Jealousy
The thing that kills emotionally

At the start of my teenage life, I had to face the jealousy problem in a different way. This girl used to pester me since I was turning out to be the new best friend of her present best friend. She always tried to barge into our conversations, solely to get attention. And whenever she began a topic, she wouldn't let me get a word in! It was all so weird that one day, I had to say it to her face; why she envied me being her best friend's best friend? I had the qualities to make one so better deal with it!

Jealousies arise whenever someone's girlfriend is talking nicely to some other guy or vice versa. My question is, if there isn't that much of trust in a relationship, there is no point in keeping it! Of course there are some who like to show their better half that they are jealous just to keep the spark alive, but there are others who take it to a whole new level.

Jealousy can also be object-wise. If a person has a cool gadget which none of the others have, the others are sure to at least envy the cool dude. They aren't angels so are also likely to be intrigued to steal. 17-year-old Farhana has a different point however, " If you know that the gadget could cause jealousy, why show it off in the first place? Why would the so called rich guy/girl provoke others to burn up inside?" Quite true, but the matter of fact is that people who have a low self-esteem are usually the ones who get envious. There is no point in getting jealous over something, which you know that you can easily get with a little cash from hard work! Start working (if you read the Teenage job opportunities feature), and get your own cool…maybe cooler gadget!

In my quest for envy/jealousy, I found out that the most common type of jealousy teenagers face is at school, in the cases when a student gets the highest marks in the final term, or when they are the most beloved of the teachers'! The good students are almost always willing to help others with explanations and notes, but the others are simply misers when it comes to sharing notes. What they don't understand is that people come up with good results not only due to notes, but because they can either understand more than others, or they simply study harder. Unfortunately, other not-so-good students start calling them 'nerds' and 'wimps' at one point and start avoiding them. According to them, the 'nerds' are 'anything-but-cool' people! The 'non-nerds' are just sneering at them since they themselves cannot show a good report card! WASTE OF TIME kiddos! The truth is open…the 'nerds' are the winners in the end, so go home and open that dust-topped book!

That is unfortunately not the end of my list of jealousies; it goes from people, to object, to physical outlook (i.e. being beautiful) or even qualities (being the best table-tennis player). We know that the teenage years are the precious times of our lives when we develop our personality. Teenage experiences, emotions would in turn be the base for our character building. However, this character building could go awry when jealousy turns against us teenagers. Jealousy often haunts people with low self-esteem and in turn can cause them to become aggressive. They can start doing anything from physical harm and emotional blackmail, to even stealing and provoking others to do bad stuffs. So my suggestion would be: stop being envious, and start building on the good qualities you posses! You may not have the physical beauty, but you have brains! You may not have a cool gadget, but you have the ability to earn it yourself! You may not be the top student of the class, but you can really amaze others by your cool karate skills. Jealousy kills folks, so please don't be!

Questions, comments and other mails can be directed at critico.nino@gmail.com . The views expressed in this article may not be the views of Rising Stars, both RS and the writer would not be responsible for any negative effect. If jealousy still bugs you, go check with the counsellor please.
By Shamma M. Raghib

Study Buddies
University requirements

You open the University Guide and your senses are assailed by an array of colleges and universities each promising to be The One. How do you pick and choose? Join us in this session of Study Buddies as we help you narrow down your choices.

SELECTION TIPS
University/college selection is one the most important decisions of your life because your university will probably shape the rest of your life. I know it is most of our dreams to go to a top university especially to one of the IVY Leagues but a very few are so fortunate. Keep in mind that going to a mediocre college or university doesn't mean that their education is bad or that your life is ruined. Here we will give you tips on how its best to decide your university shortlist.

Two things to keep in mind: First, I know that the name of the uni/college plays a major role in selecting it, (for e.g. Williams… hmmm… sound good I think I will apply…) but that kind of attitude has to be removed (Williams is no.1 liberal arts college btw). Please check the uni/college thoroughly from the website to see whether it meets yours and theirs demands or not. Second, for most of us, one of the main concerns is Financial Aid. If you are such a candidate, keep in mind from the beginning to check whether the uni/college gives proper aid to international students (preferably need-based and the less-preferred very competitive merit based) or not, and also the amount of aid in stock each year.

To get started off, select your major field of study if you are planning to a university, or if you are confused, look more towards liberal art colleges. SAT scores are a major determinant in selecting your unis/colleges. Check www.usnews.com or www.americancolleges.com for listings. You may also check www.princetonreview.com for matches of universities according to your current standing.

Before going further I want you to grab a pen and paper and just write yourself a rough sketch of your academics and activities. Make categories like this:
Academics
Community Service
Arts/Sports
Drama/Music/Dancing
Work Experience
Any contests winner
Any talents/other ECA's

Now, this part is a bit harsh, but very important so listen carefully. Choosing an university is like getting into a good job. Of course we all want to get the best jobs, but we all cannot. That doesn't mean we will let go of the job offers which are already at hand. My point is, when choosing you have got to be realistic, and be introspective. Ask yourself, how good I really am, can I realistically get into say… Harvard…
or will it just be a waste of 50$ and a lot of valuable time? Once you find the answers, do not be disheartened. If you do not go into an IVY College, it doesn't mean you are a low-status person. There are many more great colleges out there, and anyways colleges aren't everything to be successful in life!!

Now look at your sketch. Try to evaluate yourself and keep in mind whether you can pay for colleges. If not, start searching for colleges, which give financial aid and scholarships to international students as mentioned before. This is tricky, you may use www.collegeboard.com which helps, but checking the respective colleges' website is always the best option. When you go to a college website, make sure this is the first thing you find. Need-based aids are much easier to get than scholarships - so keep that in mind too. Also try to find how much is the universities total endowment, their average aid package and how many international students do get it. For example, Johns Hopkins gives about only about $0.5 million aid, which is very very small - since you gotta be competing with students world wide.

What is your strength? If you are more into academics, than ECA's, stick with choosing mainly unis and a couple of Liberal Arts Colleges and vice-versa. Check out, specifically what type of students they want. Caltech wants basically the noble prize winners of tomorrow, so um…
..its great for you nerds out there. University of Notre Dame, wants students with active community participation, so its great for Community Service People, however be sure to check the aid factor.

Universities want to have students talented in… well… weird and unique stuff. So, if you can play an instrument like a flute or sitar great. Choose a college which has a choral group or pretty strong music program. They would be really interested in you. Be sure to fill in their extra arts supplementary form if available with supporting documents/ recordings. If you do not have any ECA's don't worry your hell out. After all, unis are where people go to study and so you would not have a very hard time getting it, provided your academics are really good.

Oh, and I forgot… SAT Results - yeah obviously they really count. Most universities say they do not have a cut-off score, however in truth to maintain a high SAT average, they would only take the scores which are in or above the average SAT scores of their student body. So this means, if you get a 500 in Maths and 800 in Critical Reading - do not apply to MIT!!!! However while SAT scores are important, they are not the ultimate important factor none is - other factors tip the balance of scale. Everything counts and together decides the weight of your application package. Hence, you have to make sure that you provide them with the information… they can't just find it out you know unless you tell them or let them know.

Finally, we recommend you to keep two top colleges, four moderate colleges, and two "safe colleges" where you are sure to get in with aid, if applied for. We also recommend you to keep at least two Canadian unis cause by any chance if you don't get the VISA to US you are going to have to stay back a year, which is frankly a very blunt waste of time.

Finally, everyone we are really sorry. We said we would be covering the Common Application this issue but apparently, as you can see, the article is already too big. We promise to cover it in the next issue. For now take care you guys, select your unis/colleges…
start downloading all their forms, join their mailing lists, get all the teachers recommendations ready, the transcripts and other certificated attested, start writing your college essays… that's a LOT of work… start moving people!

By Adnan M. S. Fakir & Golam Rezwan Khan

Campus news

Sunbeams' Tour of Chittagong

The senior most class of Sunbeams School was recently taken to Chittagong on a three-day long educational tour. The journey was an eventful one, with a mob attack on the two buses, which threatened the end of this tour even before it had begun. This was just the beginning of a thrilling experience.

We reached the newly constructed duplex rest house that was atop a mound and surrounded by trees and hills; beautiful, but pulling up luggage against gravity all the way was a nightmare. The girls were to lodge on the first floor while boys got the ground floor, and it got really crowded so we had to work it all out before we set off on our tour.

An hour-long bus ride took us to the private beach of the navy at Patenga. Fortunately for us, all visits were pre-planned, and We were guided and treated grandly throughout. We met a few of the lady officers and trainees of the navy who were recently taken into the force and they showed us to the beach, which was beautiful, under the pink and purple sky, with the tranquil sea before us. Later we had snacks at the hall room of the Naval Academy and thanked the chief for the arrangements.

After a somewhat wild night, we had to battle sleep as we prepared for our trip to Kaptai. A long, winding journey took us to the Shahid Moazzem School, which specializes in naval training. A very informative presentation got us more acquainted to the ways of this institute and it was followed by a question-answer session. Next came a tour of the school. The "electric lab" and the "electronic labs" were quite fascinating though I vaguely managed to differentiate between the two. Next was a boat ride over the Kaptai Lake. Considering the fact that we were on a big boat that was moving painfully slow and under the supervision of the navy, the suffocating florescent life jackets seemed to be an unnecessary safety measure. We made our way to a naval base where we rested and had a tremendously delicious lunch. On our way back we mad a short stop at the Kaptai dam, which generates hydro-electricity.

On reaching home it was the same rush for the more important things in life, like running water, only today it was more intense since a buffet at Silver Spoon restaurant awaited us. The dinner was grand and after the day's exercise we ate like pigs!

Lightning storms and flooded roads got our Rangamati plans cancelled. While we were disappointed about this, it gave us a chance to relax. Some of that relaxation was marred by lightning striking the rest house, who once the excitement had died down we all sat together and played cards, sang our favourite songs and chatted away.
The evening agenda consisted of shopping, a visit to the frigate BNS Shaikat and more inter-city bus rides. At the rest house we showered and dressed for the long awaited Meizban, which is a typical 'Chittagongian' meal arranged for us at the Chittagong club. The meal was a grand one and we thanked the organizer graciously for taking the trouble to arrange the dinner.
That night was our last in Chittagong, and it was filled with bittersweet feelings, because although we had loads of fun on that night, we knew it was our last. This was definitely a trip we'll always remember.

By Aniqa Moinuddin