We asked our first year writers what it was like to be back home for the first time. Here’s what they told us. Continue reading
Tag Archives: adulthood
How To Be a Person: Removing Laptop Stickers
Gone are the innocent days of freshman year, when you happily plastered your Macbook with stickers for all your favorite liberal causes. But now the Obama sticker is peeling, as is the KC Outdoors Club and WKCO stickers you picked up at your first activities fair, despite never once going to a meeting. What’s more, your mother won’t leave you alone about applying for jobs, and so dawns the realization that you will soon be an adult, who can’t be seen with a colorful, opinionated laptop. So you try to peel your stickers off, but all you get is half peeled-off stickers. Read on to learn how to remove those stickers effectively. Continue reading
How to Be A Grown-Up: Asking Professors For Recommendations

Look at these semi-happy, business-casual-attired professionals. Don’t you want to join them? (via Wikimedia Commons)
It’s that time of year again — the snow hasn’t even melted but your inbox is already clogging up with emails from your mom, all with the panicked subject line “APPLY FOR SUMMER INTERNSHIPS — Email Aunt Tanya’s friend about the thing!!! xOxo love you please do this ASAP.” If you don’t have a well-connected Aunt Tanya to hustle you straight into a ~*~*~dreamy~*~*~ D.C. nonprofit internship, though, the ins and outs of summer employment-chasing can be a little tricky. Read on for a guide to one of the most important parts of job/internship-securing — gettin’ that elusive, much-needed professor rec.
- First, identify the professor of your choice. Ideally, it should be someone who thinks you’re at least OK. Continue reading
How to Be a Grown-Up: What’s a W-2?
We here at The Thrill meet every Sunday to discuss what will be posted the following week, among other things (mostly the other things). This week we got to talking about the W-2 forms we had just received in our P.O. boxes. Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, I guess, I was the only person in the room who could explain what a W-2 form was. This was the impetus for starting our How to Be a Grown-Up series, which will explain things that you all probably should know, or attempt to know by this point in your life (without the help of your parental units).