Tuesday, June 29, 2010

How U-Chicago became a hot college

Ace! NewsFlash

The University of Chicago is hardly a well-kept secret. Arguably the pre-eminent private university in the Midwest, U of C enjoys a reputation as a destination for smart students who want to work very, very hard.

It was something of a surprise, then, when U of C saw applications rise 42 percent in a single year, probably the largest bump at any nationally ranked university. Admissions at the Hyde Park campus had progressed in orderly fashion throughout the last decade, from about 8,000 applications in 2002 to about 9,500 in 2006 to about 12,000 in 2008. This year, applications swelled to 19,370. That's twice the number who applied four years ago. And it came without any loss of "yield," the share of admitted students who actually enroll. The university's admission rate has plummeted from 39 percent in 2006 to 18 percent today.

zimmer.jpg

(To lend some context, U of C's admit rate has now eclipsed that of neighboring Northwestern University, whose own acceptance rate has gone from 30 percent in 2006 to 23 percent in 2010. Admit rates are declining by a rate of about one point a year in the industry as a whole.)

U of C President Robert Zimmer was asked about his banner year in a recent interview at the Willard Hotel. "I think, to be honest, we're just doing a better job in talking about the university," he said. The university has been marketing itself and recruiting students like never before, trying to reach pockets of students around the nation who are a natural fit for the cerebral university but who may not have thought to apply. Those kids have always been out there, and many of them already applied to U of C, Zimmer said: "We're simply making an effort to reach more of them."

There is also the Obama factor: Hyde Park, the South Side neighborhood the president calls home, has never been more visible. Before his candidacy, even some Chicagoans couldn't tell you how to get there. (Trust me; I was born just south of there, on 76th Street.)

But perhaps the most significant change is U of C's embrace of the Common Application two years ago. This is a big deal. Chicago was among the last highly competitive colleges to eschew the Common App (Georgetown is another). Indeed, U of C stood for years in sharp defiance to the generic, one-size-fits-all application and called its own form the Uncommon Application.

The Common App simplifies the application process for students, who can fill out the form once and submit it five or 10 or 20 times, saving their creative energies for the supplementary essays required by individual colleges. Colleges that switch to the Common App tend to see applications surge, as the University of Virginia found when it embraced the form two years ago.

The downside: the Common App makes it easier for students to apply to 10 or 15 (or 20 or 30) schools, dividing their loyalty and sapping college yields.

Ted O'Neill, longtime admissions dean at U of C, was no great fan of the Common App. He loved the Uncommon Application and the opportunity to ask "uncommon questions." One crop of applicants were asked, for example, "What would you do with a foot-and-a-half-tall jar of mustard?"

O'Neill is gone now. (Officially, he has retired. According to Inside Higher Ed, the Common App may have been forced on him.) Zimmer contends what O'Neill prized was the uniqueness of the Uncommon Application. That, he said, has not been lost. There are still distinctive essay questions (students append them to the Common App) that distinguish U of C -- and its applicants -- from the crowd. One current essay option is, "How did you get caught? (Or not caught, as the case may be.)" Zimmer: "The main feature that was distinctive about our application was the set of essays that I would say were stimulating and challenging." That feature, he said, is "exactly the same."

There are obvious reasons for any college to adopt the Common App, particularly if you are a first-rank national university with an acceptance rate that -- at 40 percent -- might have looked a bit lackluster to industry observers and compilers of collegiate rankings. According to Zimmer, U of C moved to the Common App primarily as a convenience to students, and particularly to reach a population of students from low-income families who are said to favor the generic application. "There is an encouraging amount of flexibility in the Common Application," Zimmer said.

Students protested the coming demise of the Uncommon Application four years ago. Now, of course, those students are gone, and the current crop of students were not unhappy seeing the university's admission rate dip into the teens for the first time.


*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, AP, IB, TOEIC, IELTS etc ***

Saturday, June 26, 2010

4th of July Celebration in Chiang Mai! Great fun, food, and firework!


Ace! NewsFlash*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, AP, IB, TOEIC, IELTS etc ***

Thursday, June 24, 2010

More Community College Students Transfer to Virginia & Maryland Universities

Ace! NewsFlash

Community-college transfer students in Virginia & Maryland easing into university level


Public universities in Virginia and Maryland are drawing unprecedented numbers of students from community colleges, building a transfer pipeline that is changing the traditional path to a four-year degree.
Transfer student Alexandra McKenna: "I was helping my parents save money and saving money myself."
Transfer student Alexandra McKenna: "I was helping my parents save money and saving money myself."

In the past few years, state colleges have agreed to common standards for many community college courses and then guaranteed admission to applicants with good grades. The shift helps families save money on tuition while bringing the four-year schools a more diverse student body. Transfer students also can alter the dynamics of a college campus. Unlike typical undergraduates, for instance, they often have far more experience in the ups and downs of the working world.

Interest in transfers been heightened by the economic downturn. "Think of us as the lowest-cost on ramp to an undergraduate degree," said Glenn DuBois, chancellor of Virginia community colleges. "Americans are pretty good at shopping price and value." Community college transfers rose 36 percent in Maryland and 34 percent in Virginia from 2000 to 2008, outpacing overall college enrollment growth in those states. Transfers to the University of Virginia doubled in that time, to more than 280 annually, which represents just under 10 percent of the typical junior class. Transfers were up 17 percent at the University of Maryland, 27 percent at George Mason University and 53 percent at Towson University. Each of them accepts more than 1,000 transfers a year.

Saoussen "Susie" Mahjoub is emblematic of the trend. Three years ago, she enrolled at Northern Virginia Community College, working part time and living with her mother. Now, the 24-year-old Tunisian immigrant is on track to graduate from U-Va. She still can't quite believe that a transfer delivered her to the upper echelon of higher education. "I wake up in the morning, and I thank God for where I am," she said.

In the past five years, Virginia's 23 community colleges have reached accords from school to school. for transfer admissions. Maryland higher-education leaders are rolling out new statewide two-year degrees, accepted at every public four-year college. An online database gives community college students the transfer value of each course.

More than one-third of graduates from Virginia's four-year colleges began in community colleges, the state estimates. The rate is higher in Maryland. There are no comparable figures for the District, which until last year lacked a traditional two-year college.

Students who start in community college save enormously on tuition, and they often live with parents and work full time. The evolving system fulfills the vision of Thomas Jefferson -- the nation's third president and founder of U-Va. -- of a college within a horse ride of every home. Taxpayers benefit, too. Community colleges receive a small fraction of the per-student state aid allotted to public four-year colleges.

For transfer students, the region's public universities have never been more welcoming. In Charlottesville, transfers arrive to special orientation sessions and peer advisers. They are often paired with another transfer as a roommate. "They're not just plopped down and expected to fend for themselves," said Greg Roberts, dean of admission at U-Va.

Still, some transfer students struggle to assimilate to undergraduate campus life. Others, perhaps older than their classmates, may choose to live more like graduate students. Andrea Jones was eight years out of high school when she transferred to U-Va. last year from Piedmont Virginia Community College. "I'm 26 years old. I don't think I really need to go back and live in dorms and relive the whole experience," she said.

U-Va., a highly selective school, had some misgivings in 2006 when it began guaranteeing admission to qualified community college students. Transfer students gained such a leg up that some high school seniors tried to exploit that route by earning community college credits before graduation. Officials closed the loophole by requiring that transfer students be at least a year out of high school.

The transfer influx has brought diversity to Charlottesville as many top public universities are becoming increasingly wealthy and white. Last year's transfer students were three times as likely as freshmen to come from low-income homes. Research shows that transfer students graduate at about the same rate as others. "They've had to work hard to get where they are," said Rod Risley, executive director of Phi Theta Kappa, a community college honor society.

Although surveys show that as many as two-thirds of community college students nationally are aiming for four-year degrees, Virginia and Maryland have found that the actual transfer rate is far lower. Many community college students lose their way in a thicket of rules. Part of the problem is higher-education politics. Community colleges have often struggled to win recognition for their courses from four-year schools.

In Maryland, Virginia and other states, transfers have been helped and hindered by a patchwork of hundreds of separate agreements between individual colleges, some applying to a single academic major. By championing transfers, community colleges are returning to their roots. Joliet Junior College, the first such institution, was founded in 1901 to prepare students for the University of Chicago. California's higher-education system presumes that high school graduates with a C average will start in community college and that every qualified student will get a shot at a four-year degree. Most graduates of the California State University system are transfers.

On the East Coast, two-year colleges have often been perceived as having a primarily vocational mission. But higher-education leaders are pushing for more associate degrees that count toward university study. Several states are now moving to a uniform two-year degree. California lawmakers are considering a statewide associate degree that guarantees admission to the California State University system. Maryland's new degrees streamline transfers in such popular fields as education and engineering.

Eight states have adopted common course-numbering systems that ensure the transferability of community college credits, according to the American Association of Community Colleges. Maryland, with its course database, is one of 26 states that clearly define what students need to transfer. In Maryland, the biggest growth in transfers has come at the University of Maryland University College, which evolved from a U-Md. evening study program. It emphasizes professional education, commuter convenience and online study -- much like a community college.

Alexandra McKenna, 22, graduated from Kennedy High School in Wheaton, then spent three years at Montgomery College before transferring last year to UMUC. "I was helping my parents save money and saving money myself," she said. Now she is mulling over a nursing career, as she works full time at a Bethesda hair salon. It might not be the ideal college experience; McKenna lives with her parents in Wheaton and spends more time with customers than fellow students. Then again, it might be her best shot at a bachelor's degree.


*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, AP, IB, TOEIC, IELTS etc ***

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Tuition scholarships and Stipends for Master's Program in Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies

Ace! NewsFlash

The University of Notre Dame offers a two-year master's degree in peace studies with many unique features:

· Students from around the world

· Outstanding faculty from many academic disciplines

· Coursework on issues related to peace, violence, justice, and human rights

· 6-month internship at field sites in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. (A thesis alternative is also available).

· Tuition scholarships and stipends for 90% of students

· A global professional peacebuilding network of alumni

Successful applicants show outstanding academic ability, commitement to peace and justice, and fluency in English.

For more information, or to apply, visit kroc.nd.edu.


*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, AP, IB, TOEIC, IELTS etc ***

Non-resident Scholars Program at Chadron State College

Ace! NewsFlash

Supporting the Chadron State College Global Scholar’s Initiative, the Non-resident Scholars Program is available to encourage and reward well-qualified and highly motivated international students who are interested in residential study at a safe, student-focused American college/university.


The Non-resident Scholars Program is a scholarship equal to one half of the out-of-state tuition and is automatically awarded to all eligible new undergraduate and graduate international applicants who enroll in campus-based course.

Criteria

· Entering freshman must meet at least one of the following criteria:

o Ranking in upper one half of graduating high school class

o Minimum of a 3.25 (on a 4.0 scale) overall high school grade point average (GPA)

o Minimum composite ACT score of 22 or SAT score of 1530

· Undergraduate transfer students must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above (on a 4.0 scale) for all previous work attempted at all colleges attended prior to their enrollment at Chadron State College.

· Graduate students must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 for all previous work attempted at all colleges attended prior to their enrollment at Chadron State College.

International students who do not meet the above criteria as a new applicant may apply for the Non-resident Scholars Program after achieving a cumulative 3.0 GPA while at CSC. Students will continue to receive the scholarship as long as they maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher.

For more information and to apply: www.csc.edu/extended/international/financial.csc



*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, AP, IB, TOEIC, IELTS etc ***

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Pondering Implacability & Imperturbability

Ace! NewsFlash


Implacability





In my recent column on cool, I wrote, "From Old English to the ages of Chaucer and Shakespeare all the way to the present, cool has been able to mean 'dispassionate, calm, self-composed.' Some of our latter-day cool expressions — 'stay cool,' 'play it cool,' 'cool as a cucumber,' 'cool customer' — play off this ancient connotation of implacability." Catherine Harris e-mails: "I believe you meant to use imperturbability rather than implacability, describing the calm sense of cool. Someone who is implacable is relentless and unappeasable, not necessarily perpetually unruffled." 

If there's one lesson I learned from many years of reading my illustrious predecessor William Safire, it's to show humility when called out by the Gotcha Gang. In a 1984 column, he introduced the Gotcha Gang as "that shock troop of Lexicographic Irregulars who specialize in correcting other language mavens." Safire later revealed the hidden benefit of publicizing Gotchas: "By ostentatiously wolfing down one slim slice of humble pie, I buy the license to take pops at everybody else for months without appearing to be a wiseguy."

Let this be my first On Language mea culpa: Harris (along with fellow Gotcha-ers Brian Hoffman, Peter Glasgow and Wade Richardson) rightly questions my use of implacability, which does not quite fit in the context of cool. Imperturbability would indeed have been a better choice, as would the more modern unflappability.

I cop to the malaprop, though my mix-up was not as blatant or farcical as the eponymous Mrs. Malaprop's constant misuse of language in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 1775 play "The Rivals" (e.g., "He is the very pineapple of politeness," with pineapple standing in forpinnacle). I might have been influenced in my word choice by such cool words as placid and placate, but of course, implacability tends to imply just the opposite, an inability to be made calm.

In my modest defense, the "relentless, steadfast" shade of implacability can intersect with the unruffled nature of imperturbability, and in fact the adjectives implacable and imperturbable often appear side by side - or as linguists would say, they can easily "collocate" with each other. For instance, the newly published translation of Simone de Beauvoir's "Second Sex" by Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier contains a line about "precise, imperturbable, implacable logic."

The overlap in usage between the two words doesn't absolve the linguistic error, however. In a vicious dissection of James Fenimore Cooper's many "literary offenses," Mark Twain offered some simple rules for writing as an antidote. My favorite is: "Use the right word, not its second cousin." This advice hits close to home, since I work as executive producer of the Visual Thesaurus, which essentially creates interactive family trees of words with similar meanings. Implacability and imperturbability might have a passing family resemblance, but it's best not to treat them as blood brothers.

*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, AP, IB, TOEIC, IELTS etc ***

Friday, June 18, 2010

Get These Before Your Laptop is Stolen

Ace! NewsFlash

Putting a Private Detective in Your Laptop



James Butler recovered his stolen laptop a month after it was stolen from his car.


Baruch Sienna figured his teenage son’s laptop was gone forever. During a party in Israel, a thief had taken his MacBook, and there were no witnesses.

“The police were very unhelpful,” Mr. Sienna said, speaking from Jerusalem. “They said, ‘You’ll never see your laptop again.’ ”

But the son was fortunate that his father had installed Undercover, an antitheft program, on his computer. He remotely activated the software, which grabbed screen shots of the thief’s online activities, while the Mac’s built-in camera shot pictures of him. After eight months of activity on the Mac, the software had given police enough information to identify the thief and put the MacBook back in Mr. Sienna’s hands.

For the very reason you like to carry laptops, iPads, e-book readers and smartphones — they are lightweight and portable — they are easy to steal or misplace. The 2009 Computer Security Institute Computer Crime and Security Survey found that 42 percent of respondents had lost a laptop or other portable device to a thief in the last year. According to a study by the Ponemon Institute, 12,000 laptops are lost each week in American airports. Most people assume they are gone for good; only a third of those turned in to the airports’ lost-and-found departments are reclaimed.

You can keep an eye on your devices and not leave them visible and unattended, but they might best be protected with some software. A number of good programs are available for laptops, phones and tablets. Many will try to locate the computer when it is connected to the Internet. Others log keystrokes, take snapshots of Web pages visited, monitor e-mail being written and even take a picture of the user with the device’s built-in Webcam.

In addition, some software can lock down the computer and display on-screen messages letting the user (who may not be the thief) know the device has been stolen and where to return it.

All antitheft manufacturers claim recovery rates in the 90 percent range. None of the companies contacted could document this, and some recoveries may be incidental to the presence of the antitheft software.

Adeona

Created by faculty and students at the University of Washington, Adeona reports the Internet address that the laptop is using, takes photos of the user (in the Mac version only) and provides information on the user’s current wireless access point.

Adeona is open-source software, so others can add their own features. While the software is available free for Linux, Mac and Windows, the university does not recommend its use until further testing is completed.

GadgetTrak

Available for Mac and Windows PCs, with versions for BlackBerrys, iPhones and Windows Mobile phones, all priced at $24.95 a year with multiyear discounts available, GadgetTrak takes a photo of the user with the computer’s Webcam, either every 30 minutes or whenever the computer is awakened from sleep. Pictures, along with location data gleaned from Skyhook, which triangulates cellphone tower locations and GPS data, are sent to the user’s Flickr account (and for security, not to GadgetTrak itself); the user can create a map of the laptop’s location.

GadgetTrack uses a laptop’s Webcam to take regular photographs of a user, then combines the photos with data on the computer’s location.

While ActiveTrak, the maker, says the tracking is accurate down to 10 meters, in one of my tests the computer was hundreds of yards away on an adjacent street. (In another, it determined my exact address.)

Laptop Cop

“We record everything,” said Tom Bilyeu, the chief marketing officer of Awareness Technologies, the maker of Laptop Cop. That includes every keystroke, user name and password, and all Web sites.

Laptop Cop ($49.95 a year or $99.95 for three years; Windows only, with mobile versions scheduled in four months) also gives its customers the ability to selectively lock out, delete and retrieve data. As a result, even if the laptop is not recoverable, one’s data often is.

As with other programs, users can also send commands to make messages appear on the screen, such as, “Give me my laptop back, you crook, or you’re going to jail.” (That is probably the last step you want to take. A warning will most likely encourage the thief to stay off the Internet to avoid being found.)

LoJack for Laptops

One of the best-selling antitheft packages, with 1.2 million users in 51 countries, LoJack for Laptops ($39.99 to $59.99; Macs and PCs, plus corporate smartphones) monitors a device’s activities once a laptop is reported stolen. When Absolute Software, the company that licenses the LoJack name from the maker of auto-theft tracking devices, gathers enough information to identify the thief, it notifies the local police.

Unlike its competitors, Absolute Software does not release any specific information to the device’s owner, who pays a minimum of $40 a year for its services. Rather, one of its 40 former police officers on staff report their findings to local authorities.

That was fine for James Butler, a New Jersey limo driver whose laptop was stolen from his car while he was picking up customers in Manhattan. (A month after the theft, Mr. Butler’s laptop was returned. It had been sold on the Internet to an innocent person in Boston.)

“It makes sense to have the company deal with it,” Mr. Butler said. “You don’t know what you’re walking into; someone could have other stolen merchandise as well.”

Undercover

Available for Macs and iPhones, Undercover takes pictures of a laptop’s user every time the device is turned on. Once the machine is connected to the Internet, it uploads those photos, as well as screen shots of a user’s activity, every six minutes. The laptop’s location is also noted using Skyhook technology, and all the information is sent to the laptop’s rightful owner, who can pass the information on to the local police.

Undercover captures e-mail and Web sites visited, allowing the machine to be tracked. Customers have retrieved their laptops after watching thieves send e-mail, log on to their own Facebook pages and even edit their résumés, said Peter Schols, owner of the parent company, Orbicule. Orbicule charges a one-time $49 fee for one device and $59 for a five-PC site license.

When looking for antitheft applications for smartphones, do not expect the same capabilities as found in their much more expensive laptop cousins. Police are not likely to make the retrieval of a smartphone a priority.

Orbicule’s iPad and iPhone software ($4.99) tracks the device’s location. GadgetTrak’s BlackBerry and Windows Mobile apps ($24.95) remotely lock and delete personal data, as well as track the phone’s location. Its iPhone version (free, because of its limited abilities) tricks a user into opening a fake browser, which relays the phone’s location to its rightful owner.

There is one effective step anyone can take to secure a portable device’s content: password-protect your machine. But if you use the antitheft software, set up a nonpassword-protected guest account. You will safeguard your data while also making it easy for thieves to keep using your computer and unwittingly be tracked.


*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, AP, IB, TOEIC, IELTS etc ***

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Starbucks Will Offer Free Wi-Fi

Ace! NewsFlash


The company said on Monday that as of July 1, its stores in the United States would offer free Wi-Fi, via AT&T, that anyone can reach with a single click. In case customers run out of distractions on the Web, Starbucks is giving them even more reason to sit and browse, offering free online articles, music, videos and local information through a partnership with Yahoo.

Starbucks has been squeezed lately by competition from both independent specialty coffee shops, which have long offered free Wi-Fi, and big chains like McDonald’s, which added it this year.

“Starbucks hit back,” said Chris Brogan, president of New Marketing Labs, a social media marketing agency, who blogs about working on the go. “They said, ‘Not only do we have free Wi-Fi, but we’re going to offer this huge raft of digital products you can get while you’re here, and you like our coffee better anyway.’ ”

Howard Schultz, chief executive of Starbucks, who made the announcement at a conference in New York, described it as a way to bridge the online world and real-world coffee outlets.

Of course, people have been bridging those worlds for years, using coffee shops as pseudo-offices by bringing their laptops and borrowing free Internet connections. But Starbucks has never offered unlimited free Internet access.

Customers who bought and registered a Starbucks card and used it in the last month have been able to use the Web for two hours, after a somewhat complicated log-in process. Cardholders who wanted to use the Web for more than two hours paid $3.99 for another two-hour session, and customers without cards who wanted to go online faced the same charge for an initial two-hour session.

Starbucks is making the change as many coffeehouses experiment with ways to cut off squatters who browse and do not spend. Some post signs asking people to continue buying food and drinks if they stay, while the more aggressive ones cover their power outlets with tape so people cannot charge their laptops.

Other coffeehouse owners say Wi-Fi detracts from the atmosphere they are trying to foster.

Four Barrel Coffee in San Francisco has no Wi-Fi or power outlets for customer use. “We all have had experiences of working at cafes where the laptops just took over, and it started to feel more like a library,” said Jodi Geren, head of operations for Four Barrel. “We just really feel like it’s important for people to talk to each other.”

Those who bring laptops to Starbucks now average an hour of Wi-Fi use, and the company does not expect that the free access and content will make people linger longer, said Stephen Gillett, chief information officer at Starbucks and general manager of a unit called Digital Ventures, which will oversee the new offerings. He said that Starbucks purposely kept video and music clips short.

The coffee chain is catering in part to people who are out of work and need a place to perfect their résumés or do freelance jobs. In January, the company announced that same-store sales increased 4 percent after months of steady declines. Starbucks attributes the improvement, which came before consumer spending rebounded as a whole, in part to its role as an office for the unemployed.

The new partnership with Yahoo, which is called the Starbucks Digital Network, will include an online section on business and careers that will include tools for people searching for jobs or writing résumés, Mr. Gillett said.

“We expect this to be a very versatile tool for people who are using Starbucks for what we call the third place, between home and work,” he said.

Customers will also get free access to paid Web sites, like those of The Wall Street Journal and Zagat, free iTunes downloads and previews of not-yet-released movies and albums. They will see local content based on the coffee shop’s location, like news from Patch, AOL’s local news site, check-ins on Foursquare and neighborhood photos on Flickr.

For publishers and Web sites, the free content will serve as a marketing tool, Mr. Gillett said, letting customers sample things they might be willing to pay for later.

The digital network could also serve as a virtual storefront, Mr. Brogan said. He imagines Starbucks using it to sell songs and virtual goods, or to offer loyalty points for online shopping.

“If you have eight people sitting in a store for four hours on one cup of coffee, that’s not moving revenue,” he said. “However, if that same group is there for four hours on one cup of coffee and buys 14 songs, that’s sales.”

Starbucks is not disclosing the terms of its agreements with the content providers, including whether they are paying Starbucks or sharing revenue if customers make purchases, said Tamra Strentz, a spokeswoman.

Many coffeehouses, including Grounded in the West Village, a storefront one block from a Starbucks, offer free Wi-Fi to differentiate themselves from Starbucks.

“It’s definitely been an attraction,” said David Litman, the manager of Grounded. Still, he said he doubted that Wi-Fi at Starbucks would be a threat. “This is a very neighborhood place — there is a Starbucks on the next avenue, but people like to support us.”


*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, AP, IB, TOEIC, IELTS etc ***

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Ace! NewsFlash

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT AMBASSADOR SCHOLARSHIPS AT IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

Description:
* International Student Ambassador Scholarships are awarded to
students with exceptional leadership qualities and a desire to
positively represent both their home country and Iowa State University
to prospective students.
* Current ISU International Student Ambassadors may be contacted here.

Applicants will be considered for the following award levels:
Gold            $7,000 per year         Renewable
Cardinal        $5,000 per year         Renewable
Leadership      Up to $4,000/year       Renewable

Requirements
* Apply for admission. (You cannot be considered for this scholarship
unless you are admitted to Iowa State University.)
* Submit a one-page essay describing experiences you have had in
leadership, community service and/or volunteerism, and why you are
interested in assisting Iowa State University with international
recruitment activities.
* 1 letter of recommendation
* Send essay and letter via email to agogerty@iastate.edu with the
subject line Attention: International Scholarship Selection Committee
* There is no GPA or SAT requirement; however, higher academic
backgrounds may result in higher scholarship awards
Deadlines
* October 1 (spring entry)
* April 1 (fall & summer entry)
Eligibility
* Incoming freshmen and transfers can apply

For further details, please visit:
www.admissions.iastate.edu/intl/ambassador_scholarships.php

*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, IELTS etc ***

Special Scholarship for INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AT EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY

Ace! NewsFlash

NEW TUITION RATE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AT EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY

Beginning 2010, Eastern Illinois University will extend the equivalent
of in-state tuition for freshman and transfer students (first-time
undergraduate EIU students) who meet the distinguished student
criteria which is a grade point average of 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale).
Original transcripts will be evaluated by our staff member. No special
application is necessary. Those qualified undergraduate students will
automatically be granted the lower tuition rate.

To illustrate the education savings, here is the cost comparison based
on this current academic year (2 semesters):
Current international tuition:  $17,208.00
Distinguished student rate:     $5,736.00
Savings equals                  $11,472.00

If you have any questions, view their website: www.eiu.edu/~international

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