Well, congratulations! Before you read my blog and decide you want to go to Yale, let’s keep in mind that its geared towards current students, and regardless of where we are, we all find something to complain about. :)

As a senior reflecting on the epic decision of where I want to spend my four years of college, I don’t think I could have made a better one than deciding to go to Harvard. Not only are you with them for four years, you’re with them for a lifetime. So, as you consider your choices or are celebrating the choice you have, think about not just what the undergraduate experience will be like, but also what the post-undergraduate experience will be like.

That is all. Or is it?

[P.S. The financial aid is actually quite good, and it ain't a teaser rate.]

I’ve worked for a number of different companies — big, small, new — each has its own set of characteristics. Netflix, thus far, has an extremely unique point of view. The level of transparency is severely refreshing.

Quick kudos to one of my favorite blogs: TechCrunch.

What do you think? How does Netflix compare to companies you’ve worked for or worked with?

Sometimes, you just get that nagging little feeling that tells you that you should stop doing something because it’s too hard, too time-consuming, not interesting etc. etc.

BUUT, then you’re alter-ego kicks in and says, but you’ve spent so much time on it already! If you quit, it’ll all be for naught.

OR, they are relying on you! You need to be dependable or else it’ll look bad.

OR, if you suffer through it….it’ll look GREAT on your resume!!!

Here’s a few tips I’ve learned over the years on saying no gracefully and shamelessly. It’s improved my standard of living muchly so, thank you.

1) Let’s assume you have that nagging sensation

I’m going to limit the scope of what this post is trying to address. I’m going to *assume* that you’re getting a sense that something’s amiss or not quite working out.

I worked my butt off to get onto an organization, but then once I was on it, I was lost and purposeless. I didn’t really liked what I was doing, and I ended up dragging my feet for a semester or two before quitting because I had invested so much time that it seemed like a shame to just quit.

2) Trust your gut

The funny thing is that we all have a pretty good sense of intuition. It’s driven us down this path that has somehow led us to Harvard.

In more concrete terms, your gut told you that you should stick with ballet, or that you should really take that Chemistry AP class even though it kicks everyone’s GPA’s in the gonads, or that you should write a sonnet for your application essay etc. etc.

On a daily basis, it lets you know when to stay awake during class, which parts of the book to review, and whether or not you can trust your study partner.

All in all, it’s proven itself at keeping you afloat. And so, when it’s nagging at you, get off your over-analytical high horse and just listen to it. It’s gotten you this far, after all.

3) Quit early and gracefully

Having been a leader in student organizations, I know it’s a pain in the ass when you think you have someone on board, but in reality, they’re waffling or flip flopping or just plain old sitting on the fence twiddling their thumbs and being non-committal. It’s not nice. It happens more than it’s fair share because Harvard students are over-committing.

In short, it’s annoying. I’d rather just have someone quit. Or, say they’re not sure about what they can commit to. If you didn’t totally blow us off or destroy our organization in the process, then chances are, if we liked you once, we’ll like you when / if you decide to come back.

That way, I can start finding other people. Or start delegating. Or just do something instead of feeling like a d-bag for pestering you. So, please save everyone a headache and just let us know you don’t have the time to do it right now. We understand.

4) How to do it nicely

Depending on the relationship, let them know you’ve appreciated the time / growing experience / opportunity. Say that you don’t have the time to fully commit right now and you don’t want to lead them on and promise them things you can’t deliver. Say that you’ll be interested in coming back potentially if possible. Say thank you. Etc. etc.

See, not so bad. If you’ve already been slacking and you getting yourself to do what you’ve committed to is like pulling teeth, this is how you know you need to write that “Sorry, but I need to quit” letter.

We won’t hate you for it. But we just might if you flake out. :)

5) Is it worth the stress?

While you’re waffling and trying to get yourself to do what you promised, if you find yourself:

• Magically avoiding working on what you’ve been asked to do
• Magically avoiding further responsibilities
• Dreading responding to your superiors’ emails on why you’re not doing your work
• Feel confused about why you can’t bring yourself to do anything
• Find yourself brooding over how long it took you to get the opportunity
• Find yourself brooding over all the benefits you’d get if you could just do your work

Well, these are signs you should just quit. If you’re not doing the work and you’re stressing yourself about not doing the work and don’t want to do the work and tying your undies in a knot, just save yourself a headache and drop it.

6) The “Pretend You Just Quit” Test

My FAVORITE litmus test is pretending for 1 day that you’ve quit the organization or class or job. And then, seeing if your mood changes the next day.

If you’re perkier and walk with a bounce in your step, seal the deal and quit.

If you find yourself missing the people you worked with, or missing the work and responsibilities, etc. etc., then you know you should stick with it.

7) Flip a coin!

If the above provides ambiguous answers because you’re an emotionally complex individual, then flip a coin. If you’re okay with the choice, then you make that choice. If you’re NOT okay with the choice and feel bummed, then make the other choice damnit.

(This is also useful when ordering food at restaurants.)

8) Kill the shame

Ain’t no shame. Consider your time like a checkbook. You don’t want any overdraft charges, and there’s no point in paying money (since time is money) to do something you hate.

You might spend more time crafting your perfect Facebook profile and finding that awesome Facebook profile pic than ALL of the time you spent preparing for college applications. Scary.

Not that I’m any avid user of social networking sites by any means, here are some useful ground rules for not completely messing up your internet trail forever.

1) Don’t be stupid

Um. Yes. Don’t be stupid. Mankiw can be a Facebook stalker, and so can your admissions officer. Keep anything illegal or unduly incriminating off of Facebook. Use your old and almost defunct MySpace instead.

2) Reciprocate

Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want posted of yourself. So that hysterical photo of your Craaaazaaaay Freshmen Rooomates — leave off the internet and on your hard drive (maybe).

3) Maintain privacy settings religiously

For ANY social networking site that uses you real name or your REAL contact information (email etc.), understand how public your information is. Do not assume it’s private and starting posting compromising pictures of yourself.

If it gets public, it gets ARCHIVED forever on the internet. And you’re never going to be able to get that back (gee, wonder what this reminds me of). (Unless you’re golf-buddies with the Google CEO.)

4) Keep two accounts

For Facebook, I have 2 accounts. One for my (ir)regular Facebooking needs, and one if my coworkers or bosses want to be hip and friend me. Guess which one is associated with my real name turned into a vanity user name / url?

For LinkedIn, which imo should be professional always, I have my one account. In the event I decide to break away and reinvent my career path, I’ll be sure to create another one.

For email, keep track of your email addresses. I think I have 5 or so, and I associate them in a rational manner whenever I’m signing up for anything. (And always rifle through your Spam folders on the occassion!)

5) Indispensible Social Media Networks

• Facebook
• Gmail
• LinkedIn

Facebook because everyone uses Facebook and is telepathically connected to it — great for getting ahold of people you don’t have emails for. Just try to limit your Facebook stalking, please.

Gmail because everyone uses Gmail and a lot of people are on GChat / GTalk (whatever they’re calling it nowadays) and it’s a good way to instanteously get ahold of people. For people nearing their senior year, it’s a good way of having people’s addresses once their school account becomes defunct.

LinkedIn is more for the upperclassmen looking off into the dreary bleak future of 50-ish working years. There’s not really a rush to get a hold of this sort of account, but it’s a good passport so-to-speak when you’re dabbling in the corporate world in the form of internships and want to maintain a not-so-sketchy connection.

6) Other fun, time-consuming social media networks that you should join at your own risk

Yes, there’s a reason why these are unlinked.

• iminlikewithyou.com for addictive games
• (hulu.com for freeee streaming movies and tv shows)
• digg.com or reddit.com or stumbleupon.com for the internet meme junkies
• mixx.com or metafilter.com for internet news junkies
• 4chan.org or somethingawful.com for those people who start internet memes
• answers.yahoo.com or fluther.com for people with questions and free time
• delicious.com or listography.com for the list-obsessed
• addictionary.org or 43things.com or docstoc.com just because
• ning.com because you want a social networking site Just For You!
• yelp.com or rottentomatoes.com because you’re opinionated, damnit
• twitter.com or blogger.com or wordpress.com or tumblr.com for the self-absorbed :)
• blah blah blah, social networking sites are a dime a dozen

7) Do I need a blog to be like cool?

No. But I’m sure there will be a post dedicated to Harvard kids who want to start up their own blogs one day.

8) Own your domain name

Maybe you’re too young, maybe I’m too paranoid. I recommend owning your very own plot of internet real estate, a domain name.

For instance, I own my firstnamelastname.com and firstnamelastname.net addresses. You can register them on a number of different sites out in the webosphere. All you really need is to register it and renew it yearly. This prevents other people from stealing your valuable piece of internet property from underneath your toes right when you’re about to make it BIG.

You don’t even need a hosting account or a web page. All you really need is to own that plot of land.

I swear — one day, all of the baby naming guides on the internet will just be double checking which internet domain names are still available.

9) Own your Google Profile

Same thing as your Facebook vanity user name / URL, you might want to own your Google Profile (linked up to your eternal Gmail address [but first think on what you want Google to know about you]) so that search results will point to YOU!

And NOT, that firstnamelastname.com address you forgot to buy when you were 21 and is now a site like whitehouse.com (NSFW — snarkles)

10) Did I mention, don’t be stupid?

Your web trail is forever. But as people younger than me, you should know this already.

Although, someone forgot to clue in the stupid people who engage in sexting.

Economic research shows that the consequences of graduating in a downturn are long-lasting. They include lower earnings, a slower climb up the occupational ladder and a widening gap between the least- and most-successful grads.

In short, luck matters. The damage can linger up to 15 years, says Lisa Kahn, a Yale School of Management economist. She used the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a government data base, to track wages of white men who graduated before, during and after the deep 1980s recession.

Ouch. As Class of 2010, this news stings as well. I imagine that this year’s on campus recruiting class will go ape-shit to land the dwindling number of sexy consulting and finance jobs and internships.

That being said, I’m worried about how this would affect the academic decisions of those in the younger years of college. Does this mean fewer Classics concentrators and more Economics concentrators? Does this mean that the pre-business clubs and organizations will see an influx of weary-eyed freshmen already plotting their post-graduation job courses?

I hope that freshmen will remain freshmen, but that might be too much to hope for. Any thoughts?

Comment below!

People might not tell your boss if you did a great job of being respectful of their time, but trust that the feedback will get to your superiors’ ears if you’re not, even if you’re talking to someone in the most distant corner of the organization who technically has a lower position than you.

How do you position yourself so that others willingly help you?

That was why. This is how.

1) Name dropping

Yeah, this is totally lame if you do it in a college admissions essay, or any essay, or regular conversation, but it really does make sense if you know someone whom the other person knows or vaguely knows.

When I was attempting to branch out to the more obscure parts of the corporation I was interning at for my project, knowing someone who knows someone else is a boon. It’s one thing to write to that generic inbox that no one feels particularly accountable for. It’s another thing to write to someone’s personal email and say that so-and-so said you would be a good resource.

Of course, make sure that person actually said the other person would be someone appropriate to talk to.

2) Name fishing

At the end of all my meetings, I always ask, is there someone else who would be a good resource?

People are all sorts of good-intentioned, but it’s your responsibility being the seeker of information or help to ask the right questions.

Also, when they mention other people’s names, double check to see what forms of contact are appropriate. Other people might name drop director names for self-branding purposes, without intending for you to actually contact said senior level manager.

3) Get buy in from your manager

No need to tell your manager or whomever it is you report to everything, but a quick sanity check — does it make sense to talk to this person? — and a yes, automatically means you have a “my manager said you’d be a good person to talk to” line that you can whip out.

This ensures that you’re not taking up someone’s time answering questions that were never worthwhile to begin with.

4) Short emails + agenda + options

God, I wrote so many “please let me pick your brain” emails. I’ve learned to be polite, appreciative and brief.

• Quick introduction and name drop
• 1-2 sentences of context: why in the greater scheme of things you need their help
• 1-2 sentence request: email me back, call me back, can I set up time, etc? Mention the agenda at the end
• 2 sentences: warm feelings of gratitude, double check to see if someone else would be a better resource
• Your signature / sign off
• Agenda!

Really, the bulk of the email should look like 3 brief paragraphs. Tiny!

Stick the agenda at the bottom, so they can evaluate if your request makes sense (appropriate for a meeting versus replying over email) and if they are qualified to answer your questions.

But really, try to make it short.

5) Make meetings valuable

Duh? Come prepared, understand what they’re saying, get things clarified, and take notes. (I recommend typing up notes into OneNote afterward so you can search through all your notes.)

Also, get a sense of their background if there’s time.

Most importantly, understand how they fit in the bigger picture. What are they responsible for? What is their role? Who do they work with? Who do they work for? Thus, when you have more nagging questions, you know which of the people who helped you will most likely be able to help you or direct you.

6) Thanks + follow up

Thank people in a timely manner. Not too soon, not too late. If they did a really good job, call that out in the email. Pavlov and all that good stuff.

If you have any follow up questions after carefully pondering the meeting, now’s a great time to ask a follow up.

7) No answer?

Cultures are different. If the person you reached out to really hasn’t responded in a long time, try to find out if reasonable if they just got back from vacation or are swamped with work.

Some people really need to be reminded. So a polite email is fine too.

If that person really hasn’t responded, go back to your manager (that’s why you got their buy in) to see if they can drop a kind note to re-affirm the value of your help request.

8) Overall, it’s your responsibility + luck

No, these tips won’t get Obama to drop by on your Super Sweet 16 Partay. But, there are a lot of steps you can take to make it easier for someone to respond. Hey, everyone loves feeling like they’re an expert and lending a quick hand.

If you’re tackling a huge project, really really make sure you get your questions nailed down. Be forward thinking. Try to really understand what’s going on. But, also make sure, that you can prioritize your questions too. We all HATE meetings that run for longer than scheduled.

Internships—temporary positions that pay little or no salary—are typically designed for college students or recent graduates exploring potential career paths. But with unemployment at 9.5%, some older laid-off workers are taking on these stints to stay busy, gain new skills and expand their networks. In the meantime, they continue to job hunt and, in some cases, collect unemployment benefits.

Hello recession! What a scary job AND internship hunting season we will have this year. Imagine, competing against seasoned professionals in the internship hunt, or the entry-level job hunt. Makes me shudder, truly.

Granted, Harvard grads will be weathering out the storm better than most. But, this recruiting season, things will get ugly. Really, don’t pester your class of 2010 friends this entire fall with study group requests. We’ll be applying ourselves to grad school or the bottomless job hole.

For anyone not going through the imminent catastrophe of graduation, what are your thoughts? Feelin’ lucky for being in school for some more years?

Comment below…

One of the most valuable things that my work experience has taught me is negotiating that delicate balance of getting people (who in all honesty have no real reason to help you) to help you.

Being able to effect change without actual power is an important life skill, not taught in the hallowed halls of Hahvahd.

1) Ain’t gonna be taught

Let’s face it. Being in a classroom is like getting your intellect massaged and stimulated. Your mind absorbs great abstract notions, some concrete facts and a handful of plug-and-chug procedures. You learn lots of great things, like how to think (maybe), what to think about (perhaps), and when to think (hm).

Unfortunately, the nuances of social interaction are always going to get skipped over. Who really learns how to interact with peers and superiors in your lecture classroom (asides from what not to do)?

2) Might get a taste of it in your extracurriculars

I first rammed my head into this issue when I had leadership positions in student organizations. Student organizations are great opportunities to dabble in horrendously inefficient organizations. :) Even, when you have so-called “power” invested in you by chosen ones (upper classmen & dinos), you might not actually have any “power” over others lower in supposed rank than you.

In the real world, everyone at least has some incentive to do their jobs, if only because of the fear of getting fired. In the Harvard extracurricular scene, few people are actually committed to doing their job (and then some) for their given organization. Students get laazy, get distracted, are juggling around too many responsibilities, let their obligations fall through the cracks etc. etc. Overall, unless you’re paying students, you can’t necessarily rely on them.

The biggest lesson I learned from my time in EC leadership was how to get people to do the stuff they got delegated. Sometimes, this means being that annoying person who sends that annoying email, or setting up a lunch to see if there’s anything extraordinary going on, or sending that second annoying follow up email, or pleading / begging / bribing with cookies from the dining hall. In short, fun times. Imagine a dictatorship in a world where no one can possibly die.

3) You will get a taste of it in the Real World

In some sort of non-academic environment where you have bosses, subordinates and colleagues, you’ll be expected to do “make an impact” and “drive change.” Or else, that promotion will go to your colleague, or your job will go to an ambitious job seeker.

Perhaps, you’ll be in advertising or sales. You want so-and-so to buy your fantastic product! Obviously, you can’t force them to buy it, or fire them if they don’t buy it. You might be in fund raising, and call up Jane Doe on her cell phone right after dinner time. You might need to ask your lame boss for a reference or a recommendation.

4) So, how do I get this magical boost to my EQ?

Stay tuned for the next post….

(Meanwhile, think on, why in the world are you — someone in cyberspace who has no idea whom I am — giving my advice consideration? Who am I to you exactly?)

Harvard sure can be rough

So, I’m assuming I have retained some sort of occasional visitor-ship. Doing nothing can be beautiful sometimes.

I’ve written a bunch of stuff just for You! already.

I’m sure you have other burning questions that make sense for me to attempt to answer. (No asking me about the new “Core” or where laundry rooms are or when you’ll find out about rooming assignments or why you aren’t in Stoughton the best dorm ever.)

To give some perspective and context, I’m an economics concentrator, with a citation in Chinese. I’ve studied abroad in Shanghai. I’ve worked on the beloved Harvard College Tuesday Magazine (I’m biased). Survived and did a brief stint at The Crimson. Was involved in … maybe as many publications as I have fingers in some capacity. Blah. Blah blah.

I’m going into business after graduation. By determining prices, ensuring proper allocation of inventory or something else. I did e-recruiting for a brief sad stint as a sophomore, ignored it as a junior, and will ponder how the next few months will define my opportunities for the 2 years after graduation.

But you’re all just freshmen, so, you must have some questions I can give a shot at or pass along to my friends who span the range of Harvard student types.

So comment to ask. If it’s short, it’ll be answered in a comment. If it’s not, it’ll be answered in a post and help other future Harvardites.

My computer died just this semester and had to get wiped. My new computer caught a virus in about 2 weeks, and I was left straggling.

There are preventative and reactive measures you can take when you computer is on the verge of dying, or is sort of dead already.

1) Back it up.

Buy an external and use it. Seriously. When I faced the prospect of wiping my computer after it sort of keeled over after a really bad bout of virus (thank you China), I was meh, but not distraught because I brought my external with me and only lost one week’s worth of work.

It was still distressing that I lost that week’s worth of work and I probably wasted hours trying to get my data back. But as it turns out, it took less time to actually re-do the work than my failed attempts at retrieving it.

That being said, I didn’t lose 2.5 years worth of school work, 10? years worth of music (thank you Napster for opening my eyes), countless hours of design files, tons of precious photos, version after version of cover letters and resumes, blah blah blah.

Seriously, back it up. Backing it up is like flossing you teeth. You should be doing it. It may not be fun or sexy, but you’re going to love yourself after the fact.

2) And then get protection.

Harvard loves you. Or at least they love network security because they offer free protection! Download their antivirus software now.

3) Use protection.

That means installing it, keeping it updated, and allowing it to scan for uncool stuff even if it means it slows down you computer a little bit and interrupts you computing mojo.

(I hope someone gets my blatant innuendos.)

As for other forms of protection, I don’t know, honestly. People recommend different things. I have Avast! and Malwarebytes’ Anti-malware. I recommend asking someone who is entirely more techie than I am for some solid advice.

But the point is, use it, update it (do you want to use a condom twice? exactly. refresh your database daily), and scan your entire computer once in a while. Because you can definitely get viruses while not doing anything on the web.

4) Resist the temptation to download.

A lot of file-sharing sites are NOTORIOUS for infecting your computer. Think of file-sharing sites as brothels. You may have protection, but who knows what can happen?

As such, download at your own risk. There are other less intrusive means of getting your media fixes.

5) When your computer is being an idiot

If you know you have an infection but you can still use your computer, download TrendMicro’s HijackThis and find a friendly geek forum to get a step by step in human language on what to do. For the advanced-esque user.

You can always try your luck with XYZ computer helper, but if they give up too easily and you’re a ninny without a backup, this is your last resort.

6) When your computer is nonfunctional, have your original install discs

Cry!

Get that disc of fun stuff that came with your computer (don’t lose it) and get ready to see your computer reborn without a care (or ounce of antibodies) in the world.

When my computer died, and I had to go to Best Buy (the only computer store I could trust in Shanghai), and had to stumble through a Chinese-English conversation using computer terminology, and the Best Buy Geek Squad dude totally gave up and was like, you need to reinstall XP, do you have your XP disc? no? then you have to buy THIS REALLY EXPENSIVE VERSION OF ENGLISH XP OR THIS OVERPRICED VERSION OF CHINESE XP that still can’t utilize the Tablet functionalities of your computer……

Anywho, don’t lose it. And don’t forget it.

I was literally a half a world away from my install disc. :(

7) When your computer is truly dead

Maybe you dropped it, maybe someone kicked it into the Charles river. There is much sadness.

But Harvard provides you with 24-7 computer labs. (This is truly amazing. The computer lab on campus here has computers riddled with viruses and is NOT open 24-7.)

And computers have become ridiculously cheap. Get a netbook for a fraction of the cost and be astonished by its lightness and battery life. Comment if you actually need a netbook recommendation.

If you’re a prefrosh and don’t gots no laptop yet, consider the netbook. As the weight of you laptop decreases, your likelihood of using it as a laptop increases exponentially. As its battery life increases, your likelihood of using it also increases exponentially.

Doooo it.

Disclaimer: I really wish I were like Chuck or ????, but I ain’t. Back up your computer and download Harvard’s antivirus, and then take all other software/computer recommendations with a grain of salt. I’m more knowledgeable than the average student, but am not the most knowledgeable. Blah blah blah. Don’t sue me. You do everything at your own risk, and I’m not responsible for computer infections, death or sadness.

But seriously, back it up and get protection. It will happen. It’s only a matter of when. And if you’re a mac user, don’t get cocky. I’ve seen a disproportionate number of macbooks diiiiee…repeatedly, sort of like undead zombies.