How to be a spectacular success Evan Boyle and Jessica Ribado Stanford SPLASH April 12th, 2015

Get to know your peers! What are your current academic interests? What are your personal interests? What does success in college mean to you? What are some of your biggest fears about college?

Picking a college Be honest with yourself It’s okay to prefer urban/suburban/rural areas or whatever else: you’ll be there 4 years! The best way to get into a good school is to apply to a lot of schools But don’t go somewhere you aren’t excited about (college is pretty expensive after all)

Do your interests have a common theme? Problem-solving? Explaining how things work? Presenting your ideas? Interacting with people? Making things? Helping people?

Choosing a major Think about your interests Sometimes you can pursue interests with majors you would not have expected Think about how they fit into possible careers... But it’s okay if you don’t know about careers yet!

Careers Major dependent: ●Science ●Engineering ●Education ●Health care ●Tech Not major-dependent: ●Law ●Medicine ●Business ●Humanities

Careers Tech/Engineering ●Problem-solving ●Making things ●Private firms ●No people! Medicine ●Working with people ●Helping people ●Presenting your ideas ●Stressful hours ●Long training period

Careers Science ●Problem solving ●Presenting your ideas ●Explaining the world ●PhD track ●Tough competition Law ●Presenting ideas! ●Interacting with people ●Vanishing jobs ●Major in whatever

Careers Business ●Interacting with people ●Presenting your ideas ●Very diverse! ●Business school Education/health care ●Helping people ●Little recognition ●Except from your students/patients =)

College is about networking Be good to your professors! Professional relationships are EXTREMELY valuable! ●Internships ●Letters ●Mentorship

Use your university’s resources! Your university’s job is to provide you with access to tools to help you succeed Your tuition money is allocated to resources, make them count!

Example resources ●Career Centers o Help with creating resumes, finding internships, applying to fellowships, connecting you to alumni ●Health Center o This includes your mental health. Do not be afraid to seek help when feeling overwhelmed. ●Student Government Associations o If no club exists for a hobby of yours, you can request funds to make that happen!

Miscellaneous ●If you feel your college is a bad fit, it is okay to transfer. ●You will probably change your major… o Take elective classes that count for multiple majors/requirements o Try to decide by junior year

Miscellaneous ●Recommended: Do not buy textbooks from the bookstore. o There are plenty of places to rent - Chegg.com, Amazon, etc. ●Apply for all the scholarships you can o If you exceed the cost of education, that extra money may come back to you

Remember There’s more to life than 4 years of undergrad! The career you want will be open to you regardless of what school you go to, as long as you develop a strong skill set. If you know what you want to do after college, you’ve done well!