Daeil Overseas Studies Program (DOSP)

For those of you interested in a career in computers here are some of the hottest jobs.

It might be a good chance to figure out what you want to do career wise.

http://www.computermajors.com/10-hot-computer-jobs 

Here are my favorite:

2. Video Game Developer.

5. Internet Entrepreneur.

8. Website Network Manager / Administrator.

Only because that’s the path I’m eventually hoping to be on.

Here is some highlights from the Stanford Counselor Newsletter.

Like most highly selective and competitive universities here is what they request- directly from the admissions officers perspective.

Why do your students do what they do? What motivates them, what excites them? What do they LOVE? As admissions officers, we are trained to read between the lines- after reading four essays, a list of activities, and three letters if evaluation, believe me, we can differentiate a student who is going through the motions from a student who is actually deeply engaged in what he is doing! There is no need for students to play every sport their high school offers or be in every club from Amnesty International to Zoology Club. We want students to do what they love and do it really well. (Emphasis mine) –Erinn Evans, Assistant Director of Admissions

Remember colleges want you to find your passions and help you develop them. Find a few things you like doing and explore, experiment, and play- most importantly have fun. I know many of you have the pressure of “study-all-time” syndrome that Korea forces on you, but if you can only be brave and think outside the box and differently. Stop being a study robot. They don’t want that.

Now, if you don’t have a passion, still explore, look, take an adventure and look for one. You don’t have to have a passion, but it’s nice to show that you are trying.

Statistically here is the typical Stanford Freshman Student:

GPA: 4.0 or higher - don’t worry at our school, I explain to them that our school is a very challenging environment.

Top 1-2% of class - Again, don’t worry about it our school, but it doesn’t hurt if you actually are in the top 2%.

SAT Verbal - Above 680

SAT Math - Above 680

SAT Writing - Above 670

SAT Total - 2030

9.6% is international

Everyone has the foundation of high quality academics, so now you have to show to them how can you differentiate yourself and show them what you love.

Its fun to use a game to increase your vocabulary. Why not help end world hunger in the process?

Check out: http://www.freerice.com/

Via: Seth Godin

This article is taken from:  http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200711/200711060025.html. This explains why there is so much private institute dependencies. I’m not saying any education system is perfect, but I think the US has an edge, because the government does not interfere as much as the Korean government.

President Roh Moo-hyun’s son is attending business school in the U.S., and the president’s son-in-law is also going to law school there. Grand National Party presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak sent three of his four children to schools in the U.S. United New Democratic Party presidential candidate Chung Dong-young sent his son to a private school in the U.S. and then to a prestigious university there as well. There is nothing wrong with sending one’s children to good schools overseas. It is human nature to want to provide a good education for one’s sons, daughters and sons-in-law. This is something Koreans agree upon.

The key to resolving Korea’s educational problems is in finding a way to provide affordable and quality education in this country — the kind the president and presidential candidates were able to offer their children — regardless of financial or social status. How can that be done? It can be done by strengthening public education. If the educational pledges being made by the candidates fail to address the need to normalize public education, then they are fooling voters.

UNDP candidate Chung has announced a campaign pledge to replace the College Scholastic Ability Test with high school graduation competency tests, while banning universities from administering their own essay tests. Chung intends to use the new tests to determine whether a student is fit to receive a high school diploma. And universities will use not only grades, but extracurricular activities such as volunteer work, special interest activities and leadership work as standards to use in admitting new students.

If things go as Chung plans, pretty soon public education as we know it will cease to exist. In Korea’s present educational system, no teacher is encouraged to excel. Due to a curve system, 4 percent of all students fall into the 1 level category, while another 7 percent fall into the level 2 group. Teachers are not allowed to provide extra lessons to students who fall behind or to offer in-depth classes to gifted students. That’s because when one student’s academic rank goes up, another one’s rank will drop. To be called fair, a teacher must stand on the sidelines and just watch without emotional attachment. In the end, the parents and students bear all of the consequences of poor education rather than the teachers or the schools.

Chung’s educational reform pledge threatens to lower the quality of public education, which affects the children of ordinary Koreans and lower-income families. Wealthy Koreans and those in high places can simply send their children away to schools in other countries. And Chung’s educational reform plan threatens the very existence of special purpose high schools and self-supporting high schools, which were islands of quality schooling in Korea’s barren educational landscape. If Chung’s plan becomes reality, then parents will be forced to send their children to schools with relatively lower grade point averages that will be easier for their kids to succeed in. Such a policy is like forcing parents to leave the country with their children in search of better education.

In order to improve public education, schools and teachers must be allowed to compete in terms of the quality of their classes. We must let schools and teachers race against each other to come up with lessons that develop the abilities of students. Quality schooling must be available in Korea in order to keep ordinary parents from looking at overseas schools, like the president and presidential candidates did, and instead open the way for top-notch education to be received here in this country. This is what true educational reform should be all about.

Here are some interesting tips for parents. I don’t know if this applies to Korean parents as much, but I thought I would share them anyway.

Here is the summary:

• Recognize your role is helper not doer.
• Do praise his efforts and not just the “end product.”
  
• Insist homework be her responsibility not yours.
• Section the assignment in smaller chunks.
• Consider a getting a tutor.
• Agree together upon specific times for doing homework ahead of time and then stick to it.

You can find the complete article here:  http://www.parentingbookmark.com/pages/articleMB05.htm

I know that some of you may not have the most money in the world. Showing gratitude in this world is vital for humanity.

You don’t have to give me any gifts, but perhaps you can take a moment and share gifts with people that have helped you in your life.

You can find the full list here: http://zenhabits.net/2007/10/30-frugal-gift-ideas-to-show-you-appreciate-someone/

Here is a couple of my favorite:

• A letter, hand-written on nice paper, from you. Make it heart-felt, with all the reasons you appreciate the person.
• Books (my favorite). - Paul’s favorite too…

In school and business you’re probably going to be using power point at one point or another.

Seth Godin provides many great tips for all of you future presenters out there:

I’d be sure to check out this site for Power Point Tips.

Note: All the colleges listed award scholarships more than the tuition fees excluding the living cost.

You can find more information in the following excel sheet: Scholarships for Foreigners

I get this question quite a bit, here is one source you can refer to get some more tips. A lot of these I’ve been stressing in class.

Life Hack: 10 Steps to Better Writing

Here is an outline of the post, but I strongly encourage that you go to their website and look at their information.

• Pace yourself
• Plan, than write
• Start in the middle
• Write crappy first drafts
• Don’t plagiarize
• Use directions wisely
• Avoid wikipedia
• Focus on communicating your purpose
• Proofread
• Conclude something

I hope you can continually improve your writing and perhaps in the future we’ll see you on the bestsellers list.

For all of you who have been curious about CEO compensation. You can find a lot of how they are specifically paid here at this website.

As for a brief quote, I thought the following was most interesting:

2006 CEO Compensation (millions)

The Top 10 CEO compensation packages of 2006 follow:

1. Steven P. Jobs, Apple - 646.60
2. Ray R Irani, Occidental Petroleum - 321.64
3. Barry Diller, IAC/InterActiveCorp - 295.14
4. William P Foley II, Fidelity National Finl - 179.56
5. Terry S Semel, Yahoo - 174.20
7. Angelo R Mozilo, Countrywide Financial - 141.98
8. Michael S Jeffries, Abercrombie & Fitch - 114.64
9. Kenneth D Lewis, Bank of America - 99.80
10. Henry C Duques, First Data - 98.21

I don’t know if it is fair or not, but that is just how the world seems to work. If you want to make that hundreds or tens of millions you need to read about how they got there- instead of just drooling about the dollar signs.