#senioradvice

Have you ever heard the phrase everyone's a critic? It's true, so use it to your advantage! Think of it as everyone is a potential reference. Being a student at Georgia Tech is stressful and demanding, but if you work hard, your peers will take notice, and someday they might be in a position to help you out.

Pay it forward.

When I was looking for my first internship, I had both my on-campus boss and one of my teachers write letters of recommendation for me, but I think it was two unexpected references that helped me the most. When I applied to GDEcD, I unknowingly applied for the position which my friend from the fencing team currently held. Even though they were already interviewing for the position by the time I applied, she put in a good word for me which helped secure my interview. After I posted a message on Facebook requesting my friends wish me luck with the interview, a former graduate student messaged me to say that she had been a contractor at the department while she was still in school. She had been a groupmate of mine in a particularly challenging class, during which I worked with three graduate students on a research project. We put a lot of work into that project, and we were able to take it to a conference in Washington, D.C. Suffice it to say, she knew my work ethic well. Without being asked, she took it upon herself to call my future supervisors and tell them that should hire me, that I was able to keep up with graduate students for a serious project, and that I would be a great intern.

Powerful recommendations can come from completely unexpected places.

Pay it back.

Fast forward a bit, and now I have worked to built a good, professional reputation for myself. For many people including me, the foundation of their professional reputation is where they got their education, so therefore it is in their best interest to expand and improve the image of their school as a great recruitment pool.

[Top: Ivan Allen makes our resumes look good. Bottom: Our work ethic makes the Ivan Allen College look good. On the sides: Recruiters notice.]

In other words, now that I am in a position to help, you can bet I am. I know how awesome my peers are, and I want them to have great internships to match. I'm going to pay the IAC reference cycle karma back as much as I can. So far, I'd like to think I have helped two people secure their internships for next semester. One Wednesday night, I spent nearly an hour on the phone with an IAC ambassador talking her through the Carter Center position she was applying for, what experiences would be good to highlight in her interview, and how great the environment is. The next week I spent maybe half an hour on the phone at the CRC pre-interview coaching another IAC ambassador. I'm sure I looked ridiculous on the elliptical, struggling with my phone and my water bottle, but I'd do it all over again! It's not just because these girls are IAC students, but because I know what hard workers they are. In summary...

        Going into my Senior year of high school I was ridden with anxiety and fear. The pressure, responsibility, and expectations that I knew this year would hold became almost unbearable. On the one hand I was ecstatic : It was my last year of high school, I was finally at the top of the food chain, I had gotten all of my hard classes out of the way, this was our year for prom and graduation.Football season was right around the corner.  The circumstances seemed to invite a worry free year, right? wrong. You see on the other hand there is a lot and I mean A LOT that you need to take care of if you are on the road to college.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.

     If you're like most incoming seniors, you've put a lot of thought into the universities you might want to go to, but you never thought the day would come when you begin applying. You can read every article, talk to every student, and listen to all the advice possible but deciding on where you want to apply is no walk in the park. 

1) Do not base your college decision off of your best friend/boyfriend's top choice. Its good to learn early in life not to make your life choices based off of someone else's.

2) Do not base your decision off of location only. Yes, we all would love to live in sunny California. No we all aren't ready to pay 55,000 a year for out of state tuition & costs (yikes).

3) In the end, after touring the campus, checking out the educational opportunities, and seeing the cost of tuition and living you will find which university suites you and your needs. No need to panic. There is no such things as the perfect university, but there is such a thing as a perfect university for you.

4) If you are like me, you have about ten universities that you've narrowed it down to. Fantastic. Having options is wonderful. Just remember, each university charges about a $50 + fee just to apply to their school. So before you go and blow 350 dollars on college applications alone,  consider: is it worth it?

The Dreadful Application Process One of the most strenuous tasks to accomplish as a senior is beginning and completing your college application. These applications are not as easy as fill out your name and address, submit, and then be done. No. These applications were made to be time consuming. To suck the very energy out of you. Be prepared.

SAT/ACT     Almost every college requires that you send in SAT/ ACT scores. Some require both. Some require either or. Just to be safe, take both tests. It is best to have at least taken each of these tests before the end of your junior year, but you still have time to take them senior year. My advice? Study your ass off for these tests. read the books. Do the practice tests. familiarize yourself with the math and reading. A good SAT/ACT score is a huge factor to a lot of universities. If I could go back and change one thing, I would take the SAT/ACT multiple times because the more you go through the testing process the better you get at it, honestly.It's a lot of pressure to put on yourself to be perfect in just one testing session, and when you have multiple scores you can pick and choose which scores you want to send to colleges.It's overwhelming, but when you see a high score on your application you'll be proud.

Letters of Recommendation

A large pain in the ass if you ask me. Look, every other senior that plans on applying to college is running to their favorite  teachers asking them to write a detailed, and personalized letter of recommendation. The reality of things is this: your favorite teacher probably has to write about  10-20 other letters of recommendation by a certain deadline (so the earlier you ask, the BETTER. Assuming you have time to ask will kick you in the ass.) Also, your teacher has a life, papers to grade, bills to pay, a family to feed. Don't be surprised to find they put your letter on the back burner. This is why you must be persistent. ask daily "yo teach, where is my letter at?" email. speak to them in person. keep asking. Every single one of the teachers who wrote me a letter took about two months to do so, because they kept forgetting. Get in there and hustle for that letter, because a large amount of college applications require letters of recommendation.

Application Essays

As if everything you have to get done isn't enough, you now have to write self defining essays about your life,  your views, how you were raised and your accomplishments. These essays essentially want you to summarize who you are as a person and how you plan to change the world for a better place in the future. Sounds like fun right? No. I guarantee you will read these essays over and over to the point that you could give two shits if it's good or not. You've spent three weeks writing and revising an essay about your life, beliefs, and goals all in under 1,000 words, and quite frankly you're done with the bull shit (this is not a joke, as much as I had wished it was). If I could go back and change one thing, I would ask my English teachers to look at and revise my essays. Their input and insight could have greatly improved my essays, no matter how good I thought they already were. Before applying read the prompt for your essay and take time to think it over. most colleges will let you see the essay prompt before the application submissions even open. There is no right or wrong essay prompt answer. Admissions counselors just want to see that you can write well, comprehend prompts, and that you have goals.

Scholarships

            Don't be a dumb ass like me and put scholarships on the back burner. At the time you cannot really see how much of an impact they will have on your financial life, but in the future you most definitely will. Being  less than a month away from moving into college, the reality of the debt is already all too real. You see there is this dreadful little shit called interest. Interest is a fee the banks charge you for borrowing money from them in the first place. Student loans is a whole other monster that I will tackle in later articles but let me just tell you......it is is in your absolute best interest to go after every cent possible in scholarships. Yes its daunting and feels like endless homework, but you will be thanking yourself in the future. 

Senioritis

         It is not a myth, this sickness does in fact exist. It is an epidemic amongst all seniors in high school. Senioritis is the sickness that causes all seniors not to care or put very little effort into the school year. As underclassmen you wonder how they can be so lazy, especially during their last year of school. Oh, just you wait. Most seniors have already taken all of their required courses and just need a few random classes in order to get enough credit to graduate. At this point in your life you've already endure three years of high school, and now you just don't have time for the bull shit. You know the school like the back of your hand, you know most of the teachers very well, you've been there and done that and your ready to get the hell out of high school. Even the most simple of classes become daunting. I had two classes my last semester of senior year and even that was a struggle to always attend them. Look if your on the right track senioritis isn't such a bad thing, you've earned the right to be lazy. If you're not on the right track, you better kick it up into 5th gear and do what you got to do so you can celebrate on graduation night with the rest of your class.

Now take a deep breath and relax.

Those were a few of the biggest obstacles for me during senior year. Now its time to look at all of the joys of being a senior. Enjoy the pep rallies, go all out on spirit days, attend all of the home games of your last HS football season, go to homecoming and winter formal, take pictures, savor your last season with the sports team you are on or the club that you are in. Go to after school events. Attend parties. Embrace the fact that you only have two classes a day and even that is too much work for you. Enjoy the fact that you run the school and your class is the best class. Go to prom. Buy your cap and gown. Watch your parents bawl their eyes out as you graduate.

At times you will be overwhelmed with nostalgia. That's good. That's o.k. your life is changing, and its changing rapidly. You're being thrown so quickly from the sheltered world of HS  into the real world. Nobody can possibly be perfectly prepared for that. All you can do is try your hardest, sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.