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Wednesday’s child may be full of woe but Wednesday’s Parent can substitute action for anxiety. Each Wednesday Wendy and I will provide parent tips to get and keep your student on the college track. It’s never too late or too early to start!

Wednesday’s Parent will give twice the info and double the blog posts on critical parenting issues by clicking on the link at the end of the article from pocsmom.com to parentscountdowntocollegecoach and vice versa.

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Social media—it’s become a part of our lives. Watch any television show and you will see Twitter hashtags attached to them. Students are using Twitter as an online hangout and Instagram to post their photos. Parents have joined the fray be embracing Facebook and Pinterest.  It looks like social media is here to stay. As a parent, you should know about the good, the bad, and the ugly of social media.

The Good

Who hasn’t found a long lost friend on Facebook? Or connected with other parents on Twitter? Or used LinkedIn to network with potential employers? Social media has its benefits. It’s a simple way to communicate with one another using technology and social media platforms. It’s no wonder that its popularity has increased over the last decade.

The Bad

There are those who wish to abuse the availability of information. They cyber stalk you; post negative comments and rants on your social media accounts; and harass you on Twitter. When this happens, the negative aspect of readily available information rears its head. You’ve been punked. Not to mention the fact that everything you post is there for the world to see, because Google never forgets. Pictures, comments and tweets go out into cyberspace to be read and evaluated long after you ever posted them. That means that colleges, potential employers, and anyone doing research on you will have access.

The Ugly

All kinds of predators hang out on social media. From crooks, to sexual deviates, to bullies and even jilted spouses, boyfriends or girlfriends. They use social media to gather information about you, steal from you, and even perpetrate fraud against you. They can defame your name and turn others against you, all with a few keystrokes.

How do you protect yourself and your child? Know about privacy settings and online security. Research each site’s privacy settings and use them to your advantage. Protect your financial information, your personal information, and your reputation by doing a Google search and setting up an alert for your name. Your child now lives in a world where information is readily available using technology at their fingertips. Protect them in cyberspace just as you do in real life.

Read Wendy’s (POCSMom) post: Social Media Makeover

Is your teen on Twitter? Are you on Twitter? You should be. Twitter is not only a great resource for college prep, but it’s also the go-to social hangout for your teenager. They also air their thoughts and frustrations there. It’s amazing how teens find it to be a place to vent, especially about the pressure they feel from their parents about the college prep process. Are you surprised? I know I was.

Twitter has overtaken Facebook as the social media network that is most important to teens, according to Piper Jaffray’s semi-annual teen market research report. Twitter is the new king of teens, with 26 percent naming it as their “most important” social site. Only 23 percent said Facebook was most important, down from a high of 42 percent.

The Social Media Explorer points out:

Teens are increasingly turning to Twitter to follow artists and pop culture icons, take part in (or create) memes and trends, and express their innermost thoughts. More and more, teens are also using Twitter as a way to escape their parents’ prying eyes, as parents are far more likely to have a Facebook account than Twitter; it seems many parents don’t realize that their kids are even tweeting, and kids are keeping their accounts private, away from their parents and sometimes also from those who might bully them online. Twitter also allows for anonymity, so teens can take on new (or multiple) personalities, and further isolate themselves from parents or unwanted peers.

According to Pew, teen use of digital media is growing overall; 80% of teens use online social networks. An interesting Pew statistic which may have led to the #GetAustin2Philly trending topic is that more than 2x the number of girls use Twitter: 22% of girls vs. 10% of boys. For teenagers, Twitter is an outlet for fandom, gossip, and chatter; get @mentioned by a celebrity or teen idol and your popularity is sure to rise. Twitter is now a digital autograph book.

Today’s Mom addresses the issue:

Escape from parental monitoring isn’t the only thing driving teens to Twitter. When celebrities adopted the micro-blogging platform kids followed. One can only hope all of Justin Bieber’s 17 million+ followers are all teenagers. Eminem has 8 million (including my privacy-seeking son), Katy Perry 14 million, and Taylor Swift nearly 11 million. The same Pew survey found that most teens are happy using Twitter for benign purposes like following their favorite artists, exploring adolescent angst, and passing along immature humor. If only all kids could be as good as yours and mine.

Kids can be mean, in real life and online

Electronic communication offers a distance that can embolden mean kids. “No one is safe from this new approach to bullying,” says Dawn Spragg, a Licensed Counselor  working with teens and their families in Bentonville, Arkansas, where three high school students were issued citations in Juvenile Court recently for publishing nasty tweets about classmates in a virtual “slam book” on Twitter. Spragg says that the anonymity of online aliases allows kids to bully without having to “back it up” like the bullies of decades past.

Electric PR Media reports:

In an effort to find privacy, teenagers are turning to Twitter as an alternate to Facebook. And although everyone wants to be where their friends are, privacy and a place away from parents is part of the genetic code of any teenager.

Enter Twitter.

Twitter, in comparison to Facebook, offers many appealing features which are just beginning to be appreciated by teenagers. Twitter allows you to have multiple accounts should you chose to do so. Your account name can be a pseudonym, one only your friends know. Your account can also be set to private, allowing you to select your followers. In turn, you chose who you want to follow without seeing their followers, eliminating the social pressure of following friends of friends which can often be the case on Facebook.

In addition to privacy and selectivity, Twitter relies on the use of acronyms and abbreviations (now we’re talking) to send your message in under 140 characters, the equivalent of a text message, but to a circle of friends. It’s a teenager’s dream: Privacy, selectivity and brevity! Does this sound like the parameters of a conversation you’ve had lately with a teenager?

What’s a parent to do?

Your teen is seeking privacy on Twitter…too bad. In 2011, one million children were harassed, threatened, or subjected to cyberbullying in social media. Of these children, only 10% of parents were aware of it. 55% of teens gave out personal information to someone they didn’t know. And only 34% of parents say they regularly check their child’s social network sites.

Unfortunately, unchecked use of social media can lead to hours of lost sleep for teens (yes, teens admit to sleeping with their smartphones and even texting in their sleep), privacy undermined, rumors being spread, school and social life being directly affected by online activity, and worse yet … becoming a victim or perpetrator of cyberbullying.

Teens absolutely need our help and guidance when it comes to online activity, especially in the Twitterverse of anonymity. But how do you help? One mother drew up an iPhone contract when she presented her son with a new phone.

Here are some of the 18 rules (you can read the rest at Huffington Post):

1. It is my phone. I bought it. I pay for it. I am loaning it to you. Aren’t I the greatest?
2. I will always know the password.
3. If it rings, answer it. It is a phone. Say hello, use your manners. Do not ever ignore a phone call if the screen reads “Mom” or “Dad”. Not ever.
4. Hand the phone to one of your parents promptly at 7:30pm every school night & every weekend night at 9:00pm. It will be shut off for the night and turned on again at 7:30am. If you would not make a call to someone’s land line, wherein their parents may answer first, then do not call or text. Listen to those instincts and respect other families like we would like to be respected.
5. It does not go to school with you. Have a conversation with the people you text in person. It’s a life skill. *Half days, field trips and after school activities will require special consideration.
6. Do not use this technology to lie, fool, or deceive another human being. Do not involve yourself in conversations that are hurtful to others. Be a good friend first or stay the hell out of the crossfire.
7. Do not text, email, or say anything through this device you would not say in person.
8. Do not text, email, or say anything to someone that you would not say out loud with their parents in the room. Censor yourself.

Every parent handles this differently but it goes without saying that hiding your head in the sand and staying technologically challenged can only lead to future problems with your teens and social media. Just as you had to learn parenting skills, take the time to learn about social media platforms and how they work. Your teen may scoff about having their privacy invaded, but that’s what parents do–we parent.

The world of marketing has evolved with the rise of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Many companies today are seeking their customers’ attention with pictures, articles, videos, tweets and anything else that will drive comments and make a following. And you know what this means, don’t you? They are looking for someone who has the knowledge and ability to create online buzz and jump into the world of social media careers.

An increasing number of job seekers are turning their blogging skills or experience making Facebook fan pages into new careers in social media. Having a background in journalism, copywriting, computer technology or online marketing is usually a plus in landing Web 2.0 jobs. Pay rates are now all over the place in these emerging careers, but big payment is already to be found, with full-time jobs that range from $40,000 to six figures.

Some social media experts said that the rule of thumb is that you get paid in social media for what you have done or invested in the past. A fresh college graduate can make 25 grand as social media marketer, but if you already have a job related to marketing that pays you a minimum of 85 grand per year, your employer might move your tasks over to social media marketing and keep that amount.  A lot of ad agencies today that offer social media help to big companies are hiring. But, the majority of the jobs in social media are still freelance rather than full-time. Hourly rates for a freelancer can be high–about 200 bucks per hour or more.  The lowest pay rate anybody is charged for work related to social media marketing is about 50 bucks an hour.

Let’s take a look at some of the emerging careers in social media and the skills required.

Social Media/Digital Strategist

Strategists develop and maintain comprehensive social media strategies that define how social media marketing techniques will be applied to boost visibility and traffic across all products and brands. They also lead the development of the company’s social media management policies, standards and rule of engagement for social media. Social media strategists also define key performance indicators and implement enterprise level analytics, measurement and reporting methods to measure success. This job requires a BA/BS degree from an accredited university or college and 3-5 years of experience in public relations, marketing, communications and advertising.

Online Community Manager

Community managers manage and update company forums and blogs and forums, keeping visitors coming to the site through creating a buzz on social network, and moderating conversation to ensure nothing insulting or libelous is being said. This job calls for marketing experience as well as work in social media and project management, copywriting, and web publishing.

Blogger

Posting short articles/blogs with links to related websites has become a popular strategy for boosting a website’s ranking in search engines. Pay rates for professional or experienced bloggers working in companies range from $35 to $75 per hour. Many bloggers have experience in journalism, but others who break into the field have their own personal blogs and use them to apply for corporate blogging jobs.

Search Engine Marketing Manager/Specialist

Responsible for determining search engine marketing business opportunities based on industry date/trends, competitive research and key performance metrics of current marketing campaigns. Other responsibilities may include creating search engine volume and efficiency forecasts, running tests (landing pages, ad copy, keyword bids) to boost key metrics (convert, search, click), making recommendations on keyword choices, and managing relationship with SEM partners. The right candidate will have at least seven years of marketing experience, applied analytics sensibility with strong ability to make profitable decisions based on factual information and entrepreneurial spirit.

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Author Bio

Joshua Turner is a writer who creates informative articles in relation to business. In this article, he describes career opportunities surrounding social media and aims to encourage further study with a KSU Public Relations Degree.

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For many high school seniors, the start of the new school year also marks the official start of the college application process.  While students should begin planning and research as early as 9^th and 10^th grade, there are many 12^th graders who may just be diving in now.

With early application deadlines just around the corner (November 1^st and 15^th), Dr. Katherine Cohen, CEO and founder of IvyWise (www.IvyWise.com) and LinkedIn Higher Ed Expert, urges high school seniors who may be off to a bit of a late start to do these three things right away:

Narrow down your college list.

Students should end up with a list of 12 to 15 good-fit schools, a balanced list of reach, target and likely schools, all of which are an academic, social and financial fit.  A great place to start your research is LinkedIn, which provides aspiring students and young professionals with the opportunity to make informed decisions on which universities, majors and skills will help them achieve personal and professional success in years ahead. LinkedIn University pages allows students to learn what’s happening on campus, ask questions of faculty, staff, students and alumni, check out notable alumni and explore the professional paths of graduates.

Create a college application checklist.

Senior year of high school can be overwhelming for many students.  It’s often the most rigorous year academically, and the college application process has gotten a lot more complex since mom and dad applied.  It’s important to create a college application checklist and calendar with key dates now so that you don’t miss any important deadlines.  Be sure to include due dates for early and regular applications at each school to which you’re applying, standardized test dates, deadlines to apply for scholarships and financial aid, as well as deadlines for school projects, mid-terms and final exams.

Approach teachers for letters of recommendation.

Most selective colleges and universities require one to three recommendation letters with a student’s application, usually from a guidance counselor and at least one teacher. If you haven’t done so already, identify two 11^th grade teachers who know you well—not just the ones who gave you the easy “A”—and ask them to write a letter of recommendation immediately.  Teachers receive many requests and are not required to write these letters.  Often, teachers will limit the number of letters they write, so students need to ask early.  Be sure to provide a copy of your resume, examples of your completed assignments and information about the colleges to which you are applying, so they can personalize your letter. Also, don’t forget to write your own letter to thank your teachers for their time!

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Social media—it’s a quandary. On the one hand it has become an excellent tool to communicate with family, friends and networking with businesses. On the other hand, it leaves a footprint of everything you do, share or say. Teens are especially vulnerable as they begin to think about college. And as their lives progress, the quantity and the quality of that footprint will affect future job prospects.

Are you friends with your teen on Facebook?

It may sound invasive but it’s a parenting effort that is becoming more and more popular. According to a recent survey, 46% of parents are friends with their kids on Facebook. Why would you do that? It allows you to monitor their friendships, see what they are talking about, and protect their privacy. One mother only allows her son to be friends with his “real life” friends. Whatever you decide about the boundaries, make them clear from the start. Explain to your teens why it’s necessary and remind them that just as you protect them in the world, it’s your responsibility to protect them online.

Does your teen understand “forever”?

Google never forgets. And I mean NEVER. Explain to your kids that whatever they post now will be in cyberspace forever. Even if they delete their pages or pictures, copies might still be accessible by search engines or from others who have saved copies to their computers.

Just the other day, I was looking at a job application for my husband and the company posted this in the ad. Think companies won’t care if you posted questionable content in the past? Think again:

In addition to other background checks the Company or its designees may perform, I also authorize the Company to research information publicly available on the internet, including without limitation social networking sites and blogs, for purposes of evaluating, in the Company’s discretion, my suitability for employment, promotion, retention, and/or reassignment. I recognize that the Company has legitimate business interests in reviewing this information that is available to the public, either now or in the future, and I have no expectation of privacy with respect to such information.

Is their social media “grandparent friendly”?

This is a no-brainer. Just ask them to ask themselves if their grandmother would approve of what they post. Most kids wouldn’t want to disappoint their grandparents. Parents maybe. Grandparents—never.

Who are they friends with?

Keep a close eye on who your teen has on their friend list. Are they people you know? If not, ask them who they are. Remind them to NEVER accept any friend request from someone they don’t know. You never know what an unknown friend will do with your posts or photos.

Have you set the privacy settings?

Facebook recently rolled out a graphing feature that can potentially be misused and abused, especially with children. If you haven’t heard of it, you can see what it does in this article: Facebook graph search gets personal. Your teens are at risk for all kinds of picture mining and it just underscores the fact that information is out there (especially pictures) and you need to safeguard your kids.

Here’s what you can do to protect yourself and your kids

The Online Mom is always my go-to resource for all things tech related that affects our children. On her site, they address the concern about privacy settings:

Understand your site’s privacy policies, and check out the safety tools they make available to parents, if any. Many sites prohibit children under 13. Don’t give your children permission to use these sites: those restrictions are there for a reason. (By the way, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which requires sites to get your permission before they collect, use, or share any information about your child. If a site lets your child register without notifying you, they’re violating a federal law.)

If you aren’t social media familiar, you best get cracking. Your teens are. They tweet. They post. They post upload photos to Instagram. They interact with everyone using social media tools. The tools are great for connecting but they can also be abused. As parents it’s our responsibility to stay on top of their activity.

Years ago, there was a public service announcement at 10pm every night (curfew time) and it said, “Do you know where your children are?” Parents have the same problem but the parameters are different. I’m asking you the same question, “Do you know where your children are (which sites your kids are active on and who they are talking to)?”

Tonight’s #CollegeCash Chat was centered around available tech resources for the college-bound and their parents. Following is a short transcript of the questions and answers with all the links I provided. As a parent myself and a parent advocate I understand the frustration with the college admissions process. It’s my hope that you will find some tools here that will make the process easier.

Q. Is there a lot of technology out there that benefits students and parents when it comes to college? 

• We now have online sites for just about every part of the college admissions process and stay organized
• Multiple apps are also available to help parents and students while they are on the go
• Smartphones and portable devices like the iPad have made the college prep process easier

Q. Are SmartPhones necessary for our kids leaving for college? 

• Every college student needs a smartphone–here are some features you should look for: http://bit.ly/151BUJj
• Smartphones help them communicate, socially interact, store and process information, and enable social networking in class
• An added bonus to the smartphone is the ability to stay in touch with parents via facetime, texts, and location apps

Q. Which mobile apps do you recommend for college students?

• Students will need apps to organize class notes, keep class schedules, get tutoring and study help
• There are many apps out there; locating them can be tedious. Here’s some advice that can help http://bit.ly/qlMJAq
• Here are two short lists of mobile apps for students: http://bit.ly/11yU8xX and http://bit.ly/Lk4d9I
• Fastweb gives a comprehensive list here as well: http://mnstr.me/eQs0Ia

Q. What are some other necessary tech gadgets for students going off to college? 

• We’ve already determined they will need a smartphone; here’s a list of other items that can be helpful http://bit.ly/ZZJuAo
• Consider an iPad, Nook or Kindle to download ebooks and save money on textbooks (even FREE books) http://bit.ly/156LDK6
• Portable hard drives, flash drives, portable scanners and printers can also be added to the list

Q. What are college application programs? 

• These programs help students stay organized during the admissions process by keeping track of all aspects of the application
• One service is ApplyKit-students can search for colleges, add them to a dashboard & track deadlines: http://bit.ly/YufcH5
• College Application Wizard keeps track of your college prep to-do list in a virtual environment http://bit.ly/16hvoj8

Q. Why do students and parents need them? #CollegeCash

• It’s easy to get lost in the college application process-deadlines, application components, recommendation letters
• Parents struggle with mounds of paper and filing; having these available online helps with organization
• Everyone keeps track of contacts, appointments and schedules with mobile devices; college applications are no different

Q. What is Edupath? 

• Edupath is like three apps in one. College Explorer lets you browse 1300 colleges to find the right fit.
• SAT Training is optimized for short sessions so you can use it anytime, anywhere.
• Dashboard, an Edupath exclusive, allows parents to follow along in real-time. Here’s how it works: http://bit.ly/16v1kQ6

Q. Are there any apps that can help tutor our students?

• Most tutoring apps are focused around the SAT/ACT tests: http://bit.ly/11acibH
• Schools.com also gives a comprehensive list of test prep apps- http://bit.ly/AprvzG
• Here’s an app that allows you to get real-time tutoring in any subject http://www.motuto.com/

Q. What are some other apps students can use during the college prep process?

• Essay Starter is an app that helps students with their college essays http://bit.ly/X9k3uH
• Welcome to College offers a college visit app:  http://bit.ly/11gBSsl
• Here’s another app for keeping track of college visits from Quad2Quad: http://bit.ly/12UgFVw

Q. Is there any other resources you’d like to share with our community?

• Here are some apps for students who study abroad http://on.mash.to/Y9KFyv
• Here’s a great service that texts SAT questions to your smartphone http://smsprep.com/sat
• InstaEDU offers online face-to-face tutoring in any subject http://bit.ly/10fAllP
• Looking for scholarships? There an app for that: http://bit.ly/166MAYN
• Here’s another Online Tutoring and homework help service https://www.doesthatmakesense.com/

Peruse my blog and you will find many more online resources that will help with the college application process. And don’t forget about the old-fashioned helps–books!

These days it’s practically a given that you will send your students off to college not only with essentials like bedding and a computer, but also with a smartphone. For most parents, this is not only a way to ensure that they can get in touch with their kids at any time of day or night, but it’s also a way to put their minds at ease, knowing that kids will have a way to call for help should they find themselves in a sticky situation. However, not just any smartphone will do. And before your children are out the door with visions of frat parties dancing in their heads, you need to do a little research to figure out which smartphone options will best benefit them during their time on campus. Here are just a few essential smartphone features you might want to consider.

1. Front- and rear-facing cameras.

While you can certainly communicate with your kids via phone and email, you might want to get a look at them once in a while. Front- and rear-facing cameras mean that you can use a service like Skype to video chat with your students even while they’re miles away on campus.

2. 4G service.

Let’s be honest: there’s nothing wrong with 3G service, per se. Well, there is the fact that everyone has it now, which means that it has gotten a lot slower over the past couple of years. If you want your students to have instant connectivity and fast download speeds, 4G is where it’s at nowadays. Although coverage is spotty in some areas, many networks are diligently expanding their 4G zones in order to ensure the best service for their customers.

3. Intelligent personal assistant.

You’ve no doubt heard of Siri, the intelligent personal assistant that can seek directions and make reservations, all with hands-free functionality and a computerized wit to go with it. This type of technology is essential for student smartphones for a couple of reasons. For one thing, the voice activation and recognition means that your kids need never use their hands, a great boon if they can’t seem to disengage from a phone, even when they’re driving. In addition, it can help them to find any information at the drop of a hat without stopping to type, a handy feature for busy college students.

4. Storage.

Most savvy students these days store data in the cloud, but with a wealth of educational apps at their disposal they should also have plenty of storage space available on their device with which to run their plethora of applications. They may want to take notes, use talk-to-text functionality, keep a schedule of classes and assignments, or even share project information with group members for a specific class. All of these applications may have to be present and accounted for on the device (rather than in the cloud) in order to be useful, so phones that feature extra GB for storage are probably preferable.

5. Insurance.

In case you didn’t know, your mobile service provider (i.e. Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile, for example) can offer you insurance in case your kids’ phones are lost or damaged. While it won’t cover issues arising from unlocked cell phones, and there may be restrictions on coverage due to negligence or abuse at the hands of users, it should pay out in cases where the phone is lost, stolen, vandalized, or even damaged by the user is some cases. You could rely on a protective case and a lost device locating program like the The Find My iPhone application. But only insurance will guarantee a replacement phone or parts.

Most students have their hands full with attending class, completing homework, writing essays, and studying for tests. Some also have to contend with part-time jobs to support themselves, at least in part, during their time on campus, or they want to take on internships as a way to gain some experience and network with those in their industry of choice. And with any free time that’s left over, many want to pursue their social lives or get a few hours of much-needed rest.

But there is one other activity that students should consider adding to their roster if they want to do all they can during their time in college to prepare for a career–that task is writing a blog. As a parent you may wonder why you should encourage your students to tackle this seemingly non-essential undertaking, but there are a few reasons why spending a little time blogging in college is a great move for the future.

An online presence

Consider that in this day and age, hiring agents don’t stop at performing an interview and checking listed references before offering a job to an applicant (i.e. your student). Nearly everyone now goes online to see what they can find out about prospective candidates. This means they will review any public profiles on social networking sites like Facebook, Google+, and so on, not to mention running a Google search. What they’re looking for is an indication as to whether or not your student (or more likely, your recent grad) will make a good employee. For this reason you should warn your kids about the dangers of having public profiles (unless they are professional in nature). But you might also push them to create a blog related to the industry they’re interested in joining.

A virtual resume

A blog can become a virtual resume, one that demonstrates a student’s knowledge of and passion for the career they’re interested in. With careful planning it can serve to portray a student as an expert, exhibiting what they have learned and how they have applied that knowledge, showing their intuition and ability. It allows them to express insights and opinions in a constructive manner. And if they’re penning blog posts with the thought in the back of their mind that entries may one day be seen by prospective employers, they’re bound to put in their best effort and create something that showcases their writing skills, reason, and creativity. Of course, blogging can also help students to increase their knowledge base and solidify their own positions, both learning and teaching as they go. And it can show their skill with layout and design, as well as their ability to engage in optimization if they decide to use SEO for ranking purposes.

Beneficial for networking

However, a blog can also serve other useful purposes. It can help students to become part of an online community, and it doing so, to network with industry peers. This can offer not only the ability to seek advice in order to improve an online operation, but potentially the opportunity for collaborations and even employment down the line.

The average student is unlikely to hire a professional firm like FireBubble.co.uk to help them brand their blog and gain popularity, but any college kid can benefit from creating a basic blog and using it to demonstrate their talents. This is just one great way to prove to prospective employers that they have more to offer than other applicants.

Did you know that over 75 percent of the world’s population owns a cell phone? As a matter of fact, according to one recent article, there are more people across the globe who actually have access to a mobile service than to a toilet. So, being that over 90 percent of individuals between the ages of 18-24 have cell phones and also being that they, on average, talk on the phone close to 22 hours each month, if they’re in college, they might as well use some of that time to upload some great mobile apps.

We feel the exact same way. That’s why we’ve provided you with a list of what we feel are the five most useful mobile apps for college students:

1. Cheap Textbooks Price Search. It’s amazing how much a new textbook can run you. Depending on the amount of hours (and the kinds of courses) that you are taking, you can easily spend $500-1,000 each semester on books. However, if you have the Cheap Textbooks Price Search app, you can easily search where you can find the best deals for both new and used textbooks.
2. BugMe! Notes and Alarms. Between classes and study sessions, games and parties, it can definitely be challenging to keep up with all that you have going on every day. Thanks to the Bug Me! app, you don’t have to totally rely on memory or scrap pieces of paper in your book bag to do your scheduling. You can program the app to send you messages about things you need to do and when you need to do them.
3. CalorieSmart Calorie Tracker. When you’re not eating home-cooked meals all of the time and you find yourself relying on the campus cafeteria or the fast food restaurants around the area, it’s easy to pack on more pounds than you would like. But, with the CalorieSmart Calorie Tracker, you can keep record of how many calories you consume and burn. It also has an option for you to input your personal calorie and weight loss goals.
4. Coupons for Shopping – MobiQpons. Being in college brings a whole new meaning to “penny pinching” and when you’re trying to stay on budget, the Coupons for Shopping app comes in very handy. Once you have downloaded this app, all you have to do is put in your location and you’ll receive all kinds of coupons in your area from grocery stores and restaurants to office supply stores and even things like mobile insurance from protect your bubble. It’s a convenient way to make your dollar stretch further.
5. CollegeTracker. College is fun, but it’s also pretty expensive. Therefore, you want to make the absolute most of the time that you have there, especially when it comes to your classes. CollegeTracker is an app that gives you the ability to store everything from your courses and professors’ names to the grades that you get in each subject. The app is so exact that it even helps you to tabulate all of your scores at the end of the semester so that you can figure out your Grade Point Average (GPA) even before your grades are sent out to you. It definitely helps you to keep focused on being a responsible college student.

These are only a few of the apps out there for college students. If you have a favorite that’s not listed, please leave a comment.

Is dating gone? What about courtship? According to a recent NY Times article and most college students it’s a dinosaur. They have random “hook ups” with people they meet–which can include anything from making out to oral sex to intercourse. Parents need to know and understand this new culture in order to prepare their students for college. As I’ve said before, preparation is much more than academics.

According to the article in the Times hooking up is destroying today’s young adults:

Blame the much-documented rise of the “hookup culture” among young people, characterized by spontaneous, commitment-free (and often, alcohol-fueled) romantic flings. Many students today have never been on a traditional date, said Donna Freitas, who has taught religion and gender studies at Boston University and Hofstra and is the author of the forthcoming book, “The End of Sex: How Hookup Culture is Leaving a Generation Unhappy, Sexually Unfulfilled, and Confused About Intimacy.”

Parents MUST be aware of the current “hook up” culture and have some serious talks with their teens. Steer them away from one night stands, make out sessions, and sexting. Inform them of the changes that have occurred (if they don’t already know) in how people meet and get to know one another. Consider this story in The Atlantic:

This was a routine she repeated for months. Every weekend night, and on some weekday nights, she would drink so heavily that she could remember only patches of what happened the night before and then would have sex with the same fraternity brother. One night, she was talking with someone else at the frat when the brother interrupted her and led her upstairs to have sex. On another occasion, they had sex at the frat, but Nicole was too drunk to find her clothes afterward, so she started walking around the house naked, to the amusement of all of the other brothers. She was too drunk to care. Eventually, everything went dark. Next weekend, she returned to the frat.

When I asked Nicole if she was still hooking up with the same frat boy, she shook her head. She explained that the entire time she was having sex with him he never once spoke to her or acknowledged her outside of his fraternity’s basement. Not in the library, not in the dining hall, not at the bookstore.

I later told Nicole’s story to a close guy friend. “What a jerk, right?” My friend, also a frat brother, objected: “After the first time, it starts becoming the girl’s fault, too.” Nicole and the frat brother were just hooking up, after all—what didn’t I get?

Make your girls (and boys) understand that “hooking up” is NOT the road to a lasting relationship. Help them know how to stand up to peer pressure and encourage them to seek out relationships, even if it’s not the norm and it takes time.

This Friday night on 20/20, Denice Ann Evans, producer of the award-winning feature documentary: Spitting Game: The College Hook Up Culture, will talk about hooking up, the use of social media, texting and sexting on college campuses. It’s an interview you don’t want to miss. Record it if you have to but watch it with your teen. Education is much more than academics. Parenting your college-bound teen requires that you invest your time to understand the obstacles that your teen will face as they enter college.