6 Myths and Fallacies About College Admissions

The college admissions process is competitive and frenzied enough without falling prey to its most insidious myths. Believing any of these lies adds anxiety to an already stressful process, says Josh Bottomly, a college admissions expert and associate director of college counseling at the Casady School, a private prep school in Oklahoma City. And it could actually result in your child being rejected by some or all of his top choice schools. Myth #1: Only Top Tier Schools Prepare People for Success The most pervasive myth in our culture is that only certain schools (aka Ivies) will prepare people for success, says Bottomly. The underlying idea is that if a student doesn’t graduate from a Top 20 Newsweek-rated college, then they won’t have opportunities for jobs, promotions, and influence. Well, tell that to over half of our U.S. Senators. They graduated from public universities. Tell that to 43 of the top 50 CEO’s in the world. They graduated from schools other than Ivies. Tell that to Condoleezza Rice – a graduate of the University of Denver. Or Steven Spielberg. He was rejected from USC three times. He graduated from Cal State Long Beach. Or Tom Hanks. He attended Chabot Community College. Part of the genius of America is that you can make your destiny by what you do, not where you go to college. Myth #2: A College Brochure in the Mailbox Means Something Too often, says Bottomly, parents and students will fall victim to college attract to reject marketing campaigns. Through a flurry of glossy brochures and enticing paraphernalia, colleges will dupe students into believing an acceptance letter ensues. The truth is, the college only wants the application. The more applications a college receives, the more it can reject. The more it rejects, the higher its ranking goes up. And let’s be honest: college rankings are to Newsweek what the swimsuit issue is to Sports Illustrated. Sex sells. So do rankings. Myth #3: Applying to More Schools Increases Ones Chances Sometimes, says Bottomly, I will run into a parent who thinks he or she has done the math: If my student applies to more selective schools, it will increase his chances of getting into one of them. My response: Imagine you’re an archer. The target stands 1000 feet away. The bull’s eye is the size of a pea. According to Bill Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions at Harvard, that’s your odds at getting into a Top 20 University – about 3% without an admissions advantage. The fallacy here is to think that if you apply to all 20 schools that you will broaden the bull’s eye. Fitzsimmons response: All a student has done is drawn a circle around the same pea-size target 20 times. My advice then: shorten the distance to the target and broaden the bull’s eye. The former means, you apply to more schools where your GPA and test scores (ACT or SAT) fall into the median range. The latter means you apply to at least six first choice schools where you are competit ive. By doing this, you will significantly increase your chances of hitting your target. Myth #4: Once you send in the application, youre done.Myth #5: Large universities offer more opportunities than small liberal arts colleges.Myth #6: Colleges are looking for well-rounded students.

Idealism and Realism Essay - 1792 Words

â€Å"In the place where idealism and realism meet, that is where there is the greatest evolutionary tension.† Idealism prioritizes ideals, social reforms and morals, by wanting to benefit not just yourself, but the world around you, believing people are generally good. On the contrary, realism gives priority to national interest and security with emphasis on promoting one’s own power and influence by assuming that people are egocentric by nature. Based on the definitions stated above, idealism and realism are significantly different from each other and their divergence of thought is more apparent when various proponents of each such as Woodrow Wilson, Henry Lodge, Barack Obama and George W. Bush have varied outlooks on comparable issues in†¦show more content†¦His idea of the League of Nations was significant because he believed if various countries worked together, there were fewer chances of violent conflicts such as wars. However, Wilson’s goals we re long term, but for the most part he did not present a clear way to achieve those goals. Tragically, his Fourteen Points were not accepted by Congress. Congress did not pass the proposal to join the League of Nations because Wilson had not included Congress in the negotiations. More importantly, the US did not join the League of Nations because the Senate was strictly against it, since they were more realists than idealists in the Senate and most people did not agree with Wilson’s ideas. Ultimately, Wilson did come up with the idea of the League of Nations, but the US never joined, which some say contributed to its’ failure. The biggest opposition to the US joining the League of Nations came from Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. His being a realist was very opposing to many of Wilson’s idealist concepts, which is why he was out front against the League of Nations. In particular, Lodge believed involvement in the League would compromise US sovereignty by necessitating the US to take part in international conflicts while it was not in the national interest of the US to do so. In addition, he also believed that being a part of the League of Nations would threaten the political freedom because the United States would be constricted byShow MoreRelatedIdealism, Realism, And Marxism1559 Words   |  7 PagesWhat do the theories we have looked at to this point (idealism, realism, Marxism) tell us about the prospects, and necessary conditions, for cooperation in international politics? International politics have been in our nation since the beginning of time. Nations have tried to work together and international politics have given many tries a cooperation. In today’s world conflict is always occurring. Many different world issues pop up every single day. 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The Double Helix †Character Guide Free Essays

Double Helix Readers Guide * Max Perutz – was the head of the unit where Crick works at Cambridge University. Perutz also shared important X-ray crystallography imagery with Watson and Crick that he had received from Maurice Wilkins and Franklin. Whether he was supposed to give this information to Watson and Crick without Franklin’s knowledge is unknown, nor is it entirely known how important her work was to the discovery of the structure. We will write a custom essay sample on The Double Helix – Character Guide or any similar topic only for you Order Now Sir Lawrence Bragg – the head of the Cavendish laboratory at Cambridge university, met with much resistance from Watson and especially Crick. Bragg is the youngest ever Nobel prize winner, which he won for the discovery of the Bragg low of X-ray crystallography. Bragg also wrote the foreword to Watson’s book, adding dramatically to the respectability of the book. * John Kendrew – English educated, also worked in the Cavendish laboratory under the direction of Bragg. Worked closely with Perutz and shared the 1962 Nobel prize with him for their work on X-ray crystallography. Erwin Schrodinger – his book What is Life was a great inspiration to Watson, who agreed that many secrets can be uncovered if the scientific world dedicated itself to discovery of what the true secrets of life are * O. T. Avery – important because their research on DNA/protein after Griffiths experiment on the transforming factor, was decisive enough for Watson to believe that DN A was the genetic material (not protein as was believed) * Max Delbruck – pioneered bacteriophage research which allowed Hershey and Chase to conduct their experiments with radioactive labeling. Maurice Wilkins – was Rosalind Franklin’s partner in X-ray crystallography and played an important role in providing Watson with the B-structure of DNA that Franklin and Gosling had made. Franklin, Gosling and Wilkins all worked at King’s College, London. * Rosalind Franklin – Although Franklin had not agreed to the exchange Wilkins had made (providing of B-structure imagery to Watson), her work proved that DNA was helical and that the bases were on the inside with the sugar phosphates on the outside (as she had said all along). In short, her 3 contributions were crucial to Watson’s development of the model, although the B-model proved one of her theories wrong but several right. Furthermore, Watson and Franklin had a very heated relationship, which led to many heated debates and sometimes even conflicts. * Linus Pauling – the greatest chemist in the history of the United States, worked at Cal Tech and was the closest competition to Watson and Crick in the discovery of the structure of DNA. Famous for the discovery of the hydrogen bond and the alpha-helical structure of protein. He’s also famous for publishing a wrong model of DNA (three strands) for which he saw major public embarrassment. * Herman Kalkar – was the head of the laboratory in Copenhagen where Watson did phage research soon after he graduated. He did not enjoy his time in Copenhagen, which is why he left soon after getting there. * Salvador Luria – James Watson was Luria’s first graduate student at the University of Indiana. Luria would go on to do groundbreaking work with phages in biochemistry. He would later win the Nobel prize for medicine along with Hershey and Delbruck for their work on phages. J. T. Randall – was the head of the King’s College laboratory team with Wilkins as his deputy. He shared the 1962 Nobel prize with Watson and crick * Dorothy Hodgkin – was the other major female character in the book. Both of the women clearly struggled in a world that was heavily dominated by men. However, Hodgkin was known to get along with men mu ch better than Franklin. She said this was because of her gender, whereas Franklin experienced the opposite. Franklin and Hodgkin worked closely in the contemplation of the DNA structure. Both scientists were X-ray crystallographers. Hodgkin won the 1964 Nobel prize for chemistry * Willy Seeds – was famous for calling Watson â€Å"honest Jim. † Worked with Maurice Wilkins in the King’s laboratory and was famous for his pioneering work on the DNA fibers. Him calling Watson honest Jim was clearly sarcasm because they King’s scientists were still bitter about Watson stealing their data to make his model * R. G. Gosling – this was Franklin’s lab partner at King’s College laboratory * Erwin Chargaff – discovered the bases in the purines and pyrimidines (double and single ring) and also discovered that A matches with T and C matches with G. Gave Watson an important clue in his model building, that he had to match the bases. * Al Hershey – was a scientist that was known for conducting the final proof of DNA being the hereditary material. Their experiment ended the race and assured the scientific world that DNA was the inherited material. * Martha Chase – was Hershey’s lab partner, and was one of the few other women in the scientific world * Peter Pauling – Linus’ son, came to study in London and Watson showed him around. In the process Peter gave Watson some important hints that his father was getting close to the discovery of the alpha helical structure. How to cite The Double Helix – Character Guide, Essay examples