained that making technology a part of our daily lives, a friend, ourselves would help facilitate the inevitable union of mankind and machinery.

Standing just 20 floors high, the Robot Building certainly isn’t as vertically imposing as a lot of the skyscrapers on our list. But it’s unique, iconic, and ridiculously wacky. And the dated-looking robot character is endearing and charming and more Wall-E than Optimus Prime.

In tribute to The Robot Building’s avant-garde iconic goofiness, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art selected Jumsai’s creation as one of the 5 Seminal Buildings of the Century.

4. Chang Building Bangkok, Thailand

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Looming over Bangkok like a giant Lego elephant, the Chang Building is another one of Thai architect Sunet Jumsai’s bizarre creations. Completed in 1997, the Chang Building is a two dimensional, 32-story tribute to Thailand’s national animal. And naturally, since it’s a 335-ft elephant, it’s also one of the most famous and iconic buildings in the country.

Made up of seven sections, the Chang Building is used for both residential and commercial purposes. Onsite features include a luxury suite, a swimming pool, a shopping plaza, a bank and a post office.

Stylistically, the building’s chunky, harsh outline and washed out grey fade are incredibly unattractive. But at the same time, Jumsai’s creation is impressive for its way-out there audacity and the mighty image it projects over the city. And somehow, with the right skyline behind it, there is beauty in its angular rigidity.

3. Nakagin Capsule Tower Tokyo, Japan

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Tokyo’s peculiar Nakagin Capsule Tower looks like an abandoned monochrome Rubik’s Cube. Weird on the outside, and weird on the inside, the building consists of two interconnected towers that house 140 prefabricated compact apartments, or capsules.

Designed by Kisho Kurokawa and completed in 1972, the tiny capsule apartments were originally aimed at Japanese bachelors, and were fitted with the latest modern conveniences such as refrigerators, TVs and even reel-to-reel tape decks. With a bathroom the size of an aircraft lavatory, space was definitely an issue.

Bizarrely, the space pod-looking capsules were fabricated at a factory, shipped to the building site, and then attached to the concrete towers individually. Each capsule is attached separately and can be ÔunpluggedÕ without affecting the others.

Lately, the tower has fallen into disrepair. In 2007, residents complained about the cramped living conditions and raised concerns over the use of asbestos. They voted to demolish the building and replace it with a larger, more spacious and more contemporary tower. However, for now the building still remains standing.

New York Times architectural critic Nicolai Ouroussoff wrote in opposition to the Nakagin Capsule Tower’s scheduled demolition, describing the tower’s importance to the world of modern architecture: its existence also stands as a powerful reminder of paths not taken, of the possibility of worlds shaped by different sets of values.

2. Capital Gate Abu Dhabi

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The Capital Gate skyscraper in Abu Dhabi was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s furthest leaning man-made tower in 2010, and is certainly an impressive sight. Known as The leaning tower of Abu Dhabi, Capital Gate is a 35-story, 520-ft mass of concrete, steel and glass. Most obviously, the building features an 18-degree incline to the west, meaning that it leans out four times as much as the more famous tower in Italy.

We know what you’re thinking. How does it work? Well, to counter the gravitational pressure imposed by such an audacious incline, the building has a pre-cambered core. Essentially, the building uses a core of concrete reinforced with steel, which in this case, has been built slightly off-centre. Capital Gate is also anchored to the ground by 490 piles, drilled 60 to 90-ft underground.

RMJM, the architectural firm behind the eye-gouging skyscraper, must have got Willy Wonka to recommend a good elevator specialist.

1. Sutyagin House Arkhangelsk, Russia

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It looks like something out of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon but Satyagin House, the worldÕs Òtallest wooden house, is 100% real. Well, it used to be. The fascinating building was torn down in 2008 and the remaining four-story structure burned to the ground on May 6, 2012.

The 13-story, 144-foot-tall wooden Frankenstein’s monster was built by eccentric-sounding Russian gangster and entrepeneur Nikolai Petrovich Sutyagin without any formal plans or building permits. Sutyagin, who described the building as the Òeighth wonder of the world, sounds like a real-life Citizen Kane: building his own Xanadu out of wood for 15 years, in an obsessive attempt to outdo his neighbours and the surrounding buildings.

According to reports, the state of the building deteriorated drastically while Sutyagin spent several years in prison on racketeering charges. From the sounds of things, though, the structure was always pretty unstable. Finally, in 2008, housing officials ordered that Satyagin House be destroyed.

And there you have it, our guide to 10 of the world’s wackiest and most out of the blocks thinking skyscrapers. From bizarre animal tributes to space-saving prefabricated capsules and a giant pair of Chinese boxer shorts, the buildings on this list showcase the kind of artistic license, creativity and freedom that has infiltrated modern architecture. The architects and designers on this list are artists in their own right, stamping their own personal touch on skylines around the world.

The experience of College has its ups and down, but look on the bright side: you’re bound to have fun both during your time at College and afterwards.

1. You’re going to put on weight as a freshman

Depending on the set of statistics you believe, you’re likely going to put on between 5-15 pounds in your freshman year.

Often referred to as the “Freshman 15,” the weight gained is said to be due to less physical activity when you start College (vs High School,) a failure to eat breakfast as a result of sleeping in more often, and excessive consumption of food, particularly at all-you-can-eat establishments.

There’s a simple solution to keeping your weight down: watch what you eat and most importantly keep fit with regular exercise.

2. If you binge drink at College you may be happier and more accepted than others

In no way are we advocating under-age or excessive drinking, but it turns out if you do fancy the odd tipple or 6 you may actually be happier and more accepted by others at College.

The study found:

Those who engaged in binge drinking tend to belong to so-called high-status groups: wealthy, white, male and active in fraternity life. And those who did not belong to the high-status groups could achieve similar levels of social acceptance through the act of binge drinking. In fact, the study results suggest that students engaged in the heavy drinking practice to elevate their social status amongst peers rather than to alleviate depression or anxiety.

Binge drinking was defined as consuming more than four drinks in one occasion for women and more than five drinks for men.

3. You’ll likely party less and study harder

Research has found that college freshman are more studious that their counterparts in the past, and are partying less and studying more.

According to USAToday:

More of them took notes in class, did homework and took more demanding coursework as high school seniors, and fewer said they drank alcohol, partied or showed up late for class.

Those and other trends point toward an entering college freshman class that has a better chance of succeeding academically, say researchers who conducted the survey.

Don’t worry too much though: you can always buck the trend!

 4. More people will smoke pot in your freshman year than smoke cigarettes

Not only has pot become legal in two states, marijuana smoking is more popular among High School Seniors now than is cigarette smoking.

According to a survey released in 2012, 36.4% of 12th graders users marijuana in the past year, vs 18.7% in the last month for cigarettes.

According to the CSMonitor:

The reason why marijuana is becoming so popular is that “the perceived risk is down” which creates “the norms against its use to weaken,” says Lloyd Johnson, the survey’s principal investigator at the University of Michigan.

We’re also talking about years of being scared to death by cigarette warnings as well.

5. There will be more women in your freshman year than men

If you’re a male freshman looking for a girlfriend you’re going to have plenty of potential partners as female students outnumber male student on some campuses by a ratio of as high as three-to-one.

The national average is now 57% women, but that doesn’t give a great freshman picture as the number of women undertaking advanced degrees is lower that undergraduate degrees, although is this is changing.

According to a recent projection:

NCES projects that by 2019 women will represent 59 percent of total undergraduate enrollment and 61 percent of total post-baccalaureate enrollment. Since the late 1990s, NCES added, women have accounted for “about three-fourths” of the increase in the number of master’s degrees awarded in the U.S. and “nearly all” of the growth in the number of professional degrees earned.

If you’re a female and freshman the great news is that the your college experience now comes with a whole lot less testosterone.

Can humor adequately describe the experience of College?

Here’s 10 well known humerous quotes about College.

“Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.”

— Mark Twain

“Colleges don’t make fools, they only develop them.”

— George Lorimer

“I’m a philosophy major. That means I can think deep thoughts about being unemployed.”

— Bruce Lee

“Commencement speeches were invented largely in the belief that outgoing college students should never be released into the world until they have been properly sedated.”

— G. B. Trudeau

“I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam; I looked into the soul of the boy next to me.”

— Woody Allen

“If a man is a fool, you don’t train him out of being a fool by sending him to university. You merely turn him into a trained fool, ten times more dangerous.”

— Desmond Bagley

“Colleges don’t make fools, they only develop them.”

— George Lorimer

 

“Of course there’s a lot of knowledge in universities: the freshmen bring a little in; the seniors don’t take much away, so knowledge sort of accumulates.”

— A. Lawrence Lowell

“Economists report that a college education adds many thousands of dollars to a man’s lifetime income—which he then spends sending his son to college.”

— Bill Vaughn

“Definition of a College professor: someone who talks in other people’s sleep.”

— W. H. Auden

 

 

 

Before enrolling in College for the first time American’s get mixed messages about what to expect when they get there: there’s the boozy world of the on-campus fraternities which either lead to comedy or drama, there’s the academics who are either falling in love with their students or undergoing a personal crisis, through to some more serious stories about students finding themselves through study and College sport.

There’s probably tidbits of truth across the broad range of College movies, and here’s ten of the top movies featuring College Life.

10 . A Beautiful Mind 

This 2001 movie staring New Zealand born Russell Crowe tells the story of John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economic.

The movie starts with the brilliant, but delusional Nash arriving at Princeton University having been awarded the Carneige Scholarship for mathematics. As the story continues, it features Nash meeting other students and developing friendships along the way. Through his struggles with his growing paranoid schizophrenia, Nash develops his ideas, and is offered a position at MIT.

Without giving away the full story, the movie (which also starred Ed Harris) went on to win the Academy Awards Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress. It was also nominated for Best Actor, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup, and Best Original Score.

It’s a serious movie on a serious subject; not for everyone but a fascinating and moving story none the less.

 

9. Revenge of the Nerds

This 1984 comedy in centered on the social life of a College campus in an old fashioned tale of jocks vs nerds.

Starring Robert Carradine and Anthony Edwards (of ER fame) the movie pits the jocks Alpha Betas and their associated sorority Pi Delta Pis against the freshman dorm that features our so-titled nerds.

The movie progresses with the Nerds seeking their revenge in various different ways.

It hasn’t dated particularly well but still offers some laughs, if you can look past the Hollywood stereotypes portrayed in the film.

 

 

8. Road Trip

Todd Pihillip’s 2000 comedy features a rather unexciting cast (the only names I recognize are Sean William Scott and Tom Green) but has become a cult classic at some colleges.

The movie follows a group of college buddies driving across the country trying to beat the postal service.

Josh (Breckin Meyer) recorded a message to his girlfriend Tiffany (Rachel Blanchard) who attends a different college across the country because he hadn’t heard from her in awhile. Because he’s a touch paranoid he naturally convinces himself that Tiffany has been cheating and hooks up with Beth (Amy Smart) who tapes their bedroom antics.  The sex tape then “accidentally” gets mailed instead of the intended video. This opens the door to the Road Trip of the films title as Josh heads of with his friends and ends up experiencing a range of mishaps and adventures.

 

7. Legally Blonde

2001′s Legally Blonde made $141.77 million at the box office on an $18 million budget, and there’s a reason why.

The movie features Reese Witherspoon playing Elle Woods, a high school sorority president who majors in fashion merchandising and is hopelessly in love with her boyfriend Warner, who is off the Harvard Law School the following year.

After concluding that she might lose him if she doesn’t follow him, she takes the Law School Admission Test, applies and is accepted to Harvard.

The story follows her experiences as she encounters hostility from her classmates and develops as a person before an ending we won’t spoil for you here.

It’s a feel good movie that has spawned a sequel and even a Broadway Musical!

 

6. Back to School

No list of College movies would be complete without throwing in at least one Rodney Dangerfield classic, and we’ve gone with 1986′s Back to School.

The plot is summed up from IMDB as “To help his discouraged son get through college, a fun loving and obnoxious rich businessman decides to enter the school as a student himself” but that doesn’t do it full justice.

This is a Dangerfield movie after all, so you need to add in some stupidity, crude jokes, puns, wink winks and some more on top… it sounds bad and a modern movie couldn’t get away with it but this is the master, America’s (slightly cleaner) version of Benny Hill. You’ll either love him or hate him, but he was good at what he did.

Also featured in Back to School is a young Robert Downey Jr.

 

5. Old School

2003′s Old School isn’t strictly a “College” movie as the plot features around ex students trying to recreate their College days, but it features enough College related material we’ve thrown it in.

Staring Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn and Jeremy Piven as depressed thirty-somethings who seek to re-live their college days by starting a fraternity, and the tribulations they encounter in doing so.

The movie (like most Will Ferrell movies) you’ll either love or hate, but the all star cast does give it that something special. Ideal for both College students and former College students alike who loved/ love their College days.

 

4. Dead Poets Society

Peter Weir’s 1989 movie Dead Poet’s society bought us the inspirational story of an English teacher who inspires his students through the teaching of poetry.

Starring Robin Williams as teacher John Keating, and with a supporting cast of Robert Sean Leonard and Ethan Hawke, the movie takes the viewer through the world of the conservative and aristocratic Welton Academy in Vermont in 1959.

The movie inspires even years later, and is arguably Robin Williams’ best role on the big screen.

The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, Best Direct, Best Actor, and Best Picture, but sadly only picked up Original Screenplay against strong competition.

On a budget of $16.4 million it made $235.86 million at the box office.

 

3. National Lampoon’s Van Wilder

2002′s National Lampoon’s Van Wilder (know simply as Van Wilder in some markets) is a comedy film starring a rather interesting cast: interesting in that some went on to much bigger and better things…while others didn’t.

The movie started Ryan Reynolds, Tara Reid, Kal Penn and Tim Matheson, and tells the story of a popular kid on campus who meets a beautiful journalist who makes him realize that maybe he’s afraid of graduating.

In traditional National Lampoon style the movie is rich with disgusting pranks, back love story, sex and more. There’s also a sub-plot around Kal Penn which adds a different dimension to the film.

Not for everyone, but it has an audience, and has its moments.

 

2. The Social Network

The only movie from this decade to be featured in our list, 2010′s the Social Network delivered an amazing film that while not spending its entire time focused on College life, did highlight college life for its opening half.

The movie tells the story of the rise of Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook.

Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) is at Harvard University when he creates an on-campus website called Facemash, a site that allows users to rate the attractiveness of female students.

If you haven’t seen it yet I won’t spoil it, but you’d be living in a cave if you didn’t know how successful Facebook ended up.

There are stand out performances by Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake and Rooney Mara. Unlike our number one pick this is a movie I’ve watched half a dozen times, and if you haven’t seen it yet I can’t recommend it enough.

 

1. Animal House

1978′s Animal House isn’t my personal pick, but it constantly rates across dozens of sites as the greatest College life movie ever.

The John Landis directed movie stared the late great John Belushi as John “Bluto” Blutarsky and focuses on the actor’s desire to join a fraternity, and their battles once they do.

Animal House has been selected for preservation in the National Film Registry, was voted No. 1 on Bravo’s “100 Funniest Movies” and was ranked 36 on the AFI’s “100 years, 100 laughs” list. It has also been named on Empire Magazines top 500 movies of all time.

It cost all of $3 million to make, and made a staggering $141.6 million at the box office.

 

Being a student is rarely easy, but thanks to advances in technology, it’s a little easier than before. What follows is a list of 5 iPhone apps essential for the everyday life of a college student:

Students can easily become stressed out when every all of their personal and academic obligations begin to pile up. However, iHomework can assist in relieving that stress for only $1.99. Acting as both a personal and academic agenda, this app allows users to upload the due dates of individual assignments as well as schedule any upcoming tests. Students can even upload their grades to a specific assignment in order to allow the app help determine his or her final grade. Users can also input their class schedules along with reminders to help eliminate chances of tardiness, as well as send them to classmates to keep friends from missing class.

For the punctual and organized note-taker, EverNote is a must have iPhone app. With this handy program, students can take down both text and audio notes, create to-do lists, and even capture photos to help aid in the learning process, all of which can be synced to personal computers and other devices and even shared with others.

When it comes to taking tests, the old methods are still just as good. Flashcards+, an app designed at Harvard University, utilizes the age-old method of using flashcards by bringing it into the 21st century. This app allows the user to create digital flashcards to flip through, sync online and with other devices, and share with fellow classmates. With a simple shake of the hand, the flashcards are shuffled and study time is optimized. Furthermore, there is also an option to ‘check’ the more difficult cards in order to better drill the tough ones into the user’s memory. Users can also scroll through millions of premade decks. All for the low cost of $0, this is a must have for any test taking student.

For many college students, personal finance is just as important, if not more important, than academics. Luckily, MoneyWiz allows students to place control of their budgets in the palm of their hands. For $4.99, users can create multitudes of accounts from checking accounts to what’s in the user’s wallet. Bank account statements can be uploaded to this app through OFX, QFX, and QIF files, and anytime a transaction occurs, users can plug in the necessary information. There is also an option that allows users to create a personalized budget which the app will keep track of, as well as warn users when certain bills and payments are approaching.

Adding on to the subject of personal finance, being a college student is not often synonymous with having cash to spend, which makes Groupon an essential app to have. Free to download, users can use this app to find and purchase local deals on food, events, fitness training, and other goods ranging anywhere from 50-90% off, all from the comfort of the iPhone.