Sarah Eutsler

More by Sarah Eutsler

A Savvy Girl’s Guide to Navigating the Twittersphere

4/11/2011

I admit it. When I first found out about the Twittersphere I was a non-believer. I don’t feel like broadcasting every minute of my daily life, nor did I care that Ashton Kutcher was eating a bagel.
 
But one day I caved. A friend from high school was active on the Twitter scene so I decided it couldn’t be all that bad. I signed up, followed some people, and realized it was a pretty useless vehicle (not that Facebook is any better).
 
That was until I spent my summer working at an academic camp at the University of Georgia. There I was a teaching assistant for a media course. The instructor, a Twitter fan, taught the kids about the uses of the social network. I sat in the back of the room taking my own notes in between shooing kids off of Facebook chat with their friends back home. I started to Tweet a little more. Soon, I was a full-fledged Twitter-aholic. But I’m not just gathering the latest celebrity gossip. Twitter is a great networking and learning tool and you can benefit, as well. Here’s how:
 
Make your Twitter name clean and professional.
 
I like to think Twitter is the professional social media. Facebook is for your friends and family to see what you’re up to, but Twitter is to learn more about your interests, other than what party your best friend went to last Friday, and connect with people who have similar interests. These people may be able to help you learn about job and internship opportunities. When choosing a Twitter handle or account name, pick something that represents you a positive way. Obviously your name is a good start. Avoid anything with crazy nicknames. Example: @JaneSmith over @crazyblondchick45
 
Write a valuable biography
 

Testing, Testing: Four Seniors Share Their Graduate Exam Advice

3/7/2011

Standardized testing. There are fewer words that can produce pure anxiety in a student than those two. As college students prepare their post-graduate plans, many are opting for graduate study. With that decision comes a variety of test requirements. Whether you’re preparing for the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), or Law School Admission Test (LSAT), there are plenty who have battled and conquered the test before you. We talked to four seniors about their testing experience and advice for those preparing to take the tests in the future.
 
Kate Pickering
Test: GRE General Test
What study aids and methods of studying did you use?
I got the big thick study books and did math worksheets out of them and then I got a thing of 500 GRE vocabulary flashcards…I really needed to work on math because I hadn’t done math for 4 years.
 
Did you have any fears or worries about a particular section?
Definitely the math, just because I was terrible at math in high school and some of the stuff I felt like I was learning for the first time, even though I would vaguely remember going over it in high school.
 
Is there anything you wish you had done differently?
I probably would have maybe tried to prepare longer…I took it in the summer so my plan was to study all summer and then I got busy with work and stuff so I didn’t end up studying for as long as I wanted…And then maybe a little bit more work with the writing prompts just because sort of in my head I was like, “Okay, I have this down.” But then I realized they actually have a really specific idea of how this writing prompt should be structurally.
 

Life in a Blue North Face: Reflections from a Rho Gamma

2/15/2011 		I started my Rho Gamma career with a romantic notion of the job. I wanted to be like my own Rho Gammas—four seniors who, to a freshman still overwhelmed by the transition to DePauw, were mature and wise members of the DePauw and Greek communities. I admired them and their affiliation with organizations I knew nothing about. They were classy, they were cool, and they were why I knew I wanted to be a Rho Gamma one day.

When I returned to campus this fall from a spring internship in Nashville, TN, I was ready to go. I was assigned an awesome partner and a floor similar in size to my own floor freshman year. The meetings would be fun and lively. We would bond. I would take the girls under my senior wing. That is, if they showed up.