Archives by Subject: College
How many elevators does $1 million buy?
My college career is alas winding down, so tonight I went to attend a reception for graduating students in NYU's Kimmel Center. Situated on Washington Square South, it houses NYU's one swankiest spaces -- on the tenth floor houses is the Rosenthal Pavilion, a large ballroom with a a great view up Fifth Avenue.
Tonight, the Rosenthal Pavilion apparently was holding a reception for members of NYU's Sir Harold Acton Society, an exclusive club for NYU trustees and those that have given over one million dollars.
And so older people in tuxedos and gowns passed through the Kimmel lobby. Kimmel has four elevators, but apparently one had been "reserved" for the event, an NYU representative told me. "They probably paid for it!" she said. Well, perhaps, but my ever-growing tuition probably helped too. "It's actually a common misconception that tuition only covers..." she shot back.
So then another elevator arrived. "Actually, we're using this one, too," I was told. Yeah, not so much. I walked into the elevator anyway, and the 30 other students that had been waiting followed.
Meanwhile, I receive frequent solicitations to give money to my Senior class gift! I wonder how many elevators that will buy?
I'm a big supporter of giving back to institutions. I'm very active in fund raising for the school I attended in Baltimore.
But this whole experience makes me less than eager to start donating to NYU.
Posted in on April 19, 2007, 12:42 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink
Facebook and Grey's Anatomy
Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz shows what happens to Facebook traffic when Grey's Anatomy comes on. You can even see the commercial breaks.
Reminds me of some similar graphs I saw Google speak at a NYU Recruiting event.
· Another Thursday Night at Facebook... [Facebook blog]
Posted in on March 07, 2007, 12:15 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
L Magazine Knows Too Much
Most NYU stereotypes are pretty dumb -- and often inaccurate. But wait a minute! Maybe L Magazine is on to something here!
1 Phase I (Freshman Year) Fifth Avenue at Washington Square is a perfectly reasonable place for an 18-year-old from Beaver, Pennsylvania to get a sense of his societal standing in relation to the rest of New York, isn’t it?
Well, I lived on Washington Square West. And I'm not from Pennsylvania. But close enough.
2 Phase II (Senior Year) Having discovered that Greenwich Village no longer has any “bohemians,” our little hero convinces the ‘rents to help out with rent in Alphabet City, by which he means “pay it all.” Probably the coolest place he’ll ever live.
Okay, so not as accurate as above -- but I do live in Alphabet City. Oh L Magazine, tell me where I move to next?!?
3 Phase III (Age 23) At this point, as the territory known as “East Williamsburg” grows to include parts of Connecticut, our hero, weaned from the teat of parental generosity, learns all about “crazy” roomates and loft life.
No way am I moving to Connecticut.
· Whinge Migration: On the Residency Patterns of an NYU Student [L Magazine]
Posted in on February 20, 2007, 11:24 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
How to Mingle
From the always interesting Tricks of the Trade:
Always enter a conversations with a drink you are about to finish.
If things don't go well, all you need to do is take one last gulp from your drink and excuse yourself to get another, never to return.
If the conversation is going well, finish your drink and ask the other person if you can get them anything when you go to get another. They will appreciate the gesture even if they decline, and it impies that you'll be returning for a longer conversation.
· Mingler [Tricks of the Trade]
Posted in on April 30, 2006, 10:27 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink
Outsourcing Homework!
I've been enjoying reading The World Is Flat, a refreshing look at outsourcing and its effect on our now global economy. If you are at all interested in business and technology, I recommend you read it.
With this in mind, an article in today's Wall Street Journal about Computer Science students outsourcing their homework caught my eye:
But if U.S. companies can go online to outsource their programming, why can't U.S. computer students outsource their homework -- which, after all, often involves writing sample programs? Scruples aside, no reason at all. Search for "homework" in the data base of Rent A Coder projects, and you get 1,000 hits. (An impressive number, but still a tiny fraction of all computer students, the vast majority of whom are no doubt an honest and hardworking lot.)
A few examples: "I need a simple console-based program and a PHP script written that uses the openssl library." "I need 2 algorithms filtering -- median and Gaussian." "A C++ program that will implement a billing system using threads. Needs to be completed tonight if possible."
Indeed, some programming students appear to be outsourcing their way through college. "Pascal Rookie," from Colorado Springs, Colo., has put five school projects to bid. And while he may be a plagiarist, at least he treats his helpers well: Mr. Rookie has received the highest marks possible for a buyer in the eBay-like rating system used by Rent A Coder. "A pleasure to work with him," said one.
You can't tell from the site how much was paid for the help, but usually it's well less than $100.
· Some Students Use Net To Hire Experts to Do Their School Work [WSJ.com]
Posted in on January 18, 2006, 11:10 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
