OH MY GOD whyyyy did no one tell me you’re supposed to send thank-yous after interviews?? Why would I do that???
“Thank you for this incredibly stressful 30 minutes that I have had to re-structure my entire day around and which will give me anxiety poos for the next 24 hours.”
I HATE ETIQUETTE IT’S THE MOST IMPOSSIBLE THING FOR ME TO LEARN WITHOUT SOMEONE DIRECTLY TELLING ME THIS SHIT
NO ONE TOLD YOU???? WTF! I HAVE FAILED YOU.
Also:
Dear ______:
Thank you so much for the opportunity to sit down with you (&________) to discuss the [insert job position]. I am grateful to be considered for the position. I think I will be a great fit at [company name], especially given my experience in __________. [insert possible reference to something you talked about, something that excited you.] I look forward to hearing from you [and if you are feeling super confident: and working together in the future].
Sincerely,
@mellivorinae
THIS IS A LIFESAVING TEMPLATE
YOU ARE WELCOME
My brother got a really great paid internship one summer. The guy who hired him said the deciding factor was the professional thank you letter my brother sent after the interview.
should it be an email? or like a physical letter?
email, you want to send it within a few hours at max after the interview if you can so it’s fresh in their mind who you are.
Confirmed! I interviewed for a job right after arriving in NY. The interview went incredibly well, and I went home and immediately wrote a thank you letter and put it in the mail. I had a super good feeling about this interview.
I didn’t get the job.
However, a few weeks later, I was called in to interview with another editor in the same company, and I did get that job. I found out later from the initial editor (the one who didn’t hire me) that he had planned to offer me the job, but since I didn’t follow up with a thank you letter, he assumed I didn’t really want it. He offered the job to another contender–but when he got my letter in the mail shortly after the offer had already been made, he went to HR and gave me a glowing recommendation. It was based on that recommendation that I got called in for the second interview.
So: send an email thank you immediately (same day!) after the interview. If you’re feeling extra, go ahead and send a written one too. OR go immediately to a coffee shop, write the letter, and return to the office and give it to the secretary.
Either way, those letters are important.
Pro tip: If you really want HR to develop a personal interest in your application, publicly thank them on linkedin. Just make a short post telling your network about how X recruiter really went above and beyond to make you feel welcome, or about how be accommodating and professional they were, or whatever. Make sure to use the mention feature so they’ll get a notification and see it.
Flattery will get you everywhere… and public flattery that might make its way back to their manager, doubly so.
Obligatory plug for one of FreePrintable.net’s sites: ThankYouLetter.ws. They have a whole section with interview thank you letter templates, and a page with specific tips for interview thank you letters. (There are also tons of other letter templates if you browse around a bit.)
Also like for cover letters I always closed with “thank you for the opportunity, and I look forward to hearing from your company, should my skills fit the needs of this position.” Which got me employed less than a year after law school in the field of my choice
Having cohesive and effective notes is one of the key skills I think one should have, especially in an academic setting. When you’re receiving a ton of information each day, you want to be able to keep track of that and remember what you’ve learned. I’m constantly trying out ways to make my note-taking more effective and tailored to my needs. Here’s what my note-taking system looks like so far.
Quick note: click on the images for better quality!
Class Notes
Taking notes in class is an invaluable way to keep track of the new knowledge you’ve gained. However, depending on the mode in which the lecture material is conveyed, I take my notes differently. Here’s a summary of how I take my notes for each type of lecture, as well as some examples from the classes I’m taking now.
Slides (e.g. Macroeconomics)
Macroeconomics is a class in which you should be able to intuitively understand a lot of concepts but also remember a lot of things. Because of this, I’ve tailored my note-taking method and habits to achieve that goal.
I write my notes by hand because handwriting is more effective in committing things to memory.
As for what I actually do - and this is what I’ve done for other classes in which the professor/lecturer uses slides:
Read/skim over the slide.
Read each bullet point as the professor goes through them.
Copy it down if it’s straightforward or write it down in a structure and diction that I understand better (not necessarily in my own words - sometimes it’s just restructuring, e.g. splitting things up or joining different bullet points together).
Take note of any other important details the professor says about any particular point unless I think it’s intuitive or common sense.
Here’s an example from a Macroeconomics lecture.
Oral Presentation (e.g. Anthropology)
During classes in which the professor just speaks and doesn’t use much visual material, I listen before I write instead of attempting to write down every single detail mentioned.
Also, I type up my notes instead of handwriting them since the exams are all open-book so I don’t really have to commit things to memory.
Here’s what I do:
Listen for a cue that tells you what this particular part of the lecture will be about (and write it as a heading).
Write down main ideas and their supporting facts/details. If the facts/details come before the main ideas, then I’d usually draw an arrow.
Write down ideas and details from readings in their own section/subsection.
Sometimes, my professor also shows short clips in class, in which case I’d write down the message that I think the clip was meant to convey, as well as things that the professor points out that I didn’t think of on my own.
I’d also look up concepts/ideas/people/events (in real time) that are important to my understanding of the lecture material.
Here’s an example of a Google Docs document from an Anthropology lecture.
Demonstrations and Sample Problems (e.g. Computer Science)
Classes in which the lecture is mainly going through demos and problems are kind of tricky, because you want to know and understand what the professor is doing, but you also don’t want to be writing down every single step that’s being executed. Here’s what I’ve found to be the most effective so far:
If there are any, I import the slides/handout onto OneNote and annotate directly on the slide. If not, I just write down things like definitions, important concepts, and syntax-related things.
I focus on understanding what the professor’s doing with the demo or problem.
I then summarize the steps they took and
Write down comments and points they brought up, e.g. common errors, desirable habits/practices.
Also, these kinds of classes are usually classes in which you’d learn better when you actually do problems yourself, so I definitely learn more when I do assignments and labs than when I’m in class.
Here’s an example from a Web Programming lecture.
Here’s one from an Object Oriented Programming and Data Structures class. I often draw things to help me visualize the general points.
Rewritten Notes
My rewritten notes have definitely changed a lot since high school. Since most of my classes don’t require a lot of memorization, I organize my notes in such a way that they’d be easy to index or find information from. Here are some of the ways I do that:
Establishing a Visual Hierarchy
Having a well-defined hierarchy helps me flow through my notes really well as i read them. It helps me organize information like a mind map without actually making a mind map - I know the big topics and their subtopics and sub-subtopics and details … basically it’s easier to see how these ideas fit together.
But why don’t I just make mind-maps? See, the thing is, a lot of my notes require sequential or linear thinking, e.g. in macroeconomics it might be the sequence of events following a change in the economy, or in computer science it might be a general algorithm for solving a certain type of problem, or it might be proving or deriving a certain equation. These sorts of things just generally don’t work well with mind maps. Instead, establishing a visual hierarchy in my notes helps me organize different ideas while retaining the linear nature of the information.
Here’s what the hierarchy looks like.
Here is an example from my Web Programming class, which is a purely project-based class, so no prelims or exams. As you can see, I draw rectangles around important terminology so that I can easily find them while I’m working on a project. I also include examples from in-class activities as well as notes on syntax so I have an idea of how to implement certain things. These examples and notes are further grouped by terminology/concept.
Structuring Them for Easier Flow
My syllabi for my college courses are nowhere near as detailed as the syllabi for my high school courses - those of you who take/have taken Cambridge exams would know. In college, my syllabi are only lists of topics and not what you’re expected to know for each topic. Because of this, I have to find a way to arrange information so that I can achieve the most comprehensive and cohesive understanding of that topic, i.e. so that the flow of my notes is similar to the flow of my thinking.
For example, in my economics notebook, I like to have the details first (e.g. the separate markets: the goods market, the assets market, and the labor market) and then the big picture later (IS-LM-FE). Some people prefer the other way around - seeing the big picture and then going into the details - which I can understand and have done myself for certain topics.
Making Use of Proximity and Spacing
I very much dislike notes without good use of spacing and grouping things together. Keeping related ideas in visual proximity helps your brain (or at least mine) organize this information. It’s also a lot easier to find things and visualize your notes when they’re not just a huge chunk of text.
One thing I should probably mention is that I don’t use colored pens anymore because it just takes a lot of time to switch pens and think of a color palette. I also don’t have much use for it. In the past, I used color to help me memorize and group things in different categories, but now, I’ve found that there aren’t a whole lot of categories I need to keep track of, and when I do, I can do so with just one pen but changing the style of the text.
And that’s what my note-taking system currently looks like. It’s working well so far, but I still think there are other things I could try out that might be a better fit.
So yeah, hope this was helpful, and as always, feel free to drop an ask if you have any questions, or even if you have any suggestions or would like to share your note-taking system. Have an awesome week!
In all my art classes, I was never taught HOW to use the various tools of art.
Like yes, form, and shape and space and color theory and figure drawing is important, but so is KNOWING what different tools do.
I’m 29 and I JUST learned this past month that India Ink is fucking waterproof when it dries. Why is this important? Because I can line something in India Ink and then go over it with watercolors. And that has CHANGED the ENTIRE way I art and the ease I can create with.
tldr: Art Teachers: teach your students what different tools do. PLEASE.
WAIT INDIA INK JS WATERPROOF ONCE IT DRIES????? THE ENTIRE REASON IVE AVOIDED MARKERS MY ENTIRE LIFE IS BECAUSE JNK BLEEDS AND YOURE TELLING ME INDIA INK IS
F U C K I N G W A T E R P R O O F
oh man your teachers did not do there jobs!
-Yo painters, use pencil if u must underdraw beneath an oil painting, the lead is archival but ideally you should be doing underdrawings in a muted earth tones (siennas, umbers, ochres or earth green) with some titanium white added to it. (The white nearly matches the canvas and earth tones naturally blend with all colors on top unless u do super thin glaze washes).
-Trying to make a natural looking warm black? Don’t use black straight from tube, Mix alizarin crimson and viridan. add raw umber to adjust for light depth.
-If your into mixed media ALWAYS use acrylic first and oil on top (the gesso on primed canvas is acrylic based and oil sits on top of it great). NEVER put acrylic paint on top of oil, the acrylic will crackle/decompose and fall apart/off the canvas.
-India ink is permanent and if your using ink from a jar it should say it’s permanence. professional art grade pens usually have there permanace listed either on the pen or the companies website.
-Red cinnabar is poisonous, DO NOT EAT IT, no matter how much like fruit loops it smells.
-Translucent and transparent are NOT the same. translucent is *shiny* and a cloudier color, ideal for mixing usually ordor making vibrant colors like for eyes, cars, etc. Transparent is matte and usually a 50% transparency from an opaque color.
-ALWAYS DO A TEST SWATCH OF ANY NEW MATERIAL.
-any paint made with “true alizarin crimson” “red lake” and “chrome yellow” pigment is a fugitive paint. Fugitive means the pigment fades dramatically and disappears over time, (usually 5 to 15 years) lots of van goghs paintings have this problem. be very careful with these pigments. Alizarin crimson especially smells extremely sweet and like fruit loops or fruit loops, don’t eat it.
-gauche is a mix of watercolor and ink, proceed with caution as this material can be an asshole.
-Watercolor can be made darker/thicker by letting it dry slightly in cake form or in liquid form and can be dry brushed if u get the timing down.
-Paint liquid rubber or lay down thin pieces of painters tape on edges in watercolor paintings to Prevent bleeding between lines if u need super sharp edges.
-always tape down the entire paper edges when u paint with watercolor to a board to prevent the paper from curling as it dries.
-add salt directly into wet watercolor paintings to absorb pigment and make shit look like space.
-Always paint in well ventilated areas and avoid getting lots of paint on your hands. lots of paint is made with heavy metals and can cause cancer.
-natural materials aren’t always safe, especially
-Ones u collect yourself, do your research before grinding, burning, sanding these things especially indoors.
-use NATURAL bristles on your brushes with oil paint and SYNTHETIC bristles on your brushes for acrylic and watercolor. synthetic bristles literally break off into oil paint and stick into your painting, and natural bristles can’t handle the weight of acrylic paint and rip into 15 directions. Use hard boar bristle for the underdrawing/underpainting of an oil painting as it will force the paint into the canvas pours more effectively cause it’s stronger, use softer bristles for outer layers of oil painting and blending, boar will pierce outer layers and is to hard for anything but the first layer. can’t tell what u have? clean it up and brush it on your face, softer it is the better it is as doing outer layers of color.
-if you have a decent painters’ tape, you can prewet your watercolor paper, tape it to a surface & weight it down with some books to press it flat while it’s wet and help keep it from buckling later once dry, this is especially useful because for some reason, watercolor block is half again as expensive or more than a comparable sized pad or large sheets to cut down, even by the same brand
-natural sable is good for watercolor if you can afford it, i have two smaller brushes i shelled out for to try it, and while i probably didn’t treat the finer point one right, the other one is a miracle i’ve had for nearly 20 years.
-chinese calligraphy brush sets are fantastic for large work and washes and way, way cheaper most times than standard brushes, and it doesn’t seem to matter how cheap they are, either. they may shed a little, but they do a really good job holding and distributing water.
Studitonious loves 8am lectures. Every day he cartwheels to class, radiant with the joy of acquiring new knowledge. Morning coffee? Ha! That’s for uncultured plebeians. He has no need for caffeine when he has his daily shot of morning eDUCATION!!!
Here’s the thing - Studitonious doesn’t exist. Or if he does, he needs to get some serious help. Yet, there seems to be a common misconception that a “perfect student” must emulate this model.
Getting up at the crack of dawn? Well, you don’t need to get up if you never go to sleep… #lifehacks. Oh, there’s a blizzard outside? No biggie, the cold never bothered me anyway. Everything is worth it because getting good grades is all.so. wonderful. Right?
Well, here’s a thought. What if you don’t have to attend all your lectures to get good grades? What if instead of forcing study habits that work against us, we develop flexible routines that work for us? What if we began studying smarter, not harder?
Let’s get one thing straight - not all lectures are created equal. There’s a big difference between ditching class to binge your latest Netflix obsession vs. ditching class because it’s counterproductive to your learning. Here are a few factors to consider:
Is attendance compulsory?
Does participation contribute to your grade? Do you have any in-lecture assessments?
If the answer is “yes”, then go to your lecture. The mark may only be worth 5%, but would you rather have 5% added or deducted from your grade?
Are your lectures recorded?
At my university, all lectures are automatically recorded due to Access & Inclusion policies but this isn’t the case across the board.
If there’s any lecture-exclusive content (i.e. content discussed in lectures but not in the slides, group activities etc.) and your lectures are not recorded it’s a good idea to attend.
Is the content actually helpful?
Does the lecture aid your learning in a way that other mediums (reading lecture slides/the textbook, attending tutorials/labs etc.) do not? For instance, if your lecturer just reads off the slides, you can save time by looking at them yourself.
Is your subject more “hands-on”? For courses that are more heavily based on solving problems, I often find doing the problems myself way more helpful than watching my lecturer solve them.
How dense is the contentof each lecture? Sometimes, there is simply too much to absorb in the given time slot. E.g. I once had a flipped class that had a brief 1-hour intro lecture to a week’s worth of content. Since it just briefly skimmed over everything, it was more worthwhile to study the concepts in detail myself.
Do you actually pay attention to the lecture?
Are you actually awake? I once had a friend tell me he attended all his 8am lectures despite always falling asleep because he “just felt like he should”. Bro, sleep.
How engaging is the lecturer? Obviously, you shouldn’t skip a class just because the lecturer is “boring” but there is a certain point where the line is crossed. In first year, one of my professors took long pauses between every second word and spoke very s l o w l y. Needless to say, he was much easier to listen to at 2x speed.
Note: there is a significant difference between a bad lecturer and just being distracted. If it’s your meme addiction, not the quality of your lecturer that’s making you lose focus, turn off your phone.
Other factors to consider:
Do you have any other commitments (e.g. other courses, work etc.) at the same time? While it would be nice to try and re-arrange your schedule sometimes things just don’t work out.
Are you sick? If you’re feeling rough mentally or physically, you should consider taking a day off.
Ok, so you’ve decided that you’re better off not attending your lecture but what should you actually do instead? How do you deal with this newfound flexibility and freedom?
Develop a study routine (and stick with it)
The key to skipping class successfully is just doing consistent work. If your lecture is 2 hours long, pencil in a 2-hour study session.
It’s important to maintain a sense of regularity and routine. Treat your study sessions like a compulsory class - do them at the same time each week. It may even help to study at the intended lecture time.
The most common pitfall is to go “Oh it’s easy, I’ll just skip my lecture and do xyz instead”… but never do xyz.
Identify the lecture’s problems and provide solutions
Why exactly did you decide to skip your lecture? How are you going to make your independent study more effective? If you don’t do something more useful with this “free time”, you’re just wasting it. Be specific.
Here are a few examples:
Problem: Lecturer speaks too slowly. Solution: Watch the lecture recordings at a faster speed.
Problem: Lecturer just reads off the slides, providing no new content. Solution: Read the slides yourself, making your own notes and saving yourself time.
Problem: The lecture is too theoretical in comparison to the assessment scheme. Solution:Do more practice problems instead of just going over abstract concepts.
Find a study group
Having friends who take the same course can honestly make the experience so much better.
It can also help increase accountability. For instance, you would probably feel more guilty ditching a group vs. solo study session.
However, this can be a double-edged sword. Sometimes my “study sessions” with friends will just dissolve into us looking at memes for hours. Make sure you’re actually going to study!
Banter is great, but remember when to have fun, and when you need to focus and get shit done.
Hey so, I decided to do another masterpost. This time on exams. Some tips for studying at the very last minute if you are like me, disclaimer: I am not in any way supporting cramming but this is just to help you through if you are left with no choice other than cramming.
this also applies to high school in a lot of ways, esp in organization and involvement
I read this book by cal newport called “how to win at college” in prep for my freshman year & u should definitely read it yourself because there are lots of important points i don’t cover in this post, but if you don’t want to, this is my summary of what I think were the most important points he made.
STUDY HARD, BUT YOUR GRADES DON’T MEAN AS MUCH AS WHAT YOU LEARN OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM. he prioritizes getting vital experiences such as
- joining a club and eventually taking responsibility in it and becoming a leader
- apply for scholarships every year (he said 10 a year)
- volunteer, but not for your resume. do it to learn and become a better person.
- get involved in research, and get involved in your major department (like go to the events and lectures, even if they aren’t mandatory)
- write outside of class regularly because writing is super important (example- submit to your school newspaper)
STAY ORGANIZED AND ON TOP OF YOUR SHIT
- he really really REALLY emphasizes not procrastinating and studying / starting papers well in advance of deadlines. his rules are to
- - >start long term projects immediately after they are assigned and continue to work on them by following a reasonable schedule (he says to finish early, revise, then finish again),
- - > take 3 days to write shorter papers (aka you have abt 2 weeks to work on them and they range from 2-15ish pages) (aka make preparations pre writing, then write a rough draft on the first day, revise and focus your writing on the second day (make sure your arguments are very clear!), and polish your paper on the third day), and
- - >take 2 weeks to study for an exam. study in shorter blocks during the first week, like maybe an hour or so each day. over the weekend, add more hours. the few days before the test, study in 2-3 hour chunks to really cement the already familiar information.
- get a filing cabinet for your papers instead of just piling them on your desk and having to search for them later.
- have a HIGH QUALITY notebook and a folder for each class (or whatever stationery keeps you organized) and keep all your folders/notebooks/binders neat and organized.
- empty your inbox and organize your emails
- schedule your free time- aka have specific times that you choose to relax and spend with friends rather than unintentionally relaxing during work time, or worrying about work during relaxation time.
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF
- you NEED sleep, you NEED healthy food, and you NEED exercise. you really shouldn’t put anything ahead of these things.
- NEVER pull an all nighter. if you’re studying ahead of time, this should be easy. all nighters aren’t glamorous, they’re unproductive, really stressful, and unhealthy
- keep in touch with old friends, and remember to call your mom
- make sure to spend time with new friends and take care of them. be there for your friends.
- keep your room neat and make your bed!!
like i said, there is a lot of important stuff that I didn’t cover so i recommend reading the book how to win at college by cal newport, and take what you need to from it. good luck!!!
Currently reading: Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari
― “Humans are rarely satisfied with what they already have. The most common reaction of the human mind to achievement is not satisfaction, but craving for more.”
