Archive for 2010
Full scholarship? No problemo.
September 7th, 2010
Top notch grades? Check.
Fabulous SAT scores? Check.
Extracurriculars out the wazoo? Check.
Full scholarship to the college of my dreams? Not so fast.
All that may not be enough anymore. How do I know? Take this example. Betty and Veronica both had excellent full-scholarship potential. They were interested in many of the same schools. They both went on numerous campus visits, identified their top picks and started the process for admission.
Veronica identified her top 3 picks, then applied for admission and scholarships to those and about 5 other “safety” schools. She then breathed a sigh of relief and waited for the acceptance letters and full scholarships to fill her mailbox.
The result?
Veronica got accepted at them all. And the money? Not there. A few minor financial aid offerings, but nothing substantial. Veronica and her parents were stunned. How could this happen? She did everything right, had an exemplary high-school career and practically glowed on her applications. What went wrong?
Let’s take a look at Betty’s approach.
Betty also identified her top 3 picks and applied to those and a few other safety schools. Then she switched into high gear. She visited her top 3 schools a second time to narrow her decision even further. She kept in touch with the admissions counselors via email and asked additional questions. She identified Vandaly University as her top pick, then made it very clear to the admissions counselor that she wanted to attend. She discussed why she felt an education at Vandalay would help her fulfill her goals. And how she was anxious to be an active part of the university community.
Can you guess the result? Betty received one of 5 full scholarships to her dream school — Vandalay University.
It’s not enough anymore to have the grades and the SAT scores. A lot of students have that. Instead, get noticed:
1. Adopt a “what’s in it for them” attitude. What will I bring to the school? How will I use my experiences after I graduate to become an asset to my community?
2. Be candid. We all have flaws, and it’s not shameful to admit them. If you’re a procrastinator, demonstrate how you’ll use your college experience to improve in this area.
3. Follow up. Send a note to those you met on campus (email is fine, but a handwritten note really stands out.) Be specific about what you remembered most from your conversations. Highlight what you like best about the school. Be professional, but not overly formal. You want them to remember you as someone with personality.
4. Keep in touch. A short email every few weeks or so ensures they don’t forget you. What to say? Have you done any job shadowing or community service? Share some highlights.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. And all of this can easily apply to a job search as well. Do you have tactics that have worked well for you?
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“Look at me, Mom, I’m networking!”
September 7th, 2010
We all have a network of some kind. Family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances. But how well do we nurture these networks?
Think about it. How many times have you heard from someone only when they need something? Or worse, a complete stranger sent to you by a friend who emails you a cryptic message saying, “Hey, Joe gave me your name. If you hear of any job leads, can you send them my way?”
Ugh.
Unfortunately, I face this on a regular basis. I treasure my network, and I nurture it well. It’s a lot of work. And people who don’t respect that raise my blood pressure.
That’s where this blog comes in. If you’re looking to build a network or strengthen the on you have, join me as we learn to “work it.”
Dog spelled backward
February 10th, 2010
I woke up yesterday morning with an extra person in my bed – my daughter. She’s twelve now, and hasn’t climbed into my bed in years, so I asked her what was going on. She explained that she had thrown up in her bed a few hours before. (*She also told me that afterward, she slept the rest of the night in her bathtub.)
The night before, we had a strange bit of behavior from “her” dog, Biscuit.
For background, our dogs stay downstairs in our house. We used to have a baby gate on the stairs to keep them from venturing upstairs (because they had occasional accidents up there), but have removed the gate and they stay down.
**For more background, Biscuit, now seven, is a sensitive dog, especially to weather. She gets very nervous when it rains, and generally hides in my closet during storms or even hard rain. Sometimes, however, she sneaks upstairs and hides under my son’s bed during bad weather.
So, Sunday night, Biscuit kept going upstairs. Instead of hiding, however, she kept going upstairs, then halfway down the stairs, then back up, then down, and so on. She finally laid down in my daughter’s room, still agitated.
My daughter has a day bed with a trundle, and she uses the trundle as an auxiliary night table, piling books, purse, and other items on it.
When I went upstairs to check out the situation, and to tuck in the kids, the girl and I decided that Biscuit was up there to stay, so we removed the books and other items from the trundle so that Biscuit could sleep there.
The dog stayed up there a few minutes, then came downstairs.
A few hours later, my daughter had thrown up all over both beds. As she correctly noted later in the day, if Biscuit hadn’t been acting so strange, she would have thrown up on her homework, her school books, her beloved Harry Potter books, her purse, and more.
She concluded that it was a great stroke of luck. I, however, remembered that dog spelled backward is God. And I thanked Biscuit for taking such good care of her girl.
*Yes, in her amazingly rational adolescent, fever-addled brain, my daughter figured that, even with an extra bed upstairs and a perfectly comfortable sofa downstairs, the best place for her to sleep was the bathtub. Because it was near a toilet. She went to the spare bedroom and got pillows and bedding and removed all the shampoo, soap, and other containers from the tub, and made a little bed there. The best I can figure is that she was running a high fever and was completely out of it. Because that’s one of the most bizarre things she’s ever done.
**We got a surprise snow event later that night, waking up to 3+ inches of snow that were not predicted, but I don’t think this was why Biscuit was so agitated.
Not sure what this means
February 3rd, 2010
So, this is what I saw when I was making mashed potatoes tonight.
Where should I start the bids on eBay?
Almost
January 12th, 2010
Posts that have almost made it to the published blog:
Why I really hate Christmas
The whole story on how I lost my job
How my dog died in my arms (14 months ago)
I think, honestly, that I’ve done you a favor by not hitting the publish button. Especially the last one. It was the most intense hour of my life (including the car accident that nearly killed me and my unborn first child).
Ten days into ’10
January 11th, 2010
We’ve made it ten days into the year, and it’s probably about time for an update on my non-consuming progress.
I’m delighted to report that I’ve remembered to bring reusable bags with me every time I’ve grocery shopped this year. Sure, on freaking January freaking first, the cashier at the store insisted on wrapping my meat in a plastic bag and putting my milk into a plastic bag, which pretty much negated my use of two reusable bags, but every other time it’s worked out okay. I didn’t know, until today, that Target gives you a five-cent discount for every reusable bag used in your order. I also didn’t know, until today, how much a cashier could fit into a reusable bag. Impressive. Well played, Ms. Cashier, well played.
Frustrations? The big one is how few plastic containers are recyclable in our community. Memphis recycling only takes the type 1 and 2 plastics, but most of the products I buy that come in plastic tubs are the type 5, which has much less carbon impact in manufacture, but it darn near kills me to throw away those tubs. Sure, I could reuse them, but there are only so many sour cream cartons a girl needs! We haven’t purchased yogurt in quite a while (the kids lost their taste for it), but I may start making my own, and substituting that for sour cream.
I started some sourdough starter a few weeks back, and that’s reduced my family’s purchases of yeast and sandwich bread. I’m baking every three or so days, and the recipe I’m using slices very well and has a soft crust. I’ve substituted whole wheat flour for half the white flour in the recipe and it still turns out very well. It’s not a San Francisco-type sourdough…more just a solid bread recipe. My starter is pretty basic…a tablespoon (or one package) of yeast, a cup of flour, and a cup of warm water. Mix in a large bowl, cover, and whisk it frequently for a few days, then put it in a smaller container (mayonnaise jar?) and refrigerate. I make sure to use mine at least twice a week, feeding it with equal parts flour and water when I use it. (Basically, if a recipe calls for 1 cup starter, after measuring out the cup of starter, replace it with 1/2 cup each of flour and water. No need to replace the yeast unless the whole thing goes bad or dies.)
My consumer addiction is very easily swayed by television ads, I learned. We already know that I’m hooked on cosmetics, despite the fact I rarely use them. But a major makeup company has brilliantly bundled some eye makeup products by eye color (three shadows, an eyeliner, and a mascara), and I found myself in a bit of consumer lust. (No, I didn’t buy them. I’m not insane.)
One concession I made to the kids: the gift cards they received as holiday gifts? They got to “buy” brand-new products with them. The girl and I went shopping today, and she really enjoyed it. However, she seemed to enjoy our trip to Goodwill too. I think the paradigm can shift, even for a tween girl.
All in all? The first ten days of ’10 have gone well.
2010
January 3rd, 2010
Yesterday, the first day of my year-long experiment in carbon-footprint-shrinking, we had an early fail.
At the grocery store, I had brought in my reusable bags (yes, I did have to go back to the car to get them, because that’s still not a habit), but I still got home with two more plastic bags because the cashier was quite insistent that my meat and milk needed to be in plastic bags so they wouldn’t leak onto my other items. And I was tired enough (and polite enough) not to argue.
Yes, we reuse all our plastic bags (when the husband delivers papers, when I walk the dogs, etc.) but I still hated bringing them into the house.
Only one impulse buy at the store, and it was something we do purchase frequently. It was on sale and had coupons displayed alongside, reducing its price to about half what we’d usually pay. If our freezer were less full, I’d have bought more.
The daughter is resigning herself to the no buying new stuff part of the experiment. She was horrified for a moment when she realized she hadn’t spend her Christmas gift cards, but I assured her that such purchases were perfect exceptions to the rule, especially because they were technically 2009 purchases.
Too bad it’s so cold outside. I’m ready to take down the holiday decorations and put 2009 entirely into the past.
