I am plunging into two independent study classes in Buenos Aires, Argentina next semester that have a technology and entrepreneurship focus. Unfortunately, I am not yet a millionaire. So like the other five percent of college students embarking on their once in a lifetime journey this academic year, I too am frantically applying for scholarships every chance I get. If anyone has gone through the process of applying to anything school or scholarship related, you know how daunting of a task it can be.
I was meeting with one of my advisers the other day and I teasingly asked him if I could get credits for all of the work I was doing in terms applications, meetings, and essays I had to do in order to study abroad. He laughed and replied “Wouldn’t that be nice.”
Once I left his office with ear buds in place and music in queue, I thought to myself, “that WOULD be nice.” After cranking out a few ideas, I came up with the following solutions, benefits, and requirements for Apply 101.
Requirements
The student must have at least five organizations (grad schools, scholarships, etc.) that he or she is applying to and have them written and explained to their counselor in order to sign up for the class. This would weed out students who were not serious about the class and those who were just trying to take it to get an A.
Benefits
Students would have more time to focus on applications that would result in increased selection and quality.
Solutions
As an added incentive, a portion of the student’s grade is determined by how many positive responses they get by the end of their application process.
I know more than a few people (myself included) who would have benefited from a class like this. As I have said before, large universities are like large corporations in that they are slow to innovate. This logical class offering would be a small, yet easy step in the right direction.
The Cube
It’s True.
If you have an iPhone, The Rubik’s Cube can be solved in 20 moves or better. To learn more about this app, go here. For those of us who don’t have an iPhone, it will be a little more work, but this website has go us covered.
