What is your next step after college? What happens if you want to follow a non-traditional career path? Unfortunately, society has conditioned us to think in a limited capacity. You’re told to pick a major from a setlist and then pick a job that's connected, and then just do that for the rest of your life until you die. This isn’t your only option. 

In this episode, I want to talk about creating your own reality, setting your own rules, and creating a career you want. This requires you to think outside the box, think beyond the set menu that high school and colleges provide, and create a career path you want to pursue, no matter what that looks like or how alternative it is from your peers.

Learn how you can exert more power over your own life and what you envision it to look like, and then take action to achieve it.

What We Cover:

• What is your next step after college?
• The importance of thinking big and thinking outside the box
• Why college is not a life skills boot camp
• An inside look at a nontraditional career path
• An exercise to help you envision what you want your life to look like

“College is not going to teach you how to make decisions, figure out what you want, find meaning and purpose in life.” - Cathleen

“There's so much pressure on just getting into college. And then there's not a lot of support and advice and resources out there for like, Well, what do you do next?” - Cathleen 

Thanks for listening, and if you like what you’ve heard, subscribe and listen to The Bold Student Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget to spread the word by leaving a review or sharing this podcast with your friends!

LINKS MENTIONED:

If you’re a high school, college, or even post graduate looking for direction, join my Life Skills Bootcamp course covering time management, decision-making, mindset, manifestation, and money. 

If you’re a high school student in 9th-12th grade or the parent of one, I work with a small cohort of students annually and help them develop the core traits I discussed in the podcast and apply to selective colleges. You can apply to work with me below:

Apply to Work with Cathleen 

I cover mindset and manifestation in more depth in my 5-month program for 9th-11th graders, The Admitted Mastermind.

The next round starts in September, and you can apply here.

Follow Cathleen on Instagram & DM with any questions @lifeandcollegecoach

If you want to stand out from the sea of college applicants vying for a spot at your dream college, you shouldn’t just join random clubs at your school --because every other high schooler is already doing that. What you need to do is become the creator of your own extracurricular activities. What I mean is, you need to start small and start early to find a unique passion project (or theme) that’s related to your interest and solve a problem around it.

In this episode, I’m talking about being innovative and standing out when it comes to your extracurricular activities. Innovation and uniqueness are key traits for getting admitted to your dream college and necessary for setting yourself up for success in college and life. That’s why I’m giving you my best tips and tricks to help you identify a niche area of interest, develop ideas for your extracurricular passion project and execute it with success.

What We Cover:

• What it means to create your own activities
• Why you have to start small to go big
• An example passion project
• How to find a real-world problem with real-world implications

“You want to make sure that you're seeking out accomplishments that are hard to explain. Not hard to do.” - Cathleen

“You want to showcase to college admissions officers that you are able to solve actual problems that exist in the world. Not the experiments you're doing in a controlled lab and your AP bio classroom.” - Cathleen

”Highly selective colleges are looking for students who have potential to be world leaders, game-changers, and entrepreneurs who go out, find a problem, come up with a solution, and does whatever it takes to not get discouraged in the face of challenges.” - Cathleen

Connect with

Thanks for listening, and if you like what you’ve heard, subscribe and listen to The Bold Student Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget to spread the word by leaving a review or sharing this podcast with your friends!

LINKS MENTIONED:

If you’re a high school student in 9th-12th grade or the parent of one, I work with a small cohort of students annually and help them develop the core traits I discussed in the podcast and apply to selective colleges. You can apply to work with me below:

Apply to Work with Cathleen 

Interested in a one of a kind 6 week group coaching EXPERIENCE to help YOU create a theme AKA your unique area of specialization? Establish the foundation of becoming a Uniquely Impressive, Trailblazing Leader so that you can get into your dream colleges and change the world with ease and joy! If The Admitted Mastermind sounded like it was for you, you'll love Theme Queen™. Join Theme Queen™ here. 

Follow Cathleen on Instagram & DM with any questions @lifeandcollegecoach

Stop wasting your time doing activities that don’t get you closer to your goal. Yep, I said it. If your goal is getting into highly selective colleges, you need to make sure you’re showing leadership and dedication towards a niche area of specialization and not wasting your time doing activities that aren't serving you in reaching your goals. But where do you start?

In this episode, I’m talking all about my proven Productivity Planner exercise, which I teach inside The Admitted Mastermind. Not only am I explaining why less is more, but I’m also breaking down how to create your Productivity Planner, what you need to include in each section, and how this exercise will help you be ruthless in taking things off your plate and quitting activities that are not serving your goals.

What We Cover:

• Why we can’t do all the things & what we need to do instead
• The importance of avoiding common activities so you can stand out from the crowd
• Why you don’t need to be well-rounded
• What time management is and is not
• How to create your productivity planner

“Students who are stressed out and overwhelmed are doing too many activities. Less is more people. It is so much more impactful if you do one to two activities for a long time and get to a really high level then do 500 different things.” - Cathleen

Connect with

Thanks for listening, and if you like what you’ve heard, subscribe and listen to The Bold Student Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget to spread the word by leaving a review or sharing this podcast with your friends!

LINKS MENTIONED:

If you’re a high school student in 9th-12th grade or the parent of one, I work with a small cohort of students annually and help them develop the core traits I discussed in the podcast and apply to selective colleges. You can apply to work with me below:

Apply to Work with Cathleen 

I cover mindset and manifestation in more depth in my 5-month program for 9th-11th graders, The Admitted Mastermind.

The next round starts in September, and you can apply here.

Follow Cathleen on Instagram & DM with any questions @lifeandcollegecoach

Are you creative, motivated, ambitious, and driven? If you answered yes, and you know you don’t want to settle for an average life of working in an office, doing the same thing every day, then you're going to have to think outside the box and dare to be different from your peers. This starts with going deep to pursue a theme you’re passionate about so you can stand out from the other thousands of students applying for a spot at your dream college.

In this episode, I’m walking you through some of the roadblocks you may hit when it comes to getting classes that are aligned with your theme. Because if you want to apply to highly selective colleges and universities (and get accepted), you need to know how to pick a theme that’s true to your interest and learn ways to build a profile of extracurricular activities and research around that theme. You also need to accept that a lot of your friends aren’t going to be doing what you’re doing --and that’s okay.

What We Cover:

• What a theme is and why it’s important
• Why you can’t do what everything else is doing
• How to build a profile of extracurricular activities and research around your theme
• Why hitting roadblocks and barriers means you’re on the right path
• Three questions to answer to find your theme

“If you are ambitious and driven and you want to do things that have never been done before, or you want to get into colleges that only accept three or four out of every 100 students, you cannot follow what your friends are doing.” - Cathleen

Connect with

Thanks for listening, and if you like what you’ve heard, subscribe and listen to The Bold Student Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget to spread the word by leaving a review or sharing this podcast with your friends!

LINKS MENTIONED:

If you’re a high school student in 9th-12th grade or the parent of one, I work with a small cohort of students annually and help them develop the core traits I discussed in the podcast and apply to selective colleges. You can apply to work with me below:

Apply to Work with Cathleen 

I cover mindset and manifestation in more depth in my 5-month program for 9th-11th graders, The Admitted Mastermind.

The next round starts in September, and you can apply here.

Follow Cathleen on Instagram & DM with any questions @lifeandcollegecoach

Your major doesn’t determine the job you have in 2, 5, or even 10 years from now. Nor does it determine what kind of business you create (if you decide entrepreneurship is in your future). I’ll be totally honest, the hard skills you learn in high school and college will only get you so far. What determines your success in your career --and in life-- is discovering your truth, building relationships, and having empathy with those you encounter, plus the other soft skills you probably aren’t learning in the classroom. 

In this episode, I’m talking to Luisa Alberto, Founder & CEO of High Five Finance; a Virtual CFO agency that provides bookkeeping, tax planning, and advisory services for women business owners. She leverages 15 years of experience working closely with visionary CEOs in Ops and Finance, business ownership, and consulting to help her clients cut through the chaos and optimize their current financial position so they can achieve their goals. She graduated from Boston College (Go Eagles!) with a major in Philosophy and a minor in Latin American Studies & Faith, Peace and Justice.

Luisa shares how her inquisitive nature led her from a liberal art major to an internship at the FairTrade Certification Organization, and eventually, to running a successful online financial agency. She also shares the importance of learning soft skills over hard skills, why investing in a mentor or expert in your field will get you farther, how to articulate your unique experiences to stand out from the crowd, and the biggest lesson learned that helped lead to the creation of her business.

What We Cover:

• What CFO means and why businesses need one
• How numbers play a role in whether or not a business is able to achieve its mission
• Why your academic background doesn’t determine what business you create
• Why soft skills are essential for a successful career (and life!)
• The importance of finding a mentor and asking questions

“A lot of our success isn't tied to the skills that we have necessarily, it's tied to the relationships that we build. So if you don't learn how to build relationships, if you can't learn how to connect with another human and share with them what you care about and why it's important. I mean, that's really what makes success.” - Luisa Alberto

”You can't go wrong building those soft skills because people want to hire good people who can hold a conversation and build trust almost immediately over somebody who knows how to create a balance sheet.” - Luisa Alberto

”Most adults don't have it figured out. I think it's because we're ever-evolving people. So every experience we have teaches us something new about ourselves, about the world, about the thing we thought was going to be the thing. The more open you can be to just having as many experiences as you can that feel right in that moment, the better equipped you'll be for all the changes that will happen.” - Luisa Alberto

“How equipped are you to deal with big shifts and change? And what can you do in your life to feel like you are confident in yourself, you're confident in what you love?” - Luisa Alberto

“Getting really good at articulating how [your experiences]makes you special is a leg up in any sort of goal that you have or want to achieve in your life.” - Luisa Alberto

Connect with Luisa

Website: https://highfivefinance.com/click-me

Money Maven Membership: https://money-maven-membership.mn.co/

Thanks for listening, and if you like what you’ve heard, subscribe and listen to The Bold Student Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget to spread the word by leaving a review or sharing this podcast with your friends!

LINKS MENTIONED:

If you’re a high school student in 9th-12th grade or the parent of one, I work with a small cohort of students annually and help them develop the core traits I discussed in the podcast and apply to selective colleges. You can apply to work with me below:

Apply to Work with Cathleen 

I cover mindset and manifestation in more depth in my 5-month program for 9th-11th graders, The Admitted Mastermind.

The next round starts in September, and you can apply here.

Follow Cathleen on Instagram & DM with any questions @lifeandcollegecoach 

Not everybody is born creative --but that doesn’t mean you can’t get there. Creativity looks different for everybody, and like anything else, it’s just another discipline that you have to learn, work through, and most importantly, practice. No matter what your hobby, interest, major, or industry is, creativity, in essence, just means that you are creating something new --no matter what that looks like. How can you tap into your creative self and bring something new into the world?

In this episode, I’m talking to Shyne Webster, a Southern California-based college student, self-proclaimed "Branding Fairy Godsister," and the founder of Designed by Shyne. Specializing in human-first, holistic branding for women entrepreneurs, she's a proud advocate of fun in the workplace and is always determined to challenge the status quo! When Shyne's not working or doing schoolwork, she can be found at a coffee shop, creating content around surf/skate/sneaker culture, or designing merch [her favorite passion project.]

Shyne is sharing her insight into all things creative and critical thinking. She shares how she started a creative business as a college student, how to reduce the pressure around creativity, and why accessing your creative side is beneficial for many aspects of life. Plus, Shyne shares her biggest tip for getting your creative juices flowing.

What We Cover:

• How to overcome your creative blocks
• What creativity looks like in the non-traditional sense
• How students can use creativity in life
• Where the intersection between creativity and critical thinking is
• Two exercises to develop creative, critical thinking

“Your creativity doesn't have to look like anyone else's. As long as you're bringing something new or different or unique to the table, I think that's what creativity is really all about.”

“To create something just means to bring something new into existence. So as long as you're doing that, whether it's traditionally artistic or not, you're being creative.” - Shyne

Connect with Shyne

Instagram: @designedbyshyne

Website: https://www.designedbyshyne.com/ 

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/designedbyshyne 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/designedbyshyne  

Thanks for listening, and if you like what you’ve heard, subscribe and listen to The Bold Student Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget to spread the word by leaving a review or sharing this podcast with your friends!

LINKS MENTIONED:

The Element by Sir Ken Robinson

Finding Your Element by Sir Ken Robinson

Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon

Show Your Work by Austin Kleon

Deep Work by Cal Newport

How To Be A Highschool Superstar Without Burning Out by Cal Newport

Deep Questions Podcast by Cal Newport

If you’re a high school student in 9th-12th grade or the parent of one, I work with a small cohort of students annually and help them develop the core traits I discussed in the podcast and apply to selective colleges. You can apply to work with me below:

Apply to Work with Cathleen 

I cover mindset and manifestation in more depth in my 5-month program for 9th-11th graders, The Admitted Mastermind.

The next round starts in September and you can apply here.

Follow Cathleen on Instagram & DM with any questions @lifeandcollegecoach

Your mindset determines your success, more so than any type of strategy out there. But to actually achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself, you need to understand that how you think about yourself and what you think you're capable of is just as important as what you spend your time doing. Your mindset will help you move the needle forward towards your goals faster than anything else.  

In this episode, I’m giving you a simple tool to help you actually achieve your goals and eliminate any self-limiting beliefs you have. Whether your goals are academic-related or personal, I’ll walk you through one of my favorite mindset exercises to help you collapse the gap between who you desire to become and who you are now. I’ll also explain why approaching life with a more spiritual mindset lens can support you in achieving your goals.  

What We Cover:

• Why your mindset determines your success
• The Rules For Living list
• Why you need to be specific yet vague with your list
• How to collapse the gap between who you want to be and who you are now

“Your mindset really determines your success, more so than what you actually do.”

Thanks for listening, and if you like what you’ve heard, subscribe and listen to The Bold Student Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget to spread the word by leaving a review or sharing this podcast with your friends!

LINKS MENTIONED:

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck

If you’re a high school student in 9th-12th grade or the parent of one, I work with a small cohort of students annually and help them develop the core traits I discussed in the podcast and apply to selective colleges. You can apply to work with me below:

Apply to Work with Cathleen 

I cover mindset and manifestation in more depth in my 5-month program for 9th-11th graders, The Admitted Mastermind.

The next round starts in September and you can apply here.

Follow Cathleen on Instagram & DM with any questions @lifeandcollegecoach

If you want to write a college essay that gets accepted, you need strong writing skills and interdisciplinary thinking. To get that, you need the right tools and knowledge to implement them --and one of the best (and most underappreciated) skills out there is outlining! Outlining will not only help you map out your essay and plan what you’re going to say, but it can help you communicate your ideas more persuasively. 

In this episode, I explain why an outline is one of the most important elements for writing a strong college application, my top formatting tips to help you get started, and the specific outlining method that will help you craft a powerful college admission essay in no time.

What We Cover:

• The four-step process of writing your college application essay
• How an outline is like a roadmap
• A popular format to help you create an outline
• How to write using the dramatic outlining method
• Three questions to ask about the challenge you want to write about

“You want to think, what about you is essential for someone to know in order for them to feel like they really know who you are? Because you want the admissions officer to really know who you are and how your mind works.”

Thanks for listening, and if you like what you’ve heard, subscribe and listen to The Bold Student Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget to spread the word by leaving a review or sharing this podcast with your friends!

What if I told you that writing your college application essays is like writing in a whole new genre that you’ve never written in before?

You haven’t learned how to write like this in school because you’ve only learned about 5 paragraph essays. 

Your parents aren’t familiar with this style of writing….things have changed so much since they applied to college. 

You have to craft this thing in a way that sets you apart from the other 100,000 kids who are applying for 1,500 spots at top colleges. 

I am here to teach you HOW! Come and join me for a 3 month course, The College Essay Boot Camp!

If working with me 1:1 is what you’re feeling, you can apply here. 

Follow Cathleen on Instagram & DM with any questions @lifeandcollegecoach

LINKS MENTIONED:

If you’re a high school student in 9th-12th grade or the parent of one, I work with a small cohort of students annually and help them develop the core traits I discussed in the podcast and apply to selective colleges. You can apply to work with me below:

Apply to Work with Cathleen 

I cover mindset and manifestation in more depth in my 5 month program for 9th-11th graders, The Admitted Mastermind

The next round starts in September and you can apply here

If you’re heading into 12th grade, that means it’s time to start working on your college applications. But to write application essays that WOW college admission officers, you need a lot of content to write about, specifically content that relates to your desired major. But wait, what if you don’t even know what you want to major in yet? 

In this episode, I am sharing an amazing brainstorming exercise that will help you not only come up with topics for some of your college application essays but also start to understand whether the majors you're thinking of applying to are actually right for you. I’m helping you take the pressure off so you can figure out what you’re deeply interested in right now, write about it in your essay, and then follow it as your major.

What We Cover:

• The pressure to pick a major and figure out your career by age 18
• Top misconceptions when it comes to college application essays
• Four key traits college admission officers are looking for in your essay
• Why having a theme will help you stand out
• How to complete the brainstorming exercise

“70% of students pick the wrong major. So you might have a major in mind that's not quite right for you.”

“This is just one of the many brainstorming exercises I teach my students to help them generate interesting content and ideas because your college application essays count for up to 30% of the admissions decision, which is huge. And through this deep introspective work, you can also start to figure out what you're drawn to and what you're not. A lot of students pick the wrong major.”

Thanks for listening, and if you like what you’ve heard, subscribe and listen to The Bold Student Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget to spread the word by leaving a review or sharing this podcast with your friends!

My epic 3 month College Essay Boot Camp is now open for enrollment! This is your everything you need to know about college application essays course -- it’s helped my students get into Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, and dozens more top colleges!

There are limited spots available...I’m waiting for you!

Apply to work with Cathleen

Join here: https://www.thecollegeessaybootcamp.com/

 Find out more about The Edvisory and working with Cathleen here: https://www.theedvisoryla.com/

Follow Cathleen on Instagram @lifeandcollegecoach

Exploring alternative career paths should be encouraged, not discouraged. Do you want to know why? Because sometimes those “traditional” jobs you are told to work towards will not bring you the happiness you seek in life. I am all about aligning your passions with your career, and sometimes, that career might look completely different than your expectations.

For example, having an interest in writing doesn’t mean you need to be a novelist on the New York Times best-seller list (although if that’s your goal, go for it!) or even stay in academia to write research papers for the rest of your career. Instead, your writing skills can be used in various industries and various ways --and a copywriter is just one of them! 

In this episode, I am talking to Caroline Mays, writer, biographer, and the creator of Switchblade Lemonade, a vitally unorthodox image crafting and biography salon, where she helps corporate refugees approach branding from a different angle so they can use their personal history or "story" to pivot into positions of authority.

During our conversation, we talk about why so many adults end up in misaligned careers and how that leads to unhappiness, why staying curious enough to ask questions will get you further in life and business, plus we chat about the non-traditional career possibilities that are out there for students (and adults) and the importance of chasing your passions.

What We Cover:

• How to give people the support to find alternative routes to what they love
• Why you need to take your ideas seriously, not yourself
• How to choose the right support system
• What it means to have golden handcuffs in your job
• Why you need to find opportunities that align with your vision

“Giving people the support to find alternative routes to what they love is one way we can be helping younger people.” -  Caroline Mays

“I think that's what's hard about doing something alternative because so many people take that logical path, but it might be the completely wrong decision for you and a waste of time and money.” -  Caroline Mays

”If you're in something that you can do on autopilot, and doesn't move you forward in any way doesn't change your brain on a daily basis for the better, then that could lead to mediocrity or just total unhappiness.” -  Caroline Mays

Connect with Caroline:

Website: https://www.switchbladelemonade.com/

Thanks for listening, and if you like what you’ve heard, subscribe and listen to The Bold Student Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget to spread the word by leaving a review or sharing this podcast with your friends!

If you’re a 9th or 10th-grade student (or parent), apply to The Admitted Mastermind, a 5 month college prep program for ambitious high school students. The next round starts July 3rd, and spots are extremely limited!

Read about the program and submit an application here: https://theadmittedmastermind.com/

Apply to work with Cathleen

Looking for a self-guided group program to help you get into college? The Admitted Masterclass Membership is Cathleen’s 6 masterclasses to help you level up and stand out in the college admissions process

https://www.admittedmasterclassmembership.com/

Find out more about The Edvisory and working with Cathleen here: https://www.theedvisoryla.com/

Follow Cathleen on Instagram @lifeandcollegecoach