North Carolina School Will Offer Early Admissions for First-Generation Students

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Many selective universities in the U.S. offer “early action,” which can boost a student’s chances of getting in if they apply early. These programs have been criticized, since underprivileged students are often unfamiliar with the deadlines and unable to get their applications in on time. Now, Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, plans to only offer the option to students who are the first members of their families to attend college. Liam Knox has more for Inside Higher Ed. (August 2023)  …

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Could ‘Google Effect’ Make You Less Smart?

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A 2011 study claimed that information learned from Googling is less valuable because we don’t remember it. There was academic controversy over the findings, but new follow-up research suggests the “Google Effect” is real. The easier it is to find information, the less likely you are to retain it. Jill Barshay summarizes the research for The Hechinger Report. (August 2023) …

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How to Plan Finances if You Want to Study Medicine in the US  

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If you plan to study medicine in the United States, you need to plan your finances first.   Even schools that don’t carry the prestige of universities like Harvard or Stanford will require fees, tuition, books and materials, and you’ll need to cover living expenses for the eight years it takes to get an undergraduate and medical degree.   The Education Desk of The Indian Express has some tips for helping students and parents prepare. (August 2023)     …

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Students Transform Their Drab Dorm Rooms Into Comfy Living Spaces

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From $300 studded headboards and $100 coffee table books to custom-made cabinets to disguise your mini-fridge, students are spending big bucks to decorate their dorm rooms, adding yet another layer to the soaring costs of college. Some are even going so far as to hire interior designers to beautify their 12 feet by 20 feet of space. Lesley Lachman, 18, planned her furnishings for her dorm room with her roommate immediately after deciding to attend the University of Mississippi back in May. The Rye, New York resident scoured websites like Pinterest and designed her room herself — with hues ofmore

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Tuition Discounts on the Rise, but Are They Going to Neediest Applicants?

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U.S. colleges often slash thousands of dollars off the “sticker price” to entice students to enroll. The more options a student has, the bigger the discount a college needs to offer. However, the savings have disproportionately gone to white and Asian applicants. “Put merit in quotation marks,” says one admissions official. “It’s not really about rewarding students for their wonderful performance in high school, as much as it is trying to change that student’s enrollment decision.” Read more from Jill Barshay in The Hechinger Report. (July 2023) …

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Indonesia Student Hopes Harvard Research Helps Her Home Country

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A doctoral student from Indonesia studying community well-being at Harvard University hopes to use her research to aid her country. Fairuziana, who uses a single name, is studying emotion regulation in youth mental health interventions in low- and middle-income countries. Eventually, she’d like to reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety in psychosis in youth. Read the full story at UNews. (July 2023)  …

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Scholarships for International Students Wanting Master’s Degrees in the US

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Keystone Masterstudies, which specializes in student recruitment, higher education marketing and enrollment management, has a roundup of scholarships for international students seeking a master’s degree in the United States. They include university scholarships, scholarships funded by governmental bodies and external organizations, and major-specific scholarships. Get the full list here. (July 2023) …

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Race-Based Affirmative Action Is Over; Legacy Admissions Might Be Next

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The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled as unconstitutional affirmative action — the practice of giving underrepresented racial groups a leg up in admissions. Now Wesleyan University, a prestigious liberal arts school in Connecticut, is voluntarily getting rid of legacy admissions, which give an advantage to people whose relatives previously attended the college. Many schools are now facing lawsuits over legacy admissions, including Harvard. At a few schools, including Cornell and Dartmouth, legacy students outnumber Black students, a survey found. Kate Perez of USA Today has more. (July 2023) …

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Could America’s AI Industry Exist Without International Students? Probably Not

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According to new research from the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), 42% of major AI companies in the United States have a founder who came to the U.S. as an international student. Furthermore, nearly 4 out of 5 of these companies were founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants. And of all the graduate students in the U.S. studying AI-related fields, 70% come from another country. Keeping international students in the U.S. after graduation is “essential for U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence,” the study concludes. Stuart Anderson, the executive director of NFAP, summarizes his findings in Forbes. (Julymore

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International Students Want to Work, But Visa Rules Can Get in Their Way

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Foreign undergraduate students at the University of Missouri hail from Afghanistan, India and South Korea. This year, some have been accepted into study abroad programs in Iraq and internships with local crisis shelters. But student visa rules forbid first-year students from working off-campus. And even when they are eligible, the permit process is complex and takes months. Adeleine Halsey of the Columbia Missourian profiles undergraduates who are running into these restrictions. (July 2023)  …

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Colleges Could Recruit Using Generative AI

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Himanshu Barthwal is the CEO of Admission Overseas, a startup whose platform helps international student recruiters make recommendations. The recruiters can use it to guess which schools will be a good academic and financial fit for a student. The program is already being used to fill vacant healthcare positions in Canada, where Barthwal lives. Read his interview with Hessie Jones of Forbes. (July 2023) …

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Protesters in Miami Blast Florida’s Black History Teaching Standards

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Dozens of teachers, students and labor leaders marched to a Miami school district headquarters Wednesday to protest Florida’s new standards for teaching Black history, which have come under intense criticism for what they say about slavery. The protesters who marched to the School Board of Miami-Dade County objected to new curriculum standards that, among other things, require teachers to instruct middle school students that enslaved people “developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” Governor Ron DeSantis, who is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has repeatedly defended the new language while insisting that hismore

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Majority of Ivy League Schools Have Women Presidents, Yet Only a Third of US Colleges Overall Do

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Six of the eight Ivy League schools, which include Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Columbia, now have women presidents. Yet, according to the American Council of Education, just 32% of all U.S. colleges do, even though a majority of collegiate-level students are women. But do students care about the president when choosing a school? And which way are these numbers trending? Dan Friedell of VOA Learning English answers these questions, with contributions from Andrew Smith. (July 2023) …

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US Universities Launch Partnership to Elevate Free Speech

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The presidents of 13 universities in the United States are elevating free speech on their campuses this academic year, as part of a new nonprofit initiative announced Tuesday to combat what organizers call dire threats to U.S. democracy.  The Campus Call for Free Expression will take different forms on different campuses. The campaign, created by The Institute for Citizens & Scholars with funding from the Knight Foundation, is designed to cultivate the freedom of expression on campuses and help students work together to find solutions to complicated, divisive problems.  “The national context of the deep political polarization, the inability ofmore

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International Students Prefer a Third of Their Classes be Online

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Despite the end of COVID-19 restrictions in many places, international students say they’d prefer that about a third of their classes be online. Students say they appreciate the flexibility, and students whose first language isn’t English can benefit from being able to rewatch a lecture afterward. However, 25% of students said they would like all their classes to be in person. Patrick Jack reviews the survey data in The Times Higher Education. (July 2023) …

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