Tag Archive for 'Mind Hack'

Surviving The Comp

Published
by
Luyi
on September 4, 2008
in Mind Hack
. 2 Comments
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Comping is truly a unique Harvard experience. You take a bunch of smart kids and make them jump through some hoops of various difficulty to even be allowed to privilege of joining a given student organization.

Some comps are formalities, others are grueling. Some will require perhaps an hour out of your time each week, others will demand a certain single minded devotion. Some comps will cut people, maybe half-way through, maybe even at the end of a long and tiring semester. Other comp directors will turn a blind eye if you’re enthusiastic enough.

Here’s the dirty on surviving this uniquely Harvard “comping” process.

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Surviving the Extracurricular Application Process

Published
by
Luyi
on August 31, 2008
in Mind Hack
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After my senior year college search, I thought I was all done with silly applications, essays and interviews until my next senior year job search. Oh, how I was mistaken.

Practically every activity on campus has either an application and/or interview process or comp process. You apply for a freshmen seminar by waxing poetic about marine biology. You write an essay on the proper use of punctuation for that literary magazine. You comp the Crimson with a few hundred other freshmen etc. etc.

This particular entry will focus on recruitment efforts that do NOT involve a comp, but instead have usually, a written application and then an interview for those passing the written part. (This obviously doesn’t include activities that involve try outs.)
There are a few basic tips to keep in mind to put your best foot forward when it comes to the extracurricular application process.

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How to Use the Q/Cue Guide

Published
by
Luyi
on August 27, 2008
in Mind Hack
. 2 Comments
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I worked for what is now known as the “Q Guide” one summer. I read many a review, tallied comments, double checked reviews, and pondered grammar. During that time, I learned many things about the inner workings of that review.

While it is easy to just read the paragraphs and accept them at face value, you really need to dig a little deeper to understand a given review in its context.

Here are a few tips to to best understand the Q Guide to help you decide which courses to shop and take.

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On Surviving Shopping Period

Published
by
Luyi
on August 26, 2008
in Mind Hack
. 1 Comment
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Harvard offers its students a stressful luxury known as Shopping Period. This is the time where students bounce from lecture to lecture, grabbing syllabi and wondering if they can stay awake for a given professor.

It’s a prime opportunity to pick core classes, figure out which math class you want to survive, and decide on whether you can survive on Flyby lunches for a semester.

There are a number of ways to keep on top of shopping period in order to optimize your new courses without getting too bogged down.

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Stop Planning Your Mind Away

Published
by
Luyi
on August 18, 2008
in Mind Hack and Productivity Hack
. 0 Comments
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One of the best pieces of advice that freshmen receive is: Do not try to plan out your four-year academic career. This piece of advice will be tucked away in that guidebook that freshmen get, in a section addressing course selection and academics.

The guidebook will then continue in a reassuring tone: Just make sure you’re taking the classes you need to take in order to set yourself up properly for your classes next year.

As I’m looking forward to my junior, senior years and my career plans, I’m realizing just how wise that advice is.

There’s no need to stress yourself out by planning each detail of your life.

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New Semester Resolutions

Published
by
Luyi
on August 11, 2008
in Mind Hack
. 3 Comments
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Although every Harvard student wants to write “Be the BEST at EVERYTHING” on his or her new semester resolutions list, this isn’t obviously, a realistic goal.

Instead, take these resolutions as a time to focus your energies on aspects of your life that need improvement. If your list is too scattered, you might as well not have a list at all.

Before you get back on campus, take a few minutes to reflect on your priorities/goals and strengths/weaknesses to kick your semester off with the right perspective.

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Hacking the Mental Supply Chain

Published
by
Luyi
on August 7, 2008
in Mind Hack and Productivity Hack
. 0 Comments
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The supply chain and distribution network behind a simple product, like a lamp, is ridiculously intricate and complex. Chances are the lamp had to cross the seas, move through customs, hit a warehouse, get distributed via trucks or planes, hit the stores, get deboxed and brought out to the sales floor for a given store. And somewhere along the way, all of this needs to be coordinated.

Think of the sheer number of people involved, the time, the effort. But, somehow, we can keep massive grocery stores perfectly stocked with a few thousands different types of items. So, although the supply chain is exceedingly complex, the network becomes more efficient with increases in scale and follows a few basic principles.

If you consider the end product of thought and action — be it a novel, new business etc. — it too follows a mental supply chain of sorts, going from conception to finalization.

This post examines ways to improve the mental supply chain — decreasing the time/effort between thought and action and increasing efficiency overall.

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The Decision to Study Abroad?

Published
by
Ashlyn
on August 6, 2008
in Mind Hack and Rant
. 0 Comments
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What you need to know about…deciding whether or not to study abroad at Harvard.

Some students view a term abroad as an integral part of their undergraduate experience. That being said, amongst it peers, Harvard does not have the best reputation for encouraging studying abroad. While many things have improved in that past several years, there are still TEN important things to consider.

To study abroad or not to study abroad…THAT is the question.

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Presentation Skills: What Harvard Doesn’t Teach You

Published
by
Luyi
on August 3, 2008
in Mind Hack and Productivity Hack
. 0 Comments
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People are shocked when I tell that the only time I give presentations at Harvard is for my Chinese class. “Business” majors everywhere else in the country are working on group projects and giving final presentations for pretty much all of their classes.

If you’re shy and/or socially awkward (which may or may not be the case for a Harvard student), then you may need some tips on how to sound confident and competent when you’re presenting your recommendations for a multi-million buck project. While Public Speaking is a natural given for theater geeks, it CAN be learned. I somehow managed to learn it even though I was that kid who would never speak in class unless called upon.

Presentation skills are essential in today’s work force. Don’t let your Ivy League education hold you back from presenting yourself well.

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Must Reads: News Sites and Blogs

Published
by
Luyi
on July 25, 2008
in Mind Hack
. 1 Comment
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Every student has a (wireless) umbilical cord to the internet, which equals an addiction to information overload. However, there are a consistent number of websites that most Harvard students frequent that will always make for good conversation starters

— Hey, did you read that article in the New York Times?

– Which article are you talking about?

Here’s a (partial) list of news sites and blogs that will keep you the ever informed Harvard student among Harvard students.

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