what Harvard taught me, what it can teach you
Sometimes you just aren’t interested in tri-colored rotini or chicken. Other times you just need a break from dining hall food, but don’t want to fork over the cash for grub.
Fortunately, college students — including Harvard ones — are very easy to persuade with the promise of free food.
If you’re smart, resourceful and just a little bit lucky, here are a few ways to keep you feasting like a king without using your boardplus.
My Economics professor made an interesting analogy last week, comparing time commitments to “time debt.” Harvard students have a tendency to “promise” time to other parties that will be collected at a future point in time in exchange for things like grades, money, fun, etc.
Unfortunately, we too suffer from time inconsistencies regarding our time use. We commit to too much now, but have to perhaps renege on our promises later. Time inconsistencies are generally used by economists to explain things like addiction to procrastination, but at the core of it all, is a self-control issue. Whereas some people cannot help but to pull out their credit card to buy that new pair of shoes, we cannot help but to say yes to an awesome opportunity that will only maybe just take 2 hours a week.
The funny thing about “time debt” — a promise to pay back time/effort at a future date — is that the interest compounds. Time commitments snow ball, people expect and demand more from you, and soon your 2 hour a week gig ends up 3 or 4 hours a week, during a week, of course, of midterms.
So what is this “time debt,” and why in the world is this a problem of many successful people?
What Harvard students do on election night…watch the elections, duh.
My apologies for the silence these past two weeks, that’s what being sick for the better part of a month is like.
I always get really really sick for a ridiculously long time each semester. Granted, it usually ends up being the end of the semester when my body is about to crash from the mental stress of finals.
Because of my numerous encounters with the common cold and the flu, I feel like I’m particularly knowledgeable about the ways to deal with these sicknesses.
Inside, you’ll learn more about the quirks and tricks of keeping healthy at school, ways of minimizing contagion and other wondrous things.
I remember I would get side whacked by this interview question, “So why did you choose Harvard?” By golly, why did I choose Harvard? I’d fumble and talk about something or other involving academics, nothing particularly compelling.
As I’ve gotten older and perhaps slightly wiser, I realized what they were really asking was, “What is your story?” Stories are funny. If you’ve ever read The Things They Carried, you learned that half of a story are the narrative choices. Other times, you need to fudge things in order to keep the story “real” to its meaning.
No, I’m not telling you to lie.
But, when someone wants to open up your skull and swim around and then make a judgment on your person, a good story about how you got where you are and where you’re going is the key to making a lasting impression and forming a connection.
Underclassmen have a tendency to bounce from one extracurricular to another (I was one of these). At the beginning of each term, they’ll slurp up a few more activities, test-try a few more clubs, take a stab at some pre-professional organization.
As a junior (sigh) now, I’ve realized that it’s incredibly easy to pigeon-hole yourself into just on-campus extracurricular activities when in reality there are a ton of opportunities outside of the “norm” that you can throw your time at.
Inside, is a brief sketch of the world outside of extracurriculars, commonly overlooked.
Sorry everyone, for my more irregular posting. A lot of beginning of the year things have been popping up. I should be back on schedule with Sunday and Wednesday posting next week, most likely starting on Wednesday.
BTW, if you missed the Economics Panel, shame on you. That was my spice for the week.
Now, the piece of advice that Faust should’ve added was: for those students still at Harvard, take a language class and study abroad.
For better (or worse), ibanking is dead in the way we once knew it. Lehman Brothers ain’t coming back three or four times this semester tossing magnetic clips and shiny brochures at eager undergraduates and touting their numerous job opportunities.
The seniors this year will be pouting, missing out on the chance to sell their lives for a bazillion bucks a year. (Perhaps it’s too late for them to change their ways.) But, the juniors, sophomores and freshmen should take this as a sign of what will most likely be a turning point for the better when it comes to selecting a career.
If you have no idea what ibanking is, bless your soul. And for those who do know of it, this is why the death of 50% of the e-recruiting jobs is good for you.
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