Should I Switch Majors? - Reader Question

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I was recently asked a question by a college student that I felt was well worth discussing. He told me about how much he regretted choosing his college major. He was looking for advice on whether or not to change college majors. I figured I could respond best using a full article. Hopefully it will help some of my readers too.

Hold on a second. You want to switch college majors? I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume you put a whole lot of thought into selecting your first college major. Considering you put all that thought into selecting your first college major, why are you now changing your mind?

I know this can sound like I'm being a bit harsh but please stick with this. I switched majors in college too. It's not a horrible thing. I just want to make sure you can look at this honestly.

You made a mistake the first time you picked a major. If you can admit that then you're on the right track. That being said, since you made a mistake the first time you made this decision, what makes you think you're not making a mistake this time?

The Second Requires More Than The First

Selecting your college major in the first place can be difficult. No one wants to go down the wrong path and lose years of their life to a major that's not quite right. Some high school students spend years working on solving this problem. Eventually though, most of them come to some confidence in their selection of majors.

If you want to switch majors then deciding which major to switch to should require even more commitment than you had with your original major. What do I mean by that?

If you were 90% sure you wanted to go for your first major then to switch to new major you should be well more than 90% (I'd say 95% or more) sure you want to go to the second major.

Sadly, most students that switch majors aren't that confident. The fact that they screwed up their decision in the first place destroys their confidence. If you screw up a decision when you're 90% sure you're right then it should be really difficult to be 90% sure again. That's natural. (If it's not then I think you need to do some soul searching.)

Going to college is not cheap.

If you're taking out loans to go to college then you're losing tens of thousands of dollars a year. Even in the highest paying fields around, that's going to take a while to pay off. Every month that you spend in a major that doesn't increase your future income, you're making a mistake.

Even if your school is completely paid for. It's a big mistake to lose sight of the years you're wasting. If you're like most college students, you're under 25. These are some of the best potential years of your life. You can do more now then you'll ever be able to do in the future.

College is expensive in every sense of the word. If you're not using college like a real investment then you're making a mistake.

Consider The Hard Decision

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Before you think about switching majors, consider the possibility of leaving college. I know... everyone tells you that's one of the most stupid things you can do but consider it. Do it solely to prove you're not just staying in college to make everyone happy. Leave college out of the equation. What are you motivated to do right now if you're out of college?

Anything?

Some people have a very clear answer. Some want to start businesses. Some want to work at good trade jobs. Some want to travel. If you have an answer like this then know it before you decide to switch majors. Is switching majors really what you want to do? If you're driven enough to do crazy-awesome things then you can always go back to college later. (As long as you're smart enough not to make life trapping decisions.)

Of course, your clear answer might be, get into this particular career field. To get into that field you might need college. If you don't need college for a basic position in that field then consider getting into that field without college. (If you want to be a nurse, spend some time as a CNA. Sure, you won't get perfect experience but you'll learn to appreciate the environment. Or, of course, you might learn you hate it.) If you absolutely need college and want to get in that field more than all your other goals then college is likely the route you should be taking.

That being said, most people don't have any particular goals. Most people use college as a testing ground for potential futures.

I hate to break it to you but college is a really expensive place to be experimenting with futures. If you want to know what you want to do for a living then get a few crappy jobs in environments that you might want to be in. If you want to be a building project manager then get a crappy construction job. If you want to be a doctor, get a crappy hospital job. You get a paid chance to learn what the environment is really like. You'll get to watch people in the position you want to hold. Do you think you'd enjoy doing what they're doing? If not, don't. If so then you can be on your way to a new major.

That doesn't guarantee you'll like the job when you get it but it's a whole lot more effective than studying random things from a textbook about the career field.

Don't make the mistake of assuming you need college to become successful and happy. (It can certainly help if you're in the right field of study but until you know where you're going, you're going to be wasting a lot of time and money with it.)

Should You Switch?

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If you're damn sure then you should switch majors.

There are exceptions to needing that rule though.

If college is getting paid off as you go to school (no debt) then don't worry as much about it being perfect (as long as you're sure the money will keep coming.)

If you've gained knowledge about the major you're switching into outside of school (like from a job) and that caused you to be interested in that career field. You're probably more capable of making that decision than you think you are. Trust yourself if you've actually gained knowledge about the knew major.

If you're major switch barely changes any of your required courses then you don't have to be quite as sure while switching too. (If switching back would only require a couple other classes then it's hardly worth stressing about.) This works for switches between closely related majors.

If you're still struggling to decide whether or not to switch majors then try looking at yourself from an external perspective. If you saw a person like you planning to switch majors, would you bet on that person making a smart decision. Bear in mind, they screwed up once. Do you have any reason to believe this person is not screwing up again?

(If this person studied for hours about the new major in their free time, or if this person learned about the major from career experience, or if this person knows why they picked the wrong major in the first place, you can be sure they're more suited to make the decision now than they were before.)

Does that mean you should stay in a major you hate? Unless you're eerily close to getting the degree then I would still recommend getting out of your major. No... you don't have to quit school. Just take a leave of absence for a year or two. Get a few jobs. By playing around in the outside world you'll be much better suited to make the right major decision when you get back. As long as you make smart decisions you won't have any problem getting back into the school rhythm.

Are you tired of hearing the same boring old advice from everyone around you? Do you want to know how to study faster than ever? That's what this blog is all about. Be sure to check out the books and the archives for piles more o' awesome school hacks.

How To Use Caffeine For Studying

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It's the number one smart drug in the world. You'd be hard pressed to find an office that doesn't serve copious amounts of it to it's employees. It can be used to increase productivity significantly. More relevant to you, it can be used to increase your ability to study.

That all being said, it's a drug. While it may not be as heavily regulated as something like Adderall, its screwing around with your brain chemistry. That shouldn't be taken as lightly as many 9-5 employees treat it. By taking the time to use caffeine properly, you can see more positive results with significantly less risk to yourself.

(Of course, for legal reasons, this isn't medical advice. Get professional advice before doing anything medical.)

There are a few things you need to know before planning to use caffeine to study.

The Obvious

Like I said before, caffeine is a drug. Never treat it like less than that. If you're not willing to properly research how to use it, you shouldn't be using it in the first place. It's not magic. It's just a small improvement when used properly. (It's not even an improvement for everyone.)

How Do You Treat A Drug...

When I say to treat it like a drug, I'm not kidding. If you were planning to administer Adderall to yourself. You wouldn't take in Adderall drinks randomly through the day. With caffeine, that's the typical approach for many students.

You shouldn't be drinking caffeinated beverages if you want to use caffeine for studying. It introduces tons of new potential problems.

First of all, it's risky. Caffeine has a relatively low lethal dose.

Second, more caffeine is not always a good thing. When you increase the dosage too much, it can easily overstimulate you. You might even get anxiety that makes it impossible for you to effectively study.

Third, managing doses allows you to actual know how effective different doses of caffeine are. We're not all the same. Some people need more or less caffeine to be at their peak. (Some need none.) If you don't manage doses then you'll never be able to find the appropriate dose for you.

Fourth, you need to be able to tell the difference between a sugar rush, caffeine rush, and just ingesting calories. The fewer the variables you can use, the better off you're going to be.

Yes. Not drinking caffeine can mean no soda, no energy drinks, and significantly less fun. If you're unwilling to do that then forget about trying to use it any more effectively.

Cycling Caffeine

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Caffeine seriously messes with your brain chemistry. It can become addictive. Over time, the same dosage of it gets less and less effective. If you ever work in an office then you're bound to find some employees that take 5 or 6 huge cups of coffee to get through the morning. This is a depressing consequence of a complete addict.

Cycling is using planning your caffeine usage for periods of time while staying free of caffeine for other times. When you're on caffeine, you get to enjoy all the benefits of it. While you're off caffeine again, your body gets to readjust back to it's normal chemical levels. By planning your cycles right, you don't have to worry about needing to increase your dose in the future. You also get to limit your withdrawal symptoms to however much you're willing to suffer.

The exact plans for your cycling should depend significantly on your goals.

Experimentation

Treat your intake of caffeine like you're doing a science experiment. You want to test the dosages effectiveness. To properly do this, you should probably be using caffeine in a pill form.

The most simple experiment you can do is take a small dosage, study, and then note how good you feel about the study session. Then take a few days off caffeine and repeat it with a new dosage. (Include at least one day recording how you feel without taking the caffeine.) After a few days, look at which days seemed most effective. It's not too scientific but it's much easier than actual full experiments.

To do a full experiment you should do multiple trials and tests using something like flash cards. This can be a major process with plenty of hiccups. It's ideal but most people will probably pass on it.

I've found some of my most effective dosages to be half a pill. Do not overestimate how much caffeine you really need. Too much is much worse than too little. Good luck studying when you feel like hopping up and down for an hour and a half.

Keep in mind that some people will study better without caffeine. (In fact, some people could probably use a little tranquilizer. That's so far out of my scope that I couldn't tell you anything about it.)

When To Use Caffeine

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In the ideal scenario, you should use caffeine at least 10 minutes before your study session. That isn't particularly easy though.

Once you down a caffeine pill, you can start to feel a rush almost instantly. Most of that is just in your head. Sitting and waiting 10 minutes before studying is tough. You'll probably want to do something else for ten minutes. That being said, after 10 minutes, you better hope you're disciplined enough to start studying.

It's ideal to wait a few minutes to study but it's usually more practical just to take caffeine right before you study. You won't be at the peak of focus when you start but you'll probably see a significant improvements by the time you finish studying. (When you study for short periods of time like this blog recommends, you may not even reach your peak studying by the time you finish. That being said, it can still improve your studying noticeably.)

This schedule comes with some problems though. If you're studying in the afternoon or later, any caffeine you take may interrupt your ability to sleep at night. (I've found that I can't consume much caffeine past 2 without noticeable sleep problems.) Given the choice between caffeine while studying or a good night sleep, always pick the good night sleep.

So, use caffeine in the morning before you study. The later in the day it gets, the more natural you should be studying.

(Of course, there may be some perfect super low dosage that can help you later in the day but that's a set of experiments I haven't found.)

The Less Obvious Benefits

There are a significant number of studies that show tons of assorted health benefits of regularly consuming caffeine. It's a drug that's been shown to help prevent a number of problems in the future. Once you learn to properly manage the risks and benefits, it can be a very reasonable risk to take.

That being said, you shouldn't need it. Anyone should be able to study fine without a stimulant. You should be doing everything in your power to prevent dependency on it. Many studies have shown that caffeine can produce dependency issues and those issues will make it significantly more difficult to manage it in the future.

I personally limit my usage of caffeine significantly these days. While the benefits can be very noticeable, it comes at a risk the studies will never be able to prove. Whenever I take something like that, I can't help but wonder if I'm giving my body an excuse to get lazy without the drug. Mentally, I'm accepting that I'm not at my peak without the caffeine. That is just plain depressing for me.

Do I still use it? Sometimes. Do I need it? Hell no.

Do you want to know the secrets of studying in less than 15 minutes a day without your grades lowering? (You don't even need the caffeine.) That's what this blog is all about. Be sure to follow and check of the ebooks for more information.

How To Study The Subjects You Hate

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Let's face it. There are subjects you're going to hate. Despite that hate, you're going to need to pass them to progress in school. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Honestly, the fact that you're able to tell the difference between the subjects you hate and the subjects you like is a good sign. (I know it sounds pretty weird but tons of students just despise everything blindly.)

Unfortunately, hating a subject comes with some problems.

You cannot study a subject you hate nearly as easily as you can study a subject you enjoy. Your brain is designed to memorize things that are important to you. If you hate it then you're admitting that it's probably not all that important to you (at least at a gut level.) Subjects that you enjoy can stick a whole lot easier.

What can you do about this?

The Wrong Answers

I can remember the same piece of advice from every teacher I discussed this with. They would tell me how great the subject is and try to convince me it's important logically. That was never the real problem I was having though. I hated math. I knew it was important. A huge percentage of the good jobs in the world require at least a basic understanding of math. None of that mattered. I still just hated it.

Logic is not the solution to hating a subject because, odds are, your decision to hate the subject wasn't logical.

I eventually got one piece of advice that was semi-useful.

A friend of mine told me to, “pretend that you like it.” Instead of just hating the subject, pretend that you're the kind of student that enjoys the subject. By attempting that strategy I saw instant positive results in my output but it didn't take long before I lost that drive to pretend. (It's mentally draining.)

What Got Me To Like Math

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I'd like to say that my sudden interest in math was related to a conscious effort on my part but it was partially just dumb luck. That being said, I was able to create a strategy that I've successfully with future subjects I didn't enjoy.

What got me to like math? I got into programming. Programming is heavily based on logic most of it could be done without using much actual math. That being said, to go deep into certain aspects of programming, math is a requirement.

Suddenly, I had an incentive to learn math. At that point, learning to enjoy math just happened naturally.

What is the strategy I took from this experience?

Love a subject for what you would love to do with it. I hated math but as soon as I found programming, learning math became an enjoyable process. You may hate English class. Instead of going for the reasons the teachers tell you to go, go for your own personal reason. (Maybe you like to find new words to sound smart. Or maybe you prefer to make fun of the idiotic things most novel characters do.)

It can be difficult to find a personally relevant reason to enjoy a subject but it's one of the most powerful options you have.

It's not the only way though.

Experiment With Delivery

This is another one of your most powerful options.

Sometimes students end up hating a subject just because of the crappy way schools try to teach it. By crappy, I mostly mean, not personally relevant. Depending on your teachers, you may never get your learning style properly involved in the education of the subject. If you've never had the chance to learn it at your peak then it's no surprise you hate the subject.

If you can't enjoy a subject from school, try finding sources that can explain that subject outside of the school environment. I know... it can sound miserable to search for educational stuff outside of school but you should at least know whether or not it's the subject or the sources that are driving you nuts.

For example, if you find history class boring, you can find a ton of history podcasts that explain it in a much more fun way. That's not even close to your only option though. There are comics, graphic novels, songs, and just about anything else you can think of. Learning history doesn't just have to be a boring lecture.

Find a new source of information on a subject and see if it helps the subject get through to you.

Minimalism And Prioritization

The regular readers of this blog are probably pounding their heads against the keyboard screaming, “NOT AGAIN!?” Yes... I'm bringing this idea back from the nooks of your brain. I'd pick it out with an ice pick if I had to because it's that golly tootin' important. (Golly tootin'? I don't know why I used that.)

When you properly prioritize your classes, you're able to eliminate most of the challenges you'll have with subjects you hate. Instead of always having to put a huge effort in, you'll learn to put the minimal effort in while still getting a grade that you're comfortable with. This blog has tons of articles that can help you do that.

Action Plan

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I dropped a few ideas through this article. I ordered the options from most effective to least effective. That being said, I would recommend you start from the least effective and move your way up. What do I mean by that?

Prioritize everything before you try and solve your subject hating problem. By prioritizing your classes you'll be able to know how much stress you should put into solving this problem. (Some subjects you may never need to think about later. There is no reason to spend days learning to love a subject when you won't need the subject ever again in a month.)

After prioritizing, try to find the minimum you can do while still getting a grade you're satisfied with. Does that minimum seem like more time than you want to invest? Then you need to keep moving up this list.

After that you should look for new sources to help teach you the subject you hate. You know what you enjoy better than anyone else. Look for sources of information that employ something that you enjoy. If you look hard enough, you will find a source. The source doesn't have to perfectly relate to the subject. It just has to be closely related.

Finally, you can try to find a personally relevant reason to enjoy the subject. This can take months. In fact, it can never happen. You don't need to actively seek it. Just remember that you're looking for it. Think about it every once in a while. If you have a new idea then look into it. The best part about this is that it lets you explore different things that you actually enjoy. Most won't end up helping the subject but as soon as you find one. You're set on the right path for good.

Do you want to know how to get your studying done in less than 15 minutes a night (while still scoring kick-ass grades?) Then this is the blog for you. Check out the archives (or maybe even the ebooks if you've got a kindle.)

Cheating In School...

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Since I say so many controversial things on this blog, I kind of feel the need to go off the deep end and say to go cheat away on everything... but I won't. It's usually just a recipe for trouble. I personally have some experience on the supplier end of cheating. (I never cheated on my own work but I've helped others with getting their work done before.) There are a few reasons I learned that cheating is usually a really bad idea. It's not even a bad idea for the reasons you might think.

You'll Get Caught!?

The most common objection people use against cheating is that you're risking consequences if you cheat. If you get caught cheating, you can get a mark on your permanent record that will haunt you forever. That mark can cost you tons of options in the future. If you're in college then you're also putting yourself at serious risk of getting kicked out.

There are some risks involved with cheating but statistically speaking, you won't get caught.

Sure... If you're stupid enough to copy and paste an essay then you have a good chance of getting caught. If you take the time to thoroughly think out your cheating methods then you have virtually no chance of getting caught. Even if someone does suspect something, there are ways that you can be almost completely safe from getting proven guilty.

College professors deal with hundreds of students. For the most part, you aren't going to even get noticed. (Of course, in certain class sizes this is much less true.) Most essays don't go through the automated plagiarism tests. Even if they do, with 10 minutes of intelligent editing, you can ensure the essay won't even trigger it. Even on tests, most teachers don't have the resources to stop every attempt at cheating. With a little creativity, the odds of a student getting caught are one in a million.

Despite that, you still shouldn't be cheating.

Spark Of Genius?

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I used to sell essays to students that wanted to cheat. (Of course, as a safety precaution, I told them I didn't allow them to use essays for class submission but everyone knew the business...) One thing always drove me nuts about the students that would purchase essays.

Most of these students were below average to average students. I was known for writing extraordinary essays. (Yes... no one knows what hole that writing skill slithered off into...) These teachers got to read okay essay after okay essay from these students, until one day, they submit a really good one. Teacher's that actually read their students essays are not too dumb to realize this change.

A teacher will probably never take note of a C student getting a B or a B student getting an A but most students cheating aren't in that situation. Most students that end up cheating go from D's to A's overnight.

A good percentage of the time, the teacher knows something is wrong. They may be completely unable to prove anything. They may not even have enough to feel comfortable asking the student questions but in any average class size, the teacher can notice massive changes in a single student.

When you cheat once, you're setting yourself up to need to cheat more in the future. Even assuming the teacher never realizes that you cheated, that teacher is going to hold you to a higher standard when you show that you're capable of doing better. To keep up with those new standards, you're going to need to continue the lie even longer.

The whole problem just stacks on itself over time.

Digging The Hole Deeper

Students usually cheat for one of two reasons.

The first reason is that they lack confidence in their ability to learn or produce. When you're not confident about your ability to remember information, you're going to make it significantly harder to actually learn. This can be an unbelievably destructive mindset to get stuck in because it affects every area of your life.

The second reason people cheat is because they failed to prepare. Despite knowing the value of getting that good grade, they made poor decisions that left them with the option of failing or the option of cheating.

Both reasons are miserable excuses to cheat.

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When you're not confident in your ability to take a test and you cheat. You're admitting that you were right not to be confident. It's like betting against yourself. This just trains your brain to think it was right to stick with cheating. Your mind won't change and you'll just have to do it again next time to appease your lack of confidence.

When you failed to prepare for a test, cheating just encourages you not to prepare for tests in the future. Failing a test isn't the end of the world. No, you probably won't get kicked out of school. No, you won't be dying on the streets. You'll just have to suffer a little bit of embarrassment. As long as you use that embarrassment to prevent making the same mistake in the future, you'll be much better off just failing.

When you cheat, you're giving yourself an attractive out. That attractive out often just ends up being more of a trap. Sure, it wouldn't be so bad if you cheated one time in your life but it's probably not going to end up being one time because you're just giving yourself permission to do it in the future more.

The more you cheat, the more your gut repulsion to cheating will go away. That won't help at all.

You Don't Need It

You don't need to cheat.

There are ways that you can get very high scores on essays, tests, and just about anything else without investing hours and hours of your time. With less than a half hour of work a night, you can be one of the most successful students in your class. (Easily top 10% in most non-elite high schools and colleges.) Quite frankly, cheating is probably more work than it's worth.

In the same amount of time it takes you to write a good and thorough cheat sheet, you can learn everything you need to learn to pass the test. You just need to be using the right strategies. Once you learn these strategies, the idea of cheating almost sounds like a hard worker's approach to getting good grades. Why work hard when you can work smart? Learn these strategies and you'll be set.

Do you want to learn how to study in less than 15 minutes a night? Follow this blog and be sure to check out our kindle books listed in the side bar.

But It Won't Look Good On My College Application (Or Resume)!?!?

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I'm going to be writing this article for high school students but college students can still take a lot from it if they replace the discussion about a college application with a resume. Some of the examples won't fit perfectly but the two situations are very similar. Try to find the links yourself.

It's one of the most irritating sentences I hear from high school students. It's certainly not the students fault. They're constantly lied to about this issue. Every time I hear a student say, “but that won't look good on my college application,” I can't help but wonder where all the honest people in there life are. It's painful for me to think about.

People are scared to tell you what I'm about to tell you. Your teachers and guidance counselors will constantly tell you the exact opposite of this. Most of the time they're not intentionally lying to you. They've constantly been subjected to the same marketing material as you have been forced to see.

Forget About Your College Application!

Yes. Quit worrying so much about your college application. Why am I saying something this crazy?

Looking Good Is Easy

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If you want to look good on your college application then it's easy. You do not have to invest all of your free time into extra curricular activities. You don't have to volunteer 10 hours a week. You don't have to kick butt in sports. You don't have to learn everything from school. You just have to look good.

Your college application is going to be competing with thousands of other students. This may sound depressing but you will probably not be able to stand out from it in any competitive college. Guess what? Only a tiny percentage of college applications get special treatment from how good they are. That special treatment is not always only good special treatment.

A ridiculous percentage of students downright lie on their college applications. College applications that look too good sometimes even get confirmation calls from the college to the listed organizations that you claim to be associated with. (Did you really volunteer there 10 hours a week? They may check that.)

Of course, many lies on a college application never get caught. (No! Don't do it. That's not my point. I'm getting to that.)

That being said, another ridiculous percentage of students don't directly lie on their college applications. They just fluff up their numbers a hair. Maybe they even have connections with people that can vouch for actual lies. These kind of lies can virtually never be proven. (If a friend at the volunteer organization claims it's true then it might as well be true. The colleges aren't hiring professional investigators. They're just making calls.)

On paper, these people look fantastic. I'm going to start by assuming you don't want to lie. If you don't plan on lying on your college application, how do you plan on trying to compete with people that will?

College applications are paper with words on it. Do not make your decisions based on something this stupid because you are forcing yourself into a game you're going to lose.

Real Impact

Living your life for a college application is not necessarily a good thing.

I remember some students from high school that did this. They spent hours studying a night. They went to their sport's practices and games. They worked out to improve for their sport. They volunteered to look like they cared more about other people. They kissed the butts of teachers when they had good college connections.

It takes a whole lot of discipline to do well at this. I'm not going to fault you if you're good at this. While I question how helpful the goal is, it's definitely a skill worth having. It's not that simple though. I can't help but wonder how much of an impact these people could have if they actually focused their energy on a few things they really cared about.

That being said, most people aren't even good at this lifestyle. (I'm certainly not.)

Spreading yourself too thin is not a good thing. It's better to spent a large portion of your time doing a few specific things you care about. If you play a sport then you'll learn more, do more, and impress more by focusing on that sport. If you volunteer then you'll learn more, impact more, and impress more by focusing on that volunteering.

Imagine the college interview comparison between the people living for their college application and the people focusing their energy.

Every competitive college hears hundreds of students playing this balancing act. They say they care about animals so they volunteer at a shelter but they also care about sports and they also care about their grades and they also care about math club and they also care about debate. Doesn't that sound the slightest bit disingenuous to claim? After hearing it a few hundred times, any interviewer would agree.

Compare that to someone saying, I really care about this one or two things for these reasons.

Focus is the difference between productivity and aesthetics. For example, volunteering 2 hours a week does not offer a fifth of the value of volunteering 10 hours a week. Why not? Because there is a learning curve to everything. Someone that volunteers for 10 hours a week learns a ton more than someone just showing up a couple hours. They're more skilled at it because they're willing to invest the time. Of course, training a volunteer costs the organization resources too. A person that doesn't volunteer enough hours could actually end up costing more than they're providing.

Is looking good on your college application worth doing worse for the world?

Standing Out On A Different Platform

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Competing with other students against their college application is a pointless pursuit when there are so many better things to compete with.

If you want to get into a top college, then you have tons of options.

Top academic colleges sometimes are looking to get athletes. Sometimes, you'll get farther focusing on sports.

If you can write an awesome and notable essay then you're instantly competitive for good colleges. As long as you're just qualified enough academically, a good essay can pull you into an interview. (Then, of course, you need that winning smile.)

Top colleges love people that excel in particular areas in general. It's better to be the best yo-yo champion in the world with no other extracurricular activities than an average athlete, volunteer, and debate club participant.

Maybe you could focus your energy on getting close to an influential person who's connected with the college you want to get into. This shouldn't come as too much of a surprise but one influential person can easily push your application over the edge.

Don't keep worrying about your college application. There are much better ways that you can try and compete.

Do you want to know how to cut your study time in half (and then in half again?) This blog is all about increasing the efficiency of your studying so you can learn everything faster and easier than ever before. Check out the books in the sidebar and make sure to follow to keep learning all the secrets.