Since most schools are already in summer session, let’s count down the best schools for barbecue enthusiasts. For students, faculty and townies who like going to BBQ restaurants, grilling on their own and most importantly filling their belly with meat, barbecue sauce, baked beans and more meat.

University of Texas
Texas (the state) has always been known for its barbecue and Texas (the college) is in the heart of one of the best barbecue cities in the country. According to Yelp, the best restaurants to get your fill of brisket and ribs in Austin are Franklin Barbecue, JMueller BBQ and Bar-B-Q Heaven. It’s safe to assume that all of these have hosted their fair share of drunken college students looking for some of the best barbecue in Texas.

Vanderbilt University
At Vanderbilt you can get a good education, good athletics and some damn good barbecue. While Memphis is traditionally known as Tennessee’s barbecue city, Nashville has trended positively of late, with great pulled pork and brisket at places like Jack’s Bar-B-Que, Arnold’s Country Kitchen and B and C Melrose.

Wake Forest University
Why Wake Forest? Simple, it’s the closest big college to Lexington, North Carolina, where barbecue-magic happens. A 45-minute drive down Highway 8 will bring Wake Forest students to one of the reported eight barbecue restaurants in Lexington. Lexington Barbecue seems like the logical choice for tradition vinegar-based bbq sauce poured over smoked pork shoulders. Hungry yet?

University of Missouri
While Columbia, Missouri isn’t exactly known for its barbecue prowess, being equidistant from two Midwestern BBQ meccas (Kansas City and St. Louis) certainly has its advantages. Missouri students can head west to Arthur Bryant’s or Oklahoma Joe’s in KC or east to Pappy’s Smokehouse in St. Louis, which was Zagat’s number one rated BBQ joint. Students who aren’t into barbecue road trips, Missouri has it’s own college barbecue team, which travels to competitions across the Midwest. Probably not advisable for those trying to avoid the Freshman 15.

University of Memphis
Memphis is home to the University of Memphis and has arguably the best barbecue in the world. Lucky U of M students can take time between classes to chow down at Tom’s Bar-B-Q, Central BBQ or The Bar-B-Q Shop, all top barbecue destinations according to Yelp reviewers. Don’t like barbecue? You should probably go somewhere else, because there are around 80 barbecue restaurants in the Memphis metro area.

And if you don’t go to one of these schools or live in one of these areas, just do it yourself. Grab a grill, some meat and some sauce, and light up that grill tonight. Just don’t do this:

To get your fill of other  food-related articles, check out the Best Colleges for Tailgating and Restaurants and Campus Dining. 

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We spoke with Rico about what the government is doing to increase awareness and academic achievement in the Hispanic community in this especially challenging economic time.

“We need to make sure that we get the best information to as many people as possible, so they can make the right decisions about higher education,” Rico explains.

“One thing that we’re seeing is the amount of debt that students are incurring is partly because they don’t have the right information, partly because the students haven’t asked the right questions and partly because the universities don’t disclose the true costs. We want to make sure that people have access to an affordable college education, but they also know what they’re getting.”

Although Rico and his team are doing a lot now – getting the word about higher education to young people through social media and their parents through traditional media – the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics was started 20 years ago by the first President George Bush.

“It was an important victory for our community because the advocates that really pushed to get this office open really saw there was a big need for the federal government to shine a light on the disparity of education in the Latino community.”

According to Rico, 20 years ago, only 9% of the adults in the Latino community had a bachelors degree. Today, 15% have bachelors degrees, which is not a lot of growth.

“If you add associates degrees,” Rico says, “the number goes up to 19%. In comparison, the general population is almost 40%. … We still have a long way to go, so our office is charged with making sure members of our community know what resources are available, we help colleges and universities receive resources from the federal government to improve their programs and that the policies that are in place – from early learning to higher ed – take into consideration the recommendations of researchers and practitioners in the Latino community, so that we can have more students be successful.”

Members of the Department of Education started having “community conversations” in towns throughout the country in 2009, after President Barack Obama took office and made education a priority in order to achieve his goal to be the most educated country in the world by 2020.

“One of the first things Obama did was ask people from all the agencies go out and listen to the community. For example, Secretary Arne Duncan visited all 50 states in the first year. … I went to over 100 cities, about 33 states.”

According to Rico, they heard three things from their conversations in 2009.

“They were glad the people they sent to Washington were listening. … They weren’t really aware what was happening in DC, since this was during the healthcare law discussions.

“In the Latino community, they were not aware that we had reduced the FAFSA forms by over 50%; they were not aware that we increased the amount of Pell Grants by an additional $1,000 to $5,550; they did not know that we gave away up to 50% more Pell Grants, which basically was three million more students; they did not know that the president allocated more than one billion dollars to Hispanic-serving institutions. In our community, people were not aware of all of the education commitments and accomplishments that the president was able to achieve.

“The third thing we heard was our community – counter to what you hear in the media – really wanted the federal government to be a partner with them. While states were cutting education budgets across the country – to date 40 states have cut their education budget dramatically – what they wanted from us was some help and some support. They didn’t know the president’s stimulus money saved over 200,000 teacher jobs, so they wanted more of those federal resources to save jobs … to save after-school programs … to save sports programs. They really wanted us to be at the table, because they knew a lot of the states were balancing their budgets, because of the recession, on the backs of education. And obviously that’s a short-sighted approach to balancing the budget.”

In an effort to help struggling communities, six months ago, they started holding White House Community Action Summits, where federal officials met with community leaders. The purpose of these roundtable work sessions was to come up with action items for the communities.

According to Rico, the biggest misconception Latinos have about higher education is the cost of college. This, he says, is actually one of the biggest barriers.

“Right now, tuition has been rising drastically and the financial support at the state level has been decreasing, even though federal financial aid has been increasing. So the cost is a barrier, but on top of that the poll that the Pew Research Center did revealed … that Hispanic families that did not have somebody go to college – which is the vast majority – think that college costs seven times more than it does.”

There another big issue between cultures, as well.

“It seems that non-Hispanics think Hispanic families don’t think college is important, which is not the case at all. Nine out of ten successful Latinos will tell you that their college counselors told them that they shouldn’t go to college, because it’s not within their culture.

“Non-Latinos think that there’s a culture of us not wanting to pursue college … that we don’t have expectations for our kids to go to college. That’s the perception. The reality is that when kids who are successful in high school – or when kids want to go to college – and the school approaches the families about going to college, the families think it is seven times more expensive for them than it actually is to go to college, so they don’t fill out the forms., they don’t encourage the kids to go to college. Because at the end of the day, they see he debt and the burden down the line as too big for them to go to college.”

That is one of the biggest areas that the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics is trying to address. Especially due to the growing concerns about the United States not having a workforce that is educated enough.

“Sixty percent of job growth over the next 15 years will come from the Latino community. And, if we don’t educate that 60% of our workforce, we’re basically putting in jeopardy the world and economic competitiveness of our country period – not within the Latino community, but overall. … For us the big task is raising awareness in our community about college affordability, access to college and make sure they know about the need for them to go to the right field and the right tracks for them to be prepared for the jobs in the next century. … We’re talking about 55 million Latinos within our country. That’s a pretty big task at hand.”

On the roadtrips, they also spend a significant amount of time speaking to non-Latinos around the importance of everyone in a community coming together.

“We’re trying to get communities on board to see that educating the Latino community is in everyone’s best interest economically, socially, culturally, value-wise. We tell them what we are doing from the Federal side and connect them with examples of what other communities are doing to address their issues.”

On the Federal side, President Obama plan is to get “students from the k-12 system to partner with community colleges and four-year universities, for the students to be able to graduate from high school, go seamlessly into a higher-education system – whether it’s a two-year or four-year school – and then leave those institutions with a high-skilled job, whether it’s a high tech position or a STEM position, whether it’s with the medical field or in a renewable energy industry.

“So we’re looking at really ramping up our workforce pipeline to be able to get people into these high-paying, high skilled jobs when they are 20 years old. That will lower our college costs, that will lower the debt that students get and obviously that will get them to start earning real money right away.”

Read Obama’s Education Blueprint. What do you think needs to be done to improve student success and higher education?

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Here are some of the ways campuses throughout the U.S. are celebrating Memorial Day.

Cleveland State University
Take advantage of the holiday weekend to head over to the Great American Rib Cook-Off and Music Festival that’s taking place from May 27 – 30 in Cleveland. It’s open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday, 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday. Each day also features a musical performance from artists including Seether with special guest Ohio Sky, Collective Soul with special guest Red Sun Rising, Bullet for My Valentine with special guest Halestorm and Bruce Hornsby and the Noise Makers with special guest Matt Schefield.

University of West Florida
Show your patriotism at the annual Flag Pole Event this Memorial Day. Captain Lee A. Steele, a Naval Aviator who’s flown off Aircraft Carriers around the world and is the current development, planning and analysis division director at Naval Education and Training Command, will be speaking. The ROTC Honor Guard will post and retire the colors, Anna Dawson will sing the National Anthem, James Hammond will conduct the invocation and benediction and taps will be played. The ceremony takes place at 9 a.m. on Friday, May 25. Breakfast will be served immediately afterward on the Free Speech Greens.

University of Chicago
Chicagoans, get some culture this Memorial Day weekend, courtesy of the University’s Department of Music. The performance begins with soprano Patrice Michaels, an established talent who has previously appeared at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Cleveland Opera and more. Then, enjoy a composition by University of Chicago Professor Augusta Read Thomas, who was the Mead Composer-in-Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1997 through 2006. She was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 2007. The event is free, although donations are appreciated. It’s open to the public and takes place on Saturday, May 26, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 27, at 3 p.m. in Mandel Hall.

Iowa State University
Would you like to remember your own loved ones this Memorial Day? At the university’s annual Memorial Day ceremony on Monday, May 28, all Iowa State University employees, retirees and spouses, who have died this past year, will be honored. It begins at 9 a.m. in the Reiman Ballroom at the Alumni Center.

How are you celebrating Memorial Day? How do you usually celebrate it? Is your college or university hosting an special events for the holiday?

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Question:

Answer: Most students take the ACT for the first time in either February or April of their junior year. Unfortunately, not many students will hit a home run on their first ACT sitting. But don’t worry, you can take the ACT again; actually you can take the ACT up to 12 times but I wouldn’t advise doing that!  Of the students who took the ACT more than once, 57% increased their overall Composite score. With tutoring and rigorous preparation, re-takers could surpass a 57% increase.

First, look at the score report to see if you omitted any questions. If you left blank any questions on the ACT, then make sure you don’t skip any on the next sitting; there is no guessing penalty on the ACT, so answer all questions!

Next, use the score report to identify the types of academic skills that you need to focus on the most. If you scored wrong on most of the geometry questions, then you need to spend the next few months solidifying your lines and angles, triangles, circles, quadrilaterals, solids and coordinate geometry.

Also, analyze your mistakes to see if your time would be better utilized by skipping around on certain sections. For example, if you want to score higher on the science, then you might want to find all of the chart-based “data representation” passages and tackle those before working on the more challenging “research summaries” and “conflicting viewpoint” passages.

Finally, look to see if you had a string of errors toward the end of each section. If so, you probably need to work on pacing. Did your errors on the reading comprehension appear toward the end? If so, you need to work on reading faster; remember, you want to spend about 8 minutes and 45 seconds per reading passage to finish on time. And on the math section, you want to work quickly but carefully through the first 30 easy questions, so you give yourself ample time to get through the last 30 medium/difficult math questions. My suggestion is to practice finishing the first 30 math questions in 25 minutes. If you can give yourself 35 minutes to do the last 30 math questions, then you’ll feel much more confident once the proctor says “pencils down.”

Taking the ACT, like any standardized test, is a marathon that requires ample preparation to ensure success. If you didn’t prepare enough the first time around, then use the time in between tests to double or triple up on the homework. I recommend studying 3 to 6 hours per week for maximum benefit.

If you haven’t already done so, purchase the latest edition of The Real ACT Prep Guide and take one practice test per week or every other week. Get it on amazon.com for the best rate.

In preparation for your ACT re-take, I discourage enrolling into ACT group classes because group sessions typically will not address the areas you need to focus on the most. My suggestion for optimal preparation is to find either an experienced private tutor who can work with you one-on-one, or to study on your own. As always, feel free to comment or email me , if you have any follow up questions. Good luck students!

The next ACT is June 8. The first fall ACT will be September 8. Register today. Share your ACT prep recommendations in the comments.

Have a question for the Test-Prep Expert? Email The Explorer Blog or post in the comments.

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Alexis Avila is a private tutor and founder of Prepped & Polished, LLC – a tutoring and test preparation company out of Boston, Massachusetts. He has a bachelor’s degree from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor and a  masters in counseling psychology from University of Wisconsin – Madison. He has more than ten years of full-time tutoring experience with a specialty in the SAT. Email Alexis Avila.

And so, to you new college graduates, I present 44 things you did in college that you’ll never do again.

1. Buy $120 textbooks that are worth $3.55 at the end of the semester.

2. Use 7-Eleven as your primary source for groceries.

3. Say things like, “It feels like a McDonald’s double cheeseburger night.”

4. Streak across the quad in exchange for a half a can of Keystone Light.

5. Believe meeting someone at a frat party counts as a date.

6. Steal your roommate’s Oatmeal Cream Pies and think he won’t notice.

7. Steal your roommate’s shampoo and think he won’t notice.

8. Steal your roommate’s girlfriend and think he won’t notice.

9. Do a keg stand in a skirt.

10. Pillow talk.

11. Make and eat microwave mac and cheese at 4am.

12. Wear sweatpants 24-hours-a-day.

13. Talk bad about girls who don’t wear sweatpants 24-hours-a-day.

14. Think going to class at 10am is “way too damn early.”

15. Use a blackboard.

16. Make fun of the nerds playing Ultimate Frisbee on Friday afternoons (they’re going to be your boss).

17. Use a ladle to eat your cereal because all the other dishes are dirty.

18. Spring break.

19. Winter break.

20. Summer break.

21. Draw genitalia on sleeping friends.

22. Be THAT excited about beer pong.

23. Steal 1-ply toilet paper from the campus janitor.

24. Use 1-ply toilet paper in general.

25. Consistently sleep in the same room as another adult who isn’t your spouse or significant other.

26. Use microwave popcorn to set off the fire alarm at least twice a week.

27. Think tapestries on your walls are cool.

28. Think Scarface and Animal House posters on your walls are cool.

29. Think nothing on your walls is cool.

30. Pass out on a bathroom floor.

31. Think a collection of alcohol bottles is cool.

32. Visit a friend’s dorm room and lean on the door all cool-like.

33. Eat Jell-o bowls because Jell-o shots take too long to make.

34. Have access to a drunk bus.

35. Skip class because “this is a really good episode of Price is Right.”

36. Skip class because “this is a really good episode of The Bold and the Beautiful.”

37. Skip class because of “crazy beer diarrhea.”

38. Shower with more than five other people in the room.

39. The pass-back.

40. Get chased by campus police because you thought it’d be funny to pee off the top of a Volkswagen bus.

41. Watch 125 episodes of Friends/Lost/Big Bang Theory/The Walking Dead/Glee/Degrassi in a row.

42. Be surrounded by single, good-looking, fit members of the opposite sex. And complain about it.

43. Raise your hand.

44. Have basically no responsibilities, no expenses and no worries.

Did we miss anything?  What things did you do in college that you’ll never do again?

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- You won’t be able to get away with a disposable Bic in the real world, my boy.
- Seems like only yesterday I was changing your diaper, and now, look, here I am giving you a nice pen, just like the one Gran and Grampy gave me before you were born.
- As a business associate of your father’s, I hope you will appreciate this impersonal, but costly gift.

The good news is there are so many options glutting the commencement gift market these days, today’s grads may not receive a single fountain pen! As for the job market, well, we’ll see.

Here are some great gift options for the grad in your life.

Continuing Education
Studies show the brain absorbs information the best while in a subconscious state. With a screen-printed Pillowcase Study, it’s never too late for a recent college grad to switch to the major of his or her parents’ choice. Fine Arts majors everywhere can benefit from resting their heads against the 180 thread count Fundamentals of Economics or Poli-Sci. You could avoid accusations of gag gift by purchasing a nice mattress to go with it. Or think of every dollar of the total purchase price as representing one of the approximately 20 years you’ve spent anguishing over how to come up with college tuition, in which case it’s a truly meaningful gift.

Formerly known as the Bridal Registry…
Not to cast a pall, grandma, but if you’re dying to give your grandchild nice cookware from Williams-Sonoma, don’t wait around for him or her to decide it’s time to settle down and get hitched. Carpe diem.

The Wild Blue Yonder
Graduating from college is certainly an achievement, but so is being the cool aunt who once hitchhiked her way from Kabul to Kathmandu. Any tent or trail pack from REI that comes with a lifetime guarantee would make a good reminder that the road need not be linear.

Small but Mighty...
Younger siblings may be uniquely positioned to know what a graduate would most appreciate, but rarely are they in a position to make it happen without help. The thousands of hours spent on Facebook may not seem so wasted if it helps mobilize the younger set to kick in small contributions toward one hotly desired big ticket, be it a new laptop, a U-Haul rental for a cross country move, time in a recording studio or tuition to bartending school. GiftSimple is a Kickerstarter-like platform that helps keep those requests for donations looking legit.

A Return to Form
If you’re the teacher. librarian or other such inspirational adult who turned a failing high school student into someone who can check “Four Years of College Completed” on their next application, you are well within your rights to mark the occasion with a fountain pen. Or go wild and get your grad a leather-bound journal.

What’s the best graduation gifts you ever received?

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“I think in the current economy it is highly likely that many young people will have chunks of time at their parents’ home after college,” says Carol Barash, Story to College. “This summer, both our Princeton graduates will be home for the month of June, before they head out to summer jobs and graduate school. I’m really excited to get to spend quality time with them! My advice is to be available to your children as who they are as adults, let them take the lead, listen to what’s on their minds and let them do their own laundry at least some of the time!”

* * *

“My advice,” says Judy Fishkind, whose 27-year-old son graduated from University of Delaware and 22-year-old son just graduated from University at Buffalo, ”a lot of patience, flexibility and a sense of humor.

“It’s a long transition period – they think they’re already adults, but since they’re living home, they revert back to being children (“what’s for dinner?” “did you clean my shirt”?…). Once the novelty of graduation wears off and their new daily work life kicks in, life eases into a new routine. But, once you get into a comfortable pattern living with your kids again, they move out. Cherish every moment. I’m looking forward to having my younger son home again but I know it will be short lived. He’s already talking about moving out.”

* * *

“We have put three kids through college, and just graduated our last one,” says Dianne Davis, who believes dealing with the transition to having kids back at home really depends on the situation. “Some kids are ready to go straight from college to the job world. One of ours was graduating in May and getting married in August. For us to be able to have a positive relationship we actually took out a three-month lease on a nearby apartment.

“He was still hanging in the wild, [being a] party boy, which wasn’t an acceptable influence on our two younger kids. I loved him, but just could not put up with him. So we got him an apartment a couple of miles away, and had him over for dinner a lot. We let him do his laundry here, etc. But I just couldn’t put up with an overgrown frat boy in our lives for that one last summer. Best decision ever!”

* * *

Angel Zobel-Rodriguez, whose son just graduated from California Lutheran University, suggests setting ground rules.

“They’ve just spent an entire year seeing how high they could stack the dishes from the cafeteria in the corner of their room. Make sure if you don’t want to be viewed as the cook/maid/butler, that you re-establish chores clearly, and remind early.

“Be clear about how often you expect them to attend meals or frequent ”family” events. They’re going to be coming back to friends they haven’t seen in nearly a year, and they’ll want to spend time with those friends, as well as people they have met at school this year.

“Be clear with expectations on where their “stuff” goes when they’re coming home. We’ve had to host dilapidated couches, carloads of grocery bags and plastic bins and assorted dumpster finds. If you can swing it – rent a storage unit near campus for the semester, and that’s one less argument to
have.

“Most importantly, ENJOY them while they’re home. You never know which summer is going to be their last living under your roof, and you’ll miss it when it’s gone.”

* * *

“Our two oldest children both graduated from University of Washington and are now on their own,” explains Kathy Pickus, “but our youngest son, Dylan, is in his second year at Northwestern University and still comes home for the summers.

“From our experiences, the best thing to remember as parents is that you now have another adult at home. And with adulthood comes responsibilities. That means cleaning up after themselves and still abiding by the house rules. We learned this was hard to do after the kids had been in the dorms or living on their own when housework was a low priority!

“It is important to also be somewhat flexible on the house rules. What worked for teenagers – like curfews – will not be appropriate for college-age students. With our son we no longer require he be home at a certain time, however, if he is out for the evening he must text us by 11pm with the approximate time he will be home, so we don’t worry. This has worked well the past couple of years.”

What advice do you have for parents welcoming home their college-aged kids? 

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The great thing about education in this age of technology is you can go to school anywhere and at any time. There are options for everyone, whether it’s traditional college, online, part-time. You can even test the waters with free online classes.

For those who have yet to complete their higher education, what is stopping you? And for those who always knew, who encouraged you?

Start your college search. Read about different types of colleges, finding the right college and college life.

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Some might call it a college graduation checklist, we call it the top 5 things you need to do before college graduation.

1. Get Letters of Recommendation. While letters of recommendation for jobs have taken a dive in importance in the last few decades, recommendation letters for further education are still crucial to your chances of getting in to the school of your choice. Before you leave campus, make sure you’ve contacted a select group of professors, administrators, counselors or coaches who will write good things about your college performance.

2. Clean Your Apartment. Assuming you want your security deposit back, it’s a good idea to give your apartment or dorm a once-over before you vacate for the summer. Get your roommates to help you scrub the tub, fix any holes that may have been created on especially rowdy evenings and clean out the fridge. Doing this will ensure you get your deposit back or help you avoid residence hall charges that might keep you from getting your diploma.

3. Leave a Forwarding Address. The days of getting care packages from mom might be over (aww …) but your university address is probably still the destination for most of your important mail. Take a trip to the mail center to update your forwarding address, then make sure the post office has the same information – it’s an easy process you can complete mail forwarding online. Finally, ensure the alumni center has an address to send alumni information. Don’t have an address yet? Use mom and dad’s or a friend’s in the interim.

4. Meet with Career Services. Surprisingly, most college students don’t take full advantage of the career services center at their college or university. Career services can help you figure out exactly what you want to do, set you up with jobs and internships, and probably – most importantly – connect you with alumni in your job field who might be your only acquaintances in a new profession or new city.

5. Pay Your Parking Tickets. How pissed would your parents be if you didn’t graduate because you didn’t pay your parking tickets? We all know parking on campus is never a treat. In fact, it’s estimated that college students get (earn?) an average of two parking tickets a year. And when these tickets are not paid, colleges have been known to do insidious things like delay grade reports and withhold diplomas. Pay your tickets now and avoid frustration later.

Take care of these five things and most likely you’ll progress from college student to real-life adult with no problem at all. Even though now you’re probably wondering if leaving college life behind you and becoming a real-life adult is a good thing…

What other things must students do before college graduation?

Find your alumni network using Campus Explorer Connections. Learn about in-demand jobs in today’s economy and recession-proof careers. Find  out how to ask for graduate school letters of recommendation. Read all of our Graduation Week posts.

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With that in mind Campus Explorer launched their new Campus Explorer Connections Facebook Application. Campus Explorer Connections helps prospective students, college students and graduates find where their friends and family went to college, learn where their friends will be going to college and discover and explore the most popular schools in their network. Prospective students can use the app to learn more about their top college choices, while students and alums find potential mentors to guide them through their academic and career paths.

To access Campus Explorer Connections, simply sign in to the application using Facebook Connect.

“I have met a large amount of new friends in college through student organizations and my university job,” shares Caroline Radaj, who is graduating from University of Wisconsin – Madison this month. “The college environment allows people to explore a wide and essentially never-ending network.”

And it’s these networks that grow throughout grads professional lives.

“I have many good friends from college, explains author Walter G. Meyer. “Some I worked with on the college newspaper – the Daily Collegian – at Penn State are now editors at major newspapers and magazines and they frequently hire me to write some freelance articles for them. … I trust some of them to read and critique early drafts of my books, and I do the same for them.”

“My college roommate for three years continues to be one of my dearest friends,” shares Angela Betancourt, who went to Barry University. “We became very bonded during difficult times of our college lives. Whether it was boy issues, crazy professors or keeping each other awake, while we studied in the middle of the night, she and I learned how to help boost each other spirits.

“The experiences we go through during school are usually unique to that environment, so it’s comforting when you can relate with someone who has been through the same.”

In this day and age where connecting in virtual and real life leads to so many opportunities, it really helps to have an extra connection. And there are fewer bonds that are stronger than a common alma mater.

“I went to University of Michigan for college, and the friendships I made while on campus have somehow gotten me ahead in every step of my life,” explains Lauren Herskovic, Director of Operations at Precision Essay.

“It took me some time to realize this, but success is all about networking, and there’s something about college pride/that college connection that instantly bonds two people together. In fact, my current apartment is owned by a Michigan grad and upon finding out I also went there, he leased the place to me on the spot!”

Herskovic feels ”very lucky” to have gone to a school with a giant alumni base. “It seems everywhere I go and everyone I talk to is somehow connected to Michigan or someone I knew at Michigan. And it always comes back to help me out,” she continues. ”There is something about college friendships that not only makes them stronger than others, but also makes them invaluable.”

So keep maintaining those friendships. See who went to or is going to your school. Find out who of your fellow alums is working in your area of interest. Connect using Campus Explorer Connections.

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