Summer vacation has peaked, and you’ve had a chance to lounge in the sun. Now it’s time to embark on an adventure…whether it’s meeting your favorite vampire in Twilight, enjoying the romance of a lifetime in Jane Eyre, or exacting vengeance in The Count of Monte Cristo. There are so many worlds to explore and discover, and summer is the perfect time to do it. Reading over the summer is relaxing and fun, but that’s not the only compelling reason. It will also help you become more successful in and out of school:

Research has shown that the average student loses up to one month of school instruction over the summer… it’s often referred to as the “summer slide.” These learning losses can accumulate over the years and have devastating effects on the outcome of your school career.

In addition to preventing summer setbacks, reading over the summer also promotes and maintains good study habits and good grades. Studies also show that for every one million words you read, you will add another one thousand words to your vocabulary.

There are many reasons to enjoy a good book over the summer. So sit back, relax, and enjoy!

You’ve got the grades. You’ve got the activities. You’ve got the wide array of interests, the killer essay, and the teacher and neighbor who will tell every college in earshot how great you are. But, if you’re like a lot of students, when it comes time to fill out that “Volunteer” section of your scholarship and college applications, you may be stretching to come up with a few good examples. Well, don’t worry – not only is volunteering a painless way to help out in your community, it’s also easier than ever to find volunteer opportunities that you can do today, tomorrow, or anytime.

Scholarship America’s Dollars for Scholars program is just one organization that’s always looking for student volunteers. Many of our chapters, led by adult volunteers, need student help for events, awards nights, and general chapter business, and a lot of them even give scholarship consideration to their student volunteers. And they’re not the only ones; check out volunteermatch.org or createthegood.org to find volunteer opportunities that are tailor-made for your interest and availability.

Once you get started, you may find volunteering to be addictive, too. When you find a cause you’re passionate about and start working on it, even for a few hours a week, you’ll have a wider, more worldly perspective on it almost immediately – and when your awesome application gets you into your favorite college choice, you can check out the same resources and connect with people on campus who’ll help you take the next step.

Whether it’s helping fellow students, supporting younger kids, or serving those who are less well-off, volunteering can be much more than a field to fill out on your application.

Building a resume can be very intimidating but it is a critical part in getting hired for that perfect job.  

HR professionals and hiring managers often receive hundreds of resumes for any given position.  With hundreds of resumes to sort through at a time, they will likely only spend 10-30 seconds per resume, which means you have to make your resume stand out. 

The very first thing that you need to do even before starting your resume is to determine your objective.  Your objective should clearly state what type of job you are looking for and the skills necessary to do that job well.  For helpful questions to determine what type of job you are looking for, refer to our article Finding a Summer Job.

Once you have determined your objective you can start building your resume around that objective.  Remember that the most important roll of the resume is to obtain an interview.   You need to be clear and concise.  Think of it this way, if you were the interviewer what job qualifications would you be looking for?

Now that you’ve determined what you need to include make sure you use bullet points and short sentences in describing your skills and qualifications.  Having key phrases will help the reader see the most important information at a glance.  Don’t worry about listing the specifics; you’ll be able to discuss that in the interview.

Also be sure that you use action words.  Words like: prepared, managed, and developed will help your resume to stand out. 

By following these guidelines you will be able to build a resume that will stand out among 100’s.

You can never start looking for a summer job or internship too early.  It takes a lot of time, research and planning. 

The first step is to find a field of work that interests you.  To figure out what you are interested in you can start by answering a few basic questions:

· What am I really interested in?

· Do I want to use this time for career related experience, just for fun, or just for cash?

· How much money do I need/want/am capable of making?

· How much time (weeks, hours, days) do I want to work? 

Once you have answered these questions you can narrow down your search and move onto the next step which is to research prospective employers.  Research will help you identify jobs that you are interested in applying for and will help you to prepare for your interview.

Next you should start writing your resume and cover letter.  This is an extremely important part of the process as your resume is what will get you an interview.  Your personal Zinch profile is also a ready-made resume that you can share with employers to show off your accomplishments and work experience.

Next you must prepare for and schedule interviews.  Interviews are a great way to reiterate your qualifications for the job and how your past and present experiences will help you with the position.  Part of preparing for this will be done in the research portion by knowing about the company and about the potential job. 

Finally, be sure to send a thank you note after the interview.   In addition to it being a nice gesture, it will show the employer that you are still interested in the position and will help your interviewer to remember you. The note can either be hand written and delivered or simply emailed to the interviewer.   

Where: Europe
Who: Students studying French. Also, students interested in art, cuisine, fashion, architecture and history are well-suited to enjoy their time studying in France.
When:  Summer months are May to September. If you want to avoid the tourist season then you should make your time in France between December and March.
Perks & Tips: While you study abroad in France you can concentrate on nearly any subject. The students with a passion for the arts, architecture and history are usually the ones that flock to the country in the highest numbers. That isn’t much of a surprise considering that France has been the center of the arts, as well as an international player, for centuries.
Students of the arts can visit the Louvre to view the works of French artists such as Monet, Matisse and Renoir. Architecture students can see nearly every style of architecture including, The Gothic Chateau de Chambord, built in the 1500s; Place Dauphine built in 1607 in Baroque style; and the post-modern housing development, Marne-la-Vallee. History students will find that over the course of the centuries, France has been the stage for the most important developments in the history of mankind, including the French Revolution, the rise of Napoleon and the rise of the Fifth Republic under President Charles de Gaulle. It was also the site of the D-Day invasion of WWII. Besides being an excellent location for learning France will also provide you with the opportunity to enjoy fine cuisine, fashion and beautiful scenery.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to study abroad in France by Shouting Out to StudyAbroad.com.

Study Abroad in France

It’s a known fact that extra-curricular activities definitely make a difference when you’re applying for college. Out of the countless activities you could do, I’d like to focus on running for student government.

If you’re interested in change, planning events or have political aspirations, you should consider running for student council. Most high schools hold elections for class representatives as well as associated student body representatives.

Whether you’re running for President or Treasurer, here are some steps you should take when putting together your campaign:

1. Make your campaigns BIG! Big color posters are the way to go. Try to come up with snappy slogans that are memorable.

2. Give out freebies. Don’t spend a lot, but everyone loves candy. Carry around a couple of bags while you’re campaigning. Your lab partner will certainly vote for you.

3. Present yourself effectively. Everyone loves to laugh. Make sure your speeches use humor and aren’t too serious. Also look for other ways to promote yourself, like on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

4. Remain true to yourself. There is no need to change who you are in order to win. In fact, if you try to be someone you’re not, you probably won’t win. Don’t over promise what you can do if you win the election.

Let me know if you have any campaign “must-dos” to share with the Zinch community. Also, make sure that you keep your profile updated with all of your activities!

*Tips from the following articles How to win a class election and How to Run for Student Council

With the school year slowly but surely coming toward an end, it’s natural that your thoughts are going to turn to summer, and everything that comes with it. There’s freedom from classes, long days on the beach … and summer jobs. And while you may rather be cruising around outside, the fact is that summer jobs are sometimes a necessity. (That car’s not going to fill itself with gas, after all.)

However, if you’re aiming for college, work can also be a distraction. So when you’re applying for summer jobs, there are a few things you can do to ensure you don’t lose track of your larger goal. The easiest — and most fun — is to ensure that you’re looking for jobs that fit with your interests. Planning on going to college to become a teacher? Spend your summer working with kids at a day-care provider or Boys and Girls’ Club. Looking into athletic scholarships? Keep in shape doing outdoor work like house painting or landscaping. Aspiring business school type? Find a small business where you can see more of the day-to-day operation of things. Essentially, your summer job can be a paid internship for your future career. (This article has some more excellent suggestions and some really good application tips.)

Speaking of pay, make sure you know what you’re getting into. If you’re taking on a summer job, you should have some sense of how much money you want to earn and/or what you want to achieve with your new earnings. Once you’ve figured that out, you can tailor your job search a little further — if you need to pay for a semester of college, your work goals are going to be quite a bit different than if you just need to pay your cell phone bill every month. (To help you budget, check out this map of minimum wage rates across the country, and don’t forget that restaurant jobs often pay less than minimum wage and expect the difference to be made up in tips!)

Last but not least, regardless of your summer job, make sure you take a second one: finding scholarships and financial aid. If you’re spending 16 hours a week at work, spend another 4 researching scholarships, ensuring your FAFSA and other paperwork are in order, and polishing a great application essay or two. Devoting just a little time each week to doing this can pay off big — after all, finding a $5,000 scholarship with 4 hours of work is a way better hourly rate than minimum wage.

Making the Most of Your College Experience

A few months ago, Zinch polled a bunch of college sophomores about their first year college experience. We found out a lot of good stuff. Below are some highlights and some feedback on how to have a successful first year.

Top 5 Recommendations for a Successful Freshman Year:

1. Go to class

While entering freshmen were somewhat worried about their academic preparation from high school, the reality was far less of a problem. More than 25% of entering freshman were concerned or very concerned about their academic preparation. But more than 44% found their high school preparation stronger than expected.

The difficulty of college courses was, in fact, the second greatest concern entering freshmen had about academics. (After workload.) Fortunately, course difficulty was less of a problem in reality than anticipated.

Another student said, “Go to class! Having all this freedom, there is a desire to sleep in once in a while. Don’t!”

2.  Get out of your dorm room and participate in campus activities

Most freshmen — 70% — participated in campus activities, with more than 40% getting very involved in organized clubs. Only about 3% of our sample played varsity athletics, only slightly more than half said they would continue playing their varsity sport in their sophomore year.

Students who said they didn’t have a successful freshman year were significantly less likely to have participated in campus activities. They also didn’t have enough spending money and were far more stressed about money.

About 40% of freshmen held part-time jobs, mostly on campus. Half of those students worked between 5 and 10 hours a week, and almost as many worked between 10 and 20 hours a week.

What advice do happy upperclassmen have for entering freshmen?

“Make time beyond studying for some healthy activities. Sure you’ll party. But don’t make college just about partying.”

3.  Do your reading on a regular basis

Many students had fears about the academic workload.  We found this was the biggest concern among entering freshmen. And indeed, the reality was closer to the expectation than any other factor. Some 60% of students said they were concerned, and 30% said it was tougher than expected.

The reality is college will be different from high school; you already know that. The workload is different; the pace is different; and there is very little handholding. What does it take to succeed?

One student responded, “Everything moves at a much faster pace. The trick is to keep up with the reading.”

4.  Be considerate of your roommate

So what advice did our respondents say about living with strangers?

“Always try to be kind and courteous to your roommates, and be considerate of them. Keep your area(s) clean. It also helps to have a working agreement about who takes care of what bigger tasks like cleaning the bathroom and floor.”

5.  If you don’t get along with your roommate, change roommates sooner rather than later

71% of freshmen reported that before getting assigned a roommate, their college sent them a questionnaire asking about preferences and habits. So how useful – or successful – was that “matching” service? Mixed!

Only 28% said their match was bad or awful. But 20% said pretty good and 30% said great! What was interesting – or a warning to college administrators who administer these questionnaires – is that the “success rate” of matching was just marginally better for those who completed questionnaires.

“Communication is key because without communication neither will resolve a problem if one exists.”

As we approach Valentine’s Day, I was thinking about the similarities between choosing a college and choosing a prom date. Have you ever noticed how closely linked they are?

Let’s look at ‘Jenny’ wanting to find a date to the prom and compare her story to ‘Dan’ who is trying to find a college.

First, Jenny looks around for possible dates, guys she would like to go with and that will of course look cute in the pictures. When she finds a few she likes, she might pay them a little more attention and wait for an invitation.  Now Dan is a senior and trying to decide where to spend the next four years of his life. He narrows it down to a few he finds interesting and requests information.

Jenny has displayed her interest by shamelessly flirting. Now she is being pursued by one or all of her beaus with flowers, dates, phone conversations, etc. After requesting some information, Dan is now pursued by his chosen few colleges with promises of exciting campus life, scholarships, and excellent programs.

Now is the hard part. Jenny decides to choose the best of her candidates. The one who will pay her the most attention, provide her with the best dinner, and who she thinks she’ll have the best time with. Dan also has a decision to make and will most likely make his decision based on the same principles as Jenny.

See, not too different.

We like to think of ourselves as cupid, here at Zinch. We are committed to connecting you to the school that fit your needs. As always, keep us posted on your love connections! And have a great Valentines!

Okay, so we know some people aren’t smarter than a fifth grader, but are you smarter than a celebrity? We found the SAT scores of some people you just might know and where they went to college. Bill Gates? George W. Bush? Read on to see how you stacked up next to some pretty important people in the world, courtesy ofPowerScore.com. The scores are a combination of Reading (800) and Math (800).

Paul Allen: 1600
Microsoft co-founder
Washington State University

Bill Gates: 1590
Microsoft co-founder
Harvard University

Bill O’Reilly: 1585
Political commentator and host of The O’Reilly Factor
Marist College

James Woods: 1579
Actor (Scary Movie 2, Any Given Sunday)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Ben Stein: 1573
Actor and game show host (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Win Ben Stein’s Money)
Columbia University

Al Gore: 1355
45th Vice President of the United States
Harvard University

Stephen King: 1300s
Author (The Shining, The Green Mile)
University of Maine

Meredith Vieira: 1300s
Television Host (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, The Today Show)
Tufts University

George W. Bush: 1206
43rd President of the United States
Yale University

Amy Tan: 1100s
Author (The Joy Luck Club)
San Jose State University

Bill Clinton: 1032
42nd President of the United States
University of Oxford

Al Franken: 1020
Actor, author, and political commentator (Saturday Night Live)
Harvard University

Howard Stern: 870
Radio Personality
Boston University