What's hot on campus

Careers and Colleges, Summer, 2008

In every issue of Careers and Colleges, we ask students nationwide what's in on campus. Here's the scoop from Lehigh University, University of West Georgia, and the University of Southern California.

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Steven Gilley

University of West Georgia

Carrollton, GA

Movies: Ironman, Street Kings, 88 Minutes.

TV: Grey's Anatomy, Dancing With the Stars, Inside the NBA with Charles Barkley, Emie Johnson, and Kenny Smith, and College Hill Atlanta on BET.com (It's a reality show with college students. We all watch that together).

Music: Lil Wayne, Alicia Keys, Pleasure Pete

Clothing: In the warmer weather, guys wear Nike shorts outfits and outfits where you cut off the arms. Rocawear jeans (that's Jay-Z's line of clothes), Southpole clothing (I wear it because it's cheap, and college students need cheap!), Abercrombie & Fitch, and New Era fitted baseball caps. I still see a lot of guys with Mohawk haircuts. Women have been wearing designer shirts with messages on the front like, "Hi. I'm Cute" or "I look better than your girlfriend." Sundresses and flower dresses are popular.

Munchies: Hot wings, the Dollar Menu at McDonald's (the cheeseburger and the McChicken sandwich), health bars for breakfast, Vitamin Water, Powerade, and sunflower seeds.

Downtime: Basketball, working out, playing games in the game room, rock climbing, and Spring Fling. A lot of people just kill time in the shade in The Yard in front of the community center. We had a block party for a student organization called Free Verse, where students performed poetry and spoken word. Video games--like Madden series, NBA 2K8, Halo, and Grand TheftAuto IV--are big, too.

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Chris Knight

Lehigh University

Bethlehem, PA

Movies: Iron Man, There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men

TV: Lost, 30 Rock, The Office

Music: Radiohead (Not only was In Rainbows free to download legally, but it was also one of the best albums of 2007!), M.I.A. (She's got the flow of the century!), and Windmill

Clothing: Non-label (generic or not showing), J. Crew, Banana Republic

Munchies: Locally grown organic fruits and vegetables, whole grains. (Farmers' markets are popping up everywhere!) Store brands--food prices are going up, so everyone is looking for ways to save money.

Downtime: Listening to pod-casts, running and biking, and pretentious political conversations are all the rage.

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Callie Schweitzer

University Of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA

Movies: Forgetting Sarah Marshall (everybody likes that sassy, immature humor!), Iron Man (mostly the guys liked that one), 27 Dresses (a lot of girls took their boyfriends to see that movie).

TV: Grey's Anatomy. All my friends come over to my room to watch it. Also, The Hills--it's trash-tastic, and here at USC we go to all the places they go. America's Next Top Model, Beauty and the Geek, Project Runway, Gossip Girl, and Desperate Housewives. Any shows with ridiculous scandals are hits.

Music: Kanye West, Flo Rida, Madonna and Justin Timberlake's song "4 Minutes", Rhianna, Usher, Daft Punk

Clothing: Skinny jeans, American Apparel--at sororities, girls get American Apparel shirts customized for their house, and guys in frats get girls' shirts made for their rush. Accessorizing (funkifying is big--putting on a belt and gold shoes and a necklace and sunglasses and hair in a weird bun), gladiator shoes, oversized sunglasses, dresses over leggings, Rainbow shoes, bangs for hair. Guys are wearing fitted dark jeans, polos, collared shirts, and button-down shirts.

Munchies: Energy bars and energy drinks--Rockstar and Monster, Luna bars and Promax bars are huge. Also, 100-calorie snack packs, Carl's Jr., Taco Bell, Odwalla drinks, and Nestea.

Downtime: We had a Lost party--everyone went dressed like the characters, and we had a heated discussion about what was going on and tried to decipher everything that had happened. We also have Springfest, where musicians play all day. The rapper Swayze performed at a frat. Tailgating at football games, Greek life, and tanning are huge at USC. People here are outside all the time!