Smart Ways to Leverage Law School Forums

Prospective students should review a school's website before the forum to better tailor questions for representatives.

Stephen Brown, the assistant dean of enrollment at the Fordham University School of Law, knows the angst that comes with meeting a law school representative. He has been to possibly 60 recruitment forums, answering questions from nervous applicants and noticing those who make the peculiar choice of wearing beach attire for the professional event.

He believes the Law School Admission Council recruitment forums are an easy way for prospective students to get ahead in the admissions process.

"A real advantage is they get to talk to lots of different people from different schools," he says. Aspiring J.D. candidates can ask questions that are not covered by school websites.

Brown was one of many school representatives in attendance Saturday at the LSAC's first recruitment forum of 2013. Between 140 and 160 schools attend each forum, which is held in nine locations around the U.S. and one location in Canada.

The forums are much like a college fair but also include workshops on how to apply, pay for and succeed at law school. They occur between June and November and give hundreds of students one-on-one opportunities to speak with law school representatives.

Though filled with opportunities for networking and learning about legal education, the forums can also be challenging: There's so much to do, not much time and limited ways to participate virtually.

[Determine if law school is the right move.]

There are limited options for staying abreast from a distance. Sessions are not live streamed or conducted through Google Hangouts, though prospective students can follow live tweets, says Wendy Margolis, director of communications for LSAC. As travel becomes more expensive, the LSAC is considering other forms of engaging students through technology, she says.

For those able to make the trip, forums last one or two days. They offer about five or six workshops taught by practicing attorneys, members of the LSAC test development staff and other legal professionals.

"The financial aid workshop and the LSAT workshop are extremely popular," says Margolis. Even if forum participants are interested in some of the other workshops, such as the ones on diversity or learning about industry jobs, they should plan for a packed crowd. "The workshops most of the time are standing room only," she says.

Workshops can be helpful for applicants who are unsure of how to approach school representatives, says Traci Howard, assistant dean for admissions at California Western School of Law.

"A lot of the conversations that happen in the workshops can form the questions and help the applicant engage with the representatives in a better way. Because they're armed with the right information when they're going into the tables," she says.

Some of the biggest mistakes students make at these events are not managing their time wisely and not asking thoughtful questions, experts say. Several applicants make the mistake of thinking the forums are an opportunity to turn schools against each other as they compete for students, Howard says.

[Apply to law school with a low GPA.]

"They ask the rep to tell me why you're better than this school or tell me why you're better than that school," she says. "It's a question that I think is commonly asked, and it's a question that frustrates a lot of law school representatives because really we're not there to compare ourselves to other schools. The forums are really a means for us to provide information to you about our law schools and a means for prospective students to gather that information."

Students should be prepared to have a lengthy wait if they want to speak with a school that's located in the same state as the forum. These institutions are often the most popular and have long lines at the school tables.

"If we're at a forum in Los Angeles, all of the California schools are really slammed," Howard says. "We may not have a lot of opportunities to have a conversation with a potential applicant."

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Plan for Technology Costs When Saving for College

Parents should determine potential technology needs and costs and plan for that as part of college savings.

Textbooks may soon be as outdated as the phrase "Kodak moment."

That's how Jeff Livingston, a vice president with McGraw-Hill Education, sees it. "Kids won't even know what that word means," he says.

A result of this shift is the need for devices to access instructional materials from a personal computer outside of college computer labs, Livingston says. Parents who are saving for their children's college education shouldn't ignore this unavoidable expense just because it wasn't a necessity during their university days.

Experts recommend looking at past trends and current college technology needs as parents take the following steps to develop a savings plan for their child's future technology expenses.

[Avoid these mistakes when saving for college.]

1. Determine the student's technology needs: Students already in school have different technology needs than those who will start in a few years, Livingston says. "At this point, a student can get by with at least one device that can access the Internet as rapidly as the school can offer."

A variety of tablets and nearly any recent laptop will allow students to do just that, he says. While he doesn't recommend it as the only form of technology a student has, he's even heard some students say they get by with just a smartphone.

However, Livingston predicts that in the future, all course materials will be online and interactive. Old devices will be out-of-date faster because learning material will gain more interactive features.

He says parents should expect to replace laptops or tablets at least twice during the student's college years.

Current students as well as freshmen won't have to worry about purchasing two computers. Ryan Law, director of the Office for Financial Success at the University of Missouri, says computers purchased before college by current first- and second-year students will get them through their senior years.

2. Estimate the cost of future computers and tablets: Some good news is that technology prices traditionally haven't been affected by inflation. Prices have been fairly consistent over the years, says Livingston.

For more than 10 years, a good laptop or a personal computer has cost between $1,000 and $1,500, he says. "What changed is what you could get for $1,000 to $1,500."

Then, the tablet revolution meant a laptop or tablet, often suitable for use as a student's primary computer, could be purchased for $500 to $1,000, he says. He doesn't see prices going up beyond $500 to $1,000 – the change will be better technology for the same price.

[Discover last-minute ways to boost college savings.]

3. Consider the cost of instructional materials: Estimating the total future expenses of software and instructional materials is harder, Livingston says. However, he predicts these costs will be charged on a semester-by-semester basis, like tuition and fees.

A good model for comparison is LexisNexis, an online research database. Many law schools include subscription costs as part of tuition and fees. Livingston says parents could estimate a per-semester cost for all course materials of $300 to $400 for students more than two years away from attending college.

For teenagers entering college soon, parents or students should check with the school and department for software and other requirements, Law says. Schools such as Virginia Tech, Northwestern College and the University of Florida already have minimum computer requirements posted on their websites. However, software requirements frequently vary by major.

And parents who remember reselling textbooks to help pay for their next semester will have to nix this cost-saving idea – it's typically not possible to resell digital learning materials.

[Find out how a 529 plan can help parents save.]

4. Encourage children to help save: Based on Livingston's predictions, parents with two or more years before their child attends college need to save between $3,400 and $5,200 for technology and learning materials, including replacing a laptop or tablet once during four years of college. That price range includes $300 to $400 per semester for learning materials during those four years.

The good news for parents is that while children may not always understand tuition and fees, they usually understand the need for a computer.

"A teen who works from 16 to 18 can invest two years of earnings at a part-time job in a laptop," says Syracuse, N.Y.-based accountant Ted Sarenski. "Parents shouldn't shoulder all the costs and this is a perfect opportunity to get kids to invest in part of their education that they really understand and value."

Trying to fund your education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for College center.

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Top-Ranked Universities That Grant the Most STEM Degrees

Ninety-eight percent of Caltech’s bachelor’s degrees were granted in STEM fields, making it one of the top STEM universities in the country.

What are the leading STEM universities in the U.S.?

As part of the U.S. News STEM Solutions conference, we are publishing an exclusive new list of the National Universities from our 2013 Best Colleges rankings that grant the largest proportion of bachelor's degrees in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

California Institute of Technology and Colorado School of Mines tied for first place with 98 percent of their degrees granted in STEM fields. Missouri University of Science & Technology came in third with 91 percent; Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts finished fourth with 88 percent; and Massachusetts Institute of Technology was in fifth with 86 percent.

To determine which college majors to evaluate, U.S. News used the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's list of science, technology, engineering and math designated-degree programs.

Then, looking at the school year that ended on June 30, 2012, we added up how many bachelor's degrees granted at each school were in these STEM fields using the latest degree-completion data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Next, we computed the percentage of each school's total 2012 bachelor's degrees that were granted in STEM fields and then sorted the schools in descending order based on the largest proportion of STEM degrees granted. A school had to have a third or more of its degrees granted in STEM fields to be listed as a top-ranked STEM university.

How should these results be interpreted? Many of the highest-ranked research universities in the U.S. are also on this new STEM list since they grant large proportions of STEM degrees. This means that these schools emphasize STEM fields in their curriculum and degree offerings.

In fact, 23 of the 39 schools on the STEM list were ranked among the top 50 Best National Universities in 2013 and five were ranked in the top 10.

The STEM list also reveals that there are only 15 top-ranked universities with 50 percent or more of their bachelor's degrees awarded in STEM fields, and only 39 that had a third or more of their degrees in these fields. This shows that STEM education at many of the top-ranked U.S. universities is not the main academic priority.

Only schools that were numerically ranked in the top half of the National Universities category in the 2013 Best Colleges rankings were eligible to be included in this STEM analysis.

As a result, the following schools that have all or nearly all of their bachelor's degrees granted in STEM fields are not included on the list: Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Webb Institute, Harvey Mudd College, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Kettering University, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

The table below shows the top-ranked universities that granted the largest proportions of bachelor's degrees in STEM fields.

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Explore the Parent Direct Plus Loan Paradox

Changes to standards for federal Direct Plus loans for parents mean they can’t take on as much debt for their children’s education.

Federal Direct Plus loans for parents are a paradox. On one hand, college tuition continues to rise far faster than the rate of inflation, and federal aid – from Pell Grants to work-study to capped undergraduate student loans – is failing to keep pace.

This makes parents' ability to take out Direct Plus loans that can cover up to the remaining cost of attendance a vital part of ensuring their children have access to a college education.

On the other hand, with the most expensive private colleges costing over $50,000 per year, that can be an awful lot of money for parents to borrow at 7.9 percent interest, the highest fixed rate for federal student loans. And it's especially burdensome for the lower-income parent borrowers who can least afford to pay back those loans.

[Learn the perks and pitfalls of student loan repayment proposals.]

This paradox has been highlighted since a quiet October 2011 decision by the Department of Education to tighten the underwriting standards for these federal parent loans, an action intended to "prevent people from taking on debt they may not be able to afford while protecting taxpayer dollars," said a department spokesman in an article published by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The pre-October 2011 underwriting standards only disallowed borrowers who had accounts that were more than 90 days delinquent or who had any foreclosures, bankruptcies, tax liens, wage garnishments or defaults within the past five years. Seventy-two percent of parent loan applications were approved in the 2010-2011 academic year.

[Explore other student loan borrowing options.]

The new underwriting standards – which also take into account unpaid accounts in collections, or charged off but unpaid balances, from the past five years – are more stringent. As Inside Higher Ed has reported, one estimate is that 44 percent of applicants would have been turned down if the new criteria had been in effect all year, and since the decision more than 400,000 parents have been denied loans.

Historically black colleges and universities, which enroll higher percentages of disadvantaged students, have been disproportionately affected. Adding to the fear that many will be denied access to college is the fact that many of the students at these colleges whose parents were denied loans dropped out, and it is unclear whether they have been able to enroll at less costly institutions.

So how do we resolve the paradox of these parent loans? To the extent they are "reaching back in time to indenture" parents, as one commentator put it, higher underwriting standards seem appropriate. But they are also arguably invaluable to the extent they allow disadvantaged and minority students access to college.

[Get more information about paying for college.]

In the short term, Student Loan Ranger feels Congress should act to ensure that low-income families have access to parent loans that can be repaid under the "Pay As You Earn" program, which limits payments to ten percent of a borrower's income and provides for forgiveness after twenty years. This minor expansion of the program will not break the bank and will ensure continued access for disadvantaged students to the best institutions of higher education they are accepted into.

Congress should also quickly address not just the imminent doubling of subsidized Direct Loan rates but the broader issue that all federal student loan rates – and especially these loans – are fixed at far above market rates. One legislative vehicle to accomplish this is the Responsible Student Loan Solutions Act.

In the longer run, Congress should improve the student aid application process, reward colleges that serve low-income students well, greatly increase need-based grant aid such as Pell Grants – which cover far less of the cost of education than they used to – and provide students with the basic information on college costs, aid and outcomes.

Isaac Bowers is a senior program manager in the Communications and Outreach unit, responsible for Equal Justice Works's educational debt relief initiatives. An expert on educational debt relief, Bowers conducts monthly webinars for a wide range of audiences; advises employers, law schools, and professional organizations; and works with Congress and the Department of Education on federal legislation and regulations. Prior to joining Equal Justice Works, he was a fellow at Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP in San Francisco. He received his J.D. from New York University School of Law.

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Save for College in Accounts for Minors With Tax Benefits

Parents have access to many account options with tax benefits, including 529 plans, to help save for their children’s college.

There's more than one way to save for college. Many parents sock away college funds in tax-advantaged investment accounts called 529 plans, but there are other account options with tax benefits available.

New York City-based financial planner Stacy Francis says the money in accounts called Uniform Gifts to Minors Act or Uniform Transfers to Minors Act accounts can pay for things 529 plan funds aren't eligible for.

A Uniform Gifts to Minors Act or Uniform Transfers to Minors account can be a savings or checking account, mutual fund account or brokerage account, says Thomas Kazmierczak, a 529 plan specialist with financial firm T. Rowe Price. "The main difference between this kind of account and any another account is selecting Uniform Gifts to Minors account or a Uniform Transfers to Minors account on the generic account registration form."

Often, these accounts are referred to as custodial accounts, which means a parent or guardian makes decisions about the account until the child comes of age, generally between 18 and 21, depending on the account and the state.

[Learn what steps to take in choosing age-based 529 plans.]

The main advantage of Uniform Gifts to Minors Act or Uniform Transfers to Minors Act accounts is the ability to save without paying taxes on up to $1,000 in earnings, no matter what the child will eventually use the money for in the future. The next $1,000 dollars is taxed at the child's federal income rate, which is normally lower than what the parents would be taxed, Francis says. If the $1,000 is the child's only income that year, no tax would be charged because the standard deduction would cancel it out, she says.

If a parent contributed $100 per month to the account and the account grew at 5 percent annually, that's nearly $30 of growth the first year, which wouldn't be taxed. If the parent continued to make $100 monthly contributions for five years with annual growth of 5 percent, the annual growth for the fifth year will climb to almost $300.

If the child doesn't earn any other income, the earnings won't get charged taxes potentially for years into the future.

Some parents may want to remain in control of the assets throughout their offspring's college career. If a 529 plan lists the parent as the owner, that parent is always the owner and decision-maker, no matter how old the child or adult gets.

However, with Uniform Gifts to Minors Act and Uniform Transfers to Minors Act accounts, a "downside is at that expiration, the assets belong to the child," says personal financial specialist Lisa Featherngill, managing director of planning for financial firm Abbot Downing.

Depending on an individual state's law, the child who is named as the beneficiary on a Uniform Transfers to Minors Act account gets full control of the funds somewhere between the ages of 21 to 25, though it's 21 in most states.

The Uniform Transfers to Minors Act account allows for more time for children to mature before they are given accounts, Francis says. Uniform Gifts to Minors Act accounts skew even younger: The account holder is generally given full control of all assets in the account at age 18, she says.

Whether a parent should set up a 529 plan account or an Uniform Gifts to Minors Act or Uniform Transfers to Minors Act account depends on whether or not the funds will be used for qualified education expenses. If parents saved in a 529 plan, they could be taxed on the portion of earnings not used for qualified education expenses, such as tuition and textbooks, and pay a 10 percent penalty on the unqualified education expenses withdrawal, Francis says.

"For example, if you contribute $100,000 into a 529 plan and it grows to $110,000 over time and you make an unqualified withdrawal for the entire amount, you are taxed on the $10,000 gain plus a 10 percent penalty on the $10,000," which would be $1,000, Francis says.

View the original article here

U.S. News Releases 2013 Best High Schools for STEM Rankings

High Tech High School in New Jersey continues its reign as the best public high school for STEM.

It's not every day that a politician, a beauty queen and a hip hop star champion the same cause, but don't tell that to President Barack Obama, reigning Miss America Mallory Hagan and Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am.

All three are using their fame to promote STEM education, and it's not hard to understand why. Training in science, technology, engineering and math can place students in the pipeline for in-demand career fields such as software development, biomedicine and aerospace engineering.

Early exposure to those subjects is key to preparing high school graduates to eventually fill the millions of jobs waiting for technically skilled workers. The U.S. News 2013 Best High Schools for STEM rankings, released today, identify public high schools excelling at that task.

The rankings evaluate 500 gold medal public schools from the 2013 Best High Schools rankings, using Advanced Placement STEM test data for 2011 graduates as the benchmark. Of those schools, 250 earned a numerical rank for their STEM achievement.

[Learn more about how U.S. News calculated the STEM rankings.]

High Technology High School in New Jersey continues to outpace its peers on that front, earning the title of the Best High School for STEM for the third straight year. Students at the highly competitive school come from more than 50 school districts to immerse themselves in a curriculum rich with math, science and technology.

Students at High Tech High kick off their freshman year with courses in software applications and engineering design, take physics as sophomores and can earn college credit while studying sustainable energy at Brookdale Community College. The high school is located on Brookdale's campus, so students can easily go back and forth between the two.

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia and Troy High School in California did not ease up on their STEM focus, either. Both schools retained second and third place billing, respectively.

At Thomas Jefferson, students benefit from research labs rarely seen outside of a university setting. Job shadowing and internships at Troy help students connect the dots between classroom theory and real-world application.

[See photos of the best STEM high schools.]

Academy of Allied Health and Science made significant gains in STEM achievement, climbing from No. 135 to the No. 4 spot. The New Jersey school is one of 12 from the Garden State to break the top 100 in this year's rankings.

The Academy's swift rise illustrates the close competition between schools in the STEM rankings. A 12.4-point jump in the school's STEM index was enough to propel the school 131 places. That index, calculated by U.S. News, is based on the percentage of 2011 AP test-taking graduates who took – and passed – AP math and science exams.

Okemos High School in Michigan also improved leaps and bounds in the 2013 STEM rankings. The Chieftains jumped 73 spots to claim the No. 8 position.

Located across the street from Michigan State University's campus, Okemos is one of only two Michigan high schools to make the top 100 of the STEM rankings. The other – East Lansing High School – is just five miles up the road.

[See which top-ranked universities produce the most STEM degrees.]

California, New York and New Jersey are home to the lion's share of the Best High Schools for STEM in the country. The three states combined house nearly half of the public schools that earned a numerical rank this year. Close to 45 of the ranked STEM schools are either charter or magnet schools.

Stay up to date with the U.S. News High School Notes blog.

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Ask 4 Questions About College Savings Plans at Banks

Parents shouldn’t pick a college savings plan solely because it’s sold by their bank.

Parents shopping for a college savings account have at least one place they can visit: a local bank. But before putting their money into an account offered by a bank, there are a few things they should know.

"Your bank may say, 'We have a college savings plan,' which may be true and legal and okay," says College Savings Plans Network Chairman Mike Fitzgerald, but it may or not be a tax-advantaged 529 plan.

Only six states offer 529 plans where banks act as the program manager, the direct contact for consumers: Arizona, Indiana, Montana, Nebraska, Alabama and Illinois.

[Understand how to juggle multiple 529 plans.]

But even outside of those six states, banks could still offer an adviser-sold 529 plan, experts say. An adviser-sold plan is a 529 plan that is sold through financial advisers instead of directly through a state agency or program manager. The drawback is that these plans generally have higher fees, but the plans offer more investment choices and one-on-one help from a financial adviser.

Parents who want to find out what the bank is really offering should ask these questions recommended by Fitzgerald and Rob Seltzer, a California-based certified public accountant and personal financial specialist.

1. Is it a 529 plan? The first question a parent should ask is whether the product the bank is offering is a 529 plan. A college savings plan that isn't a 529 plan can have all the same investment ingredients such as savings, certificates of deposits and mutual funds. But because it's not an official 529 plan, it doesn't qualify for federal tax benefits, state matching grants or state tax credits and deductions, says Fitzgerald.

[Learn how to earn high interest with a 529 plan.]

The other drawback of a college savings account that's not a 529 plan is that the account could have a larger effect on a student's financial aid award if it's in the student's name, he says. This is because children's assets and income impact financial aid awards more than a parent's income and assets. If a parent starts a 529 plan for a child, the money in the account is counted as parental assets.

2. Is it a direct-sold plan? A direct-sold plan is a plan offered directly by the state, and which generally has lower fees on investments, Fitzgerald says. The alternative to a direct plan is an adviser-sold plan that generally has commission fees built into the cost because the investment plans are sold by advisers. Banks can run a direct-sold program on behalf of the state.

First National Bank of Omaha, for example, is the program manager for Nebraska's direct-sold 529 plan. Parents can find out who manages their state's 529 plans at collegesavings.org.

3. Is the bank affiliated with a brokerage? Banks generally handle college savings plans that aren't 529 plans, whereas affiliate brokerages sometimes sell the 529 plans. If a 529 plan is an adviser-sold plan, your bank could have investment advisers who can enroll you in a 529 plan or have a business relationship with a brokerage that will sell you a 529 plan product, Seltzer says.

This doesn't mean parents will pay higher fees than they would with another adviser-sold plan, but it can mean your bank may be splitting the commission on your investments, he says.

That could give the bank a reason to encourage the individual to choose that brokerage over another or instead of a direct plan that has lower fees.

Corrected 6/26/13: A previous version of this article misstated Mike Fitzgerald’s position.

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3 Concerns of International Grad School Applicants

Check with admissions officers to understand how your academic credentials will transfer to U.S. institutions.

During my years as an admissions dean, I recruited and enrolled thousands of international students. In working with these students, three questions repeatedly came up during the application process.

Students frequently wanted to know how to tell if their undergraduate degrees from institutions in their home countries were equivalent to a U.S. bachelor's degree. Another common question was how they could convert a GPA to the 4.0 scale commonly used in the U.S.

Students also expressed concerns about how they should approach the standardized test required for the graduate program to which they were applying.

Below are answers to these common application questions from prospective international graduate students.

[Learn how to choose a U.S. graduate school.]

1. How is academic equivalency determined? If you received your bachelor's degree outside the United States, an evaluation will be performed by the admissions office to confirm that you have earned the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor's degree.

In some cases, you are asked to apply before an evaluation of your educational credentials is conducted. In other cases, an evaluation is required before you apply. Clear guidelines about what constitutes academic equivalency are provided in the application section of a program's admissions website.

If you disagree with the decision by the admissions office, let the staff know you believe you have an extenuating circumstance that merits special consideration.

Put your request in writing as a short inquiry, but include all the facts and thank the admissions office for taking the time to consider your situation. Offer to provide any additional information, and make it clear that you will abide by the decision.

For example, if the institution to which you are applying requires four years of college work following high school and you have a three-year degree, but took additional course work, conducted additional research and received high academic honors, you might consider asking for your situation to be given special consideration.

But understand that arguing about an equivalency determination you believe is unfair or does not take into account your particular situation will only make matters worse. Students who argue with and badger the admissions director to make exceptions end up drawing negative attention to themselves.

[Explore what draws students to U.S. colleges, grad schools.]

2. How is GPA converted to a U.S. scale? Each admissions office has a procedure for "converting" an academic record from an international college or university into the equivalent GPA at the graduate school to which applications are being submitted.

The procedure for doing this is set, and based on my experience, is never altered or changed. No exceptions are made. However, there are steps you can take to ensure that your GPA will be accurately converted.

Send transcripts for all undergraduate work with your application. If you took course work at two other institutions before enrolling at the institution from which you received your bachelor's degree, you should submit three transcripts in total.

Do not provide your own GPA calculation. Rest assured that admissions directors and committees are as diligent about this part of the application process as they are all other parts.

At the start of each academic term, the admissions director is usually asked to provide demographic and academic information for the incoming class. In order to provide accurate information, he or she will be very careful about the conversion of international GPAs.

3. How many standardized test scores should I submit? In addition to demonstrating one's ability to communicate well in English, all applicants, including international students, will have to submit standardized test scores. Depending on the program to which you are applying, you will take the GRE, GMAT, LSAT or Medical College Admission Test, known as the MCAT.

[Discover tips to master the TOEFL.]

Taking the test twice or three times indicates that you are making every effort to provide the best application you can. Taking it more than three times looks desperate, and that does not help.

If the admissions committee is genuinely looking for the best students, it will evaluate your application in its entirety and will not place undue emphasis on your test scores. During my years at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, Northwestern University and Columbia University, the range of test scores for the applicants I admitted was quite large, because I found that test scores alone do not predict success as a graduate school student.

Communication skills, motivation, initiative, hard work and working well with others – along with academic ability – are, in my experience, much better predictors of success.

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STEM High Schools Built on More Than Science and Math

STEM schools rely heavily on project-based learning and challenging lessons to drive student engagement.

Take a peek at the foundation of a specialized STEM high school and you might be surprised by what you find.

The schools are not built on science, technology, engineering and math courses, said Aimee Kennedy, chief academic officer of Metro Early College High School in Ohio.

"If that's all it took to be considered a STEM school, any school in the country could do it," Kennedy said Wednesday during a panel discussion at the 2013 U.S. News STEM Solutions conference in Austin.

[See the best STEM high schools in pictures.]

Instead, these niche schools are built on project-based learning, critical thinking and collaboration – a model that can be replicated at schools across the country, according to STEM school leaders.

"Too often we focus on what we teach," said Steven Zipkes, founding principal of Manor New Technology High School in Texas. "In reality, it's not what we teach, it's how we teach."

Most teachers rely on lectures as their primary teaching method, he said. The result is students are "bored out of their minds."

Bored students are not engaged students, he said, so at Manor New Tech, teachers don't lecture. They don't use textbooks or offer Advanced Placement courses, either.

Instead, students complete 65 projects over the course of the school year. After each project, they give a public presentation. The school partners with business leaders to develop the projects using real-world problems, then builds in state standards, Zipkes said.

[Don't fall for these STEM education myths.]

The approach earned praise from President Barack Obama, who paid Manor New Tech a visit last month.

"The folks around here are doing something right and I think the rest of the country could learn from what you're doing," the president said during his visit. "Every day this school is proving that every child has the potential to learn the real-world skills they need to succeed in college and beyond."

Mimicking the success of schools such as Manor New Tech and Metro Early College – which boast high attendance, graduation and college acceptance rates – requires giving teachers the autonomy to collaborate and create challenging lessons that integrate STEM at every level, the panelists said.

"It is easily replicable, but you have to have that mindset that it's not the same old, same old," Zipkes said.

Both schools look for teachers that buy into that philosophy and are willing to learn and develop alongside their students.

These teachers also subscribe to the belief that all students are capable of learning, said panelist Lizzette Gonzalez Reynolds, chief deputy commissioner of the Texas Education Agency.

[Learn how high schools are fostering innovation.]

"They're not sitting around whining … saying 'Look what they sent me. How am I going to teach this kid,'" she said.

The agency oversees the Lone Star State's T-STEM initiative, which includes nearly 80 STEM academies serving more than 41,000 students across the state, many of whom are low-income and minority students.

These academies all follow a blueprint that includes personalized learning, counseling, professional development for students and teachers and advisory boards that bring together parents, teachers and business leaders.

"This isn't about creating a bunch of engineers," Reynolds said. "This is about maintaining rigor."

Have something of interest to share? Send your news to us at highschoolnotes@usnews.com.

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How International Students Can Cope With Difficult Classes

Don’t get discouraged by classroom challenges you may face as a new international student.

International students often face more challenges than their American classmates because of language and cultural barriers. Don't be distressed when you have a hard time in a particular class – just remember, if the school admitted you, you are smart enough to handle all courses offered. Chances are others are struggling as well.

The following are some steps international students can take to either prevent this situation or to improve both their learning experience and grades.

1. Pick classes wisely: Take your English proficiency and cultural experience into account when choosing courses. If you are a freshman who started learning English a year ago, taking a high-level reading- and writing-based humanities class, such as History of Philosophy, might not be a good idea.

[Explore ways to prepare for the TOEFL.]

Most colleges have course prerequisites and many have a ranking system to help students understand the difficulty level of each course. As an international student, you should pay attention to this information, as well as the level of English proficiency that is required for each class.

Save classes that require a strong vocabulary for later years. When you start college, it is best to take entry-level classes that fulfill the general interdisciplinary requirements. For example, your first class could be calculus, which would satisfy a mathematics requirement and doesn't require the level of English proficiency a political science course would.

Don't let this stop you from pursuing your interests. If you want to major in Comparative Literature, you should definitely take classes in the English department. However, it might be best to start with a class on short stories your freshman year and wait until you're a senior to take literary theory or dive into a course that requires you to read "War and Peace."

Throughout your time at school, your English will naturally progress. Trying to take classes that require a sophisticated understanding of the English language too early might not only make it harder for you to earn good grades, but could suppress your interest in a certain subject.

[Take courses that add to the international student experience.]

2. Get help if you're struggling: Most college professors are very understanding about the challenges that international students face in the classroom, and will try to help you as much as possible if they are aware of your problems.

When I took American history in college, I had a very difficult time because I didn't have the high school history knowledge that my American classmates did. When I expressed concern to my professor, he gave me a few books that had a lot of background information and found me a tutor within the department.

Many colleges also have a writing center whose staff will help you edit your papers. These centers frequently have reference books and sample essays, and are excellent resources for international students.

[Learn to connect with professors at your U.S. college.]

3. Take English as a Second Language classes: Many colleges offer supplementary ESL courses, which I think are a great way to improve your English and lower the language barrier. A friend of mine took an ESL course throughout her freshman year, and by her sophomore year, was ready to sign up for high-level humanities courses.

Many college ESL teachers make it their goal to improve your class participation and extend your vocabulary. Spending a small portion of your week taking those classes can be very beneficial for your college career.

4. Study hard and be patient: A challenging class can be a great source of stress and frustration, but remember that hard work pays off.

You may have to spend more time studying than other students because there are words that you don't know, or because you can't read as quickly in English, but it could also mean that you will remember information longer than your classmates will.

Also, when you find class difficult, other students probably do as well. Be patient and kind to yourself and your efforts will be recognized.

Tra Ho, from Vietnam, received full financial aid to attend Colorado College in 2004. She graduated magna cum laude in 2008 with a degree in mathematics and is currently working as an actuary for a consulting company Washington, D.C.

View the original article here

Answer 3 Questions to Write Your Personal Essay for a U.S. College

Prospective international students should focus on the experiences that have influenced their life and growth to write a personal statement.

You might wish you could just close your eyes and the personal statement for college would write itself. But even if it could, it wouldn't sound like you. To avoid having your personal statement sound fake, you'll still need to write it yourself.

Many international students struggle with writing a personal statement. Part of the college application, it is a short essay that asks you to tell the admissions department about yourself.

While that sounds simple, it can be tough to figure out what to write about and how to write it.

Some students tackle these challenges head-on, and they are the ones who are most likely to submit a genuine piece that shows their thorough self-reflection. You can too by asking yourself the following questions.

[Find out which universities draw the most international students.]

1. Are you trying to find the perfect topic? If you are struggling to do so, just stop and think: Do admissions officers look for a perfect topic? Every anecdote is its own precious story, and the way you tell it is what matters.

Your words, expressing your self-reflection combined with your original background, are the ones that admissions officers would like to discover, not a perfect essay similar to thousands of applications they have already read.

Don't worry if yours is not about a volunteer trip to Africa or a journey abroad that changed your life. If you have a great-grandpa whom you admire for his passion for gardening, write about what you learned from him that helped you, a teenager. If you love swimming, write about how the feel of the water helps you think through your difficulties.

As a prospective international student, you can use your home country as inspiration. Showing how your background makes you a good candidate for a U.S. college can strengthen your application and set you apart from your American peers.

Just keep calm and try to add depth to the ideas you have right now.

[Learn how to evaluate your dream U.S. college.]

2. Are you writing about someone else? Don't waste this precious opportunity by imitating a great essay you read somewhere. Writing about an ideal – or someone else – might be easy at first, but you will soon find out that your ideas and inspiration run out quickly.

In the college application package, you have only one chance to tell the admissions officers who you are in your own voice, not through your professors' perspectives or school documents. That chance is your essay.

Self-reflection is not always easy, but it's all about you and it's unique. Be honest and be you. Write, think and then rewrite until you get a true sense of how your piece could sound better.

Ultimately you will be surprised by how much the process of writing this personal statement helps you understand your dreams, your passions and yourself more thoroughly.

[Ask about cost and reputation before applying to a U.S. college.]

3. Are you procrastinating? Another big mistake applicants make is not starting early. It delays your application process, makes you rush unnecessarily at the end of the application season and can lead you to miss deadlines or send your piece to the wrong school.

Many of my friends wish they could have had more time to write and proofread their personal statements more carefully. That would have helped them avoid submitting a statement with lots of grammatical mistakes or that used phrases that only speakers from their native country would understand.

Prospective international students whose first language is not English should plan to take extra time to revise and proofread their essays. It is not always easy to choose the right phrases that can clearly express your ideas. The earlier you start, the more time you have to sharpen your personal statement.

In my own experience, rushing to get the piece finished has never given me a happy feeling, and I was never satisfied with the result.

Rather than writing your personal statement just to get it done, treat the process of writing as a journey to discover yourself. From there, your inspiration should blossom.

Mai-Linh Bui, from Vietnam, is a junior at Drexel University, studying Communications, French and International Area Studies.

View the original article here

Junk Food Axed From School Vending Machines

New federal regulations will ban junk food such as Doritos from school vending machines starting with the 2014-2015 school year.

So long, soda. Adios, candy bars. Federal regulations will strip junk food from elementary and high school vending machines in 2014.

The "Smart Snacks in Schools" nutrition standards, announced last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, require any food sold in public schools to meet calorie, fat, sugar and sodium limits.

While schools can still sell brownies and cupcakes at bake sales and sporting events, snacks sold during school hours cannot exceed 200 calories and must be either chock full of whole grains or primarily contain fruits, vegetables, dairy or protein.

That means granola bars, popcorn, fruit cups and calorie-free flavored water instead of Doritos, Pop-Tarts, Famous Amos cookies and Coke.

Michelle Obama praised the guidelines, which align with the first lady's "Let's Move" campaign against childhood obesity.

"As a mom myself, I am so excited that schools will now be offering healthier choices to students and reinforcing the work we do at home to help our kids stay healthy," she said in a statement.

[Discover why healthy eating habits start at home.]

Other parents echoed that sentiment.

"I think this is how it should have been from the beginning," Ilyssa Blatt Morris, a mother of two from California, told U.S. News via Facebook.

Teens can still bring junk food to school or go off campus to snag sugary snacks, but Morris notes, "at least the schools are not supplying this junk and making it far too easy an option."

The snacking standards are part of a wave of healthy food guidelines handed down from the federal government over the past few years.

School lunch regulations implemented last year endured backlash from schools, parents and students over reduced calorie caps. The lunch rules doubled fruit and vegetable servings, but left students hungry and sluggish, critics said. Breakfast requirements mandating more fruit and whole grains and fewer calories are set to take effect at the start of the new school year.

[Learn why time, not calories, leaves teens feeling hungry.]

Some students will see little impact from the "Smart Snacks in Schools" regulations. Nearly 40 states already restrict some unhealthy snack foods in schools and several school districts have taken it upon themselves to limit junk food in schools.

"My high school didn't have them anyway so doesn't really matter to me," Jacob Jensen, a recent graduate from Harmony Science Academy, told U.S. News via Facebook.

Not everyone is on board with the snack regulations, though.

I don't even go to school anymore, but I'm still upset about the switch to healthier snacks like it effects me #FreedomOfChoice

— ®achel (@ramblinrachel) June 28, 2013

Nixing popular snack items from a la carte options sold in school cafeterias could mean a hit to already tight school budgets, Sandra Ford, director of food and nutrition services for Manatee County School District in Florida, said during a congressional hearing last week.

Ford estimates her district would lose roughly $975,000 a year if it eliminated all items that don't meet the new regulations.

Have something of interest to share? Send your news to us at highschoolnotes@usnews.com.

View the original article here

Budget for Unexpected Personal Expenses in College

Consider fluctuating costs for personal expenses and necessities like gas and food as you plan your college savings strategy.

The cost of college beyond tuition and fees, textbooks and room and board can come as a shock to many parents and students.

University of Nebraska—Lincoln senior Sadid Carrillo says he's been able to budget for his college years because he "tried not to be wasteful."

He avoids eating out most of the time, and says dining off campus is the downfall for most students' budgets. "Especially in Lincoln you're a block away from where all the restaurants are at, so it's hard not to go out and eat everyday, which a lot of students do," he says.

[Learn how to create a student budget.]

"Families don't normally plan for these expenses, but they do occur," says Paul Goebel, director of the Student Money Management Center at the University of North Texas. His office offers budgeting help to parents, students and alumni.

"Whenever the price of gas goes up, so do the number of consultations students schedule with our office," says Goebel. "Transportation is often an underestimated cost," whether students come to campus for classes, drive to jobs or go home.

"An increase of any personal expense can easily throw a student's budget into the red," he says.

Parents and students should not only remember to save for these expenses, but to save more than they estimate.

"One reason for this is personal expenses are the great unknown," says Bob Burger, an Arizona-based financial planner. The rising costs of tuition and fees and room and board have been well-documented in studies – including those published by the College Board and the Department of Education – but the rising costs of transportation and personal expenses aren't as well known.

Experts suggest parents plan to save for these costs outside of 529 plan accounts, because withdrawals for nonqualified expenses like gas from these tax-advantaged college savings accounts can carry steep penalties. On a $2,000 withdrawal from a 529 account, the penalty would be $200 on investment earnings before any taxes.

Both Burger and David Blain, a certified financial planner from North Carolina, recommend parents incorporate saving for college as part of their overall financial planning.

Parents shouldn't neglect their own needs while planning for their children's. Financial goals such as retirement shouldn't be disregarded.

"Very few parents are going to say 'Nope, you have this amount in your 529 plan, I'm not helping with anything else,'" Burger says. He's told parents of current college students, "'You're going to run out of retirement if you pay for these college expenses,' and they still do it."

The best defense is planning ahead and setting limits. Blain tells parents to put money in their children's names that they will never need for themselves.

[Encourage children to save for college with these tips.]

Burger says any money left over after parents pay educational expenses can be used for a wedding, a down payment on a future home or another way to make an adult child's life easier.

To decide how much to save for a child's personal expenses, Blain and Burger recommend slightly different strategies. Burger says he takes an estimate of the current cost of these expenses and adds 3 percent per year for each year until the child is expected to use the funds to account for rising prices.

For parents of young children, Blain generally estimates these expenses will run about 20 percent of tuition and fees and room and board per year, and then he adds the cost of inflation. However, he also tells parents to decide just how much they want to spend. At a school that costs $14,000, he recommends parents expect $1,500 to $3,000 in extra expenses.

[Discover more ways to save on college costs.]

"The higher the cost of the school, the more students will likely need for personal expenses such as extracurricular activities," he says.

For parents of teens about to head to college, Blain asks specific questions: "Are they going to have a car? Is the parent's insurance rate going to go up? Does the college offer health care, or are they going to stay on the parent's plan?"

Whatever amount parents decide to set aside for a student's personal expenses, Goebel recommends they hold the student responsible for sticking to it.

"The college years are a time for all students to learn how to become more independent, both personally and financially," Goebel says.

Trying to fund your education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for College center.

View the original article here

New Study Rates U.S. News Business School Rankings

A recent study found that U.S. News has the most stable business school rankings, compared with the Financial Times and Businessweek.

Which business school rankings are the most reliable and valid? According to a scholarly article, it's the U.S. News & World Report Best Business Schools rankings, published as part of our Best Graduate Schools rankings.

In the article in the June 20 edition of the Journal of Marketing Education, "A Psychometric Assessment of the Businessweek, U.S. News & World Report and Financial Times Rankings of Business Schools' MBA Programs," Dawn Iacobucci examines the three major full-time MBA rankings.

This peer-reviewed article joins a rapidly expanding body of academic literature that take a scholarly, analytical approach to the study of academic rankings and their impact.

The Vanderbilt University professor favors U.S. News largely because she believes our Best Business Schools rankings have shown greater reliability over the years and have greater validity in terms of objectivity.

In an email, Iacobucci wrote, "I would look at U.S. News as a result of this research partly due to objectivity of the measures and components that go into the ranking. It would also be extremely difficult to game U.S. News. The Financial Times is pitched to favor the more international schools, and the Businessweek student poll has a good deal of variability to it. You don't want to see schools slipping up and down and all over the place. If there is that much variance, what good can there possibly be to the ranking?"

The study measured whether the salaries earned by MBA graduates were influenced by the rankings by looking at the monetary differences students earned by going to higher-ranked schools in the three different rankings.

U.S. News did significantly better on this measure. The analysis found that students who attended business schools that ranked higher in the U.S. News rankings earned larger salaries.

For each higher U.S. News rank, a school's graduates earned $908.03 more in yearly salary, on average, at their first jobs following business school for the most recent year of data.

Every rank improvement for a school in the Financial Times rankings translated to, on average, $377.58 more, and in the Businessweek rankings, $605.27 more.

The paper evaluated the consistency and reliability of the overall rankings by looking at how schools' ranks had changed over time, starting by looking at all the b-school rankings of each publisher from the time each of the three rankings were first published.

The study concluded that "comparing across media, we see that Businessweek varied quite a bit over its first 15 years or so (e.g., the formulae may have been changing, school sampling may have undergone changes, etc.), and it has become stable since approximately 2004. On this criterion, we can laud the U.S. News as yielding the most stable results, year to year, even from its inception. The Financial Times results are stable as well."

View the original article here

10 National Universities Where Most Students Live On Campus

The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College and The Short List: Grad School to find data that matters to you in your college or grad school search.

The challenge of getting into school, paying for it and earning good grades is hard enough for some students. But today, some face an added obstacle: finding on-campus housing.

The country is facing a shortage of on-campus student housing at public and private schools, according to a 2012 report by the National Multi Housing Council that analyzed data between 2000 and 2010. The last decade saw a 38.7 percent increase in student enrollment, fueled partly by the size of Generation Y and economic uncertainty, the group found.

As enrollment surged, most states have seen a smaller percentage of students living in dorms. Areas with the highest campus housing shortages include Arizona, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota and West Virginia.

Despite the shortage, some universities are still housing most of their students on campus.

[Learn how to get along with your roommate.]

Harvard University tops the list of National Universities with the highest percentage of undergraduate students living on campus in fall 2011, according to data reported to U.S. News in an annual survey. The Ivy League school has 98 percent of its undergraduates living on campus.

Harvard also has the number one spot in the U.S. News Best National Universities rankings, tying with Princeton, which is also on the housing list. Six other schools on the housing list fall within the top 10 of the U.S. News Best National Universities rankings: California Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University and Dartmouth College. The lowest-ranked school on the list was St. Mary's University of Minnesota, which placed 174.

Of the 247 ranked National Universities that provided data to U.S. News about campus housing, an average of 38 percent of the undergraduate population lives on campus.

Schools that were designated by U.S. News as Unranked were not considered for this report. U.S. News did not calculate a numerical ranking for Unranked programs, because the program did not meet certain criteria that U.S. News requires to be numerically ranked.

[Explore how theme dorms promote diversity.]

The table below highlights 10 National Universities with the highest percentage of undergraduates living in campus housing in fall 2011.

Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find the percentages of students living on campus, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.

U.S. News surveyed more than 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2012 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported a myriad of data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News's data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News's rankings of Best Colleges or Best Graduate Schools. The on-campus data above are correct as of June 18, 2013.

View the original article here

Lessons for Parents of International Grad Students

Parents of prospective international students should involve their children in the graduate school selection process.

During my years serving in graduate enrollment and student services, I held office hours for students. There, I met with countless international students. Many were stressed, frightened and upset – a few to the point that they needed professional or medical assistance.

Academic struggles were the primary cause of their angst. Further questioning revealed that if word of their situation reached their parents, they would be in a great deal of trouble.

I've met with thousands of parents of prospective graduate students around the world during my career. What always amazed me was the consistently strong desire these parents had to see their children succeed. In many cases parents were making huge sacrifices so that their children could study abroad.

[Learn what to consider when applying to U.S. graduate schools.]

It was heartwarming to observe this, and to witness the strong ties between family members. But sometimes I found myself communicating with parents of applicants rather than the applicants themselves.

Parents often asked about the curriculum, admission requirements, career placement information and scholarship opportunities – questions typically asked by applicants. In some cases, they would even ask for an application fee waiver or reduced tuition for their son or daughter.

It is quite an adjustment for parents to have a son or daughter travel not only far away for graduate study, but also to another country – in some cases, without returning home for two years. This cannot be easy, yet many parents support and encourage their children to pursue their educational and career goals.

[Learn how graduate schools evaluate international applicants.]

But many international students have told me that their parents do not respond well to any sort of failure. Remember that any successful person has some detours along the way, and does not do everything perfectly.

Yet at times, some parents place overwhelming pressure on their children. While you want your child to succeed, placing too much pressure on him or her to do so could actually make things worse. Focus on success, not on perfection. Let your child be human.

Remember that sometimes the greatest learning opportunities come from mistakes and errors. If we are afraid of or forbid failure, we actually create a culture where it is more likely that failure will occur.

[Allay some common international grad school applicant concerns.]

Parents can help their students by encouraging them to find the best institution or program for them.

As a dean of admissions, it was frequently evident to me that students' parents had selected the institutions to which an international student was applying. The student had no input whatsoever.

When we would inquire, either through an essay or during an interview about why the applicant had chosen our program, students would often say that their parents had chosen their list of schools.

Some of these same students came to my office hours, indicating that they did not want to be enrolled at my institution in the first place.

In some of those situations where parents had selected the programs for their children, they almost always chose the highest ranking institutions in a particular field. Long-term success in life is rarely dependent on where one attended college or graduate school.

Work with your children, not apart from them. Give them the opportunity to be involved in the selection of the graduate program they believe would be the best match and where they would like to apply. Do not encourage an unhealthy and obsessive emphasis on rankings and prestige.

View the original article here

Discover an Apprenticeship That's Right for You

Consider an apprenticeship for paid, on-the-job training in a field that interests you.

Apprenticeships have been around since the Middle Ages, training individuals in a specific skill set and setting them up to have successful careers in the trades. They are as common today as they were hundreds of years ago – but today's apprenticeships are a bit more formal.

Apprenticeships combine on-the-job training and experience with classroom instruction to help you learn all there is to know about your future career.

Unlike many internships, apprenticeships are paid positions, so you are treated like an employee. Most apprenticeships last two to four years, depending on the program, and the majority require at least a high school diploma.

If you're interested in hands-on training that will lead you to a career in the trades, an apprenticeship may be just the ticket for you. We'll tell you about a handful of apprenticeships that are out there, but we suggest you dig for more in the specific field you are interested in – there are thousands available in the United States alone.

[Learn why students should consider technical programs.]

The Illinois Department of Employment Security offers several great apprenticeships if you don't mind rolling up your sleeves. You have the opportunity to become a bricklayer, a cement mason, a heat and frost insulator, a plumber and more!

Most of these apprenticeships take three to five years to complete and are a total of 144 hours of classroom instruction and 2,000 hours of on-the-job training.

Down south, Louisiana offers a different approach to finding an apprenticeship on its website. Simply choose the area of the state in which you wish to work and select any of the 62 programs that interests you.

The website then shows you if there are any available apprenticeships in that area at that time. If you don't find what you are looking for in your destination right away, continue to check back; the apprenticeship listings are updated every few weeks.

[Explore how Common Core aims to increase career readiness.]

The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development offers apprenticeships specific to service trade, meaning personal service workers and public safety trades. Apprenticeships in the service sector often involve applying directly to the company, which means eligibility requirements for each employer may be slightly different. Service trade apprenticeships include positions like child care development specialist, cosmetologist, firefighter, chef and electric line worker.

If you'd like a little more variety when choosing an apprenticeship, you may want to look into the California Apprenticeship Coordinators Association. CalApprenticeships.org offers more than 30 programs such as automotive, culinary and pastry, electrician, ironworking and painting.

Each apprenticeship program provides contact information, so applying is personable and simple. Additionally, the website describes the qualifications, benefits and duration of each program to give you a better idea of the apprenticeship.

[Find out how vocational schools help students get ahead.]

If you didn't see an apprenticeship that fits what you are looking for, don't panic! Visit the U.S. Department of Labor's website to find an apprenticeship that could be your perfect match. The website offers links to other sites with apprenticeship opportunities based on state, which makes it simple to find an apprenticeship close to home.

Searching for the right apprenticeship can be overwhelming, but don't give up. When searching, use the Internet in every way possible; most apprenticeship-related websites have a Q-and-A page and are fairly easy to navigate.

Do not be afraid to exercise your connections and reach out to people. Talk to family and friends to see if they know of anyone who has had an apprenticeship; people love to share their experiences and give advice. Apprenticeships are one of the best ways to get your foot in the door and receive valuable real-world experience.

Meghann Rand interned at Scholarship America in 2013. She attends the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where she is majoring in advertising and public relations.

View the original article here

U.S. News Releases NCTQ Teacher Prep Ratings

New ratings released by U.S. News and NCTQ evaluate programs that train teachers to teach.

Teaching was once dubbed "the profession that eats its young" and many educators liken their first few years in the classroom to a hazing ritual. The result is an industry that hemorrhages new teachers nearly as fast as it can license them.

One factor feeding the high turnover rate is lack of preparation, according to Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, a national union representing 1.5 million educators.

"Newly minted teachers are tossed the keys to their classrooms … and left to see if they (and their students) sink or swim," she wrote in a December 2012 report for the AFT. The report called for higher standards and accountability in teacher training programs.

The 2013 NCTQ Teacher Prep Ratings, released today by U.S. News, are a step in that direction.

[Read U.S. News Editor Brian Kelly's opinion on the NCTQ ratings.]

Part of a broader effort by the National Council on Teacher Quality, the ratings are a subset of the NCTQ Teacher Prep Review, published today by the nonprofit educational research and advocacy group. The review is a 2.5-year effort to gauge the quality of the bachelor's and master's degree tracks required to enter the teaching profession.

Unlike the Best Graduate Education Programs ranking produced annually by U.S. News - which uses a detailed methodology that only examines Ph.D. programs and the research output of graduate education schools – NCTQ's ratings evaluated 1,200 teacher preparation programs at 608 schools on key standards designated by the research group.

For undergrad and graduate programs training elementary education teachers, those standards included admissions selection criteria, student teaching programs and early reading and elementary math curricula, as well as curricula focused on areas such as history and science.

[Get answers to FAQs on the teacher prep ratings.]

Those training secondary education teachers were also evaluated on admissions selectivity and student teaching, as well as high school curricula, and middle school content when applicable. NCTQ included additional standards in its larger review, which were not included in the ratings published by U.S. News.

Curricula at all levels were judged on whether they successfully prepare teachers for the Common Core State Standards. Adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia, the standards call for teachers to cover less content, but require them to delve deeper into areas deemed crucial for student development and eventual college and career readiness.

NCTQ used course requirements, syllabi, employer surveys and detailed student-teaching contracts, among other documents, to score undergraduate and graduate teaching preparation programs on each of these standards. It then assigned an overall program rating on a scale of 0 to 4 stars, four being the highest.

[Find out how NCTQ calculated the teacher prep ratings.]

Among undergrad programs training secondary school teachers, Furman University in South Carolina earned four stars, as did Lipscomb University in Tennessee.

Twelve other programs – including Clemson University in South Carolina, the University of Iowa, the University of Kentucky and Middle Tennessee State University – earned 3.5 stars.

Ohio State University was the only graduate school to earn four stars for its secondary education program.

Clayton State University in Georgia, Kean University in New Jersey, the University of California­—San Diego, University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill and the Peabody College of Education at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee all earned 3.5 stars for graduate programs designed to train future high school teachers.

None of the undergrad or grad programs focused on elementary education earned a four-star rating, but Ohio State's M.Ed. in early childhood education came close with 3.5 stars.

Stay up to date on secondary education trends with the U.S. News High School Notes blog.

View the original article here

Pack Traits, Not Possessions to Study at a U.S. College

Take advantage of your time as an international student by bonding with classmates and opening yourself up to new ideas and experiences.

Packing your life into two suitcases is no easy task. You will never realize the full number of possessions you own until you try to select the most essential items. What will you truly need to make it through a year as an international student?

When I first moved to the U.S. in 2007, I had no clue. I ended up with bags stuffed mostly with clothes.

I did not realize until later that there were a few far more important things I should have thought about before I boarded the plane in Copenhagen destined for Atlanta.

The following are a few things international students bound for a U.S. college should take with them.

1. An open mind: From watching movies and TV shows, reading papers and magazines, playing video games and listening to music you probably think that you have a fairly good idea of how America functions. But don't cling to your preconceived notions.

Chances are that your perception is far from reality, which you will realize rather quickly if you enter each situation and conversation with curiosity and make an effort to see the world through the eyes of your American peers.

After all, you are in their country. Let them show you how it works before you start questioning it.

[Prepare to meet your American college roommate.]

2. Courage to befriend students of other nationalities: When social dilemmas occur – and believe me, they will – sticking with your countrymen will always be the easy way out. This happens frequently at colleges with large cohorts of international students from the same countries.

Choosing to spend time with your countrymen over others is not a bad thing, but it defeats part of the purpose of studying abroad.

Americans are outgoing and tend to befriend you whether you want to or not. Respond with a similar openness, and before you know it you could end up at someone's house for Thanksgiving dinner or a football watch party.

Foreign students of different nationalities also have a tendency to bond because they have all been thrown into an unfamiliar environment. Some of the strongest friendships I have made in the past six years are not with Americans, but South Africans, Croatians and Israelis.

3. Willingness to work hard: America was built on the idea that anyone willing to work hard can be successful. Despite what news headlines or skeptics may tell you, that still stands.

But Americans not only work hard, but also spot hard workers with potential and give them the chance to develop further. Athletic and academic scholarships are excellent examples.

Don't shy away from the daily grind, because persistent work that yields great results rarely goes unnoticed and can open up opportunities you have only dreamed about.

I'm writing this at the Brussels office of the news agency Reuters. I ended up there for a summer internship after less than one year as a journalism student, simply because the right person noticed my work.

4. Knowledge that you made the right choice: I spent a good number of sleepless nights my freshman year looking at my friends' Facebook pictures, wondering if training 20 hours per week in the South Carolina countryside as a swimmer really was the best choice I could have made.

When I returned home the next summer and traded stories with my friends, I quickly realized that most of them envied my opportunities. The same thing will happen for you.

Most people never make it to the U.S. You are lucky to have done so.

[Learn the do's and don'ts of packing for a U.S. college.]

5. Willingness to learn football and baseball: Americans love their sports. No matter how much you try to explain the charm of soccer, rugby, tennis or volleyball, they will continue to throw around the egg-shaped football and play catch with the small, white baseballs and large leather gloves.

Make an effort to understand the rules of the game, and you will quickly get the chance to impress your American peers. Doing so will also make viewing parties far more enjoyable.

This list does not include any physical items, for one simple reason: You are going to the U.S. You can buy anything there.

Anders Melin, from Sweden, is a former collegiate swimmer for Limestone College and the University of Missouri, where he earned an undergraduate degree in finance. He is now pursuing a master's degree in journalism at New York University.

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Face Online Bachelor's Programs That Don't Make the Grade

Students looking to drop out of a class should move fast so that they can get at least some of their money back, experts say.

Online bachelor's degree programs can certainly have their perks: They let students study when they want, where they want and help them balance school, family and career.

But while online programs are designed to make it easier to get an education, enrolling in the wrong program can make you question your investment.

"I've heard very concerning stories about well-known universities that are rushing to get online programs out there and quality is not what it should be generally," says Jonathan Hill, associate dean at Pace University's Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. "It's a really exciting time out there, but it's also buyer beware."

[Discover the basics of an online course.]

Students often feel frustrated when an online degree program isn't living up to their expectations, but they shouldn't feel helpless, experts say. If students are proactive about changing their circumstances, they have a chance of receiving the education they deserve.

Nonresponsive instructors are the No. 1 complaint students have about their online programs, says Vicky Phillips, founder of GetEducated.com, a website that ranks online degree programs based on student reviews, affordability and public perception. Phillips surveyed 1,000 students in verified online education programs between April 2009 and June 2012 and asked them about their experiences.

The others, in order, are poor customer service and advising; a dislike of group work; bad overall quality control; and subpar course design.

Too often, Phillips says, online students who try to voice their concerns about their courses find their institutions are poorly equipped to handle the complaints.

"The culture of many colleges is not very customer-oriented," she says. "Students are now older and nontraditional and they have more of a consumer approach. That expectation is coming up against a culture where traditionally there is not a lot of accountability."

Most students were happy with their online programs, according to the survey, but those who reported concerns tended to encounter the same problems.

Students who find themselves frustrated with various aspects of a program should take initiative and advocate for themselves, experts say.

The first step in that process would be to reach out to a human being – an assigned mentor, a teacher's assistant or a faculty member.

[Learn about mistakes online ed students make.]

If students are having issues with a particular course, experts suggest they first contact the instructor directly and clearly state their concern.

"My first response would not be to email the department chair," says Carlos Campo, president of Regent University in Virginia. "Any faculty member would take umbrage at that as a first step. Let the faculty member know you would like to get a response by a certain time, and then if you don't then you may talk to the program head."

If the faculty member is not responsive, Campo suggests continuing to move up the chain of command until you find someone who is.

Students seeking academic assistance but not getting feedback from an instructor should turn to other resources, Campo recommends.

"Look beyond the faculty member to the writing center, to the library," he says. "And always look for peers. I am stunned to see how much peer-to-peer learning is happening in the classroom."

Of course, experts suggest that students investigate the quality of their online bachelor's program before enrolling. Those who missed the warning signs and find themselves in lackluster programs should take quick action, they say.

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Colleges Fight to Retain Interest of STEM Majors

Schools are trying increase the number of students who graduate in STEM majors.

Experts estimate that less than 40 percent of students who enter college as STEM majors actually wind up earning a degree in science, technology, engineering or math.

Those who don't make it to the finish line typically change course early on. Just ask Mallory Hytes Hagan, better known as Miss America 2013.

Hagan enrolled at Auburn University as a biomedical science major, but transferred to the Fashion Institute of Technology a year later to pursue a career in cosmetics and fragrance marketing.

"I found out I wasn't as prepared as I should be," Hagan said during a panel discussion today at the 2013 U.S. News STEM Solutions conference in Austin. "I hit that first chem lab and thought, 'Whoa. What's going on?'"

[Discover which top-ranked colleges grant the most STEM degrees.]

Her story is a common one. New STEM students often feel isolated, discouraged and overwhelmed when they get to college, but several schools are making strides to reverse that trend.

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana is one of those schools. The private college uses small class sizes to help foster connections between professors and students, said Phillip Cornwell, vice president of academic affairs at Rose-Hulman, during a separate panel on STEM majors at Tuesday's conference.

"Rather than having a single class of 200, we'll have eight sessions of 30, all taught by professors," Cornwell said.

The intimate classroom setting helps professors identify who is struggling before they drop the class or switch majors, he added.

Additionally, Rose-Hulman surveys each faculty member and resident adviser working with freshmen to identify academic and attendance issues. The school also has a retention task force, which meets biweekly to look at where and why they lose students, and figure out ways to plug the leak, Cornwell said.

[Learn why the STEM disconnect leaves women, minorities behind.]

Making course work relevant for students as early as possible is one of the ways the academic development program Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement helps ensure STEM students progress through college. Administered by the University of California school system, MESA serves mostly low-income, first-generation college students.

"For the communities we're working with, there is very little knowledge of what it may be like to be a scientist or engineer," said Oscar Porter, the program's executive director, during the panel on STEM majors.

Getting students engaged in their career path early on through internships and lab time is essential to student retention, said Porter.

For students in the MESA program, that may mean visiting Driscoll's in Watsonville, Calif. One of the world's largest berry suppliers, Driscoll's is a major employer in the area and relies heavily on immigrant farm workers.

Instead of walking the fields, students spend time in the laboratory, Porter said.

"They get to think of themselves as scientists while, in many cases, their parents are working in the fields right outside," he said.

Searching for a college? Get our complete rankings of Best Colleges.

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Examine Budget Proposals' Impact on Student Loans

Proposed House legislation would limit the maximum Pell Grant award to $5,645 for the next 10 years.

Back in April, we took a look at the president's budget proposal and what it might mean for postsecondary education. The House and the Senate have also released vastly different fiscal year 2014 budget resolutions.

Just like the president's proposed budget, congressional budget resolutions are not law. But they do show Congress' priorities and serve as self-imposed taxing and spending guidelines.

The most important benchmarks established by the budget resolutions are the overall appropriations funding levels they set. The total amount of funding will determine in turn how much every committee – including the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the House Education and the Workforce Committee – can spend and therefore if specific programs can be increased or if they will either be cut back or eliminated entirely.

[Learn the perks, pitfalls of student loan repayment proposals.]

This is also one of the biggest differences between the House and Senate proposals. The House's budget resolution sets an appropriations limit of $966.4 billion. That's about $18 billion less than the fiscal year 2013 postsequester funding and $477 billion less than the presequester funding.

In addition – as the New America Foundation points out in its Federal Education Budget Update – the House intends to divert money from nondefense to defense programs. This will further reduce the amount available for education programs.

The Senate, in contrast, sets a nearly $1.1 trillion appropriations limit. This amount of spending would require the budget passed by Congress to amend the Budget Control Act – known also as the sequester – in order to exceed the limits it sets. It's also about $92 billion more than the House wants to spend. That's a large gap to bridge.

It is clear Congress is also deeply divided in the policy realm as well. The House, led by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., has produced what it calls The Path To Prosperity: A Responsible Balanced Budget that aims to balance the budget in 10 years. According to the resolution, a key problem with education funding is that federal student aid – led by Pell Grants – is driving up tuition costs and results in graduates having to make large student loan repayments.

[Understand efforts to stop the student loan interest rate increase.]

Many of the policy responses outlined in the House bill are devoted to cutting costs, including limiting the maximum Pell Grant award to $5,645 for the next 10 years, rolling back changes made in the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 that broadened the eligibility of needy families for student aid and moving to fair-value accounting for student loans. The resolution also implies it would be good to reinstate the wasteful Federal Family Education Loan program.

The Senate budget resolution produced by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., – which sports the equally anodyne title of Foundation For Growth: Restoring the Promise of American Opportunity – also identifies the increased cost of college as a key problem, and "assumes Congress will enact proposals to reduce college costs while expanding college access and completion."

However, it calls for increasing the nation's investment in education and proposes solutions that are almost diametrically opposed to those in House budget resolution.

[Get tips on student loan repayment for college dropouts.]

Specifically, the resolution implies the Senate would expand Pell Grants and lauds the ending of the FFEL program. It also proposes getting rid of the student loan fee increases that were created by sequestration, retaining subsidized loans that help needy families and ensuring student loan interest rates are affordable.

It's possible the House and Senate will bridge these and other gaps and produce a joint budget resolution – perhaps though the budget reconciliation process – but it seems highly unlikely. Instead, those interested in the education budget have to wait out the larger budget battle that will be waged this summer to see if our nation will invest, or divest, in postsecondary education.

Isaac Bowers is a senior program manager in the Communications and Outreach unit, responsible for Equal Justice Works's educational debt relief initiatives. An expert on educational debt relief, Bowers conducts monthly webinars for a wide range of audiences; advises employers, law schools, and professional organizations; and works with Congress and the Department of Education on federal legislation and regulations. Prior to joining Equal Justice Works, he was a fellow at Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP in San Francisco. He received his J.D. from New York University School of Law.

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