Don't read this advice; it might help you succeed in college

Successful people offer you some good advice here.  One example: your grades are irrelevant. http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/10/how-to-reap-the-most-out-of-college-or-any-education/

I know a young lady who started college living in a dorm.  Every time her family visited her, they told me, they found her with her nose buried in her phone, on social media.  She flunked out at the end of her freshman year.  This study, http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/04/12/social-media-use-may-harm-grades-of-college-freshman/53711.html  says there is a link between heavy social media use and declining GPA's.  That may or may not be so, since correlation isn't causality, but if you're in college and your GPA isn't so good, I suggest you read the article.

I'm a sucker for ads that use emotion.  Here's one from Wrigley's gum.  Yes, an emotional commercial about chewing gum!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgC84kDhWl4

More about grades not really mattering much

In June I posted about your GPA not really mattering much in the real world.  Here's more.  A very large German firm will consider your application even if your GPA is so small you need a magnifying glass to read it: http://www.worldcrunch.com/culture-society/who-says-top-students-make-the-best-employees-/job-hiring-grades-talent-deutsche-bahn/c3s12782/#!

Do you like beautiful things?

Everyone should appreciate beauty.  Here's proof that even commercials can be beautiful: http://www.psyop.tv/toshiba/

Work hard, really hard, and you might own your own business

Here's an Amstel beer commercial that downplays the beer and motivates you to work harder.  Take a look:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nFCSZSqSskk

Watch the fascinating story of advertising in the 1960's

If you find advertising at all interesting, I guarantee you'll enjoy this video of advertising in the 1960's: sex, drinking, and, oh yes, amazingly creative advertising like we don't see any more.  It's the real story of Mad Men. Here's the link: http://www.thirteen.org/programs/real-mad-men/#the-real-mad-men-and-women-of-madison-avenue

Google, which hires a lot of college grads, has decided that GPA's are worthless criteria for hiring, according to a New York Times columnist. A lot of other companies, and people like me, agree.  If you spend most of your college career worrying about your GPA and complaining to professors that you should have gotten a higher grade in their courses, stop it!  Instead, become a better problem solver and a better communicator. Work hard, but to learn, not to get an A.  Here's the link: GPA's are worthless

Is your GPA really important at all?

Well, sure.  But read this article http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130604184748-4421225-getting-things-done-grade-point-average
The author says, among other things, "I'm an employer and I don't really care where you went to school or what your GPA was -- I want to know what you've done."  A lot of interviewers have the same view, so don't think school is just a matter of getting a high GPA.  It isn't.

Good advice if you're ever going to graduate

Here's some blunt advice every college student who's going to enter the workforce should read. Your degree doesn't mean squat  I agree with the author.  I see too many students who slack their way through college thinking, "I just need that degree, then I'll get a good job."  I also see some who think "I've got to get as high a GPA as I can so I can get a good job."  I'm not sure which is worse.

if you go away this summer

I like to post this link to a sad, beautiful song about that special person leaving you in the summer.  if you go away  Hopefully he or she will return to you in the fall.

Why do I hate Facebook?

I'm not sure why I hated Facebook so much I closed my account.  Maybe because it's a big time suck, devouring hours like m&m's.  Or maybe it's because I see mostly childish--ok, let's be fair: juvenile--posts from people I don't remember ever knowing. (Company pages have freebies, contests, etc., which are the exceptions.) Where do people find the time to waste on Facebook!?  I truly don't understand the fanatical loyalty many of my students seem to have to this social medium.  Don't they know that they need to prepare for the hard reality of the adult world and should be putting every minute they have into studies, internships, volunteeering with local nonprofits, and meaningful extra-curricular activities?