Hopefully you found today interesting and helpful — thank you for (mostly) being so engaged and asking great questions!

Talia emailed me this afternoon and asked me to share the following from her:

Thanks for letting me come today! I always enjoy talking to students about college. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help.

If anyone has any questions or wants advice, they can contact me by:

Email – tbdevlin@gmail.com

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/talia.devlin

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/taliadevlin/

Also, I thought they might like to see my ad portfolio – https://tbdevlin.wixsite.com/portfolio

I’ve attached some other stuff that the students might like to see or find helpful.

Here’s the spreadsheet I used to stay organized when I was applying: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14yCZInBaZI5qrUIHoAG65K9vFDqlqn87zk0KHkrGe-U/edit?usp=sharing

Here’s a list of things I’ve done/ stuff they’re welcome to ask me about:

• I’m in the honors program and lived in the honors dorm freshman year (disgusting) where I shared a room the size of a shoebox
• I’m an advertising major. I dropped my french minor and environmental studies minor in order to graduate a year early. I had 30 hours of transfer credit, so it made it easy.
• I received $89k in scholarships all merit-based except for $1k I received as a programming director.
• Founded Swing Dancing Club my freshman year
• Joined and dropped a sorority
• Went to San Antonio for the Final Four — do those once-in-a-lifetime things!!!!
• Spent sophomore year as a student programming director
• Two days off for -40F weather (first time Loyola canceled school in 27 years)
• I spent two months interning in Dublin last summer
• Built a lot of the furniture in my apartment because I needed something to keep me busy
• Adopted a cat of my own
• My current internship is with the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce – my boss posted about it on the sorority’s FB page and they hadn’t kicked me off the page yet. I applied, interviewed, and got hired in the span of 4 hours. That probably won’t happen again.
• I learned new ways to cook eggs in the microwave. Ask me about my lazy person recipes.

Bottom line, do the things you won’t get the chance to do later in life!!! Have fun, say yes, take chances, remember that school isn’t everything (but it is important!). If you think you can’t do it, you have options. If you don’t like your university, you can transfer. If you’re worried about the cost, apply for scholarships, take classes at a community college, find a more affordable option. There is always a way to make things work if you put in the effort! University isn’t just an education, it’s an experience you don’t want to miss. You’ve got this!!!!