I recently finished Cameron Johnson’s You Call the Shots which you can view on the right bar of my blog. This book conveys many of the lessons that Cameron has learned as a young serial entrepreneur. I must admit, I had my doubts about this book when I first picked it up. I am normally not very impressed by entrepreneurial books. They often have vague lessons and advice that conveys very little real world value.
In a previous article I talked about some of the advantages of schools that are not considered top-tier. One of the major advantages I cited was the ability to graduate debt free or very close to it. After a few recent emails, I now stand corrected.
Stanford has recently announced that for families with an income of under $100,000 students would not pay tuition. For families with an income of under $60,000 students would not be required to pay either tuition or room and board. This is only the latest in a number of Ivy League and top-tier universities sweetening their financial aid packages for lower and middle class kids who might otherwise apply to and choose quality state universities. Many major papers and magazines have been covering this trend as you can read here in the New York Times and Newsweek.
This is Part IV in our interview series. So far we have covered what to wear, background preparation, and common interview questions. Today we’ll cover some of the basic things you should always do in your interviews.
1. PRACTICE!
One of the most common mistakes that people make is that they should just wing the interview. If you read my last post on common interview questions, then you should have a notebook full of answers to these questions. Now you should be practicing these answers over and over. By yourself if necessary, but preferably with a friend. Try to find someone who you can go back and forth with. Making many of these answers autopilot will help with the nervousness. This leads me to my next point.
This is Part III in our Interview Series. We’ve previously talked about what to wear and background preparation. You should definitely check them out if you are getting read to interview.
Certain interview questions are universal across almost all industries and you should always have preconceived, practiced answers for these questions. While most interviews will always throw you a curveball or two, preparing for the basics will go a long way.
This is Part II in my interview series. If you haven’t read part I, you should make sure to give it a read.
How do you prepare for an interview? This is a question recently posed to me by a friend. So I thought about the many interviews I have had this year and the mistakes I made and the things I did right.
A friend of mine had his first post-college job interview yesterday. He wasn’t sure what to wear so I thought I would put up a brief post on the attire you should wear to an interview.
For guys the answer is very simple to what to wear to an interview. You want to be clean and conservative. First, you should wear a suit. If you only own one then I guess that is the suit you’re wearing. If you have options or are considering buying a suit then your first choice should be navy. If you don’t own navy then black (preferably without pinstripe) and then I guess whatever is available. Navy is the typical office uniform. It is simple, conservative, and goes with everything.
As I’ve started to study the GMAT, I’ve really started to feel that it is nothing but a glorified version of the ACT. While I find it irritating to take basically another placement test covering things I haven’t studied since 9th grade (geometry), it is necessary to go to a great grad school.
There are lots of websites that already cover these strategies much more thoroughly that I could, so I won’t go into depth with my own personal strategy. I really just wanted to give a plug to the guys over at beatthegmat and gmattutor. They have done a great job of putting a lot of solid material out there free of charge. If you are contemplating taking the GMAT, then check out the site before you start.
I am a huge proponent of the Greek system. Let me state that right away. I am a member of the largest, most respected fraternity on my campus and I’ve never once regretted my choice to join. But in this article I will try to be a little more objective about what considerations a new freshman to college needs to make when considering rushing and then pledging a fraternity.
1. Go To Class.
This is by far the most crucial key to college and the one most often neglected by those that don’t make it. If you will simply go to class I believe that in most majors you will find it difficult not to pass. Many freshmen have this sudden newfound freedom and are not sure how to deal with it. They go out to much, sleep to late and forget how to go to class without someone waking them up each morning. Erratic schedules and start times increase this problem. Going to class makes the amount of studying you need to do drastically less. I find if I just show up to class and avoid the crossword puzzle and sleeping, then my study time drops by half. Going to class is also the easiest way to earn teacher goodwill. Sometimes you need a hint on your homework, some information before the test, or the extra five points to pull out you’re A on the final. Teacher goodwill can be the difference between letter grades.
