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Posts Tagged ‘college’

The admissions letter or essay is often weighed just as heavily as the other elements of your application, if not more so. Why? The admissions letter allows admissions officers to learn more about you and your personality than is shown through your test scores. Additionally, the admissions letter shows your critical thinking and writing skills, which are important for college.

The Topic

When selecting a topic, it is important that you choose one that will allow you to show your personality, why you are a good candidate for the college, allow you to demonstrate your writing abilities, and answer the questions put forth on the application. Simple, right? It’s not an easy process, but it can feel more manageable if you break it into smaller steps.

Choose a topic that you are familiar and comfortable with. This is not the time to research a new subject. Examples of topics that might work include an experience from your past, a hobby, or an issue of personal importance. Choosing a topic that you’re comfortable with is particularly important if you’re feeling unsure of your writing skills or find writing the admissions letter to be particularly challenging. This will help build your overall confidence.

Develop an Outline

When writing the admissions letter, you need to accomplish two things. First, write a letter that demonstrates an understanding of writing basics. This means your admissions letter will have an introduction, body, and conclusion, and will follow a logical path from one section to the next. The other essential thing you letter must do is answer the questions set forth by the school.

Create an outline for your admissions letter using the basics of writing an essay. You’ll need an introduction, a body, and a conclusion for the letter. Open the admissions letter with something interesting, such as a quote, intriguing fact, or question. If you can engage your reader immediately, he or she will want to continue reading.

The body of your college admissions letter will cover the most important parts of the letter, showing your uniqueness as an applicant and answering questions. This part will require careful planning. Finally, the conclusion will bring your admissions letter to a logical close.

To ensure that all the important parts of the letter are included and to help you organize your thoughts, create an outline of your admissions letter. Ensure that everything is included that you need and wish to highlight.

Draft and Rewrite

Very rarely will a first draft of an admissions letter be the version that you use for your college application. Good writing is a process of writing and rewriting. Allow yourself plenty of time to outline, draft, and rewrite your admissions letter.

Your college admissions letter is an important piece of the college application, and could mean the difference between an acceptance and a rejection. By following a few simple steps and allowing yourself enough time to work on the letter, you can greatly increase your chances of earning that acceptance.

For most law students, networking with law firms is the best way to find a great internship. In large cities and small towns, the legal community is close knit and many times, it is who you know, not what you know. The more people you meet with, the better your chances of building your professional network, and finding a great intern position. Networking is best started with one’s own friends and acquaintances. You can gradually branch out to network with your friends’ friends, colleagues, and members of the legal profession, as well as others in the business community that can further your efforts.

Do not be shy about contracting people of the legal profession who are not known to you. Concentrate on lawyers who are active in your field of interest. Make a list of potential law firms and seek appointments to set up interviews. You can make it clear that you are not looking for a job or internship, but seeking their advice and suggestions on your common field of interest. In the process of meeting them, if they do have an opening for an intern, they may consider you. However, your primary concern at this time is to increase your networking. Think of it as personal marketing that will serve you well your entire career.

Preparing for Internship
Prior to networking with fellow professionals and law firms, ensure that you have your resume ready. An internship resume must be informative, proactive and engaging. Have it written by a professional to ensure you stand out from the crowd amongst all other intern applicants. Emphasize your area of interest and why you want to intern for a certain law firm. Your resume should emphasize your experience (including volunteer work, community service and clerking positions while in school) that are relevant to your field of interest, your commitment to the law and must express your passion for your chosen career field.

Your resume should be well written to create a good impression, and should be accompanied by an excellent cover letter.

Depending on the law firm you are applying to for your internship, you may be required to submit a number of documents with your job application, such as:

•    A covering letter stating the reasons for applying
•    A detailed resume
•    A sample of written legal work (take care that it does not breach client confidentiality)
•    Two written references
•    Copies of university and other degrees, and/or diplomas
•    A list of specialized courses taken

If you have applied to a foreign law firm for your internship program, you will require submitting copies of your passport, as well.  Make sure that your internship application is submitted as per the law firm’s requirements.

Not all the writing is on the wall, some of it is also on the notice board. Summer jobs wanted, tuitions available, second-hand laptop for sale, brand new mobile phone lost and found — the college noticeboard is quite the silent chronicler of the life of the student community. But at a time when hundreds of youngsters cross over to the virtual world every day, the notice board is at best a blink-and-you-miss item. And cashing in on this virtual defection is online notice board searchmycampus.

Brainchild of Peyush Bansal, 23, the site was launched last December and has found earnest following among students who are using it to exchange information on everything from accommodation, to car pools, to buying and selling books, bikes, notes, furniture, mobiles..

The genesis of searchmycampus lies in Bansal’s experiences at a Canadian university where, he says, he virtually lived on streets, with no clue about accommodation. “I went to McGill University in Montreal at 18, against my parents’ wishes. I faced a lot hassles in settling down in the campus. So, when I retuned to India I decided to create this online campus board that would provide students a platform. I believe that only students can solve the problems of other students.”

By way of homework, after returning to India in October 2007, Bansal spent a lot of time traveling, meeting college students all over the country to understand their problems. Co-founder of the site and student of Indraprastha University, Delhi, Parit Gupta, 21, also helped him. Chetna, a student of Sri Ram College of Commerce, points out that besides not having time enough to look up the college notice board there is also the problem of “torn notices.” She has recently put an ad on searchmycampus with a request that someone lend her a copy of Eric Seghal’s Love Story.

Kanika Saraff, a first year Economics student of Hindu college, also posted an ad seeking a summer job and was pleasantly surprised when she got a good response. She says, “Most outstation students like me do not know whom to approach for various things such as a good accommodation or summer jobs. This campus board will fill this gap.”

Besides facilitating intra-college communication, the website also promises to create better inter-college communication channels. Take the case of aspiring musician Romi of Delhi University, who wants to form a band. ‘I am a lead singer looking forward to establish a band, but not able to find good guitarists and drummers. Anyone interested may contact me’, says Romi’s post.

Ankit Khirwal is one of many DU students who are actively promoting the online campus notice board. He says, “I spend a lot of time tracking down all important notices on campus boards in various colleges and post them here. I believe there is so much that students can do for each other through this website.”

A part from Delhi, the site is getting popular in  campuses in other cities such as Bangalore, where students are also offering  lots of gadgets such as, iPods, Laptops, Handsfree, DVDs with pictures of the stuff they are seeking to sell, their  price and a note of on their condition. “The student-oriented online campus is quite innovative. Students from all over the country can post their queries on the site; it has the potential to replace the college notice board in the future,” says Tosha Koshi , who is doing her masters from Christ College, Bangalore.

Bansal says he wishes to bring together the community of 11 million college going students in the country under the umbrella of SearchMyCampus. He says, “This may not be as cool as various social networking sites, but it will surely be highly useful. Now I want to create a category where students can share their emotional problems too, campus life is all about sharing and caring for each other.”