If you wonder, how I find contents to write in my blog, I use Stumble Upon. It a way to discover new websites based on specific Tag. In my case, I use the Tag - College/University. To make it work, first Stumble Upon Toolbar ha to be installed. Its also a great way to generate traffic to websites. Here’s a great step by step tutorial on how to use Stumble Upon.

I have been using Stumble Upon from sometime now and when I come across great articles on GRE, TOEFL, Colleges, Universities, I mark it as ” I like it”. So, you can share it among your friends and the toolbar has many features like - image stumble, video stumbles, University Sites stumbles. So, you can go ahead and install the tool bar and enjoy and discover great new websites.

So, if you are reading a article in Happy Schools Blog and if you liked it, you can click on “I like it”  at the Stumble Upon toolbar, and it will ask for review of the page and specify the tag and click on “Ok”. This way it will help others to discover this page. This another way you can help Happy Schools blog to get more new visitors.

You can see the Email Address space along with Orange colored chicklet on the right side. The icon represents RSS Feeds. Readers can subscribe to the blog feed using email or use RSS reader to read the contents of the blog. Let me explain what is RSS first.

“RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts. An RSS document, which is called a “feed,” “web feed,” or “channel,” contains either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their favorite web sites in an automated manner that’s easier than checking them manually.”

If you are reading this post and if you haven’t yet subscribed to this blog, feel free to subscribe to the Feed by providing your email address and accepting the confirmation email  or using the RSS Reader. I use Google Reader for the feeds I have subscribed.

If you have already subscribed the feed, I would appreciate if you can ask your friends who might be also applying for U.S. Universities to subscribe to this blog feed. So, they will be notified by email when new article is posted. Thanks for spreading the word about Happy Schools Blog. It’s been 6 months and 4 days since I started this blog and I’m collecting the experience of the blog readers who already got Visa for Spring 2008 semester and once I few articles, I will post them here. So, students applying for Fall 2008 semester can benefit from that.

Do Good, Do More, Happy Students.

Acer Extensa 4620-4431 Laptop - Intel Pentium Dual-Core T2310 1.46GHz, 1MB L2, 1GB, Super-Multi Drive, 14.1 WXGA Display, 5-in-1 Card Reader, Gigabit NIC, WLAN 802.11b/g, Windows XP Professional
FREE BUDGET SHIPPING
Buy.com price: $599.99

Dell.com Deals

Inspiron™ 1501 Laptop $599 after $100 instant savings

Inspiron™ 1525 Laptop $899 after $429 instant savings

Still confused about which Laptop to buy? Read Students Laptop Buying Guide.

Google tops the Fortune’s list of 100 best companies to work for - 2008. It’s everyone dream to work for companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon. If you wonder how it will be to work for Google, you got to view this video.

Inside Look : Working at Google

Hope you enjoyed the videos.

Students who have reached U.S. for Spring 2008 semester will be looking to buy laptops. I have put together a guide for buying laptop. Its difficult to decide which one to buy when you are new to this experience.

Many will have idea of spending $500 to by a laptop. If you are doing Master’s degree, I strongly suggets to invest $300 more to buy a good performance machine. Laptops for $500 will be home entertainment machines. It will not be faster and will not help students much with their educational work.

I strongly recommend IBM Thinkpad ( Lenovo ) - R - Series will be best and cheaper option.

Student Laptop Buying Guide 

Hello everyone, I know its been more than a month, I haven’t posted any article. I was busy lately. My parents were visiting me from India and had few deadlines to meet at my work. I should be posting regularly from now on. I have been chatting with few students who applied for Spring 2008 and majority of them got F1 Visa. I have asked them to send me a write up on their experience so far and what was the impact on Happy Schools Blog in there decision making. Once, I have the article, I will post it here, till then enjoy the rest of the blog entries.

One of the reader have asked to post an Index page of all the articles. I’m working on that, in meantime, you can search the archives to look for previous articles in the blog.

Health Insurance is mandatory in U.S. Health care is very expensive and its mandatory for students to have health insurance. Some universities require students to take the health insurance offered by the university. It varies fro $400 to $600 per semester.

Some universities provide option for students to take health insurance coverage on their own. Thats where students try to save lots of money, by searching for cheap health insurance plans. I have researched major health insurance companies and found that health insurance coverage provided by International Student Organization is much cheaper than other companies student health insurance coverage.

As you can see International Student Organization have 2 types of plans for students. Compass Health Insurance and ISO Med Health Insurance. And the plan starts from $28 per month, which is much cheaper than cost other health insurance provided by the university or other health insurance companies. Please feel free to compare other health insurance companies like Blue Cross and Blue Shield, United Health Care, I’m sure they will be expensive.

I have explained about health insurance terms in previous articles. But, I write an update to this article explaining those terms involved in health insurance here, sometime next week.

I was thinking about creating a website to help students with university selection, documents, student visa details, and much more after they arrive in U.S. So, I launched top120.com and I started collecting information about different universities from current students. But, then I started looking to for job and I had to spend lot of time preparing for new job interview. Then finally I decided to create a blog instead of website.

I used to read lots of Personal Finance Blogs and that lead me to learn about potential benefits of having a blog instead of a website. Then I was deciding, if I have to host it on self domain or use free blog hosting services like Blogger from Google.

Why Blogger?

I was new to blogging and not sure about the process involved in creating and maintaining the blog. but, I was sure, Blogger will make my life easy and hosted Happy Schools in Blogger ( happyschools.blogspot.com) and since I have from Computer Science background, things started to get real interesting, when I started to question how everything was done.

From Square One to Two:

I started writing articles and it was end of July and I want some information available before actually I can start marketing. So, I wrote some 10 articles in 2 days and passed the words about my new blog to my friends and posted few messages in Orkut. I was using one of the default theme that came with Blogger, then I started to think, how to customize the layout, how will the blog look to someone viewing from 800×600 screen resolution and slowly, I started learning few things about the Blogging world. Trust me guys, its interesting, lots of money to be made.

Make Money Online with blog:

I was spending lot of time writing articles, so I thought why not try to make some money. It will be mutually beneficial by displaying some ads to to generate some income. I started reading about different options that were available to make money online from blog. I was quick to learn about Google Adsense.

They serve ads that are relevant to the page contents. If I write about universities, then installing Adsense script in blog will display ads related to universities. So, making money online from the blog is made easy with the help of Google Adsense. There are other ways to make money online. I will talk about that in future posts. So, when readers click on the ad’s, then publisher gets paid. So, I signed up for Google Adsense and now I’m happy with that. I cannot reveal Google Adsense income as per TOS. But, I’m sure its rewarding to the effort I put in.

Improvements to the Blog:

After adding Google Adsense to blog template, I started reading lots of books related to blog marketing, making money online with blogs and how to effectively write contents. Then, I decided to use fluid 3 column layout and updated the layout. It was pretty bland for first week after new theme was updated. Had to tweak lots of small thing to make it look appealing.

I’m going to write about my blogging experience along with the information for students job search, university selection,… I’m thinking of writing 3 articles per week. One article for Current Students about job and internship search, one about my blogging experience and one for future students. and again, if I come across any interesting article I will pass it along.

Hello Guys, I have been chatting with few of the readers of this blog and I haven’t added anyone for last 1 month. So, I decided add one more student to my chat friends list in next seven days. Rules are very simple.

1) You need to write a comment to this post.

2) One Winner will be selected randomly.

3) I need to have atleast 10 comments to select the winner.

4) You can write a comment and refer your friend to write a comment. If you say my friend Rohit will write a comment, your chances are more to be added to my chat list.

5) It’s marketing for me and lots of benefit for you. So, its mutual.

I will answer all the queries you have in chat session. Some of the friends in my list are Alok, Raji, Priya, Munna, Keerthi, Wilson, Mohit, .

If you wonder what kind of questions students ask and how I answer, here is a sample chat transcript

priya: hey how is the job opportunity for Software engineering and systems specialization?

 

Happy: u can get testing jobs

not high paying

 

priya: since iam non-cs ,i feel that this i can take up easily do

companies look in to the specialization what we have done in particular?

 

Happy: no

 

priya: then with SE i can get in to programming also right,which is high paying?

 

Happy: if u have programming courses it will help else it will be difficult

Sent at 10:53 PM on Wednesday

 

priya: how about networking and mobile computing?

Finally after 2 weeks of importing contents into Wordpress and updating the internal links, I was able to launch this site/blog 2 weeks before I actually planned to. With my own domain, I have more features and flexibility over the contents and ad placement and possibly more revenue too

I strongly suggest the readers to sign-up for Email Subscription. It will automatically generate email when new article is posted and give you a short summary of the article. Also, you will receive featured articles that are not posted in the blog. In the featured articles, you will receive exclusive contents like, details about specific universities ( low GRE score, no GRE score admissions universities, ..) Also, I’m working on creating E-book and weekly news letters and all these features are available for Blog Subscribers. So, feel free to subscribe to email updates.

When you subscribe, confirmation email will be sent to the email address provided. You have to confirm the email address, before receiving updates. Also, see if the email no delivered to your to Junk Mail Folder.

I will not be posting articles in old Happy Schools Blogger Blog. But, it will re-direct the traffic to this new blog. I’m still trying to re-direct the traffic to specific page, but experiencing some technical issues.

Majority of the posts for last 2 months were targeted for students who are planning to get to U.S. I will be equally writing contents for students who are already in U.S. and who have graduated and looking for jobs. So, the contents will include, job searching tips, proactive job search approach techniques, internship opportunities, and other similar interests.

Hope you all enjoy the new layout and fresh looks to Happy Schools Blog. You will see small purple heart icon at the end of the post. If you enjoy any particular article, post, feel free to submit to any of the social media sites. If you are not sure of what social media is, spend some time to explore those sites ( Digg, Stumble Upon, Technorati,..) It a wonderful sites to find other similar blogs. And again, pass the word to your friends.

This site is best when Viewed using Firefox.

Cheers!

Graduating from high school and entering college can undoubtedly bring about many changes in a student’s life. Beginning college represents an allegorical first step toward independence for high school graduates, and gives many their first glimpse of the responsibilities that inevitably accompany such freedom.

With the major lifestyle change and numerous constant distractions associated with the transition from high school to college, it can become almost too easy for new college students to neglect their academic responsibilities. However, even one or two poor grades can have a lasting negative impact on a student’s grade point average (GPA). Earning and maintaining a good GPA involves constant diligence in every class, every semester. Below are some tips designed to help new college students start out and continue on the right track academically.

-Go to class. Granted, you have probably heard this straightforward advice a thousand times before. Still, many students struggle to make this simple effort that can mean the difference between passing and failing a class. Being at each class meeting gives you the advantage of hearing the lecture on the subject matter first hand, which will make studying for tests less grueling and more productive later. Not to mention, professors are typically privy to the fact that the most dedicated students attend each class meeting, and many reveal insight into the format and material of future exams during class. Missing out on key information may lead a student to take an ineffective approach to studying or to focus on the wrong information, which can lead to a catastrophe of a test grade.

-Prioritize wisely. College students are undoubtedly faced with a barrage of distractions. Whether the culprit be sports, participation in student organizations or enjoying an over bountiful social life, the numerous hours required to excel academically can be infringed upon by more appealing activities. Achieving a consistently high GPA requires prioritizing your time favorably toward attending class, studying, and doing projects, even when it requires you to sacrifice a party once in a while.

-Be a great test taker.

There is an art to taking tests. Throughout college, you will notice that tests are not all created equal. In one class, the professor may create his or her own tests, while in another class the tests are standardized for an entire department. Know which are which. Pay attention to what concepts professors are emphasizing, and take detailed, legible notes. Study them exhaustively before exams, and not just the hour before. Another seemingly obvious piece of advice bears addressing-complete all class assignments, and understand their concepts. Tests often cover the same concepts, and sometimes even the exact questions, as do previous exercises assigned to the class.

The advantages of graduating from college with a good GPA are immeasurable. Particularly when you have little to no professional work experience, a potential employer may look to your academic achievements in gaining insight into your level of knowledge, determination and abilities. Maintaining a good GPA also reduces the risk of losing a valuable student loan, scholarship or other financial assistance that may require a minimal standard of academic performance for continuance. A high undergraduate GPA will also be on your side should you apply for continued education such as graduate school or law school in the future. And that can only happen if you follow at least the simplest of advice-go to class. Someday you will be grateful you did.

About the Author: Edmund Rogers, a graduate student in English, is the editor for http://www.iStudentLoan.com -a student loan and student loan consolidation provider which also supplies a free online resource for learning about and applying for a student loan. For more information, please visit http://www.iStudentLoan.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Edmund_Rogers

In previous posts I gave list of largest colleges in America. I’m sure Education in U.S. is expensive if you have ever wondered how much expensive schools would cost, here is the list of top 10 most expensive colleges in U.S. I don’t have any friends personally who went to such expensive colleges. But the question is, what difference does it make to study is such expensive colleges? Can public schools provide the same quality of education as private colleges?

Rank	College	2006-2007 Tuition
1	George Washington University Washington, D.C.	$37,820
2	University of Richmond Richmond, Va.	$36,550
3	Sarah Lawrence College Bronxville, N.Y.	$36,088
4	Kenyon College Gambier, Ohio	$36,050
5	Vassar College Poughkeepsie, N.Y.	$36,030
6	Bucknell University Lewisburg, Pa.	$36,002
7	Bennington College Bennington, Vt.	$35,250
8	Columbia University New York, N.Y.	$35,166
9	Wesleyan University Middletown, Conn.	$35,144
10	Trinity College Hartford, Conn.	$35,130

Source : forbes.com