Category Archives: Guest Posts

Guest Posts, test prep

3 Truths of Raising your SAT Score

….and In Defense of Distracted Students.

Over my 10 years as a teacher, I’ve taught nearly every age group. Above all, I have the most sympathy for the challenges of my teenage students. Teenagers’ reputations of being impulsive, difficult, and outright defiant are well-deserved. If you are trying to push your teen toward an improved SAT score and better college opportunities it can be frustrating.

That’s why I developed SAT Habit, a personalized SAT Prep service, designed for families without the time for or access to high-end professional tutoring. Here are the top challenges I think all parents need to think about when considering test prep:

1. Raising SAT Scores requires students to understand where they are starting from and the benefits of a higher score

Before students can raise their SAT scores they have to make an honest commitment to do the work involved. The distractions of teenage life are irresistible without the student making a commitment.

The best way to motivate students to prep is show them where they would currently score and the benefits of raising that score. While this doesn’t work for everyone, it’s a necessary first step. SAT Habit shows students where they currently stand in less than 30 minutes per section (compared to traditional practice tests, which are over three and a half hours in total).

With a baseline score, families can understand the impact of raising that score and decide to re-focus student time from other activities.

2. It’s too easy for students to do SAT “practice” or attend a class without ever improving their      scores.

sathabitThere’s a school of thought that the best way to improve on the SAT is to simply do lots of problems until you get them all right. This approach works for some, but most have to do thousands of problems before they see dramatic improvement: that’s hours a day that students and families don’t have.

They key to improving faster is mindful reflection. Students have to be able to explain to themselves why got they a question wrong. This is basically the entirety of what I do with students as a professional tutor. I find their weak areas and push them to reflect on why they are getting questions wrong. Then we work together on knowledge gaps and improvement strategies.

SAT Habit pin-points weak areas faster than I can as a human and is the only prep service that forces students to reflect on why they get questions wrong and follows it up with strategies to get each question correct.

3. It’s impossible to stick with it if you can’t see results

While making the initial commitment to test prep is tough for most students, sticking with it can be even harder. Traditional test prep either forces students to take multi-hour, full-length practice tests or relies on a tutor’s assurances that students are getting better.

Technology allows students instant feedback on nearly every aspect of a their lives. That’s why we built SAT Habit’s algorithms to show students in real time how their scores are changing based on their practice results. A study conducted at MIT found that the average student raises his or her score by 100 points on SAT Habit in just seven study sessions.

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This guest post is from Tom Rose, Co-founder of SAT Habit 
and a professional test prep tutor since 2007.
dorm life, Guest Posts, parenting

Adjusting to dorm life

 

Guys & gal in dorm

Seniors are gearing up toward graduating and heading off to college. Begin talking with your student about dorm life and how to get along with roommates. Today’s guest post addresses that topic.

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It’s a fairly common complaint for parents to hear: “I can’t live with this person anymore!” Whether your young student was assigned a roommate by the school or chose to bunk with a friend, the pressures of sharing a small space in a dorm room can try any relationship. Many students end up seeking alternative arrangements or moving off-campus during the semester break.

Fortunately, if the problems stem largely from disagreements about lifestyle and clutter in the room, there is probably a solution. Building consensus about expectations for visitors, behavior, and cleanliness is an important step for any college student and will benefit them in cohabitation situations later in life. What your student decides to pack and their own level of organization will play a big role in their interaction with future and current roommates.

To help your college student adapt to living in a dorm space with a roommate (and some of these tips apply to those who live alone), follow these guidelines:

Be a Minimalist

For many young people, their first opportunity to live away from their parents’ watchful eyes is college. It may also be their first chance to decorate and design their living quarters as they please.

There’s a temptation to purchase new furniture, flat screen TVs, and other luxuries that will match the standard of living they’ve perhaps become accustomed to at mom and dad’s house. As a parent, do your best to discourage this.

The dorm is a place to sleep and to study. The more that your child is active in other aspects of campus life, participating in clubs and athletics, the better overall experience they’ll take away from their college years. By decking out a dorm room, they’ll not only be likely to waste idle time, but they’ll also add to the ‘stuff’ that can quickly pile up in a small space.

Identify Personal and Shared Space

Although a roommate who complains about dirty clothes on their roommate’s bed may be met with rolled eyes, those same dirty clothes on the shared sofa are a legitimate concern. Encourage your student to talk with their roommate and decide what parts of the room are mutual space, and which are solely their own. This will aid in creating understanding about the environment in which both people want to live.

Foster an Effective Workspace

Apart from the bed and the ability to get a good night’s sleep, your student’s desk is the most important piece of furniture in their room. Away from class and the library, this is where their learning takes place. It’s important that they begin their life as a student with a desk environment that’s conducive to studies. Eliminating clutter from the desk space can be difficult in a tiny dorm, but these tips will help create a workplace where visionary thinking can occur.

  • Use a bulletin board to get notes and papers off of the desk surface. Keep a calendar on it with classes, deadlines, and activities.
  • Invest in a few drawer organizers to keep scissors, pens, staplers, etc…out of sight but easily accessible.
  • Consider a wireless Bluetooth speaker, doing away with cords draped across the desk.
  • Clip lamps are great for dorm rooms, clearing up shelf, desk, and floor space.

Clean Out That Closet

Students don’t need to bring their entire wardrobe to college. Think of it this way — every semester is an opportunity to debut a whole new side of your style. Bring enough clothes for a week or two of wear, with the knowledge that you can always switch out outfits during trips home.

In addition, to make use of tight closet space, utilize strong wire hangers that don’t require as much space on the rod. A hanging shoe rack can get shoes off the ground, and hooks inside the closet can get jewelry and belts out of the way.

Hang It

When living in a tight space, hooks and hangers can go a long way to maximize a room’s cubic footage. From bicycles to sporting equipment, hooks on the ceiling or near the top of the wall can get equipment off the ground and out of the way.

Talk It Out

Apart from the obvious issues that arise over clutter and sharing a small space, a roommate who brings unwanted visitors or plays music and leaves lights on late at night can also cause tension. Encourage your college student to discuss their expectations with a roommate early in the relationship (but it’s never too late).

Come to agreement about guest rules — how many, and how often? What time do you each need to go to bed? Decide on ground rules and limits on music and curfew, even if it varies each day of the week depending on class schedules.

Ultimately, dorm life can be one of the most memorable and rewarding experiences of a young person’s life. Encourage your student to be open to different outlooks than their own from potential roommates, but also help them to organize their own belongings and clearly state their own desires about the living situation.

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After an internship with a marketing company changed her passion from computer science, Jessica Johnson obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing. Now Marketing Director for Extra Space Storage, Jessica oversees all of the company’s social media profiles and is in charge of all brand marketing efforts. 

admissions, college guidance, college planning, Guest Posts, test prep, websites

Compare Colleges side-by-side with FindTheBest.com

Whether you are eagerly awaiting those acceptance letters or are still applying (or both), the fact remains that you need to pick the best school you can go to, and you need to find out which particular college that is.

FindTheBest is an unbiased, data driven comparison engine that allows students and parents to look at schools. Researching colleges and universities becomes so much simpler with filtered options such as location, tuition, average SAT score, size, religious affiliation and other important factors. And once those acceptance letters start rolling in, students can create custom comparison lists to see the differences between each school side-by-side.

Parents should also look into college scholarships, fellowships, and grants to mitigate the financial burden that arrives when a child is sent off to college, and students should look into them to shorten the years that it will take to repay student loans.  FindTheBest also has a comprehensive list and information including enrollment level, minimum GPA, gender and background specificity, and scholarships to particular schools.

If your student is still a junior in high school, then the SAT and ACT test prep class comparison tool will help you get that high composite score that colleges love to see. Test prep classes run all year-round, but the best times to take the tests are in the spring.

The college application process is fundamentally imperative to the success of a student’s academic career.  These tools were developed with that in mind, and all of them are completely at your disposal to use in navigating the college maze.

 

file storage, Guest Posts, online learning

Cloud storage for your student

shutterstock_97246499January is the month to start those college preparations for your seniors who are looking towards college in the fall. While you are waiting for those all-important college acceptance notifications, you can use the time to make some early preparations. Part of the college preparation process involves technology: laptops, iPads, smartphones, and cloud storage.

We all hear how technology is changing the very nature of how we do business. New devices and applications are making file transfer and communication more efficient at a very rapid pace. Business environments are relying more and more on digitized methods, so much so that many are even prioritizing Internet security through companies like Share File. But what we don’t hear as much about, is how technological developments can benefit people outside of the world of business, and primarily, students.

Of course, to some extent the benefits of technology for students are clear – every student can make use of a laptop, tablet, smart phone, etc. However, there are some newer developments that you may be very interested in exploring as a parent. For example, consider cloud storage systems, which have been implemented on a broad basis and can make your student’s life easier, and his or her work more secure.

These days, an enormous percentage of work in college environments is done electronically. Simply put, it is quicker to type a paper and save it on a computer than to write one and file it away physically. But, this same convenience also exposes students’ work to a number of potential vulnerabilities. Here are a few that just about every student has experienced at one time or another:

    • Loss – If a student saves a paper on an external hard drive, a USB drive, or even a computer itself, and then loses that object, the paper is simply gone. Professors are often somewhat intolerant of these sorts of issues, and lost content is usually beyond recovery, which means this can be a disastrous problem on multiple levels.
    • Damage – Similarly, if any electronic system on which a student has saved data, a paper, notes, etc. were to be damaged, that content may simply be inaccessible. This can be a major setback in your student’s studies.
    • Malfunction – Finally, the devices on which students traditionally save their work can also be prone to random malfunctions. If a student’s computer freezes just before he or she planned on printing out or sending a paper, there is serious risk that the assignment will end up being late!

For most students, these problems are uncommon. However, the do occur, at some point, for just about everyone, and the consequences can be extremely unfortunate. Cloud storage technology, however, solves each of the potential problems listed previously, by providing students with an external, digital storage source that can be accessed from just about anywhere.

With a cloud storage system, students can save notes, papers, research, and other files to their cloud, and then access it from a variety of devices – laptops, smart phones, school desktops, etc. This means that if a single device fails, the student’s files are still safe and accessible via the cloud. And, given the increasing use of technology in school work, this is extremely valuable to the modern student.

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Today’s guest post contribution was from Jason Saunders, a blogger and freelance writer. He contributes to a number of sites on topics relating to technology and its impact on the world of business.

college guidance, college majors, Guest Posts

Is your student artistically inclined?

Finding the perfect career path is sometimes difficult. There are varied options available for pursuing careers that encourage your student’s creativity. If your student loves to cook, can draw really well or design games, these are all wonderful careers to be pursued that might “fit” outside of the box of higher education. Traditional college is not always the best choice for this type of student. The key to finding the right educational path is a) knowing their interests and b) finding the best educational path to take for their specific area of interest.

The culinary arts have become more appealing for high school graduates. There are numerous schools that provide the technical training to pursue a career as a chef. As you would imagine, the culinary arts are not just about cooking—they encompass all forms of creativity using edible ingredients. There are multiple job opportunities for a graduate of culinary arts: restaurant chef, pastry chef, personal chef, caterer, food stylist, nutritionist, and even cooking school instructor.

Another area of artistic talent would be in the photography field. This is an excellent career choice for students who enjoy shooting photos and learning ways of editing and developing. The industry is leaning toward more creative natural photo shoots outdoors as opposed to studio sittings. This helps to capture the personality of the subject. Community colleges, universities and even technical schools can help your student learn editing techniques and lighting: two important items that need to be perfected for successful photographers.

Many students have the mental aptitude and programming skills to design video games and/or apps. Check into game design colleges and discover the many areas of career pursuits in this field. Has your student ever had an idea for a game that would make it even better than it is now? Higher education can provide the necessary tools your student needs to pursue this type of career.

If your student has artistic talent, there is a good chance they will be able to turn that into a career. Remember to “think outside the box” with these type of career goals. The traditional 4-year college route might not be necessary. There are many technical schools, online colleges, and community colleges that offer 2-year degree plans with job placement opportunities. The key is to invest that college money properly so that your student will find a job that fosters their creativity while paying the bills

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Today’s guest post was contributed by Amanda Green, a freelance writer who normally writes on the topics of education, business, and personal finance. Amanda has been writing for multiple years on the web and enjoys writing on less serious topics like pets and crafting in her spare time! You can read more writing by Amanda at paidtwice.com

college planning, Guest Posts, Uncategorized

Six Simple Steps to Prepare for College

The competition for college acceptance has never been tougher, which is why preparing early for your college education can help you position yourself to get into the college you want.  High school graduation may seem like it is ages away, but now is the time to start preparing for college.   Getting ready for college means planning for the future and making some very important decisions early—we advise following these six steps below to maximize your chances of getting into the best college possible.

1) Visit a College Counselor as Early as 9th Grade

Students should begin visiting a college counselor as early as 9th grade. Visit your school’s college counselor early and often to assist with SAT prep, college choices, college applications and letters of reference at no additional cost.

2) Do Your Research to Find a Great Match

Finding a college that compliments your educational goals, personality and learning style takes time and effort. Start by making a list of what criteria your perfect school would have. From that list, focus on the schools that meet your needs with regard to location, size, character and degree programs.  I highly recommend the various college searching tools available at Student.CollegeBoard.org

3) Visit at Least 6 College Campuses

It is recommended that you visit at least six campuses before senior year begins and applications start going out.  Once you have edited down your list of potential schools, schedule an appointment to visit each campus. Also, make sure to check out the schools’ social media sites to get the inside scoop before you visit.

4) Explore Financial Aid, Scholarships, and Total School Costs

Many students find it helpful to prepare an excel spreadsheet to manage information on colleges’ costs, financial aid program and scholarship offerings.

Review national lists of scholarships, awards and grants for college. BigFuture.com is one of many great resources for finding scholarships and awards.

5) Line up Your References Before Junior Year Ends

Get to know teachers and administrators, who can provide valuable letters of reference to accompany your college applications.  Get involved in extracurricular activities, such as leadership and service opportunities, to build strong relationships.

Allow enough time to show them why you are worthy of their endorsement and provide ample notice, at least four weeks, for them to write the letter. Send a thank you note after you receive your letter to show your appreciation.

6) Take the SAT Exam Seriously

Preparing for the SAT should start well before you even book the date of the exam.  The test draws on information learned during the school year, so make sure you do well in class, working with a tutor as necessary.

Lastly, strong consideration should be given to the type of high school you attend, for not all high schools are created equal.  Many colleges will take into account the academic structure and relative rigor of your high school, so attending a respected boarding school or private high school could provide several advantages as well.  But, regardless of what high school you attend, the single most important advice I can give you is to start early—getting into the college of your dreams will make all this preparation worth the hard work.

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Today’s guest post was contributed by Amanda Green, a freelance writer who normally writes on the topics of education, business, and personal finance. Amanda has been writing for multiple years on the web and enjoys writing on less serious topics like pets and crafting in her spare time! You can read more writing by Amanda at paidtwice.com

Guest Posts, parenting, tutoring

4 Do’s and Don’ts for your struggling student

High school is a balancing act, and students are often doing so much – and sleeping so little – that their grades or test scores may fall by the wayside. As parents, there are actions you can take to help when your student’s grades are dropping, and a few actions that won’t help at all.

What Won’t Help

Do the student’s homework for them.  It may be harder to give a student suggestions and guidance for an essay than to walk them through every sentence. But when they’re fed the answers, students aren’t learning. They’ll learn more by coming up with a wrong answer on their own than by you simply providing the right one.

Ignore your student.  They may want to be left alone, but poor grades are often an indicator of deeper problems. You can have a conversation with your student about their grades while still respecting their privacy.

Go behind their back to the teacher. It may be tempting to blame a teacher for a student’s bad grades. A high schooler, however, should be learning to take ownership of their class performance and communicate with the teacher themselves.

Berate them for poor time management or lack of study skills. It’s one thing to point out that your student spends more time with friends than with books. It’s another to make them feel like all their choices are poor ones. Constant haranguing risks lowering a student’s self-confidence, which could make academic performance even worse.

What Will Help

Get the whole story. Listen if they explain why their grades fell, and don’t automatically accuse them of making excuses. Many factors in a high schooler’s life could be contributing to poor grades or test scores; bad decisions are often a factor, but it’s rarely as simple as laziness.

Help the student set small, specific goals. A few math problems a night or an outline for an essay are manageable steps. Although you should keep holding your student to a high standard, any progress can be noted and praised.

Communicate regularly with your student (and teachers, if necessary). Ask your student what you can do to help. Attend parent-teacher conferences and ask teachers what they recommend – and encourage your student to keep an open dialogue with their teacher.

Make the student take responsibility. If they fail to meet their goals, hold them accountable. Trust them – and make it clear that you trust them – to do their work on time and bring up their own grade. Remember, they’ll need to be accountable and responsible in college. They might as well start now!

Students need to know that you’re their cheerleader and advocate, especially if they’re struggling in school. It can be tough to bring up a low grade or redeem a failed test, but by working together, you can do it and learn something in the process.

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Today’s guest post is from Amy. Amy edits and writes for the University Language Services blog, a resource for students from college application to graduation and beyond. 

college guidance, college planning, essays, Guest Posts

10 Tips to write more competitive college application essays

 

With college admissions season in full swing, students nationwide are beginning to prepare their applications. While many of the academic elements like GPA, class rank and SAT score are set, one part of the application that students still exercise control over are the essays. To help students write competitive essays that will help get them noticed by admissions officers, Veritas Prep, the largest global provider of test prep and admissions consulting services, teamed up with Application Boot Camp®, America’s top college consulting firm, to offer ten tips students should follow as they draft their college application essays:

  1. DO think of your essays as a collection – use each to explore a different layer of who you are and how you would enhance the student body.
  2. DON’T discuss politics or religion, unless you’re coming from an academic perspective – the essays are not the place to take a stand on a personal issue.
  3. DO show, DON’T tell – think hard before you overuse adjectives and adverbs; clearly communicate your strengths without using extraneous language.
  4. DON’T focus on what you want to do, but rather on what you have already done – how have you gone above and beyond? What is your scholarly niche?
  5. DO use an opening hook – start your college essay with something that will capture the admission officer’s attention and show why you stand out.
  6. DON’T be a generalist, be a specialist – colleges and universities aren’t looking for well rounded students, they are looking for a well rounded student body. Show them where you stand out and how you complement the mix they are going for.
  7. DO use details – unsubstantiated statements are quickly dismissed, so be sure to use supporting details to illustrate and elaborate on what you are saying.
  8. DON’T use “SAT words” – admissions officers are unimpressed by those trying to show off their vocabulary, they much prefer clear, concise essays.
  9. DO write “Why Paragraphs” – while they are not required, they are an excellent opportunity to show what you’ll bring and why you belong at a given school.
  10. DON’T use clichés – clichés are the quickest way to come across as inauthentic and unexceptional.

“Each year admission at the top colleges and universities becomes more and more competitive and students need to maximize their applications to highlight the qualities and characteristics that admissions officers are looking for,” said Dr. Michele Hernández, former assistant director of admissions at Dartmouth College and one of the nation’s most sought after private admissions counselors. “Essays are the best way to become a 3D applicant, adding another dimension to what otherwise would be a profile made up of grades, activities and test scores, which are only part of the story. In their essays, students have an opportunity to jump off the page and showcase who they are as an applicant and a person.”

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Nearly a decade ago, Dr. Hernández and award winning author and parenting expert Mimi Doe co-founded Application Boot Camp®, a four-day workshop that provides students with step-by-step advice on their college applications. Recently they partnered with Veritas Prep to launch Application Boot Camp® On Demand, which captures the same guidance and advice from the $14,000 in-person workshop and makes it available as an interactive, online program for only $750.

In addition to twelve self-paced sessions led by Dr. Hernández and Ms. Doe, the program features a library of quizzes and interactive exercises. To learn more about Application Boot Camp® On Demand and Veritas Prep, visit http://www.veritasprep.com/sat/college-application-boot-camp/.

About Veritas Prep
Veritas Prep is the world’s largest provider of test prep and admissions consulting services. It offers industry-leading programs to help applicants improve standardized test scores and gain admission to the world’s most selective universities. Founded in 2002 by graduates of the Yale School of Management, Veritas Prep offers its live classroom GMAT prep course in more than 90 cities worldwide and as an interactive online course available to students everywhere. Its Veritas Prep SAT 2400 course is available as a classroom course, live online, on demand or in private tutoring sessions and features the only zero risk, money back guarantee in the industry. In addition, Veritas Prep offers admissions consulting services for applicants seeking entry into competitive business schools, law schools, medical schools and other graduate programs. For more information, visit veritasprep.com.

Guest Posts, test prep

SAT Prep Crunch Time: Veritas Prep Outlines 5 Things Students Can Do Now to Boost Their SAT Score

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Veritas Prep (www.veritasprep.com) recently released a list of five things students can do now to boost their chances at a higher score. The SAT is offered seven times annually in the United States – six times internationally. The tips outlined benefit students who may not feel adequately prepared and are doing what they can in the final weeks before the exam to improve their performance, as well as provide an extra edge to those who have spent the summer studying or taking an SAT course.

To help students get ready for test day, Veritas Prep recommends the following:

1) Be Prepared to Write a Longer SAT Essay
An MIT study found that longer SAT essays receive higher scores, so unlike what your high school English teacher may have told you, on the SAT quantity is just as important as quality. SAT essay readers have hundreds of essays to read and can only spend a few moments reviewing each one, so because the logic is that smarter students have more to say, essay readers discriminate against short essays. To improve your score on the SAT essay, make sure you practice filling up two full notebook pages in 25 minutes before test day.

2) Research Two Literary Works, Two Historical Examples and Two Current Events in Advance
Although writing full two pages for the SAT essay will take you far, if you want to maximize your essay score potential, you’ll need to fill those pages with scholarly examples. If you don’t think you can come up with solid academic examples in 25 minutes on test day, don’t worry. You can actually plan out what examples you will use in your essay right now. This works because SAT essay topics are extremely broad. They won’t ask you about specific material such as the Declaration of Independence or the Watergate scandal; instead, SAT test writers must offer topics that are very general so that every student is able to write about the topic. Use this to your advantage by researching examples that are applicable to multiple themes in advance.

3) Stop Using Algebra
Have you ever been given a multiple-choice exam in a high school algebra class? Chances are, probably not. That’s because you could just plug in the potential solutions into the original algebra equation and see which one works. Well, guess what? That’s exactly how the SAT is setup. This enables you to practice a powerful strategy we use at Veritas Prep called Plug In Numbers. If there are variables in the question and numbers in the answer choices, plug the potential options into the original equation and see which one works. For students that might struggle with time management during the Mathematics section, this can ensure you complete the questions in time.

4) Don’t Make Assumptions on SAT Reading
The biggest mistake students make on the SAT Reading section is that they make assumptions rather than inferences. What’s the difference between an assumption and inference? An assumption is a conjecture that is not based on textual evidence, whereas an inference is a conjecture that is based on textual evidence. Every correct answer on the SAT Reading section is based on textual evidence from the passage. So get in the habit of not making any assumptions, both when you read and even in real life.

5) Learn the 15 Writing Rules Tested on the SAT
Did you know that there are only 15 grammar rules you need to know to successfully answer every Improving Sentences and Identifying Sentence Errors question on the SAT correctly? Most students miss this huge opportunity to cut down on their study time. They go into the SAT thinking that any one of a hundred different grammar errors could pop up at them during the Writing Multiple-Choice section and doom their SAT score. Don’t let this be you! Make sure to check out Veritas Prep to learn the 15 SAT Writing Rules you must know.

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About Veritas Prep
Veritas Prep is the world’s largest provider of test prep and admissions consulting services. It offers industry-leading programs to help applicants improve standardized test scores and gain admission to the world’s most selective universities. Founded in 2002 by graduates of the Yale School of Management, Veritas Prep offers its live classroom GMAT prep course in more than 90 cities worldwide and as an interactive online course available to students everywhere. Its Veritas Prep SAT 2400 course is available as a classroom course, live online, on demand or in private SAT tutoring sessions and features the only zero risk, money back guarantee in the industry. In addition, Veritas Prep offers admissions consulting services for applicants seeking entry into competitive business schools, law schools, medical schools and other graduate programs. For more information, visit veritasprep.com.

In addition to its online SAT prep course, Veritas Prep also makes several free resources available to students, including a free SAT practice test and a free, live one-hour online SAT prep seminar. To learn more about Veritas Prep’s SAT offerings, visit www.veritasprep.com/sat.

college majors, Guest Posts

Top 7 College Majors you probably never knew existed

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You know the drill: your college-bound teen is trying to choose a college that best fits his/her intended career path. It’s no easy task, especially when there are so many majors out there and so many colleges to choose from. Here’s a guest post that might spark your teen’s interest in one of the “obscure” college majors. But be careful–research the earning potential of these careers before your teen commits four years of your hard-earned money!

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You’ve read through the course catalog, spoken to your academic adviser and chosen a major that just doesn’t seem to fit your life’s aspirations. Many have found success seeking a tried-and-true English, History, Communications, Criminal Justice or Elementary Education degree, but you desire to blaze a trail and seek a new and exciting career path. Luckily, many online and campus-based universities are indulging visionaries such as yourself by creating unique and, in many cases, unexpected college majors. Here’s a list of the top 7 college majors you probably never knew existed:

Green Urban Planning

As a concentration, urban planning is nothing new. However, in response to many communities’ passions to live an eco-friendly existence, a handful of universities are offering courses and a full-fledged major in Green Urban Planning. This degree focuses on many of the same concepts as traditional urban planning, but teaches students to determine the location of a town’s schools, hospitals and other structures with the environment in mind.

Turfgrass Science

Did you ever stroll through a golf course, botanical garden or even some well-kept private residences and marveled at their pristine green lawn? Believe it or not, many golf courses are hiring individuals with a Bachelor’s Degree in Turfgrass Science. During their two to four-years of study, students delve into topics ranging from pesticides and weed control to entomology and business management. Who knew it took so much erudition to keep the greens on a par 4-hole so lush?

Fire Science

In the past, the only prerequisite to break into firefighting was a strong back and willingness to risk your life. Times have definitely changed, and many are finding that in order to advance in their career, a fire science bachelor degree is a necessity. This degree program prepares students to handle the many facets of this challenging vocation, from emergency preparedness to public education.

Emergency Management

Upon completion of their fire science degree, many are continuing their education by seeking an emergency management masters degree. Basically, this highly-specialized program prepares individuals to plan for and react to a variety of emergency situations. This could mean anything from designing and implementing a fire escape plan at a nursing home to working with Homeland Security to thwart a potential terrorist attack. This degree program isn’t presently well-known, but as more industries are hiring emergency management professionals, its anonymity is sure to fade quickly.

Animal Science

As the population of the United States continues to swell, so does the need for individuals to monitor the safety of its food sources. If you’ve ever wondered where your food comes from, and how to help ensure future generations continue to consume healthy livestock and poultry, consider earning your degree in animal science. Animal science majors learn how to protect, monitor and regulate the nation’s supply of poultry, beef and any other products produced from animals.

Bakery Science

Before you assume that this major is interchangeable with any other courses found at your local culinary institute, be prepared to go deeper into food preparation and science than you ever thought possible. Aside from learning the fundamentals of the perfect chocolate chip cookie, bakery science students either concentrate on the business-side of restaurants and the food industry or cereal chemistry, which deals more with research, development and quality control. Classes in this unique major include: chemistry, physics, nutrition, bakery science, bakery design and cereal science.

Bowling Industry Management

Bowling is big business that, according to the United States Bowling Congress, is enjoyed by over 70 million participants every year. In reaction to this startling statistic, the bowling industry management major was created. Individuals with a passion for this sport are able to make a career out of bowling by taking classes on pro shop management, bowling lane care and pin-setting mechanics. Unfortunately, this major doesn’t explain why bowling shoes are so uncomfortable and how to master the perfect bowling ball curve.

Before getting your heart set on any of the aforementioned, off-the-beaten-track majors, remember that many are offered by a handful or single university, with the exception of fire science and emergency management. Online university is another option if you’re interested in a unique major, but your local campus-based college doesn’t offer the necessary coursework.

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Evelyn Green is a blogger and currently earning her Master’s in Emergency Management. She’s currently a trained EMT and firefighter. Upon completion of her degree, Evelyn hopes to use the skills learned in her program to make her focus forest fire prevention.