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Five Techniques for Getting Into Your First-Choice College
By Robert J. Moore, YesLetter.com
1. Customize your approach.
Applying to college is an exercise in self-promotion. When you send in
a college application, you’re sending a sales pitch to a customer with
thousands of competing offers at its fingertips. It’s important that
every college feel like they’re at the top of your list, so send each
one an application that reflects your interest in them specifically.
If you take a few extra hours to craft essays and resumes that address
each school directly, admissions officers will surely take notice.
2. Know what they want.
If you look at a school’s admissions website or thumb through the
mailings they’ve sent you, you’ll probably be left with some
impression of what their campus community is like. For many schools,
this impression is partly an exaggeration—-they want you to apply, so
their literature highlights the best of what the school has to offer.
Try to fit yourself into the idealized picture they’ve painted. If you
think you’d enjoy participating in the clubs and activities they
mention, let them know. If they do student profiles, recognize what
you have in common with the featured students and be sure to highlight
those qualities somewhere in your application. If a school thinks your
presence will help move their image forward, they’ll bring you in.
3. Control Your Letters of Recommendation.
Few applicants recognize the amount of influence they have over what
goes into their letters of recommendation. Just because you’re not
writing a letter yourself doesn’t mean that you have no control over
its content. Your letters of recommendation should both introduce new
information and reinforce the impression that you’ve set forth
regarding your character. With this in mind, it’s perfectly
appropriate to let the writer know what you’ve already told the
college and what specifically you hope to see in their letter. In
fact, your requests will usually give the writer a solid foundation,
making it much easier for them to get started.
4. Use Every Chance You Get to Self-Promote.
Many students look at personal statements, resumes and essays as
time-consuming burdens that do little more than consume their senior
years. However, these are the pieces of an application that separate
you from the masses. Every application has at least one section that
you can take in whatever direction you want without it seeming forced.
Identify that section, be it a personal statement or even your resume,
and leave it for last. When everything else is done, read the whole
application through and make a list of what you wish you’d included
but didn’t get a chance to say. Then create that final piece, making
sure to include all the points you felt you’d missed.
5. Believe Everything You Write.
College applicants have a tendency to exaggerate their accomplishments
and experiences in some way or another. If you find yourself
glorifying the things you’ve done, it helps to look back and ask
yourself just how much of what you’ve put down is a reasonable
representation of what you’ve actually done. Try to make sure that
everything you advertise about yourself is strongly grounded in
reality. Your modesty and integrity will show through to the many
admissions offers that can detect tall tales from a mile away.
By Robert J. Moore, Cofounder and General Partner, YesLetter.com
Robert J. Moore is a Junior at Princeton University and the cofounder
of YesLetter.com, a website providing practical advice for students
involved in the college admissions process. The YesLetter.com network
of students, consultants and contributors spans the Ivy League and
many other top-tier universities in the United States.
Personal Sales Skills by Richard Boyd
Personal Selling Skills Part 1.
How bad are yours?
My personal sales skills suck. Last week, I managed to blow two
contracts worth nearly £4K, no one else, it was me. We’d beaten the
competition; both enquiries should have been a formality.
One enquiry was from a swimming pool manufacturer wanting an
interactive multimedia CD, as part of a large mail out and the other
was a printing company wanting to completely revamp their web site.
And my sales skills blow it.
Why? Because I haven’t even thought about selling for over 5 years.
The calls came in, I took both of them and I made the following
mistakes:
I was engrossed in a different client’s problem
I was barely listening to what they said, within seconds I knew what
they needed, so I switched off
I even forgot one of the callers first names, I was so preoccupied
I was reading some data on a PC monitor whilst I was on the phone
I told them what they needed, rather than listen and explain what the
options and subsequent benefits would be
I suck, big time. In 5 years I have become so engrossed in the ins and
out of my profession that I have forgotten what selling is all about.
I have forgotten the golden rule.
“People buy what things can do for them -- they don’t buy a web site
or some multimedia product, they buy what it will do for them.”
How is this going to help you in your next job interview? Remember the
golden rule.
“People aren’t interested in you, they are interested in what you will
do for them, if they employ you”.
Personal Selling Skills Part 2.
Refreshing Your Selling Skills - How I’ve made sure that mine improve
Ok, so how is this going to help you that dreaded telephone interview?
Before that call comes in ask yourself, are you ready to sell
yourself?
Remind yourself of the sales tale:
A man walks into a shop and says to the assistant "a packet of gum
please", he pays 35p and leaves.
What did the shop assistant sell him? The answer is nothing! He was
going to buy the gum anyway.
So prepare yourself to answer and ask pertinent questions. The basis
of all your sales questions should reinforce the BENEFITS that they
going to get from employing you.
Conversely, your additional questions should include the BENEFITS that
you will get from being employed by that company.
So, what have I done about my seriously bad telephone sales skills? I
went back to the beginning and reread all the material that I read 5
years ago. I’ve stuck a note on all the monitors, it says:
Pen and paper at the ready
Switch off monitor
Talk to the person not the monitor
Write down their name or memorise it
Write down their initial ideas, no matter how vague
Stand up, don’t slouch in an office chair
Remember I’m talking to a person not a telephone
Remember people are buying the benefits of what we do – not what we do
Listen to what they say, even if you can solve their problem
instantly, listen.
Do these every time you answer the phone make it a habit!
Article by:
Richard Boyd – is Mr eclectic (to his friends)
Runs www.r1b1.co.uk a multimedia and Internet design company. In
former lives has been a road, stage & tour manager, free-lance
musician, a lecturer and in addition, he has been a partner in a
number of micro companies in both the commercial and not-for-profit
sectors.
internet and multimedia company www.r1b1.co.uk
Scholarship
Essay One
CRABIEL SCHOLARSHIP WINNER - won $3,000 scholarship
Like Mr. Crabiel, I literally work tirelessly in many academic and
leadership roles. I sleep no more than six hours a night because of my
desire to expertly meet my many commitments. Throughout my life, I
have worked as long and as hard as I possibly can to effect beneficial
changes in both school and society.
During the summer of tenth grade, I took a number theory course at
Johns Hopkins University with students from Alaska, California, and
Bogota, Colombia. Similarly, during the summer following eleventh
grade, I was one of ninety students from New Jersey selected to attend
the Governor's School in the Sciences at Drew University. At Drew, I
took courses in molecular orbital theory, special relativity,
cognitive psychology, and I participated in an astrophysics research
project. For my independent research project, I used a telescope to
find the angular velocity of Pluto. With the angular velocity
determined, I used Einstein's field equations and Kepler's laws to
place an upper bound on the magnitude of the cosmological constant,
which describes the curvature of space and the rate of the universe's
expansion.
In addition to learning science, I recently lectured physics classes
on special relativity at the request of my physics teacher. After
lecturing one class for 45 minutes, one student bought many books on
both general and special relativity to read during his study hall.
Inspiring other students to search for knowledge kindles my own quest
to understand the world and the people around me.
As president of the National Honor Society, I tutor students with
difficulties in various subject areas. In addition, I am ranked number
one in my class with an SAT score of 1580 and SATII scores of 750 in
math, 760 in writing, and 800 in physics. In school, I take the
hardest possible courses including every AP course offered at the high
school. I am the leading member of the Math Team, the Academic Team,
and the Model Congress Team. In the area of leadership, I have
recently received the Rotary Youth Leadership Award from a local
rotary club, have been asked to attend the National Youth Leadership
Forum on Law and the Constitution in Washington D.C., and wrote the
winning essay on patriotism for South Plainfield's VFW chapter.
Currently enrolled in Spanish 6,I am a member of both the Spanish Club
and the Spanish Honor Society. In addition, I recently was named a
National Merit Scholar.
Besides involvement in academic and leadership positions, I am active
in athletics. For instance, I lift weights regularly. In addition, I
am the captain of my school's varsity tennis team. So far this year,
my individual record on the team is 3-0.
Working vigorously upon being elected Student Council President, I
have begun a biweekly publication of student council activities and
opinions. Also, the executive board under my direction has opened the
school store for the first time in nearly a decade. With paint and
wood, we turned a janitor's closet into a fantastic store. I also
direct many fund raisers and charity drives. For instance, I recently
organized a charity drive that netted about $1,500 for the family of
Alicia Lehman, a local girl who received a heart transplant.
As Student Liaison to the South Plainfield Board of Education, I am
working to introduce more advanced-placement courses, more reading of
philosophy, and more math and science electives into the curriculum.
At curriculum committee meetings, I have been effective in making
Board members aware of the need for these courses. In addition, my
speeches at public Board meetings often draw widespread support, which
further helps to advance my plans for enhancing the curriculum.
I have also been effective as a Sunday school teacher. By helping
elementary school students formulate principles and morals, I make a
difference in their lives every week. The value system that I hope to
instill in them will last them their entire lives. I find teaching
first-graders about Christ extremely rewarding.
Clearly, I have devoted my life both to working to better myself and
to improving civilization as a whole. Throughout the rest of my life,
I hope to continue in this same manner of unselfish work. Just as
freeholder Crabiel dedicates his life to public service, I commit my
life to helping others and to advancing society's level of
understanding.
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