Tag Archives: campus confidential

Campus Confidential: On Attending A Women-Only College

Julie ZeilingerJanuary 30, 2012 //

When I initially began the college application process, I had absolutely no interest in attending a single sex institution. In fact, I knew exactly what I wanted in a school. I wanted to go to a small liberal arts college in New York City that was full of intelligent, impassioned and driven students; dedicated professors who would take a personal interest in their students rather than put them on the backburner in favor of their own research or hand them over to TAs; an amazing alumni network with plentiful internship opportunities; an excellent women’s studies department; and an emphasis on writing across the board.  And that school is Barnard College — a school that also happens to be single sex.  Keep reading »

Campus Confidential: Finals And The Curse Of The Perfect Girl

Julie ZeilingerJanuary 5, 2012 //

The number one question my high school friends ask me when we chat now is, “So are you sick of being around all those girls yet?” Despite the fact that I have attempted to explain my decision to attend a women’s college a seemingly infinite amount of times, I always answer  ”no.” Being around women has been a really supportive experience, a nice change of pace and a really beneficial academic experience so far.

Or at least that was my answer up until finals.  Keep reading »

Campus Confidential: Thanksgiving Break Means Showering Without Shower Shoes

Julie ZeilingerDecember 12, 2011 //
campus confidential photo
The Roommate
Campus Confidential
Believe me, I was prepared for the worst. Read More »

I’m not sure I’ve ever felt anything quite like the relief I experienced after my last class before Thanksgiving break. It was noon on Wednesday – the day before Thanksgiving itself – and it seemed like everybody else had left except for me. I swear I saw Western-style dust balls blowing across my urban campus as I practically sprinted back from class, ready to pack my things and head out. 

It’s not that I was dying to leave school; for all intents and purposes, I think of school as my home, my box of a dorm room as my very own.  But I was so ready to eat copious, borderline disgustingly indulgent amounts of home-cooked food. I daydreamed of taking a shower without shower shoes. And then, there was the prospect of seeing my high school friends – people with whom I could move past basic conversational topics, people who already knew all my stories because they were in them.  Keep reading »

Campus Confidential: School Spirit

Julie ZeilingerNovember 25, 2011 //
campus confidential

In high school, I embodied a lack of school spirit. I went to two football games my entire high school career and left halfway through both of them. It wasn’t that I thought I was too cool to support my peers. It wasn’t that I hated my school with a burning passion (well, not really). My lackluster feelings of school spirit can probably be traced back to the fact that I don’t understand or really like sports (and there were few things to support other than sports) and that my school as a whole wasn’t exactly teeming with spirit.   Keep reading »

Campus Confidential: Redefining Friendships

Julie ZeilingerOctober 18, 2011 //
campus confidential

In high school, I had a single group of really close friends. Yes, I had other friends outside of that core group, but those five girls were unequivocally my best friends – the ones with whom I shared monumental milestones, the ones I could talk about everything or nothing with for hours on end. When I left for college, I couldn’t fathom ever replacing them. I wondered if I would ever find a group of friends that close again.

But here’s the thing: I haven’t made another group of really close friends. And the fact that I haven’t has actually been a blessing. Keep reading »

Campus Confidential: The Roommate

Julie ZeilingerSeptember 30, 2011 //
Campus Confidential

I suspect that it is a universal (and perverse) hobby of college upperclassmen and graduates alike to terrify rising freshman with cautionary roommate stories of horror. This past summer, it  seemed like all I had to do was mention the fact that I was about to start college and aforementioned upperclassmen/graduates would inquire about my roommate situation. Did I request a roommate? Did I know who she was? Until a couple of weeks before I left for school, the answers were always “no” and “I did not.” Apparently, these honest answers were basically invitations to terrify me with stories of the ill-adjusted and insane human beings assigned to live with whomever I might have been talking to. So, believe me, I was prepared for the worst.

Keep reading »

Campus Confidential: My Bank Account Is On A Diet

September 19, 2011 //

There’s one thing that really, really sucks about college. Yes, there’s no way around it: college costs an insanely large amount of money for which I personally think it’s borderline inhumane to even charge. It’s my silly little opinion that education should be a basic human right and therefore should be free. Unfortunately, almost every major academic institution in this country disagrees with me.

But even beyond the tuition itself, as soon as I arrived here I felt the very distinct pain, depression and slight panic that comes with the knowledge that your bank account is significantly dwindling. First, there was the cost of books that neared $500 (for my first semester alone) and this even accounted for scouring the internet for the best deals on used editions. Then there was the whole “going out” thing. Somebody would suggest going to a nearby sushi restaurant, or maybe catching a concert or show. Torn between being social and being frugal is not a fun place to be, especially when trying to make new friends. Keep reading »

Campus Confidential: Disorientation

abarlowSeptember 6, 2011 //
college confidential

The bottom line of college orientation is that it’s a paradox: feeling simultaneously deeply comforted and entirely thrown off your axis, spinning rapidly towards the unknown. Or at least, that’s what orientation was like for me.

This paradox manifested itself at the very beginning of the journey from Ohio to New York. After posting my obligatory, “Leaving for college. Thanks for the memories everybody!” Facebook status, I packed all of my earthly belongings into the family car. That’s when I realized that all of my earthly belongings fit into the family car. While the reality of this totally satisfied the fatalist in me (look how easy it would be for me to escape with so little materialistic baggage to weigh me down once the zombie apocalypse hits — yippee!) it also left me reeling. It only underscored the fact that the home I was leaving, the home I had grown up in and considered my own, really wasn’t mine any more. Everything that grounded me to my house was stuffed into the car, ready to be shipped off to what is essentially a linoleum-floored, whitewashed box. Statements I had made with confidence ever since I clicked submit on my electronic application quickly turned to questions: This is what I want? I’m excited? I’m ready to be on my own? Keep reading »

Campus Confidential: My Freshman Year, I Vow To Major In “Unafraid”

adminAugust 22, 2011 //
campus confidential

I wouldn’t say that I was a nerd in high school. Although I have adopted the art of procrastination as ardently and with as much love as if it were a tiny puppy alone on the side of the road in a rainstorm, I did in fact manage to get some studying in. But despite grades and test scores that were high enough to award me admittance to one of the best schools in the country, I’d never call myself geeky. “Loner” probably isn’t the right word, either. I wasn’t exactly in the running for prom queen (real talk: I didn’t even go to prom my junior year, gasp) but I had a particularly close group of best friends who were like my sisters. I never felt alone, but rather constantly surrounded by people who loved me. No, the only thing I can definitively say to describe who I was in high school is that I was there. Keep reading »

Campus Confidential: Slumber Parties, Tila Tequila, and College Lesbians

Aurora WellsMay 14, 2008 //

Remember Tila Tequila? As MTV’s A Shot at Love serves up a second round, I’m reflecting on season one, when I first fell for Tila. A bisexual bachelorette sitting pretty on the fence? So my thing. And you know what? I believed in Tila Tequila. Right up until the finale, when she gushed to the winner, “In the end, I chose a man…I can be your wifey!” Wait…wifey?! We’re supposed to be progressing here. Bicurious experimentation is practically a right of passage for college women – and that’s ballin’ for sexual liberation. In fact, according to a study by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, same-sex sexual encounters between women have nearly tripled in the last decade. What’s the full scoop? Campus Confidential takes you undercover(s)!
Keep reading »