Today’s intern training session touched on my company’s philosophy that it is “impossible to turn a weaknesses into a strength.” It seemed counter-intuitive. Why wouldn’t every company want to turn each employee’s weaknesses into strengths?
But, then, in that rare flash of insight I am rarely prone to, realized it was about ROI — Return on Investment.
Rather than having employees spend excessive amounts of time trying to turn a fear of public speaking into a Broadway actor’s stage presence, companies would rather have them reach an acceptable level of public speaking competency. The return on investment for reaching perfection for a weakness just isn’t worth it.
I would argue that the most successful (and happiest) Harvard students are those who leverage those strengths.
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Harvard will keep you busy, but we all get too easily distracted by the likes of gmail, facebook, nytimes.com and youtube. Other times, your roommates will drag you out for an impromptu glow in the dark Frisbee session at night.
Here are some ways to minimize the impact of distractions if you really need to haul some ass.
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Email: you get too much of it already, you’ll get waaaay too much of it at Harvard. It is arguably the most important communication tool on campus. Professors will use it. You’ll use it. Your friends will use it, everyone in your club/house/organization will use it.
Thus, it’s important to understand the rules of emailing, or else people will start to tune you out.
(BTW, am still getting into the tandem of posting, so forgive me for this late post.)
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Housing at Harvard is going to be awesome compared to pretty much any other college. Period.
However, because we’re Harvard students, we always find something to complain about. Here are a list of things about the housing situation that would knot your undies once you get on campus.
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E-Recruiting is one of those phrases you hear tossed by upperclassmen as a freshmen. They bemoan it, love it, hate it, need it. And as a freshmen, you’re not quite sure what to make of it. But, once you hit sophomore year, that word “e-recruiting” is on everyone’s lips.
Some start early and fast — attending the recruiting sessions for SENIORS as sophomores during the first week or so of September. Others realize belatedly that deadlines start as early as mid-reading period for the first semester!
Here are a few tips for surviving e-recruiting (as it pertains for those searching for internships).
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Move Out is almost like a dirty word on campus. No one really likes to talk about moving/schlepping their queen-sized bed down 4 flights of stairs to storage. Few enjoy the awkward goodbye-acquaintance hugs? handshakes? (But thank god, no one asks, where are you going to be this summer? [That question was long hashed out two-three months ago, leading more people to know where you're going to be rather than where you are from.])
So what is Move Out actually like?
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Reading Period is that time of heaven/hell when students have approximately a week and a half of “no” classes to spend time reviewing for their finals and writing their final papers. It’s wonderful because classes meet less often. It’s awful because it’s a mammoth amount of free time to re-remember what you should have learned this past semester.
Kids at other schools looong for this. Harvard kids have a tendency to love and hate it because it is and isn’t quite the original conception of the “Reading Period.” Sometimes classes still meet, sometimes you have four papers due and take-home finals.
Here are some tips I’ve gained from my 3 previous reading periods on how best to survive and utilize this precious but damning amount of free time.
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Chinese is one of those damningly difficult languages. At Harvard (and I’m sure elsewhere), it is a doubly damningly difficult language. Taking a “native speaker” Chinese language class with overly eager/perfectionist students just like you!, damns you thrice.
Taking Chinese has realized that sometimes, you just need to keep chipping away with a spoon to wear down a mountain. You need persistence, patience, and self-awareness to succeed.
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Do you like food? Of course you do. And so do most of us. It tastes delicious, makes the tummy happy and is a reason to engage in conversations with friends.
Do you like to cook? Maybe you do, or maybe you don’t. Regardless, the people who like to eat far outnumber the people who like to cook.
Now to a more interesting question: Do you like science?
Many freshmen enter Harvard (and other colleges) thinking they like science, only to realize that the science they liked did not resemble the science they were introduced to in college.
For some it can even be a painful experience to redefine themselves from future scientists to something else. Why is this pattern so common?
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