How do I get an internship?

Why Should I Get an Internship?

While they may seem like regular jobs, with the addition only of a fancy name, internships offer important insight into the professional world and can lead to valuable connections and contacts. In many cases, having strong connections in the professional world will give you a big leg up after you finish your education, no matter how well you perform in school. You can consider it a foot in the door.

Furthermore, by working and living the life of a professional in the field of your interest, you can decide whether or not a particular line of work is actually the great fit for you that you had always imagined. You may also discover a new line of work within that field that you had not known of before.  You can also add your internship to your resumé to show not only that you have experience, but also that you are seeking exciting and challenging positions to help you grow as a student and as a professional.

Unfortunately, some internships do not pay much – or anything at all – and often require long and demanding hours. While this is difficult in the short-term, if you do a great job, you may be hired back to the company after your internship is over, or receive a bonus at the end. And, at the end of the day, experience now will put you in a great place later when you are applying to long-term jobs and determining your career path.

What Internship is Right for You?

Your first step should be to figure out the area or field of study in which you would like to get an internship because once you know this, you can refine your search to more specific positions. If your interests do not immediately come to mind, consider the classes you enjoy, the extracurricular activities you participate most in, where you meet your friends, and so on.

If you have an idea of a general area – say, food – you should ask yourself how that could be more specific. What do you like about food? Cooking? Baking? Studying the economics of food distribution? Watching cooking shows? Eating and writing about food? If you know where you want to go with a broad subject, narrowing down the options available is easier.

On the other hand, if you don’t know what you might want to do, look around at the types of activities you enjoy doing. What makes you want to get out of bed in the morning? How might this activity translate into the professional world? Perhaps you like writing letters to pen pals. In the work world, this might show that you are interested in writing and sharing ideas and that you have strong communication skills. Or perhaps your interests are a bit more clear cut. Say you really like painting murals. This could be a sign that you want to get into community artwork, and you should check out careers in that area.

The point is: even if your area of interest may not immediately seem like “internship material,” the truth is any interest has the potential to be perfect for finding an internship if you consider it with a new perspective!

How Do I Get an Internship?

Once you have an idea of what your interests are, start looking for internship positions near you. A quick and easy way to start this search is to check online. There may be official intern programs in your area that can help set you up with a position or guides to places near you that usually hire interns.

Additionally, reach out to people you know. Family members and friends can often point you in a good direction and, because of your close connection, can suggest internships based on your personality and interests in a way that the Internet cannot gauge. Teachers and guidance counselors at your high school may also know of positions that suit you, especially because they see you in more of a work type of environment than most of your family and friends.

Finally, you should be sure to reach out to businesses and non profits to see if they would be receptive to take you on as an intern. Often, when you reach out to organizations and show interest, they are more likely to take you on because they see that you are making an effort to connect with them. It’s always worth asking.

Keep in mind that if a non-profit group or local government does not have an official intern program, you may still be able to come on as a volunteer, which will provide you with the opportunity to learn many of the same skills an internship would teach. Unfortunately, for-profit businesses cannot accept volunteers by law, but you can still check to see if there are other part-time positions for which you could apply that might teach you some skills in the industry.

We hope this helps your internship search! Come see us if you have any questions!

How to Manage Stress like a Pro

By now you have gone through enough iterations of the same exam that you might have some of the nerves under control but its magnitude can still be challenging. 

Manage your pressure or stress triggers

By understanding what triggers you to feel stressed you can begin to identify unconscious perceptions that you hold and identify some super coping strategies to help you deal with these safely and quickly. By taking control you will feel empowered to manage the situation and this will improve your well-being and resilience. 

• Note down the last time you felt really under pressure or overwhelmed

• Note down what you were doing and where you were

• Note down whether you were with someone

• Note down how you felt emotionally at that time

• Note down how you felt physically i.e heart started to race, tummy felt

• What happened next i.e. what was the result, what did you do and how did you feel for the rest of the day

• What made you feel better.

How to spot if you're stressed

You could be showing signs of stress if you're: 

• Feeling more tired than usual

• Struggling to focus and feeling overwhelmed

• Feeling anxious and feeling as though your self-esteem is crumbling

• Feeling teary and more emotional than usual

• Struggling to sleep or stay asleep throughout the night

• Waking up from sleep and feeling exhausted

• Suffering from regular stomach upsets

• Losing appetite

• Feeling run down

• Beginning to experience panic attacks
Experiencing one or more of these things doesn't necessarily mean you're "stressed"; we all have very different levels of tolerance to exam situations. Have a think about how your body and mind feels day to day and if you start to notice that you are developing these kinds of signs here are some positive actions you can take to keep yourself well. 
 

Keeping well

The three vital things your body needs to keep well is food, water and sleep. 

Water

The NHS states that  women should drink about 1.6 litres of fluid and men should drink about 2.0 litres of fluid per day. That's about eight glasses of 200ml each for a woman, and 10 glasses of 200ml each for a man. Keeping hydrated is important for brain function, distributing nutrients around our body and removing what we no longer need. 

Food

Nourish your body with lots of healthy grub. Fuel your body and mind with lots of greens, fruit, nuts and seeds for healthy energy boosting snacks and make sure you have a balanced diet of three meals a day. If you don't feel fulfilled your regular tummy rumbles will make it incredibly hard for you to concentrate. Try and eat as naturally as possible and stay away from refined sugars found in sweets, fizzy drinks and chocolate. Yes they'll give you a boost initially but very quickly you'll notice a slump, leaving you feeling sleepy. 

Sleep

Sleep is so important, it's your body's healing time, when the cells repair and your brain archives and detoxes the millions of thoughts that have raced through your mind during the day. 
If you find that you have started dreaming a lot, it's because there has been a lot playing on your mind during the day. If you can identify what these things are, write them down before bed. By acknowledging what they are you should sleep soundly. Try to keep to the same sleep pattern that you maintained prior to exams. 
To help you get into that sleepy zone, give yourself 30 minutes to wind down, that means no TV and no smart phone. Pick up a story book and switch the light off as soon as those eyelids start to droop. 

Keeping yourself focused

When you wake each morning don't rush to the nearest set of notes or textbook. Sit quietly in bed or look out of the window, place your hand on your heart and begin to breathe deeply. Once you have found a rhythm that works for you say one thing you are grateful for and set an intention for your day. 
Focusing on your breath and heart is a powerful tool, doing this regularly will help you begin your day with energy, mental clarity and balanced emotions.

Stick to what makes you happy

A routine is so important, if you're a gym bunny, love to run regularly, or like to have a kick around at the park keep it up. It releases happy hormones and keeps you feeling grounded. Exercise itself won't make you completely stress-free but getting sweaty does help you to detox the emotional intensity that you have been feeling, giving your brain a re-boot and improving mental clarity. 

If you are a creative sort and enjoy painting, sewing, drawing keep going. These kinds of activities will help you to zone out, giving the body and mind a much needed rest. 

Let it go!

Accept the things that you can't change. Your exams are coming, they will happen and then they will be over. Instead of leaking energy on worrying about them create solutions and focus on what you can control:

• Working through your revision plan and achieving your study goals

• Working through past papers

• Give it your best shot on your day.

How to Spend the Summer as an Aspiring Engineer

Future engineers, we see you. The movers, shakers, thinkers, and game-changers-to-be of the world. And you’ve prepared, too. Science olympiad and math league are old hat, whatever math you’re currently taking is one of your favorite classes, and you’ve probably tinkered with more odds and ends than you can remember.

But then summer rolls around and school ends, and along with it goes all of the science, math, and outreach extracurriculars that operate when school’s in session. You now have this huge amount of free time that you can do practically anything with — while it may not seem like much on the surface, it’s actually a big opportunity in disguise.

There’s nothing more an engineering college loves to see than a curious self-starter who’s not afraid to get his or her vhands dirty, and taking initiative to enrich your own engineering portfolio during the summer is a good way to show the engineering adcoms just that.

Of course, some of you already have things planned out, and that’s great! But for the people who are drawing a blank, who need some inspiration or ideas, this post is for you. Here’s a list of summer plans that we recommend for aspiring engineers — some drawn from our own experiences.

The no-brainer: Summer programs

Let’s get this one out of the way first since this is what usually comes to mind for people when they think about application-boosting summer experiences. This is essentially the better version of summer camp, where you go to a college and take college-level classes, or refine your skills through real-world practice. The point here is that you’ll go somewhere that’s not home for the sole purpose of building your technical repertoire with a group of like-minded people — which is essentially what college is, for an engineer. And it’s immensely fun.

Programs like Carnegie Mellon’s Pre-College and the University of California’s Summer School for Mathematics and Science are designed to train future engineers and scientists that will go on to use their skills in college and even to participate in research beyond that.

Often, gaining admission to these programs is in itself a rigorous process, and can signal to colleges your skill and interest in the STEM subjects. Another good part about participating in these summer programs is that they can help you network and make connections with people in STEM — a good mentor relationship with a summer program’s professor, for instance, can make for a valuable recommendation letter when it comes application time. Other times, some of these program are also geared towards building leaders in the STEM fields, so they  can also double as a leadership extracurricular.

However, most of these programs are expensive especially for international students — some of them may offer scholarships, but not all of them do. That’s the main drawback to this type of summer program; some of these programs may be just as expensive as paying college fees at these colleges. The good news, though, is that price is often inversely proportional to the prestige of the program; the less you pay to get in, the more impressive it looks on an application. In fact, you should be wary of expensive summer programs, as those are perceived as more of a sign of privilege on an application than your engineering capabilities.

The go-getter: Learning a new (programming) language

Coding is an important skill to have as an engineer today. If you’re going into software engineering, then it’s a given. If you’re a mechanical engineer, programs can be helpful in running simulations. If you’re analyzing data, you’ll need something like Matlab. Computers are some of the most powerful engineering tools we have today, and to be able to use them freely is a valuable addition to any skillset. In fact, many engineering colleges now require their undergraduates to take at least one coding class as a graduation requirement.

If you’re already a logical thinker (like many of you are), this shouldn’t be too hard. With the wealth of online tutorials, videos, APIs, forums, and other resources, all the information you need to master a new language is readily available. It might take a bit of practice and lots of trial and error, but it’ll be worth it in the end when you can create your own programs that make your life easier.

Either of these pursuits can show up as a bright spot on any application, especially since your motivation for starting this pursuit (and completing it) was entirely intrinsic. It can also be good material for a personal statement, since honestly — how many people can go into college saying they’ve built their own app from scratch?

The altruist: Teaching and sharing your knowledge

Engineering is what builds the entire infrastructure of our modern society, and engineers can definitely change the world. But what about on a smaller scale? What about helping, mentoring, or inspiring one person at a time?

Colleges like to admit community-builders, people who are willing to help other people out and people who can appreciate diversity. So, if you feel comfortable in your STEM skills and knowledge, why not spend a summer sharing it with others? Many summer educational camps and programs love having tutors work with younger children to try and foster an early interest in science and math. Science museums across the nation always welcome knowledgeable, enthusiastic tour guides who would love to answer questions for curious guests. Or you could even volunteer and start your own mentoring program — outreach is always important for STEM, and if you’re dedicated to making science and math more accessible to people, this might just put your interests in line with those of your ideal college.

Sharing your knowledge for the sake of other people shows your interest in making positive, altruistic change in the world, and may also attest to your mentorship and social skills.

While your intelligence and your academic ability are important to a college in deciding whether or not to admit you, who you are as a person also factors in greatly, as a result of holistic admissions. So in presenting yourself, applications-wise, it’s important to remember not to just show yourself as the student that adcoms want to see in their lecture halls, but the person that they would love to see around campus.

Whether it’s by taking a summer off for a STEM program, teaching yourself a new skill, or by helping others out with the knowledge you have, you won’t just be outstanding in your stats alone — these summer experiences will show these colleges that you are the type of person that they’d want to see as an engineer at their institution.

Still confused? Come have a chat with us!

Extracurricular Ideas for an Aspiring Journalist

Why Pursue Journalism?

In general, strong extracurriculars are always a bonus on a college application. They can serve to strengthen your academic profile, highlight interests not otherwise obvious through traditional school or classwork, and provide you with valuable, real-world experience.

Journalism is one extracurricular that is fairly closely tied with your traditional academic coursework. In some cases it may even be a partial requirement of some of your English classes. Pursuing journalism outside of class exemplifies your dedication to the craft and gives you some insight into the broader idea of writing as a possible career path.

It might be easy to think of journalism as a pipe dream, since in reality only the very top journalists will see their work published nationally and achieve the high end of the pay scale. But in reality many careers exist in which strong writing skills are highly valuable, be they journalistic or not. By pursuing journalism, you train for a career as not only a journalist, but also a number of other options. We’ll discuss these more in depth at the end of this post.

Career Paths for the Aspiring Journalist

It’s easy to think of journalism as a career path in and of itself, but you’d be selling yourself short if you limited your vision in this way. Journalistic skills actually prepare you for a number of potential career paths—essentially, any career that incorporates strong writing abilities.

These skills are particularly valuable in the fields of:

◦ Advertising

◦ Business

◦ Communications

◦ Digital Media

◦ E-Commerce

◦ Educational and Instructional Technology

◦ Education

◦ Law

◦ Marketing

◦ Media Studies

◦ Public Relations

◦ Publishing

◦ Radio and Television

◦ Sports Communications

◦ Technical and Business Writing

◦ Webpage and Multimedia Design

Developing your skills as a journalist not only prepares you for a career in journalism, but also develops valuable skills that can be applied broadly depending on your other skills and interests.

Opportunities to Pursue Journalism

Student Newspaper or Magazine

This is the most obvious option for students who are interested in journalism. Many schools already have a school newspaper, and getting involved is as simple as talking to the editor or faculty adviser.

Most school newspapers produce printed or online editions on a regular basis. The more often your school publishes a paper, the more writers they will generally need to keep their work flowing.

You may have to start in an entry level role taking assigned stories, but you can think of this as good training for an actual career in journalism, when you’ll likely start out similarly. Over time you may be able to work towards a leadership position or at least start to source and pitch your own stories.     

If your school does not have a student newspaper, you might be able to start one. Start by gathering a group of interested and skilled students. Choose a teacher as a potential faculty adviser. This should be someone who has taught you in the past and who has some kind of expertise in writing or publishing. Meet with that teacher to request advice and guidance.

Volunteer Your Writing Skills

Newspapers aren’t the only outlet for journalistic skills. Any organization that produces written communications has a need for strong writing. Consider reaching out to local charities like animal shelters or food pantries. You could also contact retirement homes, community centers, youth groups, or your local church.

These types of nonprofit organizations generally welcome any publicity they can get and would be happy to have you volunteer your services. Offer to write a newsletter outlining recent changes or developments in the organization. Ask leaders for stories they would like to see highlighted or propose your own if you’re already familiar with the organization. 

Volunteering your writing services is a good way to get your work in print and begin to build a portfolio. As you progress to more professional roles, you’ll always be asked for samples of your work. Be sure to keep hard copies of everything you’ve written, especially when it has been formatted and printed as a part of any professional copy.

Get Published

Along these same lines, you can also submit your work to be published at existing publications. Many newspapers or online news sites rely on submissions from freelance writers. Even if they don’t specifically seek work from high school students, they won’t necessarily know your age when you submit a piece of writing.

Be sure to do your homework before submitting anything to a new publication. You should be aware of the specific types of writing that they are interested in and the correct submissions address to send your work.

At some publications you will only get one chance to be considered seriously. If you submit something that is off target or not polished and fully edited, they are unlikely to take your submissions seriously in the future.

Instead, seek out publications that publish exactly the type of piece you’re submitting. Proofread carefully and get constructive criticism from a teacher or peer before sending in your work. Consider submitting to smaller, local or regional publications first. Or, consider submitting your work online.

Browse this list of online publications for some ideas of where to submit. Be sure to select carefully and keep in mind that publications that pay for submissions are likely to be more competitive and hold you to overall higher standards.

Enroll In A Summer Program

Academic and extracurricular summer programs are becoming a more and more common way to pass the summer break. Many opportunities exist for students interested in pursuing journalism. In these programs you can expect to develop your journalistic skills, build important connections, and gain a better understanding of the field of journalism.

Some of the best known programs include:

• National Student Leadership Conference’s Journalism, Film & Media Arts Summer Program

• International Summer Schools (ISSOS) Journalism Programs

• Cronkite Institute for High School Journalism

• JCamp Summer Program

Many of these programs have need-based financial aid or scholarships, so if finances are a concern for you, be sure to research these options well before dismissing them.

You should also consider summer journalism programs available at colleges or universities. These programs can help you to network with faculty and students who might ultimately be able to help you with the application process.

Some popular college programs include:

• Northwestern University

• Princeton University

• Boston University

Start Your Own Online Publication

This is an easy way to start publishing your own work. Use a blog platform and choose an angle to focus your writing on. Some examples might be local news, politics, or opinion pieces. Try to publish something on a regular basis by creating a content schedule in advance. Try mapping out one topic per week for the month ahead and stick to it.

This is a great way to share your writing on a public platform, and it can act as an informal portfolio of your work. It also helps to hold you accountable to a larger audience. You can start a blog for free on many different platforms, including WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, or Weebly.

Once your blog is up and running, send out a group email to let friends and family know about it. If you are on social media, share a link there as well. As with any other time that you add to your online presence, be sure to discuss your plans with a parent or guardian beforehand. It’s also a good idea to limit commenting on your posts in order to filter out spam or unwanted attention. 

3 things you should be doing this summer

If there’s one tip about college admissions that we’ve always known, it’s that you shouldn’t spend high school summers imprinting into the couch. As much as we’d all like to spend some quality time on Netflix, colleges won’t be impressed by several three month internships at Couch Potato, LLC. To help you make the most out of the upcoming summer, we’ve included a few interesting and impressive options for you to consider. We’ve organized this list in order of decreasing impressiveness to colleges.

Summer Programs

This is likely the most fun way to spend your summer, and the easiest way to do something without really working too much. In general, colleges prefer to see students attend summer programs that are tuition-free, because the only thing that attending an expensive camp says about an applicant is that he or she can afford to pay. There are many types of summer programs to choose from:

• Prestigious Camps: If you want to go see a new country and see what it would be like to study in some of the world’s greatest universities. MIT and Harvard, both have great tech programs, whereas University of Pennsylvania is great for medicine and biology. Stanford has one of the most popular summer programs with a strong computer science camp and its proximity to Silicon Valley A full list of programs however can be found on the IACAC page.
•  Extracurricular Development: Don’t want to invest into traveling 9,000 miles? That’s totally fine! There are probably a lot of camps in your city that you not even be aware of. Debate camp, band camp, sports camps, and drawing camps are only a few such options. These summer-long excursions will allow you to do something you really enjoy while also learning during the summer, and you’ll be better prepared for the year following. Start with a basic Google search for whatever type of camp you are looking for. If you live in Delhi, Calcutta, Mumbai, Bangalore, Singapore, or Jakarta — contact us and we might have the connections you might need! 

Internships

If you want to intern, you should start looking for a position before winter break of class 11. Because you don’t have a college degree, anticipate receiving a few rejections before you find something you like. Persistence will pay off – even companies that don’t have intern programs may take you on if they are impressed.

As a general rule, the first email you send should already have your resume attached to it. In the body of the email, don’t ask if they have vacant positions. Instead, just ask for the opportunity to interview. It’s best to also include one or two reasons why, even as a high schooler, you will be an asset. If you do get an interview, you should work to really “wow” them. Practice answering interview questions diligently, and make sure that you have researched the institution thoroughly. You probably aren’t the ideal candidate based on academic qualifications, so you have to be the best based on your hard-working character – if there isn’t an internship program already, you have to make them want to create a position for you!

• Lab assistance – if you are science, math, or tech-oriented, labs are the best place to work. Start off by asking your STEM teachers to see if they know of any opportunities. Try emailing professors at nearby universities – a community college and state school would be appropriate. Mention the search to your friends to see if anyone has a parent who needs lab assistance. And finally, if none of these options work, send emails to multiple local labs and nearby graduate school research programs. If you have done any prior research in the same field as the labs you are looking to work in, consider attaching both a letter of recommendation from your first mentor and your resume on the first email. If the research was particularly impressive, be sure to reference it extensively in the body of the email and in a potential interview.
• Humanities internships – if you are looking at law, business, communications, etc., it may be slightly harder to find a position. Any service-oriented companies, such as financial advising agencies, often have a lot of sensitive information about clients that you can’t work with. Try applying for internships that are government sponsored – the public defender’s office or the governor’s office, for example. Send emails to companies that you’d be interested in working for, asking for the opportunity to do any kind of work, whether it be scanning or otherwise. Make it very clear that you don’t have expectations, and that you are looking mostly for the opportunity to learn through observation.

Projects

One of the most important things about college admissions is to showcase how you are different than the sea of other college aspirants. While a lot of students learn through camps, we at EdBrand have found success in helping students create special projects. Through our Bespoke Research Program Research intensive projects that help them learn new skills, reapply skills they already know, and most importantly learn something new about themselves. Inquisitive to know what our students have done? Here’s a list of projects from 2017! If you want to know more, come for a chat and firm up those summer plans! 

Summer is a great time to explore new topics and extracurriculars or to supplement your existing knowledge and interests. Make sure that, even while going to class or work, you take advantage of the time off and really enjoy your time before college. Choose an option that you find fun, and be creative when coming up with other, unique summer plans.

Plan your life! A guide to using calendars

Staying organized is a critical skill to develop and maintain during high school. As your workload increases and your responsibilities begin to add up, it’s important that you keep track of all your commitments. This isn’t always an easy task. As you near senior year, you’ll have to balance school assignments, exams,  standardized tests, scholarship and college application deadlines, and extracurricular commitments. This can sometimes turn into a real juggling act, especially towards the end of the school year with finals and the penultimate board exams. 

If you want to ensure that you’re prepared for the work ahead and that you don’t drop any of the important balls you’ve got in the air, you’ll need to come up with a foolproof organization system. This means using your time wisely, developing stress management techniques, and, of course, staying organized.

One critical key to your organization should be the use of a planner or calendar. Using a planner or calendar will help you to visualize the many commitments you have made and will also aid you in keeping track of them. Having a visual reminder of what is happening when can also deter you from biting off more than you can chew.

There are many different systems for using these important tools, but ultimately how you maximize your use of them will be up to your personal preferences. In this post, we’ll outline the benefits of using various calendar systems, the various methods you might employ in using them, and the types of things you should include on your calendar. To learn more about how using a calendar or planner can help you to stay organized and on track even during the busiest of times, read on.

Benefits of Online Calendars

One type of calendar to consider using is an online calendar. This type of calendar can generally be accessed as an app or through a website, and it is generally a very popular choice for high school students and professionals alike.

Major benefits are: 

1. It can be shared across devices: Once you add something to the calendar on your phone, it will automatically sync so that the event shows up on your computer, tablet, or any other device you might access it from
2. Multiple calendars: Online calendars also allow you to overlay different calendars onto the same template. This way, you can add events for an extracurricular calendar, school assignments calendar, college applications calendar, and more
3. Easily shareable: You can add other users to your calendar and choose what type of access each has, including whether they can edit the calendar themselves or just view what you have added to it. This way, you can add your parents or mentors to your calendar
4. Active notifications: You can set a notification to alert you at a set time before a scheduled event takes place, or you can set a daily alert to update you with that day’s agenda. These alerts can be synced directly to your phone so that you’re sure not to miss them, even on a busy day.

Online calendars are a very popular choice due to the ease with which you can access and coordinate with others through them. Being able to filter your view and access all events from all your devices is certainly a major advantage.

Benefits of Physical Planners or Calendars

Of course, online calendars and planners aren’t the only option available. Sometimes, you might find that a physical planner or calendar is a better choice for you.

Major benefits are: 

1. Multiple kinds of formats: Physical planners or calendars exist in nearly every format imaginable. You might have one that shows one day per page, or you might have one that shows an entire month. If you can’t find the template you prefer at an office supply store or for purchase online, it is fairly easy to make your own using a slim three-ring binder and a hole punch. Simply create your own template exactly how you want it using Microsoft Excel and run off enough copies to last for the year, or find a blank template online that you can print yourself.
2. Can be accessed anywhere: physical planner can be accessed anywhere, including during classes when phones or other devices are not allowed. You can use your planner as an assignment book, bringing it along with you to every class and adding assignments or other important commitments immediately as they arise. Generally, phones or other devices are often not allowed to be used in the classroom, so if you are using a virtual calendar, you’ll need to wait until after class to add important assignments. A physical planner allows you to enter these important deadlines immediately 
3. Helps you remember better: a physical planner requires that you handwrite each commitment. While this might not seem like a big deal, studies show that that students who write their notes by hand are more likely to commit them to memory than students who type notes during a lecture. If the same theory is carried over to a calendar, then it would stand to reason that students who hand-write their commitments into a physical planner may be more likely to remember them independently than students who type them into an online calendar.   

Best Calendar Programs

Google Calendar. Google Calendar is one way to keep track of important dates, deadlines, and events. It syncs across devices and is easily shareable with others, so you can keep your family and friends informed as well. It also allows you to set alerts or notifications to make sure you don’t forget important deadlines.

Microsoft Outlook. Microsoft Outlook Calendar is another popular choice. It includes many of the same options as Google Calendar, and also allows you to set recurring events, for example on the first weekday or first weekend of the month. One drawback of MS Outlook is that it only allows you to schedule reminders two weeks in advance of events.

iCal. iCal is another solid option, not particularly dissimilar to Microsoft Outlook or Google Calendar. If you are already an iOS user, though, you might find iCal more convenient since it is the default calendar app included with your Apple devices. Additionally, when you are signed into your iCloud account, it will automatically sync across all devices associated with that account.

We hope this helps. If you use a calendar, comment below of what you use and if you don’t, then tell us what you might use! 

5 things 11th graders need to do this spring

It’s true—junior year of high school is kind of a big deal. It’s a barrage of standardized tests to take, grades to worry about, a whole slew of extracurriculars to juggle, and of course, impending college applications looming overhead.

So, as winter turns to spring and you start eyeing the summer months like a fox at a chicken farm, it’s tempting to hit the brakes with them and enjoy the slower pace as the school year winds down. Keep in mind that there are a handful of important tasks that you needs to attend to before you reach senior status. These things aren’t particularly time-consuming, but they’re important, and they’ll go more smoothly with a little parental insight and nudge along the way.

1. Have an honest conversation with your parents about life after high school.

It’s often our tendency to think that everyone follows the same prescribed path after that diploma lands in their hand, but it’s important to step back and realize that that’s not always the case. And without an honest conversation about planning and goals, you might find that you and your parents have different paths in mind.

Start with the idea that college isn’t always a given and even if you do choose to go to college, there are options whether that is applying early decision to the college of your top choice, taking a gap year before you head out.

There’s nothing wrong with any of these plans, especially if they are actually plans and not just last resorts. If your decisions for life after high school are made with a level head and some forethought, you're off to a good start, wherever the path leads.

2.  If college is on the horizon, make a college short-list.

Choose eight to 10 schools for your college list. However, students who are less picky can do six and the ultra-ambitious can aim for 12. There are a number of factors to consider when making this short-list. Although dining hall options and dorm life might factor into your decision, at this point the most important considerations are more likely to be things like college selectivity, geographical region, programs geared towards an intended major, and extracurricular offerings.

These are generally the most important factors to consider at this stage of the game. (Soft serve at the dining hall usually comes much later.)

Remember to take a good hard look at your test scores, grades, and extracurriculars to get a realistic idea of the kinds of schools he or she should consider. The shortlist should ideally contain about two or three safety schools, two or three reach schools, and four or five target schools.

3. Create a standardized test schedule.

Unfortunately, you can’t just show up at school on any given Saturday and take the SATs as the whim strikes them. The schedules for SAT tests and ACT tests are available online and announced well in advance, and the test is administered only a few times over the course of the school year.

One important reason to make sure you have finished a college short-list is so that you can plan to accommodate the necessary standardized tests. Many colleges or specific programs require certain SAT Subject Tests. Others require these subject tests only of students who take the SAT, but not of students who take the ACT. In any case, you need to know which standardized tests are required for each school on your short list.

It’s most likely that your teen has already taken an SAT or ACT by spring of junior year, but if not, now is definitely the time to get started. There are two spring test dates to choose from, and if your child is taking the SAT, it’s likely that one of those dates will be consumed by SAT Subject Tests, leaving only the other free for the SAT.

There are also two fall dates to choose from for both the SAT and the ACT. If you are considering an Early Decision application, try to take tests earlier to be sure that you’ll have plenty of time to send the scores to the appropriate school.

4. Take a critical look at extracurriculars.

 To call senior year busy is an understatement. Between classes, standardized tests, social life and all the inevitable milestones, time is at a premium. Review the extracurriculars you anticipate as you enter senior year.

If you are worried that you might being overextending, now is the time recalibrate. If you wait until the school year has begun, it’s likely that grades, test scores, or relationships with friends and family will already be impacted.

Generally, college admissions committees want to see leadership positions and dedication to a few key activities over time therefore cut activities that are time consuming and have no leadership positions. 

5. Plan a productive summer.

 After all the work of junior year, it’s probably tempting to spend the summer at the beach. But ultimately, this isn’t the best plan. Many college applications explicitly ask about how applicants spend their summer, and colleges that don’t ask directly still ask students to outline their activities and work experiences.

Plan a productive and meaningful summer. This could include a job or internship somehow related to an intended career path, or a summer program dedicated to important academics or extracurriculars. Some students pursue research opportunities or service projects. Others seize the chance to get college visits out of the way.

Whatever the case may be, make sure that there are some plans in place that will ensure that summer is a productive time.

It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and the tumult of junior year. There is a lot at stake and it comes at a time when most teens are still trying to figure themselves out. Keep these five considerations in mind and be sure to go through them before the summer months to make sure that you’re working towards future goals.