Even if just a furry friend sounds good enough.   It’s nearing finals week, and the end-of-semester stress is starting to build up. Short on time, it may seem like there isn't any opportunity to rest and prioritize your mental health. However, did you know that there is one activity that is scientifically proven to decrease stress levels and improve your mood within just a few minutes? Animal visitation programs (AVPs) are being implemented at a rising number of college campuses across the United States. These most commonly take the form of therapy dog sessions, where students can pet and play with dogs specially trained for the task. How do Therapy Dogs Affect Mood and Stress? Plenty of dog-lovers would say that playing with their dog makes them happier. This applies to therapy dog programs too! In a therapy dog session, students are invited to interact with the canines in small groups. Studies have shown that students self-report an immediate increase in happiness and energy levels after taking part in therapy dog sessions. Students also report a perceived decrease in mental stress even 10 hours after their therapy dog session. Why do These Mood Changes Occur? These mood changes are not just a mental perception; they are related to changes in hormone levels that occur when interacting with animals. An increase in oxytocin levels, which is shown to occur within many people when they pet or play with dogs, helps with decreasing stress. Studies show that AVPs can lead to a significant decrease in cortisol levels in just 10 minutes. Cortisol is directly tied to the main stress pathway in the human body, called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. When someone is stressed, the HPA axis increases activity, and secretes greater amounts of cortisol. Therefore, a decrease in cortisol means there has been a physiological decrease in stress. How Can This Help? Stress has many effects, both physically and mentally. It can affect your sleep, your ability to focus, your appetite, and your mood. College can be an extremely stressful time for many. Stress and academic performance are often a negative feedback loop; when you experience academic stress, it can sometimes lead to performing more poorly, which in turn can lead to a greater increase in mental stress. Therefore, as a college student it is incredibly important to monitor your stress levels closely and take care of your mental health. Check and see if your own college offers therapy dog sessions! Just a few short minutes can make a huge difference for your mental and physical health. WRITTEN BY Gretchen Maune University of Virginia Gretchen Maune is currently a Junior at the University of Virginia. She is double majoring in Biology and English, with a concentration in ‘Science Literature and Global Bioethics’. She is looking forward to a career in the journalism industry, specifically dealing with science writing and creative nonfiction. Gretchen was a summer Editorial Intern for Macmillan Learning’s Life Sciences division. ... View more

To help you get that first (or next) job! Congratulations! You found a job you want to apply to. But how do you present yourself as the best candidate? Here are a few tips for writing cover letters that will make you stand out. 1. Make a list of keywords. Go through the job description and note everything they’re asking for: Skills Responsibilities Past experiences Identify which of those items come up again and again. Maybe they ask about managing budgets in a couple different ways, or maybe they’re really keen for someone who can schedule meetings. Once you identify the two or three main responsibilities, you’ll know what your cover letter should focus on. (Bonus points: use this same list of keywords to strengthen your resume.) 2. Freewrite to generate ideas. Think about the list you just made. How do your experiences relate to what the job description is asking for? Set a timer for 1 to 5 minutes and brainstorm. See how many list items you can reasonably apply to each of your past experiences. Allow yourself to write without worrying about spelling or coherency. If you don’t know what to write, just write, “I don’t know what to write,” and keep going. When you’re done, you should have a good idea of which one or two experiences to focus on in your cover letter. 3. Go deep, not broad. You might be tempted to try and expand on every single one of the qualifications that make you such an amazing candidate. But resist that urge in your cover letter. Your resume is where you can share the breadth of your past experiences. Your cover letter, on the other hand, is a chance to plunge into one or two of those experiences and how they make you a great fit for the position. Whereas resumes are surface level on many things, your cover letter should be in depth on a couple things. 4. Focus more on what they need than what you want. Obviously, you wouldn’t apply to a job if you wouldn’t get anything out of it. But a recruiter will be far more interested in what you can offer them, rather than what they can offer you. Focus on the value you would bring to the organization. Show how lucky they would be to have you on their team. As best you can, limit “I” statements, and really place the focus on them. 5. Be obvious! The person reading your cover letter knows you are applying for a job. You know you are applying for a job. You don’t have to dance around the fact that you think you would make a good fit. Clearly lay out how your past experiences map onto this new position. If you think you’re being too obvious, you’re probably doing it right. After all, the person reading your cover letter is likely reviewing many other applications. Make it easy for them, and be very direct in linking your past experience(s) to this new opportunity. Be confident and enthusiastic. You’ve got this. WRITTEN BY Casey Wells Northwestern University Casey Wells is a graduate of Northwestern University, where he studied creative writing, playwriting, and French. He lives in Chicago where he takes improv classes, runs 10Ks, and guards a prodigious hoard of books.   ... View more

What does self-care look like for you? While partaking in a panel for my college, I was asked: “What’s one thing you wish you could tell yourself as a freshman?” I knew my answer immediately, to allow myself time for self-care. Before therapy, I hadn’t known how important it was to consistently incorporate time to relax and de-stress in my schedule. Sometimes it might be hard to engage in self-care amidst life’s challenges and busyness. As a frequent list and calendar user, I block out specific times for self-care to help with this. What I do during this blocked time differs, but I usually do a mix of the following (as learned in therapy and my psychology courses), which I’d recommend trying out: Check-in with yourself Ask yourself questions like: How am I feeling today? Why might I be feeling this way? Am I hungry, tired, thirsty? Do I need time to do something fun today? This may seem odd, but I promise it’s important work as it allows space to be present with yourself. I find that I typically respond with comments like “I’m tired” which prompts me with clear next steps (such as going to bed earlier). If feelings of distress arise, something common in self-compassion therapy is speaking to yourself, as if you were speaking directly with a loved one. Reach out to others When busy with assignments and/or work, it may be hard to reach out to your support group. I’ve found that scheduling calls with friends and family helps ensure I stay connected. Sometimes discussing life in general can help clear one’s mind–and it’s certainly helped me as I begin to experience life changes (such as the transition after graduation). Set aside time for breaks and rest Sometimes stepping away from a task and revisiting it later can help ease feelings of anxiety and burnout. As learned in my cognition class, cognitive psychologists also say that breaks help with recall (what they call “the spacing effect”). Additionally, sleep helps with consolidation of material which relates to the process of long-term memory creation. If you struggle knowing how to incorporate breaks into your work, I’ve heard the Pomodoro Technique is helpful. Additionally, I’ve found creating a personalized to-do list (noting deadlines and soft deadlines I give myself) helps me ensure I finish material on time, while also ensuring I budget enough resting time. Check out the resources your school has to offer Many schools have counseling services, fun extracurriculars, fitness classes, and more–which can be another way to partake in self-care related activities and connect with others. Your community may also have fun events that can help you de-stress. What does self-care look like for you? How might you work to incorporate more self-care into your schedule? Comment below. WRITTEN BY Shannon Kucaj IUPUI Shannon Kucaj is graduating from IUPUI with a Bachelor of Arts in English with a Concentration in Creative Writing, with minors in Professional & Public Writing, Communication Studies, Classical Studies, and Psychology. She is an aspiring editor and writer and has experience working as one of two Managing Editors for her campus literary & art magazine and has interned within publishing. In her free time, she enjoys singing and baking.   ... View more

And scientists may be our most important storytellers. As you navigate college, your career, and your future, it is important to keep in mind the fact that you are responsible for telling your story, the stories of those around you, and perhaps even part of the story of the world. Typically, folks in the humanities are considered society’s storytellers, but scientists, engineers, and just about anyone else are also storytellers. In fact, I think scientists are some of our most important storytellers. They study the universe, its nature, how it works. Then, they take their knowledge and share it with us so that we can learn the story of the universe. Being able to take something as complex as neuroscience or astrophysics and paring it down to something for the masses to discover? That takes talent and it is invaluable. Where would we be without those people who can look at the complexity of the world and find a cohesive story in it? I am studying psychology and statistics, and my goal (and the goal of all psychologists) is to figure out how humans work. What makes us tick. I want to help tell the story of humanity. But psychologists can’t tell this story alone. Our information is incomplete. We need the stories from biologists, historians, physicists, archaeologists, and neuroscientists (to name a few) to paint a complete picture of the past, present, and future of humanity and human nature. The elements needed to craft a compelling work of fiction are the same elements needed to discover and share the nature of our world: context/setting, motivation, characters, conflict, etc. This is why I believe the best scientists are also able to communicate their findings in a compelling, creative, and engaging way. As someone working toward a Master’s of Science, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read a dry, boring, mundane article. Sure, they were informative and told a part of humanity’s story, but they were not engaging. If you want folks to read the story you tell, you need to make sure you communicate it in a compelling way. It’s the same with fiction, too. Fiction should be compelling, entertaining, and thought-provoking. The stories we tell through fiction also give insight to human nature and the human experience. Music, sculpture, art, dance, poetry, literature? Those are all media humans use to tell their stories. The fields of history, social science, and psychology have a long history with creative works and the insights they share, and it baffles me how little our creatives are valued in many societies. Aside from the joy and entertainment they bring, creatives are our unofficial historians in a sense – capturing the world as they experience it and sharing it with others. An objective retelling of history that professional historians (should) strive for is not complete without us being able to also learn the subjective feelings of the parties involved. Emotion is what brings history to life. I can tell you honestly that I would not remember as much history as I do without class lessons being supplemented with music, film, art, poetry, and photography. Our world’s storytellers are some of our most critical people and we must cherish and nurture them. Support your local artists. Rally for the funding and sharing of scientific research. And, please, consume the stories that these people have made for us. WRITTEN BY Kris Shiflet Currently pursuing a co-terminal BS Psychology, minor in Stats, and MS in IO Psychology –basically a big old nerd. While HR is my work passion, I also love creative writing and I have way too many unfinished stories in my drive. I write to music, but a chaotic mix of heavy metal, jazz, classical, punk, and pop. Hey, whatever works, right?   ... View more

Where’s the center of your campus?   This image depicts a portion of the courtyard immediately outside my university center. I don’t know if it is smack in the “center” of campus per se, but it definitely feels like it because of how many people stay there to eat, sit down, do work, or pass the time. The courtyard of the “UCen” probably gets the most foot traffic out of everywhere on campus. It is one area where everyone spends time regardless of their major, unlike the elusive engineering portion of campus, and tour groups can feel the energy between passing periods. However, during lectures and toward the evening the atmosphere completely changes and it becomes very quiet. I like the different levels of activity one spot on campus could have, and I think it really represents the bustling but balanced life of a university student. Bonus: if you choose to attend UC Santa Barbara, you can look forward to a great view of the lagoon and ocean from the UCen while you study!  Original Artwork by Mila Alcantar   WRITTEN BY Mila Alcantar Mila Alcantar is a recent graduate with a BA in Linguistics. Originally from the Bay Area, she is interning with the Rights Department of Macmillan Children’s Group. She loves taking care of her birds and is teaching herself guitar. You can usually spot her in the corner of the local library cafe.   ... View more

Perhaps a career in UX is right for you, too!   User experience (UX) encapsulates how people interact with and feel when using any digital product. A UX designer often works with researchers, product managers, developers, and users to understand how to design seamless, engaging, useful, and hopefully delightful experiences. I’ve always been curious about the impact of design and was inspired to pursue UX, specifically within the edtech field after interacting with young learners and, more specifically, special education students who couldn't necessarily vocalize their frustrations. I am fascinated with understanding how not only learners but also users learn, interact, and adapt to utilize tools. With a not-so-traditional background in biological sciences, teaching, and as a self-taught UX and visual designer, I would've loved to hear more about transferable skills that lead to success as a UX designer. What I learned is that soft skills can vary based on the industry and specialization. After chatting with countless designers and designing myself, I’ve found that there are some specific skills and qualities which may suggest an aptitude for this field: You're willing to embrace a user-centric design approach. Having a sense of empathy should come naturally. Understanding user needs, wants, and frustrations is essential as both a UX researcher and designer. Any bootcamp will teach that, but it’s something that can often take a conscious effort and practice. Focusing on discovery, a step in which pain points, goals, and the problem are defined, will help prioritize tasks and narrow down a broader scope. It may even indicate that there may be other solutions that aren't necessarily design-related. Be prepared to figure out a process that works for you, your team, and stakeholders. You're willing to collaborate and accept feedback. Taking into account user feedback is an integral part of the UX design process, but reaching out to designers as well as researchers and those on other teams can prove useful. Receiving and considering feedback early on, especially from those who are more senior, can save you time and effort and ultimately lead to better-informed designs. Sharing your progress, no matter how early, can also help you uncover similar initiatives already explored. Being able to effectively communicate ideas, concepts, goals, and designs, especially to stakeholders and non-designers, is something that comes with practice and if done well, can set you apart. "Articulating Design Decisions" by Tom Greever is a must-read for all creatives. You can go with the flow. There are various UX design processes, but understanding that there is no one perfect process for every single project is important. Depending on user needs, business goals, time constraints, and more, the process can quickly shift. Staying adaptable and even being ready to let go of designs can be difficult but is just part of the process. Focus on embracing design thinking and not worrying too much about the details initially. If you resonate with these qualities, you may have the potential to thrive in the field of UX! (There are of course technical skills that are needed.) To learn a bit more about the field, explore this page on NNGroup or check out this Starter Guide from Workshopper. Although I have a ways to go, I’m grateful to have had a manager in the past who recognized my skills and introduced me to the intriguing world of user experience and for the brilliant UX team that I worked with at Macmillan Learning. … *One last point- You’re willing to use a variety of tools. I had no idea what to title this, so AI helped out. WRITTEN BY Mariam Mughal Mariam is a UX Designer based in the Dallas area. She interned with Macmillan Learning to research and design new features within Achieve to help students stay on track. She also loves planning events and travel itineraries, experimenting when baking and decorating cakes, and listening to audiobooks on long walks. You can find her portfolio at mariamsmughal.com.   ... View more

What to wear! What to wear!   I’m just going to say it. I’m morally opposed to khakis. They really bum me out. And so I elect not to wear them. However, this presents the young, budding corporate lass that I am with a problem: what ever shall I wear to work? I don’t want to forsake my corduroy flares and Edwardian skirts when I enter the cubicle farm– I like to believe my closet and I can embark on this professional adventure together without too many growing pains. So, let’s get dressed for work à la business casual and let's do it without knee socks.    1. The First Day of Work Outfit  The first day of work is really all about taking the temperature of the office, and so on day one I like to wear all black. It allows me to go incognito and observe. The whole dress like a spy thing makes me feel a) cool b) emboldened and c) ready to take in my surroundings with a dramatic flair. Alas, dressing in all black on day one is sort of just uncontroversial, easy, and is a good place to start when trying to get a feel for things both professional and re fashion.   2. The Don’t Let Your Favorite Items Wallow in Your Closet Outfit If you are like me then you may have a piece of clothing you prize above all others. For me this item is a pink maxi skirt from the 1910s. I get antsy about wearing it past my front door because it's just so special that no occasion or day could possibly merit its resplendent beauty. I’ve been trying to get over that this summer: wear your prized possessions to work! There’s no time like the present. Wear your fancy dresses, skirts, blouses, and pants to your heart’s content and then really dramatically and quite unnecessarily hold your skirt up like a princess when you ascend the Wall Street Subway Station staircase (ok maybe don’t do this part?).    3. The Corduroy Pants Reign Supreme Outfit  In my humble and very non-expert opinion, every work wardrobe needs a pair of corduroy pants. They are linen pants’ wintertime brethren. They are an item with the potential for individualization in cut and color and they add a bit of retro flair to every outfit. Dressier than jeans, but comfier than slacks, a good pair of cords may just make you feel the Very Cool manager of a 1970s rock band.    4. The “I actually work at Sterling Draper Pryce” Outfit  Welcome to the section of this post that I like to call shopping for work in the closet of a 1960s dame. In the late hours of the evening I often find myself making ill-advised purchases on eBay, but the purchases I never regret are 1960s mod dresses. These dresses are great for work and make me feel like Peggy from Mad Men. They are also just really fun pieces endowed with an interesting story. Makes for good water cooler talk. (Also, I’m 5'9 so these mod dresses can end up being quite mini– use your best judgment when it comes to appropriate hemlines at work.)     5. The Let’s Make a Deal Outfit  This is the outfit I bring out when there is serious business to be taken care of. Take note of the muted tones and collared shirt. This outfit is not what I would describe as “fun,” but it is what I would describe as “casually business serious.” (A more, ahem, serious take on business casual. Also, a term of my own creation that has yet to catch on.)   6. The so Many Different Utilities Outfit  Utility pants are another good work wardrobe staple. They become particularly helpful when angling to transition your work outfits into post-work activities. With a superfluous amount of pockets, utility pants are good for trout fishing, coffee dates, and taking an elevator without a purse. Additionally, the shoes for this outfit, my trusty espadrilles, originated from communities around the Pyrenees mountains and they really give the word “utility” new meaning. They are a solid and delightful pair of shoes good for climbing mountains or sitting at your computer.    Alas, we have exhausted my closet and my styling sensibilities. Allow me to leave you with this: work outfits can be fun! Wear your favorite items and work with what you have to create a work wardrobe that is not your real life wardrobe’s boring and uncomfortable little sister.  WRITTEN BY Kate Unrath Georgetown University Kate Unrath is a junior at Georgetown University majoring in American Studies with a minor in Creative Writing. As such, she considers any time with the Transcendentalists to be time well spent. Kate can be found taking long walks without a destination in mind or agonizing over whether the shade of black on her sweater matches that of her pants.   ... View more

There’s so much to do in the city!   Transitioning into college can be tough. For most, it is your first time living on your own, and you are expected to make new friends, explore new surroundings, and stay healthy all while attending class! These challenges can sometimes feel bigger for those attending a metropolitan campus rather than a traditional insular one, but living in an urban area has its benefits. Here are some tips I learned about navigating college life in a big city! Attend Campus Events Without a traditional campus, it may be harder to find big groups of freshmen congregating during your first week of school. However, that does not mean that these gatherings do not exist! All freshmen are in the same boat, and are looking to make new friends. That’s why it’s especially important to attend campus events during your first few weeks of the semester. These events may take place at the library, dining hall, or other areas inside your dorm. Not all city schools prioritize Greek life, so make sure to look out for when/where the club fair is taking place so you can meet others with similar interests as you! Prioritize the Outdoors  No Quad? No problem! It’s always important to get outdoors, even if your school is not surrounded by nature. Make walking a part of your day even when you are not rushing from class to class. Find the closest park or beach to your dorm and spend time there with a book or with some friends.  Learn Local Transit  Learning how to get around a new city can be daunting, but you have a whole city to explore, and four years to get your bearings! Befriend a local or use the city's transit app to navigate the train or bus system your city provides. It may seem scary for the first few months, but once you get the hang of it you will feel much more comfortable in your new home! Take Advantage of Your Surroundings  Now that you know how to get around - it’s time to make the most of it. One of the major benefits of attending school in a metropolitan area is that you are not limited to collegiate life. Make friends with other students in the area, or get an off-campus job at that hip restaurant or café you’ve been meaning to check out. Most theaters, sporting arenas, and museums have student discounts/comped tickets if you look on their website. If you are 21+, you can even explore the local nightlife. Don’t be afraid to sign up for that dorm event to attend a local street fair! With so much going on, it is impossible to not find a niche or a new favorite place.  Have Fun! While it is not for everyone, attending a non-traditional college campus was one of the best decisions I ever made for myself. I was able to feel confident exploring new places, learned how to take it slow in a fast paced environment, and did it all while attending school and making best friends for life! WRITTEN BY Jaden Urso New York University Jaden Tyler Urso is a senior at New York University studying English, creative writing, and theater. She hopes to work in the publishing industry and is an aspiring playwright. She is a cat person and her favorite color is blue.   ... View more

I entered college in the fall of 2019, with all the hopes and dreams of a young girl from a small town entering a dream school in a big city. I entered college in the fall of 2019, with all the hopes and dreams of a young girl from a small town entering a dream school in a big city. I made incredible friends, explored new places, tried new foods, and found time to study somewhere in between. Until March of 2020 hit, and well… you know. The idyllic glass castle of freshman year shattered. Fast forward to today. I’ll be graduating in December of 2022 and will have earned my degree without ever having had a full year of being in-person on my college campus. My freshman year was cut off in March of 2020. My sophomore year was entirely online. The fall of my junior year was in-person, but we had two weeks of remote work at the outset of the spring semester. I’ll be finishing college in December. And that’s it. 3.5 years, and almost half of it done from the desk of my childhood room, two-thousand five hundred and seventy-three miles away from campus. People pity the class of 2022 and 2023, saying that we never had the “full college experience,” as if we’ll be missing some vital part of our young adult lives. And perhaps there’s a part of that statement that might be true. However, I also believe it’s granted myself and my classmates a unique skill set that will last a lifetime—and be incredibly useful in today's ever-changing work environment and economy. Here are a few of those skills: We know how to pivot quickly and adapt to new situations and circumstances. This past fall—while being completely in-person and on-campus–came with many ups and downs. Covid cases weren’t nonexistent on campus, and there were some weeks when class would be canceled 20 minutes before it began. But there’d be no chaos or panicking. Instead of walking 10 minutes to my classroom, I’d walk 10 minutes to the library or the student coffee shop, pop open my laptop, and class would resume as if nothing changed. Covid testing is now required twice a week? Of course! New mask policies set in place? Sure thing. The dining halls are closed for a week and robots will be delivering our meals? Sounds great! Every curveball that is thrown at us, we’ve learned to take it in stride, adapt quickly, and let it not actively disrupt our purpose and goals for each day. We are able to efficiently execute quality work across all in-person and remote platforms. I and my fellow classmates learned Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and our school’s academic platform, Brightspace, in the blink of an eye, moving on to even assist our professors and advisors on how to best utilize the platforms for their and our advantage. We’re fluent in classroom learning on these technological platforms, but we’re also fluent in classroom learning in-person as well. I know how to effectively collaborate with a group on term-long projects in study rooms, Zoom breakout rooms, and a combination of both. We’ve learned how to measure tasks and decide which ones would be more valuable to work on in-person, or which ones would best be discussed while sharing a screen on a video call. We’ve learned how to create our own hybridized systems of learning and working to maximize our efficiency on campus, which will surely translate into any future careers we may also have. We’ve built up incredible emotional resilience. When my school announced that we’d have two weeks of remote classes in the spring of 2022, I remember feeling heartbroken and scared. Would these two weeks of remote learning be eternally extended, like in March of 2020? Thankfully, it was not, but the possibility of closure would always be there. Through it all, I remember thinking in the back of my mind, We’ve done that before. We can do it again. We know what it’s like to have the rug pulled from under us, our routines disrupted. We now know how to plan accordingly, quickly develop and find new routines, and shape our days in the small spaces of our rooms or dorms. We know how to pay attention in meetings and classes that feel like they’ll never end. I’m not naive enough to say that we’ve seen it all, but we sure have seen and felt a LOT these past two years, Instead of dwelling on and grieving what we cannot do, we focus on what we can do. This applies to college and beyond. This is what’s going to shine on our resumes and job applications post-graduation. This is what makes the classes of 2022 and 2023 unique, strong, and resilient. WRITTEN BY Gwyneth Bechunas Loyola Marymount University Gwyneth Bechunas is a rising senior at Loyola Marymount University, graduating in December of 2022 with a major in screenwriting and a minor in business administration. She is very excited to turn a lifelong love for reading into a career in the publishing industry and is always eager to talk books with anyone and everyone. Gwyneth is currently an intern with the Macmillan Trade Field Sales division in the Independent Bookstore Channel.     ... View more

I like to consider myself something of a modern day Da Vinci. I like to consider myself something of a modern day Da Vinci. I don’t mean this in a ‘genius inventor-artist-architect-who-knows-what-else’ sense. I mean it in the ‘took so long to decide on what to major in that I’ve changed minors five times’ sense. And while the man himself might have been one of those crazy geniuses who ends up with 5 PhD’s by thirty (in my humble opinion, Bruce Banner really needed a hobby that wasn’t academia), I like to think he would have empathized with my struggle of being around the academic block.  In my time doing random minors I found interesting, work-study, research-assisting, and most recently, interning, I’ve discovered that a lot of what can go on a resume are the skills and experiences I’ve gained while being in uni. I’m not about to kill myself doing ten thousand things. Instead I’ve gotten very good at selling what hobbies and experience I do have. So, if you’re just starting college and don’t have work experience, or are focused on your academics, or have a thousand hobbies but no clue how to make someone see the value in them, here’s my secret: Sell them like they’re the most valuable part of you.    Project Management  Have you ever considered that everyone in college constantly practices project management? Each class is a huge project. You likely have several you need to balance, in addition to having a life. Those projects need to be broken down into sub-projects, like homework or reading. They all have due dates and varying priority levels. A small forum post does not have the same weight on your grade as a midterm or paper. This, too, needs to be considered. To make matters worse, some of those bigger sub-projects need to be divided further! You have to research for a paper. You have to write a first draft. Oh no, there’s a bibliography too? And then you have to edit it. And if your teacher really wants to hear students crying, there might even be a presentation attached to the end. You have two options, really. You can emu-stick your head into the ground and weep or you can emu-win the war with Australia. And that requires solid project management skills. So, how do you do it? Planners? Calendars? Ten-thousand to-do lists? If you ever get asked, “Give us an example of project management”, you will be more than ready.  (Yes, I know. It’s popular culture ostriches who stick their head in the ground. They don’t do it in real life and neither do emus. It’s a metaphor. I’m trying to be funny here.)   Knowing to Reach Out For Help Knowing when you need help, and seeking out others when you need help and not being ashamed to do so, are more valuable skills than you think. (And if you are ashamed, please don’t be. Office hours, career services, peer tutoring, and all the like are there for a reason).   Critical Thinking Classes teach you how to think in certain ways. This applies to future STEM scientists, but also researchers (psychologists approach research differently than anthropologists, for example), and members of the humanities as well (How to analyze a text. How to summarize it. How to communicate ideas clearly and concisely.)   Conflict Management If you’re a freshman with rose-tinted glasses, hate to tell you, but you will probably dislike someone over your time in uni. A classmate, a teacher, maybe even your roommate. Navigating these instances is a valuable skill to have. Specifically: navigate them by not making a public mess of it, unless unavoidable or your safety is in danger. As always, context matters! But usually you want to talk to the person in private, maybe with a mediator present to iron out your differences. Conversely: How to be friendly! No one wants to work with a jerk. Even if you and your team aren’t best friends, you still want a good working rapport. Trust me, work culture matters for a reason. (And if you blank about what questions to ask interviewers, work culture is always a good go-to).   Networking I know, what a slimy word. But it’s as simple as going to office hours and asking your teacher questions, and thus making a good impression. It’s even as simple as finding a good club you enjoy and making friends. In other words: not simple at all, but may come naturally as a result of being in university.   I’m blanking on more, but I’m sure you, dear reader, are having college experiences I’ve never had. Maybe you can out-debate anyone. Maybe you can name a hundred mineral types. Maybe you’ve won competitions, gotten awards, sailed across the Pacific in nothing but a tiny boat. When looking for a job, internship, or position, you are your biggest advocate. Are you that loser who spent six months doing nothing but fishing or the awesome person who overcame insurmountable odds through skill, dedication, and tenacity, and is also now a pretty good fisher? You’re human, so the answer is both. But there’s only one that you should view yourself as, and that’s the one you need to sell. WRITTEN BY Melissa Marcus University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Melissa Marcus is a crazy cat lady moonlighting as a rising senior citizen at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Over the summer she’s been the Humanities Media Editorial Intern for Macmillan Learning. The rest of the year she studies Anthropology by day time and reads, writes, paints, plays games by night time. Her dream for the near future is to learn Japanese and get better at German, so she doesn’t stutter through hello and fail every other conversation beat.   ... View more

“10…9…8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3…2…1!” “10…9…8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3…2…1!” The last bell of senior year goes off, followed by a chorus of cheers and whoops from the class of 2019. It’s a mess of tears, laughter, and breathless cries of “we did it!” as the familiar tune of the Sweet Caroline anthem plays us out of four long, exhausting high school years. I look around one last time at the people I have grown up with for the past seven years. It’s not hitting me quite yet that life is about to change so drastically for every single one of us. It didn’t hit when I saw last year’s graduating class go through this same ritual, nor did it the year before that, or even before that. I always imagined it would be now, in this moment, that the collective realization would strike us speechless. But it doesn’t feel like that. I suppose it won’t yet, not until I’m looking back at these memories four summers from now, reminiscing over old friendships and the walls I used to call home. And this moment. I’ll never forget this singular, loud, excruciating moment. ______________________________________________________________________ As we slowly resurface on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic and the almost two-year “time freeze” it imposed on society, there seem to be a lot of buzzwords floating around like “return to normal” or “back to how things used to be.” We’re now beginning to see the implications of such a return and uncover some of the complications that we may not have foreseen. I don’t remember hearing of a graduating class before mine that didn’t participate in that jovial, last day ritual. Every year that I got to witness it, there were differences and modifications, but the end result was always the same: the graduating class gathered in their beloved lounge on the last day of classes, counting down the last ten seconds until the final bell rang. True to tradition, our own class followed suit, as we expected every class after us to do. We never saw an alternative. Herricks High School’s class of 2020 did not get the opportunity to carry out this beloved tradition; nor did the class of 2021. My sister, three years younger than I was, can still recall as a freshman watching my class count down to that last bell in 2019. When June of 2022 rolled around, I waited at home on her last day, expecting to hear about her own version of this bittersweet milestone. But her version never happened. As she tells it, her grade simply did not do it. Maybe half of the grade hadn’t even seen the tradition play out three years ago. Maybe those who did forgot of its existence. Whatever the reason, listening to my sister talk made me wonder somberly: was this tradition lost forever? After all, as most traditions work, we learned from those before us. But with nothing to observe, would the next graduating class even know about this tradition, let alone others? Would they realize all the things that they never would experience because they never learned of them? It doesn’t stop at high school. As a twenty-one-year-old just dipping her toes in the sea of corporate life, I find myself wondering: What workplace traditions may I be missing out on? What workplace nuances got left behind when everyone packed up their offices in a frenzy in March of 2020? What is it like to physically visit your boss’ desk for two minutes? What exchanged glances across the office or inside jokes will I never get to “watch and learn?” How does happy hour even work with your colleagues? And with an odd mishmash of employees who are cautiously beginning to return to in-person work and employees who have permanently set up camp in the comfort of their homes, how can I – or anyone else in this up-and-coming generation of the workforce – reasonably expect to learn all the ins, outs, and in betweens of the office? Do we even want to? Because all this talk of drifting away from the old brings in a whole other topic of discussion: drifting towards the new. Will we, as the new generation of employees, seek to dig deeper into office roots to uncover the subtle traditions and conventions of years past? Or will we abandon these ideas altogether and brainstorm new and innovative traditions of our own? And if we choose the latter – leaving old rituals to gather dust in the bottom drawers of our supply closets – do we risk resentment from long standing employees who crave, as we hear in the midst of the buzz, a return to their idea of normal? WRITTEN BY Vineeta Abraham Stony Brook University Vineeta Abraham is a rising senior at Stony Brook majoring in Psychology with a minor in Creative Writing. She is also a lover of music, sunsets, food, dogs, and meeting new people whenever possible. Vineeta is an intern in the Human Resources department at Macmillan.     ... View more

You’ve had a long day at work or school. You woke up early, headed off to work, got chewed out by your boss despite doing your best, and went home. Most people in this situation might reach for the wine bottle. The cultural trope is the hard-working father coming home to drink a few beers or the tired business woman pouring herself a “well-deserved” glass of red wine.  Drinking has become a social event, with bottles of wine appearing at weddings, social gatherings, and nearly every big holiday. Maybe it’s part of your coping mechanism. Maybe you simply enjoy it. Regardless, most everyone will view alcohol in moderate quantities as a harmless substance that can take the edge off when life knocks you astray. For the most part, this is true. One glass a week isn’t going to send you to the emergency room. But alcohol abuse can lead to a host of brain issues, starting with cognitive decline. And wait – there’s more! The problem becomes much more severe as we age. Because when we’re older, our bodies are different, which means our brains are different, which means the way our brains deal with alcohol is – different. We can now take a closer look at some of the biggest ways alcohol affects the brain, more specifically, the aging brain.  Our brains don’t quite “bounce back” as quickly from something serious, and it takes more time and cellular energy for older people’s brains to perform as efficiently as their younger counterparts. When you add heavy drinking on top of that, the situation starts to get  sticky. This very well-cited study found decreased white matter tracts in older chronic alcoholics.  Let me break that down for you.  After looking at brains of 49 veterans who consumed a lot of alcohol daily, the researchers found that, compared to healthy control participants, the alcoholic group had significantly fewer brain cell connections. This means that different parts of their brains weren’t talking to each other as much. And that’s the most crucial step to getting anything done.  Surprise! Communication is key, even inside our bodies.  These same researchers also found higher cortical cerebrospinal fluid and diminished cortical gray matter in the veterans group. In other words, this group had more fluid in their brains, and less of their brain cavity (the space in their heads) was actual neural tissue. Basically, the alcoholics had more water and less brain in their heads. What about other parts of the brain? Glad you asked!  There’s a small but incredibly important area responsible for memory called the hippocampus. This little seahorse-shaped bundle of tissue is responsible for anything from remembering how your mother used to read bedtime stories to you to learning how to drive. Unfortunately, it’s hurt by age and alcohol speeds up that effect. Some researchers from Stanford used a technique called MRI, which is basically a giant magnet that lets scientists see the inside of someone’s brain, and found less hippocampal volume in alcoholics, a correlation which intensified with age. Heavy drinking can also affect long-term memory, causing something known as alcohol-related dementia (ARD). This is similar to the dementia or cognitive decline generally associated with aging, but on a much deeper level. ARD is scarier because the effects are continuous, meaning all the symptoms will keep happening even after someone has sobered up.  People with ARD can also develop something called Marchiafava-Bignami Disease (MBD), which is pretty much one of the “big bad bosses” of alcohol disorders. MBD causes short or long-term coma in its patients (simply put, a long and dangerous nap), as well as changes in memory, personality, perception, and attention. Like the veteran study, MBD patients have a decreased white matter – the connections in the brain that allow one part of the brain to “talk” to another.  In MBD, the lack of communication is much worse because patients lose their corpus callosum, a huge bundle of fibers that connects the two halves of the brain. Without this, whatever your brain is doing on the left side can’t translate to whatever your brain does on the right side. Consider the example of Country A and Country B. Country A makes ingredients, Country B makes pies, and the only way to get from Country A to B is a huge bridge. It would be a real disaster for all the pie-lovers of the world if that bridge were severed. That’s exactly what it’s like for MBD patients. Even without MBD and the erosion of the hypothetical “bridge”, extreme alcohol intake can slowly destroy the connections in your brain, which is why it’s important to be careful with over drinking.  WRITTEN BY Allie Yuxin Lin Columbia University Allie Yuxin Lin is a senior at Columbia University in New York studying psychology and neuroscience. As an East Coast native, she is very confused about the lack of cold weather in LA (but hey, no complaints!). If she isn’t writing something up or researching the newest neuroscience discovery, she’s probably running around the streets with her Australian Shepherd, Jasper.   ... View more

It was my first week as a Macmillan intern and I was so excited to have finally landed the job that would begin my career in publishing. I nervously introduced myself to my team and met everyone I would be working with, but when I began sitting in on meetings and going through orientation resources, I realized I only understood a portion of the things I was hearing. I struggled to catch and juggle acronyms and words like “CBT,” “frontlist,” and “attrition,” and found myself fumbling with these unfamiliar phrases. My meetings with my manager would be filled with me going through my list of questions as I began to build a personal dictionary.  So, if you’ve ever been stumped by a word someone has used or felt like there was just so much you didn’t understand, know you’re not alone. Publishing, like any industry, uses a lot of field-specific jargon and no one expects you to know it all. But, my hope is that this short list of common publishing phrases might be of use to you. Know it’s not exhaustive, and I’m sure there are specific phrases that will be used with your team but no one will ever think less of you for asking them to clarify what they mean. Good luck on your publishing journey, and take comfort that we’re all in this together! I’d also like to take a moment to thank Molly Pyles, Lizette Faraji, and Caitlin O'Beirne for their contributions to this list and for just being wonderful.    Acquisition - A term used when a publisher buys the rights to a book from an author. Advance - The money an author is paid upfront when they sign a contract with a publisher. Advanced Readers Copies/Galley (ARCs) - A pre-published book given to librarians, educators, influencers, bloggers, etc. by a publisher to facilitate buzz around the book before its official release. Agent - A liaison between a writer and editor or publisher who advocates for his or her client (writer). Agents usually take a 10-15% commission from the advance and royalties. Attrition - Term that basically means lost business. Someone, who was once publishing with us, is no longer. Auction - Publishers sometimes bid for the acquisition of a book manuscript that has excellent sales prospects. The bids are for the amount of the author's advance, advertising and promotional expenses, royalty percentages, and more. Auctions are conducted by agents. Backlist - A publisher's list of its books that were not published during the current season, but that are still in print. Blurb - The short quote or paragraph on the back cover of a book that allows the reader to get an idea of what it’s about. Bound galleys - Prepublication edition of book or final galley proofs, also known as "bound proofs." Canonical Fragment Identifier (CFIs) - Links within an ebook for specific parts like sections and chapters. Comp - Comparable or competitive titles—usually included in a book proposal. Imprint - Name applied to a publisher's specific line of books. International Standard Book Number (ISBN) - The specific number given to a particular book. Foreign rights - Translation or reprint rights to be sold in other countries and territories. Frontlist - A publisher's list of books that are new to the current season. Also known as “new titles.” Jira - A project management tool used for planning, tracking, and supporting software projects. Mass market - Non-specialized books of wide appeal directed toward a large audience. Metadata - Backend information for ebooks that include their title, edition, ISBN, etc. that works as an id used to create/define connections between versions or other resources. If there is a new version added to an ebook, it could change the metadata and thus mess up connections already established using the link to the old version. Middle Grade (MG) - Genre that targets the 8 to 12 year-old age group. Narrative nonfiction - A narrative presentation of actual events. Also called creative nonfiction. POD - Print on demand. Publisher’s Weekly - An American weekly trade news source. https://www.publishersweekly.com/ Serial rights - The right for a newspaper or publication to publish sections of a manuscript. Subsidiary rights - All rights other than book publishing rights included in a book publishing contract, such as paperback rights, book club rights, movie rights, and more. Translation rights - Subsidiary rights for books to be translated and sold in another language. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) - Guidelines that are a part of a series of web accessibility guidelines published by the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium – a.k.a. the main international standards organization for the Internet. https://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/ Young Adult (YA) - Genre that targets any age from 12-18, but nearly half of its readers are older than this. WRITTEN BY Grace Bartel University of Delaware A Media Editorial Intern at Macmillan Learning, Grace is an English graduate student at the University of Delaware. More interestingly, she’s an avid dog mom, reader, writer, hiker, and video game lover who spends the majority of her free time willingly lost in fantastical stories.     ... View more

At that time it seemed like a good decision to dive straight into my undergraduate degree two months after moving halfway across the world, but one semester into my college experience, I realized I had not given myself enough time to prepare myself for true American college.  At that time it seemed like a good decision to dive straight into my undergraduate degree two months after moving halfway across the world, but one semester into my college experience, I realized I had not given myself enough time to prepare myself for true American college.  As someone who immigrated from Pakistan and landed straight in the heart of the American midwest, I thought I knew enough about the lives and interactions of college students here to be able to smoothly adapt to this new way of life. However, no amount of dark academia novels set in prestigious liberal arts colleges or reality shows featuring kids my age could prepare me for real American college.  If my sophomore self could ever draw up a list of cultural/social differences I was faced with (things that both shocked, or pleasantly surprised me)—to help my freshman self navigate through college easily—these four items would definitely make it to the list: 1. Conversations in America flow easier As someone who knows many foreigners, immigrants, or people living in the US who were raised in another country, one thing that always shocks all of these groups is the lack of a formal language. Now this one might be something that is brought up far more by my foreign-raised peers belonging to an Asian culture, but the lack of an entirely different set of words reserved to talk to people who are either older than you or more experienced than you (in whatever field you belong to) makes conversation difficult rather than easier for us. In a college setting, talking to your professor the same way you’d talk to your fellow classmates can make navigating through casual conversations harder, at least it did for me.  While this part of American culture/language was something I was already familiar with, I found it extremely difficult to have to use just a formal tone rather than a formal language in my classes. 2. Individualism has its pros and cons One thing I was most excited about when I started college was how people focused on themselves, and it wasn’t even frowned upon! Back home, the sense of community is so strong that every decision you make and every path you chose had to be discussed with or approved by the members of your community (be it your extended family, friends, or even your neighbors). Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love this aspect of my culture. Every member of the community has strong bonds with each other and they’re always ready to support you in whatever decision you make. But to live on your own, making mistakes of your own, and having to deal with the consequences on your own seemed like a great proposition. It was, for the first four months. After those four months, I realized I was craving the very thing I thought was going to suffocate me. Suddenly, friends who had chosen to move to another country (to study or work or find themselves) coming home every chance they could, started making a lot more sense. With time, you get used to it and begin feeling exceedingly grateful for the chance to grow on your own. I would never admit it to anyone but I feel like my past self deserves to know that  finding yourself in college often means coming home and eating alone out of a styrofoam box and feeling the loneliest you’ve ever been.  3. You’re already halfway into your career as a college student I don’t blame freshman me for being too overwhelmed with the entire move from Pakistan to the US, but if I could go back and tell her to do one thing differently, it would be to use all the opportunities and support provided by my university that would be useful after graduation. Attend networking events, learn more about approaching potential employers/mentors and explore more. College back home was more about academics rather than experience so I–like many other international students/new immigrant students—wasn’t expecting anything more than four years of only writing essays or giving presentations.  4. Like most things in media, college too is romanticized As someone whose perception of college was based entirely on whatever the American movies/TV shows put out there, it shouldn’t have been shocking that college was not all about brunch with friends, parties, and spring breaks in South America.  As someone moving to a place they’d never been before, it did come as a shock when college in America was still about finals and due dates and messed-up sleep schedules. Sure, American college is different from college back home, but it still is college.  WRITTEN BY Samia Saeed University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Samia Saeed is a current Marketing and Journalism student at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. On the weekends, you’ll find her holed up in her room, either watching her comfort Ghibli film or reading her favorite immigrant-fiction book.       ... View more

Whether you have ADHD, you’re a chronic procrastinator, or you just can’t seem to focus, here are some tips that can help you survive and thrive in college. During my first year in university, I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). For me, ADHD made studying, staying focused, and managing my time one-hundred times more difficult. But through trial-and-error, I found a routine that helped me survive (and thrive) in college. While I know ADHD is different for everyone, here are a few tips that helped me succeed in university.  Stay Busy Okay, I know this sounds counterintuitive. If you find it difficult to manage your time without the added stress of extracurriculars, how is staying busy supposed to help you better organize your time? The answer is simple: staying busy ensures you have a set routine and schedule. If you’re anything like me, keeping track of time is beyond difficult, and if I don’t have anything planned for the day, I don’t feel any sense of urgency to study or do anything productive.  Keeping yourself busy, however, forces you to keep track of time. Maybe you can join a club with weekly meetings, get a part-time job, or volunteer at your local nonprofit. Whatever it is, consistently having something to do helps you keep track of and manage your time more effectively. For me, I joined my student newspaper, worked and interned part-time, and volunteered at a student resource center. Having something to do nearly every day of the week (even if it was just for a few hours) instilled in me a sense of urgency and helped me realize that time was a precious, limited resource.  Plan Your Time: Prioritize. Prioritize. Prioritize. Here’s a scenario I often experienced as a college student (and perhaps you can relate): Finals week is quickly approaching. There’s twenty hours worth of lecture material to review, fifteen hours of assignments, a ten-page essay to write, and two finals to study for. There’s so much to do – maybe you don’t even know how to start studying. Maybe you get so overwhelmed that you just freeze and take a stress nap instead.  In times like these, it is essential you know how to effectively prioritize your assignments and plan your time accordingly. For me this process was an uphill battle, but through trial-and-error, I eventually found a method that made conquering this mountain of work seem doable. The method goes a little something like this: Take a sheet of paper. Separate it into 8 sections: 1 section for each day of the week and 1 section for miscellaneous notes. Think about what you have planned for the week (extracurricular activities, work schedule, etc.) and write those down. Make a mental list of all your assignments. Assign an amount of time you would like to spend on each one. From there, break the assignments up into smaller – more manageable – chunks of time.  Based on the assignments’ due dates, write each one down under the specific day you would like to work on them – along with the amount of time you would like to spend doing each one. Assigning a specific amount of time to spend on each assignment is essential for this technique; it ensures you don’t spend too much time on one task and not enough time on another.  Separate your assignments into “TO DO” tasks (what you must complete for the day) and “OPTIONAL” tasks (what you can do for the day, if time permits). Optional: Color code for aesthetic value and ease of reading.  I call this the Micromanaging Technique. For an example, see below: This technique might seem excessive, but I (and all of my friends who also use it) swear by it. Writing everything down ensures that nothing is forgotten, and assigning a specific amount of time to each task helps you plan and prioritize your time. Plus, it’s super satisfying to tick off the boxes once you complete each task!  Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help Finally, if you ever feel completely stressed and overwhelmed, don’t be afraid to reach out to friends and family for support. It’s important to have and maintain a strong support system in college, especially in times of need.  Also, your college’s mental health counseling and disability services are there to help you. Almost all colleges offer disability services and accommodations for students with disabilities (including students with ADHD). If you feel that ADHD hinders your ability to study and complete schoolwork, go to your college’s disability services office or website, and see how they can help. WRITTEN BY Lindsay Ito University of California, Los Angeles Lindsay Ito graduated in Spring 2022 with a BA in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Born and raised in Los Angeles and Orange County, Lindsay’s life has been uniquely shaped by her Southern Californian upbringing: she’s worked as a Jungle Cruise Skipper at Disneyland, loves the beach on a sunny day, and (embarrassingly) cannot drive in the rain. In her free time, Lindsay enjoys reading a good horror story, cuddling with her cat, and rewatching old episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.   ... View more