How to get kids to get the most from collegePart 2

Guest blog by Keith Ferrazzi

I first met Keith Ferrazzi at a Forbes CEO conference in New York City back in 2004. Keith had been hired to run a corporate speed-dating session among the participants. What a hoot! There I was, spending six minutes exchanging stories with Tony Ruys, the chairman of Heineken. I got to learn about beer while poor Tony had to hear about notebooks. But Keith was a force of energy, talent and enthusiasm that was infectious. I’d happily attend another Ferrazzi event, but fortunately for you and me, Keith also writes books (see below), so we can all easily follow his interesting and empowering advice.

Following up on my previous column on getting the most from college, I asked Keith if he had any thoughts to share on the subject. Turns out he cares deeply about it, as you’ll see by reading his four points below. BTW, Keith is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Business School.

—Steve

Four Points to Ensure Success Once Students Get Into College

1. Tap into Your Advisor Network

Undergrad is the one time in life in which you will be given advisors—and you don't even have to seek them out! Whether it be your academic advisor, your career advisor, your residential advisor, your peer advisor, your student group advisor, etc., you walk onto campus your first day with a network of trusted advisors, each of whom is individually responsible for an important part of your college experience. Too often you hear of students who met with their academic advisor "a few times" or "only when necessary" during their four years, or who distanced themselves from their rule-enforcing residential advisor as much as possible. More often than not, these students miss out on the invaluable resources handed to them for free.

The real "breakthrough" college students who make the most of their college experience tap into their advisor network and capitalize on the value built into these systems. I often lunched with my academic advisor, became best friends with my peer advisor, and still turn to my residential advisor for career and personal advice!

2. The Secret of Study Groups

One thing I learned very quickly in college was that I tended to perform much better on exams when I studied with a study group prior to the exam. It wasn't just any study group, however. Our group consisted of members who attended class regularly, who knew the material, and who would hold each other accountable for keeping up. Thus, when we all convened before a big exam, we could bounce questions and answers off each other rapidly and really feel confident that we had mastered the information from class.

The students who chose to keep to themselves and who didn't have these makeshift accountability groups never seemed to perform as well or, conversely, had to study that much harder on their own to perform well. I also benefited from leading these study groups because I knew if I could teach the material to others, I must have truly mastered the work.

3. Gatekeepers Are Significant

As mentioned in Never Eat Alone, some of the most important people on a college campus aren't faculty members but the support staff that keep the university running. One of my favorite people from undergrad was the administrative assistant in the Campus Life Office. In addition to knowing everyone on campus, this woman knew every activity, every event, and every opportunity that any student would need to know. She was easily more connected than even the chancellor with the various offices and colleges on campus, not to mention the more important fact that she, herself, was an amazing person with a storied history of her time working on campus, which was longer than most professors!

Too often I saw students limit their contact with her as they brushed by her desk to go down the hallway to the offices of administrators and deans. They will never realize how much they missed out on by forsaking one of the most important relationships one can have in college: the relationships with administrative assistants and other, well-connected gatekeepers.

4. Keep Yourself Together

The three points above all involve your relationships with other important people on campus, but before you are able to relate well with others, you really need to have yourself together. College is the first time so many young people are away from home. You often hear that sentence as a reason why people get out of control with alcohol or have poorer eating habits their freshman year. Well, it's also the same reason that freshmen become disorganized messes! All of a sudden every part of your life—eating, studying, working, etc.—is completely your responsibility. This is overwhelming for so many students who don't see the transition coming.

Before you go tapping into your advisor network, organizing study groups, or befriending the staff around campus, you need to know who you are and get yourself organized! Otherwise, these support systems won't know how to help you. Too often freshmen forget who they are in an attempt to avoid sticking out among their peers. It wasn't until the first few weeks in when I got comfortable just being myself that my social relationships in college really began to flourish. Don't be something that you're not, and be committed and organized about the person you are. That is when others will embrace you and can help you the most.

—Keith

For more of Keith’s advice, check out his new book, Who's Got Your Back. And look for the upcoming college version of his first bestseller Never Eat Alone for Students.

And now to you, dear reader: What’s the best advice you received as you went off to college? And has it translated into your life-after-graduation? I’d love to hear. Just click on the Comments link below. (If you’re reading this as an email, click here and you'll connect to Comments.)

—Steve

Comments

[Sarah]

Thank you Keith - very interesting reading. Sometimes the most obvious things such as using the resources available to you are so easy to overlook. I think your first point, especially, could apply to high school and even middle school. It's so easy for students to miss the fact that the vast majority of teachers and administrators are in their jobs because they genuinely want to make a difference in young people's lives. At our middle school the teachers teach 5 periods a day with 30 students or more per class - despite seeing 150 students a day I am constantly amazed at how many will go the extra mile to help a student - setting aside time to tutor a student on a particularly troublesome element, running early morning classes before a big test, and so on - but so few students take advantage of the opportunities - sometimes perhaps the students feel they don't need it or simply don't want to spend any more time on academics than they have to. But in the case of our daughter it was because she was embarrassed to ask for help and didn't want to impose - because she didn't understand that the staff were not only there to help, but actively wanted to do so!

[Bob Foster]

I'm long past the age of college but I just wanted to say that I wish I had some of this advice back when I first went to college. That brings up one idea for me, how many students are really willing to listen to all of this great advice? I would hope they would but I think there are always those 17 to 22 year olds that just don't want to hear anything "adults" want to tell them.

[Andrea Rice]

Good post Keith. I was actually at Yale with you and wished I'd done all the things you suggest. With hindsight, I'd add something else to the list

MAKE A DIFFERENCE
With almost no effort, it`s easy to over-commit in college. If one of your goals is to get some useful experiences and skills that can help you when you`re interviewing for an internship or full-time job, than remember that it`s much better to have a real impact in a few areas than have a long list of organizations and activities you`re involved with.

To put it bluntly, leadership positions count more than just being a member. Leadership positions can be official (e.g. club President), but impact stories trump everything. Make sure you make a difference to that organization, whether you have a title or not. Did you help drive membership growth, raise money for an event, start and manage a new initiative for the club, notice a need and launch and manage an initiative to address it? Don`t just occupy a chair in the room. Make a difference.

[Julian Gordon]

To add to Keith's list I think that students will be able to succeed even more by constantly looking for opportunities to create significant value. This may be done by finding ways to put their passion and talent to work in a manner that is directly or indirectly related to their area of study. It may happen in the classroom, at work or as a volunteer.

People will notice their great work and assist in finding opportunities that are a perfect fit for the student’s strengths and one that the student may not have known through their own research.

[Sany]

Thanks for sharing.