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Before every declarative statement in this post, please add “i think” or ‘i believe’ before the sentence. i sound way too credible in this post. don’t want people following my advice now.
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I was at an education fair recently listening to a UC Berkeley Admissions Officer discuss the admissions process with a group of hungry, blood thirsty parents and their severely less interested children. Okay… I was there to give a quick onetotwo minute schpiel on Berkeley and the admissions process as I know it. But while I was waiting for my turn to go up… some interesting learnings (and I’ve actually learned some these recent years) came to mind.. and I thought it would be much more valuable information for these kids if they actually listened. After all, kids these days hear at least 10 different ‘perfect application’ recipes for college. I thought they might appreciate something different sounding.
Anyways. Here is what schpieled out of my mouth.
(lie. this is totally the edited-to-be-much-more-insightful version.)
There are three things I wish I knew. For high schoolers, the norm now is at a very high standard. Clubs, grades, scores. Everyone knows you need to do well in these. And for everyone reading now, I’m sure the norm around YOU is likewise set very high. So these 3 things I wish I knew back then and are now things that I try to do.. hopefully help.
1. Use your summers wisely. I can’t remember what I did in the summers between high school years. Thus, I must have not done much. What a shame =( There are so many things I want to learn now that I do not have the time for, and high school summers would have worked perfectly. You don’t need to worry about school, you can sleep as much as you want, and you have all the time in the world. Learn something, join something, watch something, enjoy something. Even something as small as visiting all the skate parks in the county and listing them on an easy-to-access website is using your summer wisely. You can do so much with your time, summer is just an easy excuse to do it. Plus, EVERYONE does stuff during the school year. Doing a ton there is just being a little fish in a huge ocean.
2. Find opportunity in everything, and whatever you choose to do - do it well. If I have the time for it (sometimes when I don’t have the time for it… =(……. ) I will most likely try and do it. Why? Because this tactic has definitely worked for me in the past. Switching from the violin to the viola = one of 30 to one of 12, then section leader, then orchestra president - which then looks better on paper than 2nd violinist (because that’s what I would have been x.x). I tried to look for more of my stories that follow a nice progression like that and I could find none. But. Find opportunities in the activities you’re in. There are tons of upward opportunities in everything you’re in - just look for them, and I promise they’re not that big of a leap away if you’re already in whatever it is that you’re in.
Secondly on this point - WHATEVER YOU CHOOSE TO DO. It’s not about having to be in that link crew org everyone is in, it’s definitely not about being in the biggest club or the most reputable. Whatever you choose to do, be it dragon boat racing, er hu playing, computer sciencing, if you do it well enough to have results and concrete understandings - it will do much, much more for you than just being another member out of 300 of that really cool club.
3. Finally. (and this is much thanks to George). Start something. It’s the best way to learn. And after this summer at Google - I definitely agree with this point. Just do it, because it’s not always what you expect it to be. You’ll never learn that in school unless you start something. Better now than later, definitely.
So looking back at this list.. I hope I follow this more than I’m currently remembering. Don’t call me out on it. It is no easy feat. To this day I know, but am still trying to implement.
Hope at least one person found this useful. =)
