Once or twice a year, I use this forum to do a little updating … partially to respond to client queries who’ve come to know me/my family and partly to chronicle somewhere a few of the milestones of life. Hey, it’s my blog and I can say what I like, right? Unlike several of the professional blogs to which I contribute regularly, I do occasionally like to take to the soapbox and just write about whatever topics are on my mind at a given point in time.
My off-topic musings this time are over the incredible speed with which the recent (academic) year has passed. Seemed only a few months ago that I was describing the successful conclusion of an active year-long college search, application process, etc. with my twins — and lo and behold — they are home now for the summer! They’ve *been* home for a month already, leaving their younger brother to pine for the day when he, too, can be a college guy and out of school in May.
The twins had a spectacular first year away at college … strong academic results, smooth adjustment to living independently (in a residence hall) and adapting to a third roommate, and ready acclimation to participating in three seasons of Division I sports while getting the grades. We’re proud of them … and probably most delighted that they are truly happy with their entire experience. It’s what parents most hope for, I think.
Spring was especially busy in the offices of the Absolute Advantage as I interspersed my client schedule with a new book project. This one is in an entirely new-to-me vein in terms of publishing, but one with which I have a great deal of familiarity: The college search process. The book, being published by JIST in August 2007, is "One-Hour College Application Essay." In addition to sharing many success secrets for college searching, visiting, and applications in general, I focus primarily on the essay itself — considered by many prospective college students to be the most vexing part of the entire process! Two parts of this project were especially rewarding: Developing wonderful relationships with some of the top admissions experts at respected universities throughout the country and getting to know, very well, many talented college students and understanding the processes they underwent in developing their own applications and essays. All of this will prove incredibly valuable as son #3 begins HIS application-writing process this summer (he begins his senior year and will be deeply immersed in college applications in just a few months).
Stay tuned … I’ll be posting some powerful new search ideas and strategies for careerists all summer long — around some much-needed vacation time at the Cape and in Germany. Happy trails!
– Jan Melnik, MRW, CCM, CPRW, President, Absolute Advantage