Jae B.

To clarify, not everyone here is aiming for a career in academia -- not anytime soon in my case, at least. I do think certain club or organizational activities could look good on a résumé, or even a CV. But it would definitely depend on the type of activity and the depth and quality of your participation, and how it relates to your overall goals. Professionally, in some cases outside academia at least, it can be a deal-maker to show potential employers you are not a drone: you have interests beyond just your area of education and / or employment (making you a more interesting, mature and probably more stabile person to be around -- I know people who have not gotten opportunities because they seemed too narrowly focused in one academic / professional area), youknow how to work and organize in groups even outside of contemporary organizational settings,people trust you with responsibility, and -- finally -- youknow how to manage your time well enough to comfortably take on responsibilities beyond your academics or employment. If you can demonstrate those aspects within some meaningful activity, then it might be good to note such an activity on a résumé or CV that needs a bit more meat. If you have a ton of stellar experience, you probably don't need it. But I'm noticing more and more people include this kind of stuff, I believe mainly to demonstrate leadership ability, application of learning outside the classroom or workplace, and their time management skills. These things could also be mentioned separately in a job interview, however, if there were some compelling reason. For example, if faced with one of those dreaded "weakness" questions, it might be good to say extended public speaking has been a challenge for you, but participating as a ____ in your campus Toastmaster's club has helped you become more effective at delivering lengthy presentations, as demonstrated by ____.... Would you want to put Toastmaster's club on your résumé or CV itself, though? Probably not. Not unless you happened to know the person looking at your application was a major Toastmaster's buff! That said, while I might include other skill building activities or leadership, I have not included any purely volunteer (or "charity") work on my résumé, in the spirit of it truly being voluntary -- not something for credit. Maybe I correctly interpret fuzzylogician's stance as similar? Good to know someone else feels this way. I've rejected the notion of credit for volunteer work since high school, where it was required to document it to earn an "honor crew" notation -- I didn't go for it, because it felt wrong to me. Perhaps because: it promotes self-interest motivated volunteerism, and while I like to be realistic and not all warm and fuzzy, I know the most helpful things others have done for me in my life had nothing whatsoever to do with self-gain and instead were about caring and a desire to generate equity, andit disproportionately validates documentable, "measurable" kindness and effort for others, through traditional, socially accepted means (that not even everyone has the means to regularly participate in or have transportation to), not rewarding general helpfulness or kindnesses outside of the mainstream or things that are difficult to document -- some of the most generous and thoughtful community leaders could hardly ever solidly document all the good they do...kind of unequal and unfair. While I tend to wince at "look at all my charity work" résumés, I do respect that at times it is wise to list it -- it's hard to keep volunteering if you haven't got means to sustain yourself because most of what you do is volunteer work, and in that case some credit is needed -- and agree it conveys a lot about someone's character and commitments, and may inspire more people to get involved where they see a need if they read about someone else's involvement.

gold watch

Wonder Woman

power bar

American Woman

American tail

Ha, I've already made everyone I know sign up for Dropbox with my link.... It's the best, highly recommended. Good luck, all of you! May you enjoy lots of free extra space.

I also commute via public transportation, and I've walked miles across hilly Berkeley (and SF and the East Bay in general) in a pair of black, closed-toe flats with ankle straps by BC Shoes this past semester. (I don't see them on their website anymore, nor on Free People's site -- they also carried them.) They were dressy enough for my to wear to my graduation, and even matched my gown. They are light and super comfortable. I'm still wearing them, commuting to an internship, and they still look new. A friend of mine wore BC Shoes' Stormy Weather boots (still available) practically every day all year, so I assume those are comfy as well! Very cute, look like a cross between Robin Hood boots and vintage ice skates. When it rains, I wear a pair of dressy brown knee-high Grace Gift boots from Asia, with low wood heels and replaceable rubber traction glued on the bottoms. I did not expect them to be good for walking, but they've been an absolutely excellent rain boot-alternative. And I get the most compliments for these. When I'm not in my flats, I wear velvety-soft pitch-black Adidas' sneakers with little white details. I've worn them regularly for 4+ years and they still look like new, I still get compliments on them, and they're perfect for lots of walking. I've paired them with tons of black outfits for dress occasions and interviews, and they've always looked appropriate. I do a lot of walking and plenty of other shoes have failed me over the years, so these are really good! (I just wore holes into a cute pair of trendy jazz flats. ) My former favorites were Naturalizer Sport low wedges made out of a unique breathable mesh fabric with stretchy straps across the front and Dr. Scholl's jell inserts built in. Talk about shoe nirvana. Those were the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned -- like you never think about them except that your feet never hurt and they're so cute -- and they were perfect for everything. Mine were white with details in my favorite shade of green. I finally wore them out after wearing them nearly every day for about two years -- the jell inserts kind of collapsed into the wedge heels, not visibly ruining them, but they made a hilarious squeak noise and caused me to walk a little funny. But I can't find anything else like them. I so wish I'd bought two pairs when I had the chance! I tried a pair of Naturalizer Sport high wedges (non-Dr. Scholl's) without any straps, and gah, they may be cute but they're painful after two hours...so not all Naturalizer shoes are made equal! I also have a pair of professional-looking Softwalk low-heeled boots with cushy jell insides. They feel good for the first three hours, but after that my heels still ache.

trick pony

hollaback girl

I really like French presses, but how do you keep drinks hot? (Not that it matters so much, now that it's summer time....) Mine always come out lukewarm at best. Does the plastic thermal cover, sold extra, really make a big difference?

dirt cheap

bike race

baby girl

Yeah, seriously pea-jay, you should have posted a few more times for me, so I wouldn't stand out so bad.... I think you slacked off suddenly on purpose!

dog drool

best friend

For starters, you don't know how many people let "fear of bombing the GRE" stop them from taking the test completely. I know so many people who didn't take it -- myself included. (I never even took the SAT -- think I have a big test phobia or what? ) So be proud of yourself for taking the GRE in the first place. That said, how much weight it bears depends on each individual school, department, program, and their admissions people for this particular year. The GRE might make all the difference for some schools, but may be no matter at all to others. But I would say there seems to be a growing movement against standardized tests as the be-all end-all factor, a hopeful trend indeed. More and more schools, including top programs, feel they can judge you better on more qualitative aspects of your application, or doing their own program-specific testing rather than relying on the standardized GRE. For example, one program I applied to (for 2010) required the GRE for the 2009 admissions cycle, and clearly stated that both your verbal and math scores would matter greatly in the admissions process. And this is for journalism, mind you. But for the 2010 admissions cycle, after a little staff change, the same program decided not to even consider the GRE in the application process! So, you never know. Good luck!

all-time low

I also hit the wall junior year, thinking, uh oh...who can I ask for letters of rec.? I had one professor down as a for-sure, but I had no clue for the other two letters. Being a junior transfer student, I had to work to build relationships fast. I wound up doing most of my letter-of-rec. legwork the first semester of my senior year and the summer prior to it. That probably cuts it a little too close for comfort for some, but everything worked out perfectly. You have to put in some time and effort yourself, to distinguish yourself from the pack and make it clear you are not just using the professors, but if you've been a great student in their courses so far then you're off to a solid start. My philosophy is to start acting like potential grad student today, so it makes sense on the horizon once you mention it to your professors. My suggestion would be to involve the professors you know (whom you've taken, or will take, at least two courses with) in your graduate school application process. Have some serious office hours discussions with them about it. E-mail a quick question occasionally if they don't mind that. Tell them your specific interests, what you're hoping to achieve, and what you've been doing to prepare so far. Tie your discussion of interests, preparation and objectives into the coursework you've done with each professor as much as possible, to remind them you've paid attention, you remember important specifics, you're making equally important connections, and are applying, or will continue to apply, what they've taught you -- that it really means something to you in the greater scheme of things, beyond the courses themselves. I'm not sure what this will exactly entail for your field, but it definitely is a "field" specific thing. I think part of it is -- that you should try to convey to your professors inside and outside of class -- making a behavioral shift towards being a member and aspiring expert in your field, rather than just being a student trying to get through a specific course. For example, don't just ask questions related only to your course, but that link the course to important topics that extend beyond the course material, or your specific interests. Always bring in your outside knowledge and expertise. Making those links can be appropriate in class at times, but sometimes you will have to go to office hours if it's not going to be as relevant to everyone else. Use your judgement. But I think maintaining constant curiosity can be the best way to go. Always strive to be the most interested and attentive student, and demonstrate your thinking. It'll make you stand out. If you've got much experience seeing what successful grad students act like in your field, then I'd suggest trying to model after them as much as possible, at least in matters of thinking and speaking, if not your work. This strategy definitely worked for me. It may seem quite overt to involve the professors in your grad school process -- like, duh, I want to ask you for a letter -- but I think this is good because 1) they'll expect you to ask them when the time comes (in fact, at that point it'd be weird if you didn't!), and 2) you're basically asking them in advance, how do I earn your strongest recommendation? (But without actually saying that and, instead, being methodological.) And if they're in your field and would mean enough to you to ask them for a letter, why not ask them for advice about your school selection, who to speak to for more information, who would be good to work with at the graduate level with your particular interests, and -- perhaps most importantly -- what preparation you should be doing now to be a competitive applicant, demonstrating your readiness for graduate study? This will also give you a sense of what the professors think of you, what you should be doing, what your potential weaknesses are, and hopefully will help you become a better applicant. Honoring them by asking for their advice, and showing them effort on your part towards applying their advice (but without being submissive of course -- this is your gig and you also benefit from being on top of it yourself and having a mind of your own -- I did not take all of my professors' exact advice but I certainly showed them positive efforts and thoughtfulness in the direction of their suggestions) can feature your commitment, focus, and willingness to go the extra mile. That's all more than just performing well in a course or two, and hopefully would be reflected in your recommendation letters! Good luck to you.

low rise

That's so exactly what I did. Starbucks and B&N.

ear wash

door knob

high tops