Declassified College Podcast | College Advice That Isn't Boring

Professors can unlock doors that you can't even dream of. They have decades of experience on you and can be a wealth of knowledge if you know how to ask the right questions.

In this episode, I bring in Om and Varun's clips to showcase their experiences with their professors as well as highlighting some key points from my interview with Eric.

As a student, especially at a large school, it can be tough to stand out. Are you the loud one? Are you the extremely smart one? Do you feel like you aren't anything special?

These are all questions that went through my mind, but Eric says these don't really matter. What matters is why do you want to stand out?

Eric has started a course that helps students publish a book, it started off with a small class of 24 and now each cohort is getting bigger and bigger! His next one is over 100 students!

Eric Koester is a former entrepreneur turned professor at Georgetown University. He is called "The Book Professor" because one of his classes is geared around helping students write and publish a book.

I wanted to bring on Eric to talk about what it's like from the professor's perspective of when students come and ask him "for coffee" or "to pick his brain". His responses may be different than what you expect.

Part two will come out in our next episode.

The next place on campus to find your champion is student clubs.

In this episode, I lay out 3 ways to infiltrate the "Inner Circle" of student clubs and why they are super important. I share a story about how I got to meet one of the most successful investors to graduate from UCF because I was a part of "The Young Investors Club" and I got into the "Inner Circle".

You know what a champion is... now how do you find them?

The first place to start is on campus through career services. These departments can be super helpful BUT ONLY IF YOU KNOW HOW TO USE THEM.

In this episode we go over how to leverage career services and find the ultimate champion to get you that internship or job that you've been dreaming about!

85% of jobs and internships never make it to online job boards such as LinkedIn, Indeed, Handshake, etc... So how do you find those coveted jobs that aren't posted?

Referrals aka YOUR CHAMPION

Learn how I interned at 3 Fortune 150 companies (Northwestern Mutual, Lockheed Martin, and The Hartford) and all of them came from a referral. I tried applying online and didn't even get call backs. If you're someone struggling to get a foot in the door, this is the episode you want to listen to.

Summer is fast approaching and with most "student jobs" being taken away because of the Coronavirus... what do you do with your time?

Using a similar approach to Austin Belcak's Value Validation Project (VVP), you want to build something over the summer to showcase your skills for when you're back on the internship/job search. I go over some specific projects that students can start to create during their free time. An hour or 2 a day will compound into something huge by the end of the summer!

The future of higher ed seems to be moving into online education and with the state of the Coronavirus, it may be some time before you get back into a classroom.

Now you may not like online classes and you aren't alone with that opinion, but the matter of fact is, there really isn't another way around it right now. So how can you learn how to get better at learning virtually?

Using platforms like UDemy, Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, and more! 

Crazy how fast time flies during Quarantine! We're already through season 2, the two main topics this season were Networking and LinkedIn. We got to talk with Blessing Adogame and Austin Belcak; here is a brief recap of the episodes that we had this season.

1. Getting back into the swing of things after break

2. School clubs are the ultimate hack to networking

3. How to study to a 4.0 in college

4. How to optimize your LinkedIn profile

5/6. Interview episodes with Blessing Adogame about being an international student and how to tactically use LinkedIn

7. How to network as a student

8. An unconventional approach to networking

9/10. Interview episodes with Austin Belcak about how to land a job at a Fortune 500 company and how to get a referral during the job search

11. Blueprint to finding an internship

12. How to adapt to the coronavirus as a student

These are crazy times, I've seen internships canceled, companies freezing their hiring efforts, and more. But that doesn't mean that everything is negative.

As a student, this levels the playing field and if you find ways to navigate these difficult waters, you will reap the benefits in years to come! Nows the time to double down on meeting people virtually since basically everyone is at home.