Posts filed under 'academics'
Oh, summer. The perfect time to sleep in, spend hours at the beach, and catch up on those 62 hours of House you missed because you didn’t have DVR at school.
But I think you’d have to agree that even the amusing antics of Dr. House can get old after twelve straight hours (too much of a good thing). Plus, Mom won’t let us keep using the DVR if Oprah comes on. 
So if you want to avoid the “too much of a good thing” syndrome, I suggest getting some work done so your “play” time will be more meaningful. Here are a few ways to get started.
Win Some Scholarships
Well, at least try to win some.
Deborah Fox of the Pay for College Blog has several tips about how to increase your odds of winning scholarships. She recommends applying to local scholarships and those targeted to a specific personal trait (hobby, sport, religion, major, etc.), because those will have a smaller applicant pool than the traditional national essay contest.
She also recommends that you do a little background research on who has won in the past. Often times winning essays or short bios are available–these can help you figure out how to present yourself as a good candidate (or if you should move on to the next opportunity).
Study, Buddy
What? Are you serious? STUDY during summer?
Definitely.
I’m not saying you have to start writing existentialist essays in French or spend the afternoon decoding the human genome, but make sure you keep your brain working. Read a book, even if it’s only for fun. Make a field trip to some local tourist or historical spot you’ve never visited. And if you’re planning to take the MCAT, I’m afraid you’re going to want these homework-free summer months to prepare for that.
Volunteer
If you really need convincing, volunteering is good because:
* It looks great on your resume and scholarship, grad school, and med school applications,
* It is a great way to meet other people who are passionate about the same things you are,
* It can give you experience in a new field, and, the big one,
* It helps other people.
I am hard pressed to think of a field that doesn’t want volunteers. You can do everything from working at an animal clinic to building houses for homeless people, so if something really floats your boat, find out how to become a volunteer!
Resources:
http://www.volunteermatch.org/
http://www.volunteer.gov/gov/
http://volunteer.united-e-way.org/
Go to School
This is probably right up there with studying on your summer to-do list, but taking a couple of extra classes can be extremely helpful. First, if you take the right courses, it could actually speed up your graduation. Second, it keeps your mind active so you are less likely to lose all the stuff you’ve learned this year. Third, you can take the opportunity to take classes you wanted to take but haven’t had time to do during the year.
Clean Up
Want to make your mom happy, and your wallet a little fatter? Spend a couple days going through all the stuff you left behind this year and thin out your clutter collection. If you didn’t use your desktop computer for those 9 months away because you got a laptop, you can probably move on.
Once you’ve separated your stuff in to a “trash” and “sell” pile, post the sellables on eBay or craigslist.org and try to make a little money. Don’t forget to sell back your text books, too. Amazon.com and Half.com are good bets for getting a reasonable return on them.
photo by benipop
May 20th, 2009
So, you want to apply for a scholarship. Or med school. Or grad school. Or a really competitive job. What do all these things have in common? Clearly, you need some awesome letters of recommendation. And I’m going to tell you how to get them.
- Do Some Legwork. Not applying for med school for two more years? Perfect. Start networking NOW. The sooner you start making friends with the people you want to recommend you, the better your chances that they WILL recommend you. Early networking means your letter-writer will know you better, and (hopefully) be more inclined to be your advocate. Plus, they won’t feel like you’ve used them just for a letter, which, frankly, can make them just say no.
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- Choose Wisely. If you want good, solid letters of recommendation, choose people with whom you have a good rapport. (Go for the teachers whose classes you have aced, not the ones who gave you a C+ on your final.) Also, stay away from asking family. Instead, try asking professors, employers, volunteer/church leaders, or long-time family friends (adults!) who work in your field
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- Give Plenty of Notice. Remember how hard it is to write a good paper the night before its due? Don’t put that kind of pressure on your letter-writers! If possible, give them at least a solid month to write your letter (and give them a deadline before the real one in case they’re late!).
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- Give them Specifics. Let your recommendation writer know exactly what you need in the letter, especially if you need them to focus on certain aspects of your achievements. If your letter-writer has never written a letter or rec before, be sure to give them some samples (campus career centers are usually a good source for these, or you can look around online) and let them know about how long it should be. A too-short letter of recommendation can be almost as bad as a half-hearted one.
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- Offer to Help. Ask your letter writer what you can do to help them out. Do they need a list of your awards and achievements? Do they want to read your application essay? Try to give them as much assistance as you can so they can get your letter written quickly–and well! Providing them with a one or two page resume of your list of achievements can jog their memories, inform them of things they didn’t previously know about you and make the task a lot easier.
Final Tip: Ask your letter-writer to send you a digital copy of the letter once it has been sent. Keep all your letters in a folder, so that if you need to apply to another scholarship or school, you can just send the copy to your recommendation writer to sign and send off. They’ll be more willing to help you multiple times if they don’t have to search their own computer for the letter again and again!
photo by asafesh
April 18th, 2009
What’s that? Grandma and Grandpa invited you to go skiing in the Alps? (I wish!!!) Well you don’t have to turn down the opportunity of a lifetime, but you also don’t want to kill your grades. Here’s how to prep for minimal grade drooping if you know you’re going to miss a few days.
Check the Syllabus
No matter how great the opportunity, you don’t want to skip class if there’s a midterm. Trust me on this one! Professors aren’t going to move the test so you can hit the slopes. So start by checking the syllabus for tests, papers that might be due, or other important deadlines.
Get a Study Buddy
It’s always a good idea to try to make at least one friend in each class. Besides having someone to pass notes to when the lectures get boring, you’ll also have someone to:
- Swap notes with, or borrow notes from if (*cough*) one of you misses class,
- Turn in your paper if you’re sick or (*ahem* ) out of town on the due date,
- Study with, especially if you’re having a hard time with homework or some other concept you may have missed… for some reason
Get Your Work Done Ahead of Time
I think this is pretty self-explanatory, but you won’t want to be doing homework or writing an essay on time off, so get as much done beforehand as you can (especially if you need the aforementioned study buddy to turn it in for you.)
Talk to the Prof (if You Need to)
Your vacation plans may or may not matter to your teachers going to depend on the individual. But if you’re very concerned about a certain course you’re going to be missing, you can always explain the situation and see if they can help you out.
The kind (and generous… and rare!) professor may be willing to let you catch up a bit during office hours, or suggest you attend the course on a different day if he or she has duplicate classes.
photo: CMSeter
February 16th, 2009
Like most students you probably find yourself the least productive at the moment you need to be the most productive. For example, I noticed that whenever I should be studying for finals I suddenly felt the need to clean my room (though I didn’t do that the rest of the quarter)/play Text Twist/do something extremely time consuming like try to make a stop motion film.
Does this sound familiar?
Thought so. Anyway, when you finally do buckle down and decide to get productive, here are a few great places to start streamlining your lifestyle.
1. Schedule Email Time. I bet you would be amazed at how much time you waste by constantly checking your email. (If you want to know exactly how much, you can track it using free time-tracking software like RescueTime !) One of the best time-management tips I can give you is to schedule time for your email–both to read and respond to it–and leave it alone for the rest of the day. Good luck.
2. Keep Important Docs Online. Stop worrying about carrying your laptop or a flash drive with you everywhere (or worse, emailing yourself) so you can work on your essays whenever you need them. Instead, switch over to using an online doc management system like Google Docs so you can access your favorite excel spreadsheets anytime, anywhere.
3. Turn Off Distractions. When you’re working, work. The best way to actually do your work is to turn off your phone, IM, TV, iPod, and pretty much anything else fun. Stop looking at Facebook and Failblog. Also close your door, and if you need to, ask your roommate to put on headphones. Take 10 minute breaks at regular intervals (every hour, or every 30 minutes if you’re going nuts) to keep your brain moving.
4. Make Lists. One of the BEST ways to make sure you hit all your deadlines is to keep a running to-do list AND a schedule (see how to build a semester study calendar ). I have a running list of things I definitely have to do weekly broken down by days (i.e. Tuesday I do laundry, work, and clean the bathroom). Then I fill in the rest of my to-do list (work on essay, study, meet friends for lunch) around those definite items. It takes a while to get used to writing it down, but after a while it works great.
5. Just Do It. Nike was right: productivity and procrastination can never be BFFs. The biggest secret to getting things done is to just DO them. Make this your motto and you’ll be productive; desert it and all you’ll have to celebrate at the end of the day is the completion of a Project Runway marathon (I should know!). So when you see socks on the floor, pick them up instead of stepping over them. When you see your textbook on your bed, flip through it instead of turning on the TV.
Happy time managing, my friends. (And please share your own secrets if you have them!)
photo: Pencils by TouTouke
January 30th, 2009
I know it’s only been a few weeks since New Years, but who else has already broken their resolutions?
What is it that makes goal setting so exciting, and goal-achieving so…well… so seemingly un-doable? I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately, and comparing the goals I am keeping with the ones I’m not. The differences are pretty simple, and they make a huge difference in keeping up that I CAN DO IT!!! attitude we all start out with.
Here are my personal secrets to success when it comes to setting–and reaching–my goals.
Write it Down.
Have you heard this before? It’s the same concept as “out of sight, out of mind” but reversed–if you write something down and see it every day, it sticks with you. It runs around in your head, it bothers you, sometimes even seems to mock you. And eventually all the pestering from those little thoughts makes you do something about it. So write it down. Easy.
Break it Down.
Sure, it would be great if you could just write down your goal to BECOME A MILLIONAIRE BY THIRTY and just leave it at that, but does that feel doable when you look at it that way?
Not really.
So break down your goals into smaller, more specific, more achievable goals. One of my focuses this year is to be healthier, but I don’t just expect that to happen. So I made mini-goals, like so:
- BE HEALTHIER
- Only eat one dessert per day (sad, but this is hard for me)
- Eat healthy snacks instead of junk food
- Walk more (like walking to class instead of taking the shuttle)
Be Realistic.
As part of my getting-healthier thing, I would want to work out every day at the gym. Except that I HATE going to the gym, it costs money, I don’t have time every day, and a lot of times I don’t have access to a car to get there. So that goal is ridiculous for me, totally unrealistic.
Instead, I’m going to make every effort to make my body work harder to do every day things. I’m going to go up and down stairs more often, skip the elevator and escalator, and do exercises at home on a regular schedule.
Be Consistent.
Make your rules for yourself, and stick to them. It is hard to do, but even harder to get back on the bandwagon once you’ve slipped.
Be Forgiving.
Of yourself that is. Yes, you want to be consistent. You want to stick with it. But don’t beat yourself up if you slip up! That will only discourage you. Give yourself a Get Out of Jail Free card, get over the guilt, and get back to working toward that goal!
photo: Focus by CraigP
January 19th, 2009
It’s November, and that means crunch time before the wonderfulness of Thanksgiving and Winter breaks! Don’t let yourself get beaten down by your workload–prep now so you can relax later.
Break it Down
Okay first things first–mark all the dates of your upcoming projects, presentations, and tests on your calendar. It sounds simplistic but you’d be surprised how quickly things pile up when you’re not expecting them. Then make those days clearly visible on your calendar by making them a different, bright color.
…Red for doom seems appropriate.
“Guesstimate” Your Work Load
Did your middle school teachers use that word as much as mine did?
Sorry, off topic. What I mean is try to guess how much time it will take you to get your studying/work/research done for each of the items you just wrote down, add two to four hours for interruptions, and WRITE DOWN YOUR GUESSTIMATED TIME. Otherwise you will forget.
**TIP: If you’re doing a project with someone else, I would add a considerable amount of extra time, like a few hours, to your guesstimate. Group projects often put more weight on the hard workers, and if you’re making a study calendar, that means you’re it. So save your grade and give yourself some leeway.
Schedule Your Time
Now that you’ve got your time guesstimates and your due dates, it’s time to mark out your work time. If you start now you should be early enough to spread out study for finals and get projects done without a lot of cramming and brain-numbing textbook skimming.
Start by spreading out your subjects based on:
1.) What is due first, and
2.) Which will take the most work.
Obviously these two criteria will determine which things come first, but this is basically up to your discretion–you know how you work best and what takes you longest. Make sure you spread out your work, though, so you don’t end up cramming for any one thing at the end OR suffer from subject burnout.
**TIP: When you schedule your work blocks in each calendar square, schedule play blocks, too, and stick to both. You need both work and play to feel accomplished and human when life gets hectic!
REschedule Your Time
You might choose to do this every day or every week, but make a regular habit of sitting down and revising your calendar. Maybe you finish a project early–use the leftover time to get a jump on something else. Took longer than you thought to write that French paper? Better allot some extra study time to your Chem class in next week’s schedule.
Cross off Your Finished Work
You don’t have to do this, but I always find it cathartic to scribble out something I’ve finished and give it that final “Hasta La Vista!!!”
Good luck… Remember to hold on to that light at the end of the tunnel–Winter Break!!!
photo: calendar by lupy2002
November 17th, 2008
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