1. Get out of the library. You can have a degree and a huge GPA and not be ready for the workplace. A student should plan that college is four years of experience rather than 120 credits," says William Coplin, professor at Syracuse University and author of the book, 10 Things Employers Want You to Learn in College."

第一，走出图书馆。就算有了学位和很高的GPA你也不见得就为工作做好了准备。大学是四年人生经验，不是高学分。在美国的大学，课外活动常常和功课一样重要。

2. Start a business in your dorm room. It's cheap, Google and Yahoo are dying to buy your website, and it's better than washing dishes in the cafeteria. Note to those who play poker¹ online until 4 a.m.: Gambling² isn't a business. It's an addiction³.

第二，从宿舍开始做生意。这很便宜，雅虎、谷歌都会争先恐后地买你弄出来的网站，这比餐馆里洗盘子好多了。至于那些通宵在线玩扑克的人，记住赌博不是生意，赌博是瘾。

3. Don't take on debt that is too limiting. This is not a reference to online gambling, although it could be. This is about choosing a state school over a pricey private school. Almost everyone agrees you can get a great education at an inexpensive school. So in many cases the debt from a private school is more career-limiting than the lack of brand name on your diploma.

第三，别债务缠身。这和在线赌博关系不大，虽然可能有关系。这是关于应该选择一所州立大学而不是昂贵的私立学校的问题。几乎所有人都同意在不那么贵的学校里也能得到良好的教育。所以从个人前途上看，无债一身轻比花钱买个名牌要有利得多。

4. Get involved on campus. When it comes to career success, emotional intelligence -- social skills to read and lead others -- get you farther than knowledge or job competence⁴, according to Tiziana Casciaro, professor at Harvard Business School. Julie Albert, a junior at Brandeis University, is the director of her a capella group and head of orientation⁵ this year. She hones her leadership skills outside the classroom, which is exactly where to do it.

第四，积极参加校园的活动。通过这种活动，可以学会怎么理解、帮助别人，满足别人的需要和别人沟通。这在美国文化中，是所谓“领袖素质”的基础。找工作时会被别人另眼相看。千万不要认为自己的生活只有校园而已。

5. Avoid grad school in the liberal arts. One in five English Phd's find stable university jobs, and the degree won't help outside the university: "Schooling⁶ only gives you the capacity to stand behind a cash register," says Thomas Benton, a columnist⁷ at the Chronicle of Higher Education (who has an English degree from Yale and a tenure-track teaching job.)

第五，不要读文科博士。五分之一的英语博士能找到大学里的稳定的工作，如果走出校门，学位没什么用处。除非你离了学术不能活。读博士对实际工作毫无帮助。

6. Skip the law-school track. Lawyers are the most depressed⁸ of all professionals. Stress itself does not make a job bad, says Alan Kreuger, economist⁹ at Princeton University. Not having control over one's work does make a bad job, though, and lawyers are always acting¹⁰ on behalf of someone else. Suicide is among the leading causes of premature¹¹ death among lawyers.

第六，别上法学院。律师是所有职业中最压抑的。律师总是代表别人去争利，压力奇大。自杀是律师中第一号非正常死亡的原因。

7. Play a sport. People who play sports earn more money than couch potatoes, and women executives who played sports attribute much of their career success to their athletic¹² experience, says Jennifer Cripsen of Sweet Briar College in Virginia. You don't need to be great at sports, you just need to be part of a team.

第七，参加体育运动。调查表明，大学从事体育的人，毕业后比那些不沾体育的同学明显收入高。美国人从事体育不仅是锻炼身体，而且是培养竞争的才能和领袖素质。一个大学运动队的队长到华尔街找工作，优势不可限量。

8. Separate your expectations from those of your parents. "Otherwise you wake up and realize you're not living your own life," says Alexandra Robbins, author of the popular new book "The Overachievers." (Note to parents: If you cringe as you read this list, then you need to read this book.)

第八，别按着父母的期待生活。“否则你醒来后会发现你过的不是自己的日子。”

9. Try new things that you're not good at. "Ditch the superstar mentality¹³ that if you don't reach the top, president, A+, editor in chief, then the efforts were worthless. It's important to learn to enjoy things without getting recognition," says Robbins.

第九，干一些你并不擅长的新事物。你对自己未必了解，这是苏格拉底给人类的教诲。所以，请给自己一个机会。

10. Define success for yourself. "Society defines success very narrowly. Rather than defining success as financial gain or accolades¹⁴, define it in terms of individual interests and personal happiness," says Robbins.

第十，以自己为中心来定义成功。别以外在的东西（比如金钱）来定义成功。

11. Make your job search a priority. Jobs do not fall in your lap, you have to chase them. Especially a good one. It's a job to look for a job. Use spreadsheets to track your progress. And plan early. Goldman Sachs, for example, starts its information sessions in September.

第十一，好工作要自己去找。不要等着天上掉馅饼。

12. Take a course in happiness. Happiness study is revolutionizing how we think of psychology¹⁵, economics, and sociology. How to be happy is a science that 150 schools teach. Preview: Learn to be more optimistic. This class will show you how.

第十二，选修关于“幸福”的心理课程。在哈佛，这一课程是最热门的课之一。

13. Take an acting course. The best actors are actually being their most authentic¹⁶ selves, says Lindy Amos of communications coaching firm TAI Resources. Amos teaches executives to communicate authentically¹⁷ so that people will listen and feel connected. You need to learn to do this, too, and you may as well start in college.

第十三，上表演课。美国社会整个就是个舞台。从教授、政治家、企业总裁，到律师、将军、记者，不会表演就很难出头。

14. Learn to give a compliment. The best compliments are specific, so ``good job" is not good, writes Lisa Laskow Lahey, psychologist at Harvard and co-author of ``How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work." Practice on your professors. If you give a good compliment the recipient¹⁸ will think you're smarter: Big payoff in college, but bigger payoff in the work world.

第十四，学会赞美别人。在生活中，既要当好演员，也要当好观众。很多时候我总是感觉和别人有距离，其实就是缺那简单的几句问候和一个拥抱。

15. Use the career center. These people are experts at positioning you in the workforce¹⁹ and their only job is to get you a job. How can you not love this place? If you find yourself thinking the people at your college's career center are idiots, it's probably a sign that you really, really don't know what you're doing.

第十五，使用职业咨询服务机构。美国大学一个重要部门就是求职咨询机构。专业人员帮你分析自己的长短，以及就业市场，帮助你准备面试，修改申请信。

16. Develop a strong sense of self by dissing colleges that reject you. Happy people have ``a more durable²⁰ sense of self and aren't as buffeted²¹ by outside events," writes Sonja Lyubomirsky of the University of California-Riverside. When bad things happen, don't take it personally. This is how the most successful business people bounce back quickly from setback²².

第十六，被拒后应该坦然以对。要自己定义自己，不要用外在指标定义自己。

17. Apply to Harvard as a transfer student. Sure people have wild success after going to an Ivy²³ League school but this success is no more grand than that of the people who applied²⁴ and got rejected. All people who apply to Ivy League schools seem to have similar high self-confidence and ambition, even if they don't get in, according to a study by Kreuger.

第十七，以转校生的身份申请哈佛。人们从常春藤名校毕业无疑会取得巨大的成功，但是那些申请后被拒的学生也不差。所有申请常春藤名校的人都有同样的自信和野心，即使不能入校就读。

18. Get rid of your perfectionist streak²⁵. It is rewarded in college, but it leads to insane job stress and an inability to feel satisfied with your work. And for all of you still stuck on number 6, about ditching the law school applications: The Utah Bar Journal says that lawyers are disproportionately perfectionists.

第十八，不要过分追求完美，不要给自己不必要的压力。生活不止是工作，学习，它还有很多很多。

19. Work your way though college. Getting involved in student organizations counts, and so does feeding children in Sierra Leone or sweeping²⁶ floors in the chemistry building. Each experience you have can grow into something bigger. Albert was an orientation leader last year, and she turned that experience into a full-time²⁷ summer job that morphed into a position managing 130 orientation leaders. A great bullet on the resume for a junior in college.

第十九，要靠打工读完大学，积累工作经验。这很重要，大部分中国学生做不到，甚至认为打工没有必要，其实打过工的人才会真正珍惜生活。

20. Make to do lists. You can't achieve dreams if you don't have a plan to get there.

第二十，把你的目标列成表，因为你没有计划就不可能成功。不要整天没事干老胡思乱想，只有真正的行动才能拯救你。