Research Opportunities
Ralph Becker
The Importance of High School Research

Many applicants to the most selective university programs share high grades, high test scores, solid recommendations and generous doses of community service and volunteer activities. Yet, if they want to set themselves apart from the pool of exceptional students, a significant research experience in STEM or the social sciences helps.

The Importance of High School Research

Mount Holyoke

Questioning the Value of the Bachelor’s Degree

Questioning the Value of the Bachelor’s Degree

The confluence of rising tuition, increasing student debt, and declining employment opportunities for recent graduates is raising questions about the value of a bachelor’s degree. These concerns have been around for years, but the good news is there are rays of hope in the form of tuition rates beginning to freeze or even contract. Better still, over the next five years, expect the use of online classes to snowball across the postsecondary universe. Institutions that fail to respond will, in all likelihood, start to fall to the wayside—unless the size of their endowments insulates them.

The Relevance of Same-Sex Colleges

The Relevance of Same-Sex Colleges

While many female applicants when considering an all-female college are mildly unenthusiastic, for male applicants all-male colleges are almost extinct. The only secular male-only colleges are Wabash College (Indiana), Deep Springs College (which is a 2-year, tuition free, educational experience like nothing else on earth), Morehouse College (a traditionally all black male institution), and Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. For females, on the other hand, there are a number of colleges to select among, though this number has dwindled down from 200 in 1980 to 58 today. Among the all-female schools still standing, many have some of the most beautiful campuses on the continent: Smith, Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, and Bryn Mawr.