Collegewise

Amplify what already worked

Here’s an idea for a New Year’s resolution—amplify something that worked last year.

If English was your best class last year, what could you do to make that class even better this year?  What if you made an effort to contribute more to the class discussion, or talk to your teacher after class about the books, or turn in a draft of your essays before they’re due to get feedback before the final draft?

If you're the editor of the school paper and your sports editor is doing a particularly great job, how can you give her even more opportunities to do what she's doing?  What could you and the rest of the staff learn from her example?

If you’re a parent and you were especially supportive of your student when she was struggling in trig, how could you give that kind of support even more often this year?

If you're a private counselor and your business grew last year, what did your clients seem to appreciate most about you and your work?  Did your students finish applications early?  Did you make "C" students excited about their college prospects?  Did you schedule your meetings at even more convenient hours?  How could you find ways to do even more of those things this year?

If you’re a high school counselor and you had kids who would never have applied to college successfully without your help last year, how could you get to those kids even earlier this year?  How much more could you do with them?

If you’re a college and two of your admissions reps increased application numbers from students in geographic areas where you don’t normally get a lot of interest, how could you give those reps a chance to do more of their best work?  What could they teach the rest of the team about finding the right applicants for your college?

If you run a school and your enrollment of new freshmen increased last year, what did you do differently?  How could you do even more of it this year?

Instead of just trying to fix flaws, you might have more success if you amplify what already worked.

Have fun and be safe tonight.  Thanks for reading, and Happy New Year!

Collegewise 2011 year in review

The end of the year is a good time to reflect on what you actually got done in the last 365 days.  Not what you started or talked about doing, but what you actually saw through to the end and officially finished.  It doesn’t matter whether they were huge successes or not.  Finish often enough and you’re bound to have some hits.

Here’s a baker’s dozen list of completed projects for the year we’re wrapping up at Collegewise:

• Rejoined forces with Arun
• Opened the Collegewise online store
• Published essay guide for teachers and counselors, premed guide, Common App guide
• Produced financial aid, college essay, and interview videos
• Launched Collegewise online counseling
• Published free guide to the University of Washington application
• Made over 100 speeches at high schools, libraries and NACAC affiliate conferences
• Published 370 blog posts
• Sent out over 90 new issues of our email newsletter
• Hosted 30 seminars and four back-to-school nights for Collegewise families
• Hired a new counselor, essay specialists and assistant counselors
• Held a happy hour for counselors at local WACAC conference
• Worked with over 500 students in our offices to help them apply to college

These aren’t all mine—far from it.  Thanks to the Collegewise counselors and to Arun for helping to make these happen.  There are several other projects we planned to do and didn’t get to, and a few more that are almost—but not quite—done.  But if they’re not done, they don’t count.   In 2012, we’ll try even harder to be obsessed about shipping (finishing and getting them out the door).

Make a list of your own.  And don’t be afraid to share it.  You’ll probably be impressed with how much you actually did.  And if you’re not, there’s your first resolution for the New Year.

If colleges were like McDonald's

What if every college in the United States was part of a franchise like McDonald's is?  Suppose you knew that all colleges were exactly the same—same classes, same quality teachers, same majors and clubs and support services.  And every student graduated with exactly the same degree from McDonald's University.  What would you do to stand out and show potential employers that you weren’t just another student version of a Big Mac?

You’d probably go out of your way to stand out before you ever graduated.  You’d go to every class and get to know your professors.  You’d take on big projects in your clubs, look for valuable internships or programs to do over the summer, and learn as much as you possibly could.  From the first day of college, you’d be doing whatever it took to show people four years later that you got a lot more out of your college experience than the average student did.

Given that colleges aren't like McDonald’s at all, what if you did those things at the school that was a great fit for you?  You’d be unstoppable when you graduated no matter what the name of your school was.

Ten New Year’s resolutions for private counselors

1. Start a blog and share your advice freely.

2. Do free workshops at local libraries for kids who need the help

3. Start an email newsletter offering advice and send it only to people who specifically register for it (anything else is spam).

4. Get rid of any “contact us” forms on your website and instead just offer a phone number and an email address.

5. Take your five best customers (who love what you do and refer you business) out to lunch.

6. Change any references to “we” on your website to “me.”  Unless you really are a “we,” in which case, use your website to introduce your team.

7. Imagine what you would do differently for your customers if you doubled your price.  Then find a way to do those things at your current price.

8. Resolve to fire (nicely) any families who aren’t a good fit for you and your offering.  Help them find another counselor who’s closer to what they’re looking for.

9. Attend a local NACAC affiliate conference.  If you already attend, propose to do a session and give away as much useful advice as you can.

10. Be so good they can’t ignore you. 

Need some final feedback on your Common Application?

This will be my last post of the year promoting our Collegewise Guide to the Common Application.  Arun and I went through every section of the Common App and thought about all the common mistakes we see students make.  We pulled together all the advice we’ve been giving our students over the last 12 years.  And we condensed it into one clear guideline.  The feedback we’ve gotten has been entirely positive, and we’re really happy with the reception.  If you’re preparing to submit yours in the next few days, I promise that our guide will help you.  If it doesn’t, email me at kevinm(at)collegewise(dot)com and I’ll gladly refund your money.

It’s $12.99 and available for immediate download here.  Even if you’ve already finished your application, review it with our guide in hand, and we’ll help you make sure that every section is clear and compelling.

And whether or not we hear from you, good luck with the rest of your application process.  You’re in the throes of it now, but it’s almost over, and the feeling of relief when you finally hit the “Submit” button is almost here. 

Marketing by sharing

If you'd like to get more attention for your business, school, club or organization, I can't think of a better way to do it than to share your expertise with anyone who might be interested.  Jason Fried of 37signals explains why here. 

 

Plus it

Walt Disney coined a phrase--“Plus it.”  Whenever a team at Disney was sure a ride or a film or a project was done, he’d push them to plus it and make it even better. It was his way of asking, “How could we go even further?”

When I was a high school freshman, I was in the group that made our homecoming float.  We were sure our lifelike statue of the bulldog (our mascot) chopping down the redwood tree (the opponent’s mascot) was going to win and prove that the freshmen were to be taken seriously.  And when we saw the other floats, we thought we had it in the bag.  None of them looked nearly as cool as ours did.

Until we saw the sophomores fire up their mock saw mill that shot smoke and wood chips out of the fake log like it was actually being sawed.  I’m not even sure how they did it.  But it got everyone’s attention and they won.  The sophomores’ float actually did something other than just sit there.  They plussed; we didn’t. 

Whatever you’re doing, try plussing it when you can.  Taking it just a little bit further is a sure way to stand out (and maybe even make your homecoming float a winner).

Bring the extra

Two good college buddies and I met for lunch at a new Peruvian restaurant last week.  The food was good, but not good enough to leave us talking about it.  The owner, on the other hand, was talk-worthy.

He was circulating around the restaurant chatting with people at each table.  He was handing out cups of Peru’s version of popcorn for everybody to try.  He told someone in town from Los Angeles for a meeting where to go in LA for good Peruvian food (restaurants that this owner had no part in).  He made some (semi-offensive) comments about his first wife and how much weight she had gained when she fell in love with his cooking and had all the tables laughing.  And as each party left the restaurant, he shook their hands, remembered their names, and told everyone he hoped they’d be back.  My friends and I definitely will be.

There’s absolutely no doubt that this guy loves running that restaurant.  His enthusiasm for it was contagious.  That’s why his place was full while the food court full of restaurants just 10 steps away had fewer than a dozen people in it.  He’s bringing the extra with him to work, the emotional investment that’s free to him but priceless to his customers. 

It was a good reminder how much doing what you love and bringing the extra with you can affect the people you’re with, whether it's your classmates, teammates, co-workers or customers.

But what did you get done?

Busy isn’t enough.  Anyone can be busy.  What’s special is the people who actually get things done. 

A lot of high school kids feel pressured to shun free time and fill their days with commitments.  But too many commitments just inhibit your ability to get things done.  Instead of being obsessed with how busy you are, try redirecting that obsession towards actually getting a project out the door and finished.

• Repaint all the rooms at the shelter where you volunteer.
• Publish a separate issue of the newspaper that just highlights what the teachers are doing for students.
• Shop around for different printers and cut the production cost of the yearbook by 20%.
• Run a fundraiser for the jazz band to get new instruments.
• Get donations to send the team to basketball camp over the summer.
• Work your way up to manager at the restaurant and get experience leading shifts. 

And once you finish that project, obsess over getting the next project done.  Become the person who initiates, takes responsibility, and makes sure it gets finished. 

If you’re constantly referring to how busy you are, how many hours you’re putting in, or how much time an activity/project is taking, maybe it’s time to do a little less and actually get more done?

Pay attention to those college freshmen

The college kids will be home for the holidays again this season.  This month, if you run into any college freshmen who went to your high school, ask them how college life is going.  And pay close attention to what they say.  I’ll bet…

1.    Most will rave about how great life at college is

2.    You won’t find one who says, “I really wish I’d gotten into my first choice school.”

Not everybody loves the college the go to, but most do.  One year ago, today’s college freshmen were sweating out application season, writing their college essays and hoping their dream schools would say yes.  They survived it.  And most are pretty happy wherever they ended up. You will be, too.