Tag Archives: Applications

Surviving Your Last Month at FIT

Although I’m not graduating this year, we are all preparing for the last few weeks at FIT! If you are graduating this year, here are some tips to survive the countdown to a new chapter in life!

1. Have fun!

The last semester in NYC can be stressful. Everyone is freaking out about what they are going to do after graduation, sending out job applications or preparing for one they have secured. It is important that you remember that you only have a few weeks left to be a college kid, so you need to make time to have some well-deserved fun. You have your entire life to sit at a desk working from 9-5 and only a few months left to stay out until 4 a.m. with all of your best friends—take advantage of this. Don’t waste the last month of your college career so stressed out about the future that you are unable to enjoy the moment. Live in the now, because you will regret it if you don’t later.

2. Keep up with the work.

That being said, it is also important to keep up with your schoolwork. Senioritis is STILL a very real thing, but make sure that it doesn’t get so out of control that you are scrambling at the end of the semester to pass all of your classes. I am not suggesting that you slave in the Feldman Center computer lab or the Gladys Marcus Library, but going to class and keeping up with your assignments will make your life so much easier come finals week. Why screw up what you have worked so hard for the last four years at FIT in your final semester? Have fun, but don’t completely neglect your school work.

3. It’s okay to not be okay.

This is a major key to surviving the beginning of the end. Yes, technically you are an adult now that you are graduating, but you are also only twenty-_______ years old (or older!). If you still aren’t 100 percent certain what you want to do with your life, the good news is that you are still allowed to change your mind. Try not to get too caught up in who has a job and who doesn’t. Have faith in yourself. You made it through four years at one of the most competitive school in the creative world. You are more than capable of landing a job, so, have a little faith and patience. It will all work out.

4. Snapshot your life.

Take as many pictures of you and your friends as you can. These will be nice to look back on after graduation when you are missing your friends and the place that you have made your home for the last four years – NEW YORK CITY. Document it all thoroughly, because grown up you will thank college you for it later.

5. Finish off your bucket list.

Remember all of those things you and your friends have talked about doing for the last four years, but never did? Now is the time for you to cross the remaining items off of your bucket list. You only have a few months left to do it, so live it up. In a few months you won’t be here anymore, so who cares if a couple of the items are embarrassing, it will be worth the Snapchat/Instagram story.

6. Spend quality time with your friends.

This is the most important way for anyone to survive their final semester of their collegiate career. The friends you make in college become your family. They are there for you every step of the way through some of the best/worst years of your life. They have seen you at your best and seen you at your lowest, but have loved you anyways. College would have been nothing without them, so make sure you are spending as much quality time with them as you possibly can these last couple of weeks. Soon you will be scattered across the country working your new jobs living in your very first apartment, and you will miss the days when they were just a room away. Don’t take these last few weekss together for granted.

7. Get Excited!

Graduating from FIT is bitter sweet. You are sad to leave the friends and life you have made for yourself the past four years behind, but you are also excited to see what the future holds. College might be over, but the rest of your life is about to begin. Make sure that you are excited about all of the amazing things that your future holds for you! There are so many places for you to go and things for you to see. Try not to focus solely on the things that you will be leaving behind. You are about to set off on an entirely new adventure.

The Application Secret

Some of you readers may be going through a very exciting yet intimidating process at the moment. Completing your FIT application process! The SUNY application had to have been filed by January 5th, 2015 – which I’m sure you all know. Supplemental Materials deadline is February 1, 2015, which includes academic documents, Academic History and essay form, portfolios and so on. Let’s pause for a second, take a collective inhale…exhale. You’re almost there!

As a high school senior, this period seems to be all you can think about. You put all your energy into this process – filling out forms upon forms. Writing essays, gathering up anything and everything that represents your aesthetic, your art, your being! It’s a tough thing to do!

Now looking from the other side, someone who has been accepted and attends the Fashion Institute of Technology, I believe I am quite justified to give some advice :). As an applicant, you want to stand out and look special. Focusing on what sets you apart from the application before and after you. I am not a design student, therefor my application process for Advertising and Marketing Communications was different. However, the overarching theme and intention that all prospective students hold is exactly the same. And the “sparkle” the admissions office searches for is the same. And that is this…

Be YOU. Create from your heart. Write from your heart. Photograph from your heart. Design from your heart. Build from your heart. Are you catching my drift?

If you are putting your passion into the work you’re sending over to FIT, it will show through to whomever’s reviewing it. By expressing your individuality and creativity you will successfully get your point across. Trying to create something you “think” people will like, or “think” they’re looking for or “think” others want to see – you’re doing more harm than good in the long run.

FIT is a breeding ground for the unique, the creative, the hard working. A big theme that I wrote about in my application essay was how I looked at FIT as a big puzzle. Each puzzle piece connected with the next, to complete a larger picture – a new generation of creators and pioneers. I finished my essay by saying, “I want to be a piece of that puzzle.” Luckily, I now am.

If you are applying to FIT, I am wishing you the best of luck in this final process!

xx,

Brendan

Notes From the 6 Train: Applying Your Apps!

Last week I went to a networking event held by BRAG at LIM’s campus. Genevieve Ascencio, the head account manager at Factory PR. Factory PR is one of the premiere Public Relations in the fashion industry. A few of their clients are Marie Claire, Betsey Johnson, Diesel, Puma, Levi’s as well as a slew of other well known companies.

Genevieve told us her story about she stumbled into PR. She actually began studying economics at NYU and after graduating realized that she was no longer passionate about economics. Instead, she began working at her mother’s hair salon. While there, she digitized all of her mother’s files and started sending newsletter to all of their clients. Realizing she had a knack for soliciting more business through her newsletter she started interning at a PR firm and the rest is history. I like this story because it’s a reminder that you don’t have to spend your entire life ruled by your college degree. If you prepare enough, or have the skills, the world is yours.

Genevieve also made a list of the important apps for those interested in pursing a career in PR. (These can also be applied to other jobs in the fashion industry.)

Cision: Cision is primarily used organize PR related information in an orderly manner. It has the ability to distribute press releases, manage PR campaigns, monitor news coverage and analyze results.

FashionGPS: FashionGPS boasts about their ability to provides solutions for the global fashion industry. It hosts suite of products to assist fashion brands and PR agencies in tracking and managing samples, planing and executing events, hosting and managing media, and enabling communication with key contacts. Here’s a list of the various services they offer:

• GPS Samples (Internal and external sample inventory tracking and management)
• GPS Contacts (CRM tool)
• GPS Styles (Media hosting and distribution channel)
• Events GPS (Event management, RSVPs, check-in, interactive seating charts, RFID security)

DropBox: This is a familiar app that many of you may use already. DropBox is used to store information. It is also an easy to share information with others. The best part is once saved to your particular DropBox account your infroamtion can be lost. DropBox for business has all of these functions plus admin controls, dedicated support, and all the space your company needs.

HootSuite: is a social media management system for brand management. It enables the user to create one general post and send it out to all social media networks at the same time. The interface takes the form of a dashboard, and supports social network integration for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare,MySpace, WordPress, TrendSpottr and Mixi.

Zkipster: Zkipster is a guest list app for non-ticketed event check-in at premieres, parties and galas, promotional events and conferences. It’s the first check-in app compatible on iOS, Android and Windows 8 platforms – offering secure real-time guest list management for public relations, event and meeting professionals.

It’s always nice to know what to expect/ what’s needed from an expert in the field. Going to learning events, such as this one, keeps you abreast of what’s going on in the industry before even officially entering it. Imagine how impressed a potential employer might be when you subtly drop hints about these apps when you’re at your next interview. Keep striving.

All things Color, Love, & Fashion,
Ayanna L.