Following Your Passion: Taking My Own Advice

As many of you know, the Flipping Burgers philosophy is to follow your passion – to invest your time in doing what you love to do. I have written many blog posts about this philosophy.

Now it’s time to take my own advice. My passion has always been books – reading books, writing books, buying books, studying how to market books.

And as I get more and more involved in internet marketing, I find myself stretched in too many directions with trying to keep up with this blog and my other interests.

True, I also love giving advice to high school students and young people about college applications, internships, jobs and careers. I just don’t love this as much as I love giving advice about book writing and book marketing.

Regrettably I have decided to take the step of no longer adding new posts to this blog, although I will, of course, leave this blog up. After all, many of the blog posts I wrote remain useful. For example, advice on interviewing techniques and proper interview attire is the same whether posted now, a year from now, or several years from now.

Use this blog as a resource archive for when you need to review advice on such topics or to recommend this advice to others.

You can also keep in touch with my activities by checking out my Miller Mosaic LLC company websites www.millermosaic.com and www.queensofbookmarketing.com. And email me with questions or comments at pzmiller@millermosaic.com.

Wishing you much success as you follow your own passion through life.

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Volunteering: Using Your Passion to Find Unique Opportunities

Volunteering is one of those things that college admission officers are supposedly keen on seeing on applications. Yet I suspect these admission officers are rather good at spotting the less-than-wholehearted volunteering that many high school students do.

What do I mean by this? I mean the routine volunteering that obviously was done as part of a group (no initiative on the student’s part) or volunteering that is the same-old as everyone else, such as collecting food items for a food pantry. Yes, a food drive is a good thing to do, but it probably doesn’t count as much of a volunteer activity in the eyes of college admission officers.

What should you do to show wholehearted volunteering? Take your passion and see if you can use this interest as a basis for volunteering.

Here are some ideas:

You love playing the piano, but you take piano lessons like thousands of other high school students. To distinguish yourself from the pack, you volunteer every Saturday morning to perform show tunes at the retirement home near where you live. The retirement home residents are thrilled by the entertainment, and you’re thrilled to do a volunteer activity of something you love

Or you love knitting scarves and hats for your friends. You find out that a women’s group has a project of knitting scarves and hats for a local homeless shelter. You volunteer to attend the weekly “knitting meetings” where you knit these items and learn from the women in the group.

Or you spend all your free time with a basketball and a net. But your mother says you better find some volunteer activity. You go to the local youth center and volunteer to coach young children on basketball skills.

What ideas do you have for combining your passion and volunteering into a project that you initiate and that differentiates you from the pack in the eyes of college admission officers?

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Elevator Speech: Have a 30-Second Speech for Whoever You Are or Whatever You’re Looking For

The expression “elevator speech” doesn’t mean a speech in favor of taking an elevator rather than the stairs or vice versa. It refers to a “speech” you could make in a 30-second elevator ride to tell someone who you are or what you’re looking for.

And whether you’re in high school, college or beyond, you should have at least one of these speeches down cold (and maybe more if you have different interests). And by down cold I mean: you know the speech so well you can say it as if it’s spontaneous rather than memorized.

Maybe you’ve noticed an adult asking a teen what she is doing and the teen says “applying to college.” What’s an example of what the answer should be when asked this question by an adult? “I’m applying to top Eastern colleges and I’m particularly hoping to be accepted by the University of Pennsylvania.” Now the adult has enough information to say, for example: “My sister is an alum. Would you like to be introduced to her?”

See the difference? The teen hasn’t asked for help, but she’s provided enough information for someone to offer to help. And if she were in an elevator and had only said “applying to college,” there wouldn’t be enough time for the adult to ask questions to elicit the same information and offer the same help.

At whatever point you are in your life, be prepared with this 30-second speech.

Someone on Facebook just wrote me that her 19-old-son is publishing a book and looking for information on book marketing. But she should have said: “My 19-year-old son is publishing a book on ………...” Although I did respond with advice for book marketing, I might have been more helpful if she’d mention fiction or non-fiction, the title of the book, and when it is coming out.

And if you’ve got different interests, have an elevator speech for each interest so that you’re prepared for any opportunity that comes your way.

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High School Students Feeling Overwhelmed: Not an Unusual Feeling

Today I met a woman whose daughter is in 9th grade in a very academic private high school. Only a few weeks into the school year the daughter is feeling overwhelmed. This is not an unusual feeling for high-achieving students because the pressure today to do well and “beat the competition” is intense.

Yet, as I have written about before, the FLIPPING BURGERS philosophy is somewhat different than the “get the highest grades and highest test scores” philosophy for getting into top colleges.

The FLIPPING BURGERS philosophy says that you should follow your passion in high school. This means trying to arrange a challenging but not overwhelming school schedule so that you have time to follow your passion outside of school.

And the advantage of following your passion outside school is that you will have to pursue activities that are not handed to you on a silver platter (the school’s own activities). Why, for example, join the high school drama club when you can join a local theater group near your home? In this way you will demonstrate initiative to the colleges to which you apply and your experience may be richer for having to learn how to “work” (act) around adults of various ages.

If you are overwhelmed already and this is still September, consider whether you may be able to re-adjust your school schedule so that you have more time to pursue your passion and still take academically challenging (but not overwhelming) courses.

For example, this re-adjustment may mean saving physics until summer school where you can really focus on this subject and, in place of this course during the school year, take a less-strenuous one that will give you more free time after school.

For advice on planning the rest of your high school schedule, you can check out the report THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU SHOULD DO AND KNOW TO GET AHEAD OF THE GAME OF COLLEGE APPLICATIONS at www.millermosaic.com/page1.php

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Beware of Facebook: The Wall Street Journal Agrees With Me

I know some of my regular readers of this blog are groaning because I’m about to talk about Facebook AGAIN. Go ahead and groan now – then read on, because there’s a dangerous sand trap that had never occurred to me.

The September 18th Wall Street Journal article “College Applicants, Beware: Your Facebook Page Is Showing” by John Hechinger reporteded:

A new survey of 500 top colleges found that 10% of admissions officers acknowledged looking at social-networking sites to evaluate applicants. Of those colleges making use of the online information, 38% said that what they say “negatively affected” their views of the applicant. Only a quarter of the schools checking the sites said their views were improved, according to the survey by education company Kaplan, a unit of Washington Post Co.” (Boldface mine.)

What I found particularly upsetting in the Journal article is that college admission officers sometimes receive anonymous tips to check out someone’s Facebook page. Apparently these tips may be from rival applicants.

After reading about this particular sand trap, I visualized a scenario where two top students from the same high school are applying to the same prestigious college. One student calls in a tip about the other student’s inappropriate Facebook page in order to get that student eliminated from consideration.

All I can say is that you can’t stop some people from being underhanded, so the only way you can assure that there’s no dirt for someone to find on you is to make sure there’s no dirt PERIOD.

If you have any questions as to what is appropriate on your Facebook page, check out past posts of mine under the category Facebook. And if you’d like a free copy of the “7 Mistakes to Avoid to Protect Your Image on Facebook,” go to www.millermosaic.com.

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College Application Planning Report Addresses Concerns of 9th Graders and Their Parents and Mentors

At an 80th birthday party I talked to the mother of a 9th-grade boy who I have known since his birth.

The mother was worried because she and her husband both came to the U.S. from different countries as adults. “I don’t know how the American college system works,” the mother said, “and my son is a really good student and interested in going to Harvard. A family friend said he should take the French horn but he’s not interested in playing a musical instrument.”

Although the boy is not interested in a musical instrument, the advice about the French horn probably comes from the philosophy of being a well-rounded student when applying to college. Yet the theory now is that colleges want a “well-rounded” freshman class – each individual student with his or her particular interests adds to an overall mix of diverse students.

In other words, colleges are looking for “well-lopsided” students whose passions can contribute to a dynamic college campus life. And this current philosophy fits in nicely with my FLIPPING BURGERS AND BEYOND philosophy of helping a high school student to follow his or her passion.

And this is why it is important to start planning a student’s time during high school before he or she starts high school. There are so many demands on a student’s time that it makes sense to plan ahead for fulfilling college entrance requirements and for following a passion.

I’ve just written a special college application planning report called THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW AND DO TO BE AHEAD OF THE GAME OF COLLEGE APPLICATIONS.

If you know of any 8th or 9th graders or their parents and mentors for whom this advice could be helpful, tell them about this report. You may earn their undying thanks if you save them major aggravation and hassles when the student is in 11th or 12th grade.

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Interview Techniques: The Words Out of Your Mouth Can Lose the Job for You

Yesterday I put a blog post on collegefinder.globalscholar.com that began this way after the headline “Using Appropriate Language During a College Application Interview”:

The three words “like” and “you know” (along with the annoying “um” and “well”) used liberally throughout your conversations may not bother your friends. Yet be assured that a person interviewing you will note the immature and/or annoying language. Other words that bother interviewers include dude, hey, stuff, whatever. And, of course, you should use proper English and not street or slang or colloquial English.

In an email exchange with one of the CollegeFinder people this is what I received:

That post also applies well to interviews! You wouldn’t believe how many just out of college students we interview here who use the words or worse!

Okay, now you’ve heard this warning directly from the mouth of an employer (as opposed to my harping on this subject). And if you take these words to heart, you could have a giant advantage over other job candidates.

If you’re not aware of how you speak (whether you continually use the words “like” and “you know” and whether you use slang), record yourself practicing an interview with a friend. Then listen to the recording.

If the above warning applies to you, take two immediate steps to correct these problems. First, try consciously even when speaking to friends to use proper English and NOT to constantly use the words “like” and “you know.”

Second, practice answering interview questions with a friend over and over again until you eliminate the problems. Record each practice interview to check your own progress.

Any questions about what might or might not be appropriate to say? Leave questions in the comments section below.

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Preparing for College Applications: Tips on High School Activities

· Do not undertake so much that your grades suffer. Colleges want to see good grades AND additional activities, which can include part-time jobs.

· Do not change activities as frequently as you change your socks. Colleges do want to see some consistency over your years of high school. Trying out a different school club each year (math club, government club, etc.) is probably not as good as sticking to one school club for the four years.

· Do not participate in the “activity marathon,” in which you compete with your classmates to see who can compile the longest list of extracurricular activities. The high school years are a time for you to pursue possible passions. To realistically evaluate the “trying on” of a possible passion, you must go deeper rather than wider in your overall activities.

· Do choose with your heart and soul. That is, truly select activities that both interest you and to which you can contribute in a meaningful way (not just by showing up and sleeping through a guest speaker).

To read the rest of this post, go to College Finder at http://snipurl.com/highschoolactivities

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Clearly Written Communication: Make Sure the Other Person Knows What You Mean

A college sophomore I know needed to replace all the cell phone numbers he had stored in his own cell phone. So he did what I think was rather clever. He created an event page on Facebook to request that his friends send him their cell phone numbers.

Only there was one tiny problem. He gave the event a weird name – something with letters and symbols that was way beyond my understanding – and didn’t clearly explain what the event was for. After he got several puzzled replies besides mine, he realized that he hadn’t clearly stated the purpose of his event.

I’m bringing this up here as an example of something we all do at one time or another: assume that another person can follow what we mean because it is so clear to us what is needed. What we all need to remember is that another person doesn’t necessarily have all the prior information that we have.

Whatever you write for other people to read must be clear. You need to put yourself in the other person’s place to figure out what he/she needs to know to understand what you’re talking about.

This is true whether you’re writing a college application essay or a memo to your boss about a topic the boss asked you to research or a query letter asking for an informational meeting.

When I was feature editor of the State News at Michigan State University, a reporter on my feature staff said to me, “Phyllis, you know what I mean in this news story.” And I replied, “Yes, I know. But the student who reads this article in tomorrow’s paper may not. You have to write this so that student who doesn’t know what I know can understand what you’re saying.”

The next time you write someone – or create an event on Facebook – make sure that what you’ve said is clear to anyone who does not know the background information that you do. Give the other person enough information so that he/she can follow what it is you’re saying.

If you always keep the point of view of the other person in mind when writing, you’ll be able to earn a reputation as someone who is a good writer and able to communicate well with others. This is a good reputation to have even in the age of IMing and Twitter.

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College Applications: To Interview or Not to Interview Is the Question

It’s fall now, and with fall each year comes the beginning of the college application frenzy. This is the time when parents, teachers or mentors harass students to get going on filling out those college applications.

If you’re one of these students preparing to apply to college, keep in mind that there are many different aspects to a college application, and each aspect has to be carefully considered. One such aspect is the question about having an interview with a representative from the college to which you’re applying.

And here’s the problem with this aspect: colleges have their own individual polices for interviewing applicants, which can become quite confusing if you’re applying to several schools. Here are examples of the range in policies:

• A college does not interview any applicant on campus but requires an applicant interview with an alum of the college in the applicant’s home town.

• A college offers interviews to any applicant who comes to campus but does not require an applicant interview with an alum in the applicant’s home town.

• A college gives on-campus interviews only to students who are legacies of that college (the student’s parent or grandparent attended the college).

• A college does not give interviews to applicants on campus or in their home towns.

Your first step is to find out the interview policy of each college to which you plan to apply. It might be a good idea to create a spreadsheet so that you can keep straight all the different policies. And then, of course, you have to follow the policy of each college.

(The slots for on-campus interviews at schools fill up. Schedule your interview early so you don’t lose out on this opportunity.)

Recommendation: Even if an alum interview isn’t required but is offered as an option, you should say yes to the interview because this shows a more sincere interest in that school on your part.

And who knows? What you learn in an alum interview may give you valuable information with which to evaluate that potential college application choice.

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PROJECT RUNWAY and ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL: Lessons from Two Television Shows

ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL is a reality show currently running on the Sundance Channel. The August 27th episode focused on the Tulane architecture students presenting their designs for building an affordable new home in a Katrina-ravaged neighborhood of shotgun houses.

(New Orleans shotgun houses are long narrow houses with no hall – each room is directly behind the other so, if you shot a gun from the front, the shot would go straight through to the back.)

The presentations would impact which of the student designs would be chosen for the students to actually build. Yet almost all the students were really terribly at presenting and “selling” their designs.

Although all these students wanted their design to be the one chosen – big kudo for an architectural student, yet it appeared most of them had given little thought to the explanation and selling of their designs.

As this show follows Bravo’s PROJECT RUNWAY, I had just seen a fashion designer chosen as the one to be OUT partly because of his unimaginative design and partly because he whined during the critique of his design, blamed his model, and actually complained about the judges’ previous “criticism” of him.

Michael Kors, “top American designer,” said words to this effect: Face it, kid, this is what life is like as a fashion designer. You’ve got to be prepared to take the good and the bad.

What do these two television shows have to do with college applications, internships, jobs and careers? Several lessons:

• If you are given an assignment – when you present that assignment, be prepared to assertively but not aggressively sell your vision.

• Accept critique willingly and understand that you can often learn more from your mistakes. Do not insist on being the one in the right.

• Do not blame others for your less-than-stellar presentation. Accept responsibility.

Watching Michael Kors’ face as the OUT designer left the runway, it was clear that Kors felt this guy just didn’t get it. How much better if the disgruntled designer had graciously thanked all the judges for the incredible opportunity to have been part of Project Runway?

Make sure you are thought of as an amicable person who learns from critiques and appreciates your opportunities. That reputation can take you a long way.

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Advance Placement Courses: Should They Be Taken in High School?

Whether to take Advance Placement (AP) courses – “college-level” courses – in high school is a BIG discussion topic for students who want to apply to top colleges. This is because how many of the AP courses offered at a student’s high school are taken by a student is a very important criterion for college admission officers.

As one college counselor at a prominent Los Angeles private high school said, there are three things college admission people at top colleges look for on a student’s high school transcript:

1) courses taken

2) grades gotten

3) courses the student could have taken based on the profile of his/her high school (how many of the high school’s offered AP and honors courses the student actually took)

This is the beginning of my second guest blog post at CollegeFinder.GlobalScholar.com – read the rest of the post at http://tinyurl.com/5nojfo.

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Asking for Something: What’s in It for the Other Person?

I’ve been listening to several teleseminars about using social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter for business purposes. The basic premise is that people do business with people they know, like and trust.

According to several of these teleseminars, there’s another premise that should be considered when you are trying to get someone to do something you want or to buy from you. What’s in it for the other person?

Okay, you may be saying. But what does this have to do with college applications, internships, jobs and careers? Let’s look at these topics:

College applications: When you are preparing to write college-application essays you should be thinking: What do I have to offer the colleges to which I’m applying? Sure, you’ve already thought about what the colleges have to offer you as you made a tentative list. But now you have to switch your mindset:

Have I followed my passion during high school so that I have something interesting to add to the freshman class? Something that will contribute to the range of college life? Or am I one of thousands of high school students whose main resume items are class president, high school soccer team, worked as a camp counselor during the summer, got good grades and good SATs?

Internships: When you’re ready to apply for internships you should be thinking: What do I have to offer these companies to which I’m applying? Again, you’ve already thought about what the companies have to offer you. Now switch your mindset:

Have I demonstrated any interest before in the kind of work the company does? Can I get a letter of recommendation from someone that I have demonstrated such an interest before? Have I presented myself to the company in emails and phone calls in such a way that the company will understand that I could be an asset as an intern instead of a drag on training time because I don’t even know how to write a professional email or speak on the phone in a business-like manner?

Got the idea? And the same concept is applicable to looking for a job and for looking for a position in a career path.

When you want college admission offices or internship, job or career possibilities to seriously consider you, take the time to prepare yourself so that you can present yourself in a way that demonstrates convincingly that there’s something in it for them.

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Volunteering for College Applications – and for Life

Most high school students applying to college know that volunteering activities are important to have on their resumes. Yet, as with everything else on a good resume, there’s volunteering and there’s volunteering.

It’s easy, for example, to volunteer to help with a food collection drive sponsored by your high school. Any student can do that simply by signing up and following through.

Yet, for the other kind of volunteering, what about coming up with a volunteer project yourself that demonstrates initiative, creativity and results?

As described in my post today at www.dogooderscrooge.blogspot.com, I’ve just returned from the Philadelphia wedding of my nephew. It was a lovely, lovely wedding, and I cried as the bride and groom stood under the chupah. Yet I also cried much later in the evening – while a fantastic band played – when I opened the wedding guest gift:

Each guest received a gift certificate for $18 (in Hebrew 18 represents chai – life) to www.donorschoose.org – a nonprofit website where “public school teachers submit proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn.” And then donations bring these dreams to life.

At the wedding I talked to my nephew about the gift certificates. He said he and his bride-to-be had been thinking of giving each guest a $10 gift when they realized what they could do with a different kind of wedding guest gift.

This morning I went to www.donorschoose.org/gift to redeem my gift certificate. There were so many good projects from which to choose. And any of these projects could be the basis of initiating your own volunteer project.

Example of creating your own volunteer project

Let’s suppose you read the following project listed at www.donorschoose.org/gift

Pushing Our Way into Literacy: Book Carts For the Classroom

Last week was Teen Read Week. The media specialist and I created a book cart around the theme Get Active and visited 28 classrooms during the week. With each class, we did a book pass of books we thought would be high interest reads for the students and then allowed them to check out books. During the week, there was a 280% increase in the number of books checked out. We received an overwhelmingly positive response from the staff as well, who reported that for the first time their students were reading.

We would now like to purchase a number of carts to create themed book mobiles for teachers to check out. We know that reading comprehension is the most critical component of student education, and placing high interest reads into the hands of our kids is the key to developing that comprehension.

I need two book carts to enable me to provide high interest young adult reading materials to the students in my school. The cost of this proposal is $833, which includes shipping for any materials requested and fulfillment.

You could take this idea and brainstorm with friends, family, teachers or mentors how to adapt to your own community. Maybe you and three friends could make presentations in classrooms of your favorite books, and your enthusiasm could ignite the interest of students who normally don’t read books.

Or you and three friends could raise money to send to www.donorschoose.org to support this project. And you could offer to send a letter about books you enjoy to the project creator to share with the school’s students.

If you’re going to spend time volunteering – make that volunteer time truly count. Start a new volunteer project that shows your initiative, creativity and commitment.

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Social Media Networks and Confidence in Who You Are

I’ve been reading a great deal about social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter. And every article I read leads to another social media network and another and another. Not to mention discovering lots of new people and new blogs.

Monday on the Blogcatalog.com-sponsored ustream.tv teleseminar by social media expert Erica O’Grady – www.ericaogrady.com, social media expert Chris Brogan was mentioned. I have to admit I had never heard of him.

I later went to his blog and read the post titled “The Real Power of Personal Branding” – http://www.chrisbrogan.com/the-real-power-of-personal-branding/ I was very impressed, as were many of the people leaving comments about the post.

One thing Brogan wrote about was the need for confidence. He said: “Confidence (not arrogance) is the secret sauce to everything you do with regards to personal branding.”

And I thought about confidence in connection with the topics that I blog about: college applications, applying for internships and jobs, career strategies. In every one of these scenarios, you’re putting out your personal brand for others to consider. And if you don’t have confidence in your personal brand, who will?

On the other hand, it is important to distinguish between confidence and boasting. Confidence is the ability to say “I’m the best for this job because ….” and then tick off very specific traits that make you the best. (Of course, per my earlier post “Interview Tips: Backing Up Resume Statements with a ‘Compelling’ Story,” you need to be prepared with stories to back up the traits you tick off.) Confidence is NOT boasting how terrific you are without any actual examples of this.

In talking about college applications, a college’s admission goal is usually not for every college applicant to be well-rounded. A college’s admission goal is usually to have a well-rounded class. This means accepting a freshmen class of students with passions in a wide range of areas. And students with passions must have confidence about those passions – they must be willing to publicly say “this is what I love and this is who I am.”

And that passion can become your personal brand in “adult life.” A personal brand built with confidence on something you love can be an extremely powerful personal brand.

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Unexpected Email from College Freshman Praises FLIPPING BURGERS Advice

Yesterday I received an email from a college student just finishing his freshman year. I hadn’t heard from Alex M. in two years, since the spring of 2006 when he was a high school junior and I met with him in preparation for his applying to college in the fall.

The email was so thrilling to me that I asked Alex’s permission to use it for my blog. He graciously said yes. Here’s what Alex’s email to me said:

I just wanted to update you on my activities since we spoke last (which was quite a long time ago!). Overall I couldn't be happier with college and looking back I know this is the perfect place for me. There are a ton of opportunities to learn about business here, and I have tried to take advantage of them as much as possible.

I was selected among a competitive group of students to be a member of a student-run fund that manages $300,000 of our endowment, and I also started a business journal recently that has quickly grown to nearly 40 members.

I think just looking back on the year and how much I've progressed has really put the conversation we had our first meeting in perspective. I think the first thing you showed me was that a lot of my activities didn't really set me apart; I had a bunch of general things and while some were good, none were spectacular. At college, I have really strived to just find a few activities and pursue them as deeply as possible. I have found it to be much more rewarding.

I have also implemented the other skills you taught me - from saying thank you properly to bringing a pen and pad to every meeting. Every time I do one of those things, it reminds me of our meeting. I have also really worked to develop my network, which is something I know needs a lot of work going forward. However, I have already seen the rewards: I received a great internship at a mutual fund this summer through a professional I had only met once.

In summary, I just wanted to thank you again for the life lessons you taught me. I know I have progressed since our meeting, but I also know I have a lot of work to do. Thank you for helping me get on the right path.

Wow! See why I wanted to put this email on my blog? It’s terrific encouragement for other young people. And, also, it was because of meeting with Alex that I started down the path of writing advice for teens and young adults. I had complained to my older daughter that I had just met with a high school student (Alex) who had so much potential yet wasn’t at all prepared to maximize that potential. She said, “So write a book to help other kids.”

Two years later the FLIPPING BURGERS AND BEYOND book is written but not published; I am blogging about the advice; and I’m currently working on a way to bring the book’s material directly to those who could most benefit from the advice. Thanks, Alex, for having an open mind and being willing to learn and grow. I’m so proud of what you’ve accomplished in your first year of college. Keep up the great work!

Keeping Organized as You Find Your Own Path

I wish I had a magic wand that anyone could use to organize himself or herself. No such luck.

The truth is that, thanks to the internet, we have access to so much more information than was available only a few short years ago. And added to the information available on the internet at any one moment are the teleseminars that I could listen to every day of the week.

I constantly find myself trying to decide whether to listen to a teleseminar discussing how to blog better – or actually write a post for my blog.

Having just listened to the BlogSquad mavens being interviewed by Cathy Goodwin, I’m totally conflicted about, first, how to keep track of all the new info I’m learning and, second, how to find the time to implement the information.

And this got me thinking about young people starting to apply for colleges or internships or first jobs. How to keep track of all the available information and then use it?

If you are a very organized person you probably have answers to these questions – and if you do, please share in the comments below. If you’re not an organized person, there are calendars and reminders and all kinds of gadgets to help. But these gadgets can’t actually do the implementing – for example, gadgets can’t write an email to someone who might write a recommendation letter for you.

I’m very good at creating physical file folders for different aspects of my projects and then adding new emails to the appropriate file folders. But then I need to find time to act on the information I’ve filed.

Here’s a technique I used today for the first time: As I listened to the Blogsquad make suggestions about a blog’s design, I made changes in www.mrslieutenant.blogspot.com.

Sure enough, I had apparently made a common error – not having my name near the top of the blog. Now the teleseminar is over and I have to make similar changes in www.flippingburgersandbeyond.blogspot.com

Therefore, I have to sign off now and implement these changes. Because if I take my notes from the teleseminar and file these notes in the appropriate file folder, I probably won’t find the time to implement the terrific suggestions.

college applications, jobs,
internships, careers

A Rose by Any Other Name -- Using a “Professional” Email Address

Do you have a “cute” email address? Something such as sexyandsmart@domain? Your friends probably like this email address – and they can remember it’s yours. But for prospective college admission officer or employer these “cute” email addresses can be a major turn-off.

For “professional” emails get a “professional” email address. I like gmail accounts – they’re free and neutral-sounding (hotmail.com does NOT sound very professional).

I recommend using your full name so that you reinforce your “brand” in all email communications. For example, let’s say your name is Jonathan Blipman. Then get an email address for jonathan.blipman. If that address is taken, try your middle initial: jonathan.m.blipman. (I like using the period between names because it is easier to read than jonathanblipman or jonathanmblipman.)

You can still use your “cute” email with your friends as long as you remember to check your “professional” email at least twice a day. You want to reply to college application, internship and job emails promptly. See my previous post titled A Simple Email Offers the Opportunity for a Positive Impression for professional email etiquette.

Following My Passion – Introducing My Novel MRS. LIEUTENANT

Whenever I write about preparing for college applications, I stress that the most important activity during the high school years is to follow your passion. And by passion I mean doing something or learning to do something or learning about something that you truly love.

I coach high school students to follow their passion without worrying about the passion’s career potential. And I coach parents of high school students about facilitating the passion of their children.

For example, if a high school student wants to option a book for a possible movie, her parent does NOT say: “But, dear, you’re way too young to do this.” Instead her parent helps find out how to do this and to follow through. The knowledge learned from doing this project can be quite valuable regardless of what happens.

Another example: If a high school student wants to become a chess expert, his parent does NOT say: “But, dear, do you really think that will help get you into Harvard?” Instead his parent helps the student work on his chess game and encourages participation in local and regional chess tournaments. Again the knowledge can be extremely valuable. And, hey, Harvard may need a champion chess player the year the student applies.

Today the result of following my passion for many years is on Amazon. Almost 20 years ago two women producers optioned my story about my first weeks as a new army officer’s wife in the spring of 1970. When they couldn’t “sell” the idea, they told me I had to write a book. By the time the first draft of the book was written, the producers had moved on. And that started the many long years of rewriting and rewriting and rewriting.

Now persistence and hard work have paid off. The book was just recently a semi-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. And I’m confident that this book is the story I’ve wanted to tell since the spring of 1970.

You can find my passion on Amazon: Mrs. Lieutenant: A Sharon Gold Novel -- enjoy!

If You’re a Junior in High School Now -- Don’t Panic About College Acceptances

Today The Wall Street Journal had it annual doom-and-gloom article about how low the college acceptance rates were this year at prestigious colleges and how many high school seniors didn’t get into the schools to which they applied (“Bad News U: Colleges Reject Record Numbers” by Anjali Athavaley).

Here’s a reader beware caution: You almost have to have a degree in mathematics and the mind of a copyeditor to truly understand the numbers behind the alarming headline.

Yes, the acceptance percentage rates are down at some prestigious schools. But this does NOT necessarily mean a smaller number of students has been accepted this year. These schools had higher application numbers this year, which affects the percentage of applicants accepted.

Simple math – if you accept 10% of 20,000 students applying one year, that’s 2,000 students. If you take the same 2,000 students out of a larger applicant pool of 24, 000 students, that’s only 17% of applicants accepted. BUT THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS ADMITTED TO THE FRESHMAN CLASS IS STILL THE SAME – 2,000!

The reasons applications are up so high include:

• elimination of early decision programs at some prestigious schools
• larger number of students graduating high school and going on to college
• the push for students to “apply at 10 to 12 schools, with some applying to as many as 20,” according to the Journal article

This trend for students to apply to so many schools is something with which I heartily disagree. Colleges know students are applying to so many schools, and colleges have an emphasis on yield (the percentage of admitted students who actually attend a college).

This means it is vitally important for colleges to be on the lookout for which students really mean the statement “This college is my first choice” and other such college application essay statements – and which students are using computer software to insert these statements in 20 applications.

Hold on a minute! Of course, students should not put all their eggs in one basket, or even three baskets. I think students should apply to six to eight colleges in a range of “difficulty” in terms of academic level in conjunction with well-considered appreciation of what the student has to offer the university.

Yes, you heard me correctly. What a student has to offer a university and NOT what a university has to offer a student. (It goes without saying that a potential college application list should only include schools that appeal to a student on whatever his/her own list includes – location, size, public or private, etc.)

The topic of what a student has to offer a college deserves its own post. What I want to emphasize here is that students should spend their time writing persuasive applications for six to eight well-chosen colleges – rather than using the scatter-shot approach of applying to 20 colleges in the hopes that some shots will hit the marks.

The normal high school senior just does not have enough time to do a good job of persuasively applying to so many schools. He/she should put in the time “up front” to carefully choose, and then do the best job possible applying to his/her well-chosen list.