5 Pieces of Advice From 2017’s Best Commencement Speakers

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It’s that time of year again. Thousands of students will line the lengths of bleachers across America—donning drapey gowns and a full head of hat hair—and wait patiently to commence the next phase of their young-adult lives. But before that, they’ll bear witness to some of the most notable academic, political and pop-culture figures of the Twenty-First Century speak on adulting, some of which will give some pretty darn good advice.

If you’re graduating this year, or if you’re just wondering what you’re doing here and could use a good pep talk, be sure to check out some of our favorite advice straight from the mouths of this year’s best commencement speakers.

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13 Best Kept Freshman Secrets at Texas A&M

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Heading off to college is both a new and exciting experience! New territory means learning new things, which is great, but you don’t know, what you don’t know, right? For all incoming Texas A&M students here is a list of random, but important, things you should know that will help make the next four, or five, (or six) years of your life a little easier.

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Why Preleasing Will Change Your Student Rental Game

pexels-photo-71159 (1)Why do some landlords prelease? To ward off the possibility of vacancies, of course. There’s nothing worse for a landlord than a unit sitting vacant—each month that goes by is a month’s worth of rent metaphorically thrown in the trash. It’s for this reason that preleasing can act as an insurance policy for landlords; one that ensures you won’t be missing out on any potential revenue. But are there other advantages?

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7 Things For OSU Students To Do This Summer In Columbus

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Classes, exams, reports, your entire school year is filled with academic responsibilities. On the flipside, it’s also filled with friends, countless parties, and endless activities. While you try to manage your busy life, it always seems like the school year is a super busy time. That’s where summer break comes in for the win every year. Staying in Columbus? Maybe your lease isn’t up, you got a job, or you simply want to stay in the city until next semester. When summer hits, school is over, and a majority of your friends are headed back home for the summer. So now what? That busy schedule of yours has drastically decreased. But that’s totally fine because you finally get to relax, and catch up on your latest Netflix binge, but you need ‘summer’ things to do. Don’t worry because we’ve got you covered, here are few things for you to do in Columbus this summer!

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The Real Stories Behind the Indiana University Squirrels

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If you go to Indiana University you probably know that squirrels are kind of a big deal on campus, and if you don’t know, now you know. What you probably didn’t know is that these squirrels are just like us. They have lives, hobbies, and interests too. So next time you’re on campus or around IU apartments, and you see one of these squirrels, stop and get to know them.

If you aren’t a follower of @squirrel_of_iu on Insta, we suggest you start!

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14 Things You Need To Do Before Graduating From Syracuse University

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College is a time that you’re going to remember for the rest of your life, and you’ll be creating some of the best memories that you’ll hold onto for a lifetime. It’s the last stop before you really have to “adult.” Every college campus is unique, and each has their own traditions. We’ve created a list of 15 different things that every college student attending Syracuse University needs to do before they graduate! So what are you waiting for? Get going on this list of absolute must-dos in Syracuse.

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20 Most Outrageous College Mascots

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Colleges around the nation are home to some of the most loved characters who help lead their team to victory! Mascots are a symbol of school spirit to help rev up the crowd, inspire fans, and intimidate the opposing team. However, some mascots just don’t quite live up to those expectations. We understand that with so many different teams and colleges that coming up with a unique mascot name cannot be the easiest task. After taking a deeper look into what mascots exist, we’re shaking our heads at these characters. In no particular order, here’s our list for some of the most outrageous college mascots.

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Top 20 Universities to Attend if you Want to Land a Job in Social Media

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You Tweet at your favorite celebrities. You “like” your favorite artists and restaurants and you “like” that your friend posted a brand new selfie on Facebook. You’re constantly Snapchatting throughout the day making sure you look oh so adorable in the infamous puppy filter. Ever consider taking your social media obsession and turning it into your dream job?

On average, as reported by CNN, Americans spends over ten hours a day looking at a screen, consuming media. That time is divided between cellphone use, computers, video games, and TV. Of that time, it is projected that the average person between the ages of 18-64 spends 3.5 hours a day on social media, where as teens nowadays spend up to nine hours a day on their favored social media platforms, according to Social Media Today.

Taking data from LinkedIn, Rent College Pads put together a list of universities you should attend if you want to land a job in the social media world. Listed below are the number of employees that work for Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter that graduated from that particular university, as well as, what that university is most known for!

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5 Things K-State Students Love About Aggieville

 

Varneys, the local university bookstore in downtown manhattan, at sunset.

Varney’s in Downtown Manhattan at sunset.

Whether you live in Manhattan, Kansas or you’re just in town to cheer on the Wildcats, Aggieville is THE place to be if you find yourself in an apartments near Manhattan, KS .

So how did Aggieville come to be? Well, here’s a little history lesson for you. Back in the day, Aggieville didn’t quite look like the way it does now. In the 1800’s, dirt roads paved the way to Kansas State University, and the town was nothing more than a few fields and some houses scattered about. Seeing that cars weren’t invented, yet alone even an idea, a major inconvenience to students was having to take a buggy ride downtown to the bookstore. It was for this reason that in 1899, a group of students opened Varney’s Book Store on Moro Street, which paved the foundation of Aggieville.

Fast-forward 128 years and, today, Aggieville is a thriving shopping and entertainment district geared towards Kansas State students. Here are the top five things K-State students love about Aggieville.

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20 College Towns Where Rent Has Blown Up Since 2010
The University of Illinois, where trees and parking are plentiful and housing is not. (Flickr)

The University of Illinois, where trees and parking are plentiful and housing is not. (Flickr)

There will always be construction; it’s one of those things in life that’s inevitable. Maybe the road you most frequently travel on to get to class has been torn up for the past year and is just about to finish, and you’re getting hopeful that finally—FINALLY—your commute will be a little less painstaking. We hate to break it to you, but the week that project finishes, another one is going to crop up on this same route. That’s the nature of public works—some things are always happening.

Rent is the same way; it’s always going to go up. Inflation—that thing your grandparents can never fully understand—is an unrelenting force that seems to push rental rates up across the country, basically every year.

We analyzed data pulled from the U.S. American Community Survey, done by the Census Bureau, and zeroed in on 200 cities that are home to universities across the country. We found that the cost of rent increased from 2010 to 2015 at all but eight of them. Oof.

Why do rents go up? You can blame the law of supply and demand for that. A lack of rental housing (low vacancy rates), an increase in enrollment, a shortage of dorm rooms and inadequate new off-campus housing development means more students searching and not enough places to go around. This results in a market whose scale is heavily weighted in favor of landlords looking to collect rent.

At some campuses, there are enough luxury apartments to house virtually every student who’s looking to live off-campus. At others? The situation is much bleaker. From the survey data, we looked at the 20 campuses that have seen the biggest increases in rent over the past five years and assessed whether or not there’s a reason for students to be hopeful that rents would be dropping anytime soon.

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