The Personal and Professional Reasons You Should Find a Mentor While You’re in College

Young adults encounter many novel experiences as college students. There’s that first time living away from home, the first opportunity to manage personal finances, and even the first time being sick by themselves without mom and dad waiting in the wings to swoop in and make everything better. When these milestones are coupled with the academic demands of college life, things can seem more than a little overwhelming.

How can so many pressures be navigated smoothly, without conflict and void of stress? No one knows more about negotiating the pressures of college than someone who has been there and done that. Mentors can enrich the life of a college student by serving as both a personal and professional guide, making those complicated college years a little less daunting and a lot more rewarding.

Personal Benefits of Finding A Mentor

College years are ripe with new challenges and choices that are tough to navigate. It’s natural for students to turn to their peers for advice, but that advice may be limiting. According to Forbes, turning to peers may be “… a good perspective to have, but the power of a mentor who can provide a different perspective, relate different leadership experiences, and ask a different set of questions is critically important.” You may have great friends who can give quality advice, but sometimes it’s better to talk to someone with more experience.

A true mentor/mentee relationship develops over time, resulting in a trusting partnership that helps the mentee begin to see the road that lies ahead a little more clearly. Many mentors continue to serve as faithful sounding boards throughout college and beyond offering solid personal advice that results in true, long-term friendships. Having the advice of a mentor can help make major decisions easier to make because you’re able to talk to a neutral person.

Professional Benefits of Finding A Mentor

In addition to the personal benefits, finding a mentor aligned to a particular field of study can serve as an invaluable role model for college students hoping to gain practical career advice for life after graduation. According to Fortune, “Seeking out advice from the people who hold the very positions that millennials one day hope to attain, or even supersede, can be extremely beneficial.” You never know what kind of knowledge or experience your mentor has and how that could help you out professionally.

Mentors lay the foundation for networking, internships, and even job offers prior to graduation, which makes that next step in life a little less intimidating. Finding a mentor in college makes good sense and leads to empowerment, confidence, and a brighter future for all.

5 Professional Sites to Use as a College Student

When you enter college, you’re going to need begin using more professional sites. Whether you’re creating a personal profile for yourself to further your career or trying to find reliable research for a paper for school, there are plenty of sites out there that can help you reach your goals and further your academic and professional image. Here are just a few of the many sites you can find that’ll be useful to you while in college, and likely even beyond.

Academia.edu

The platform has over 17 million users, and it is one of the most extensive academic social networks. Anyone can join the website and it is famous those working and studying in humanities. Its online presence has facilitated academicians to share their work such as peer review of manuscripts drafts and to share their papers with others once they’re published. Besides, Aacademia.edu allows posting of questions on the site and provides you with a wide array of knowledgeable members to help answer your question.

ResearchGate

ResearchGate is a website dedicated to serving scientists. The goal of the network is to assist researchers in connecting with one another and share their publications as well as ask questions. The site has over 5 million members, so the chances of getting familiar people on the site are high.

The most exceptional tool offered by the ResearchGate is the Q&A forums. It enables a user to post questions on various topics such as ethics, theory, or any other science-related issue and get instant input from researchers from anywhere around the globe. More important is the fact that ResearchGate’s members are reasonably active and participate in the online discussions.

Linkedln

With this website, anyone can write a profile, which is mostly an online resume. Although it is primarily business oriented, LinkedIn is geared towards all professions. One can connect with friends to build a network and join groups of particular interests as well as follow institutions or organizations to keep abreast with job postings and events. Currently, LinkedIn is the number one site for professional networking.

Mendeley

Mendeley is one the most extensive research databases in the world and an incredible social network for scientists. One of the unique features of the site is the simple profile pages that enable one to list publications, grants, and info from CV. Also, it facilitates uploading of papers in addition to connecting and following people in a particular field. The fact that it suggests papers which might be of interest to the user based on their library makes it stand out from other websites. Mendeley is a great tool to stay updated on research trends in a given field.

Personal website

Personal websites are easy to make and can be made for free depending what platform you use to create yours. A personal website or blog not only increases the online presence of a college student, but also improves their chances of being found by prospective employers.

6 Ways Technology Has Changed Philanthropy

Efforts to be philanthropic have become significantly easier with the introduction of technology. Typical barriers to donating are eliminated and allow more people than ever before to donate to worthy causes. You can also be more aware of issues around the world and how you can help out. Here are a few ways that technology has contributed to people donating money to fight homelessness, environmental causes, poverty, or any other issues they feel passionate about.

Any amount counts

The mentality for donations used to be that it was ideal to do so after getting established and having a consistent income. With the ability to donate small amounts, even a dollar, more people are willing to contribute to causes they care about. Even a small donation gives a feeling of goodwill and satisfaction to the donor and helps out the organization.

Keeping it anonymous

Some people don’t want to be identified when they donate to a cause. Charity balls or galas were once a primary method of raising money, but now anyone can donate without being identified if they so choose. Fundraisers are no longer the only option when it comes to donating to charities.

Expansion of crowdfunding

Crowdfunding has exploded as a way for lesser-known causes to obtain funding, from organizations to individuals. The power comes from spreading the cause through social media profiles to reach thousands, sometimes millions, of people. If each person contributes a small amount, the goal can be met much sooner than with traditional fundraising methods. Potential donors can browse the various causes and choose to support one that they feel passionate about.

Donating through text

Almost everyone has a cell phone, so why not use text messaging as an avenue to donate to a worthy cause? Nonprofits are expanding their capabilities to raise funds for rescue efforts connected with international crises such as the Ebola outbreak or devastating earthquakes that rattled Japan and Haiti. We’re now more aware of causes throughout the world and people in need. We also have ways we can directly help out those affected by these issues.

Visibility of impact

People want to know exactly how their donation is spent. A larger organization might not give a breakdown of how funds are spent, but smaller ones can give donors a more personalized look into how things operate. Social media has expanded the capabilities of the organizations to communicate with their donor base on a large scale. Larger philanthropies also utilize social media and share their activities and budget breakdown with the general public.

Social media

Social media has allowed donating capabilities to expand beyond what was ever imagined. An example of this was the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise awareness for ALS. Viewers had to do the challenge and/or donate to the cause. In August 2014 alone, the ALS Association received an astounding $115 million in donations. This number was higher than nearly anyone anticipated and helped ALS achieve some great things.

5 Tips To Avoid Burnout While Attending College

College can be one of the best times of your life. You’ll make great friends and have incredible experiences. Unfortunately, college students can also easily suffer from academic burnout due to high-stress internships, heavy extracurricular loads, and the responsibilities of their jobs. However, there are ways to maintain focus while attending college and help relieve issues and risk of burnout.

Take a break

Taking a break enables the student to unwind simply by getting away from work and school. This can be a short exploration trip over the weekend to a new place or somewhere relaxing. A change of perspective also works wonders. When your surroundings begin to get too stressful, you might feel overwhelmed.

Do something you enjoy

The laughter from a good comedy show can relieve stress. Reading a book for pleasure can help you unwind. Taking a walk or spending time with a friend will put your current stressful situation into perspective. Whatever it is, find time every day to do something you purely enjoy. No matter how busy you are, you need to make time for yourself or you run the risk of burning out.

Know your limit

A good work ethic is an excellent characteristic, but it is okay to sometimes say “no”. Avoid taking on too many projects or none of them will receive your best effort. You want to put your best foot forward and do a great job, so do not stretch yourself too thin. If there’s an extracurricular activity or extra credit project you just don’t have time for, don’t take it on.

Get rest

Young adults require a minimum of seven or eight hours of sleep every single night. Getting enough rest helps with retaining information and protects emotional wellbeing and physical health. A lack of sleep will have a negative effect on students and can lead to serious issues if it’s a regular habit.

Take care of yourself

Checking in with yourself is important. Evaluate the week ahead and how much you have to do and remember to make time for yourself. Maintain balanced nutrition so your body can create the energy it needs. Exercise is also a great way to get away from what’s burning you out and also gives you endorphins, which often improve mood.

Many students are affected by burnout when they get closer to graduation day or finals. No matter what big event or project is coming up that’s threatening to burn you out, follow these tips in order to stay healthy and happy.