Rachel Toor, author of Admissions Confidential, has spent nearly a decade in the college admissions business. A former admissions officer at Duke University who now works as a private college counselor, Toor has some college knowledge to share with collegebound juniors. Read the rest of this entry »

College applications have a funny way of warping your mind. It’s like childbirth (or so I’m told) in that your brain forgets all the bad stuff and remembers only the good. This post-traumatic stress disorder kicks in right as the stamp adheres itself to that last college app. Read the rest of this entry »

For the past 50 years, the country that invented the nuclear bomb, the telephone, and the light bulb has been worried about its technical prowess. In the early days, the Soviets posed the greatest threat; now the bogeymen of global competition are China and India. Read the rest of this entry »

President Bush called on the country to break its addiction to Middle East oil in his State of the Union address last week. Easier said than done, says former Chevron geophysicist Peter Tertzakian, who talked to U.S. News about his new book, A Thousand Barrels a Second: The Coming Oil Break Point and the Challenges Facing an Energy Dependent World, and why kicking the oil habit will be a tough slog. Excerpts follow. Read the rest of this entry »

The applications are in the mail–including your applications for need-based financial aid. But if and when you do get an aid package, remember that the bottom line is not necessarily the bottom line. If you are not satisfied with your aid allotment, it’s worth a try to talk with your school in the hopes of landing a more generous package. And there is a right and a wrong way to go about it. Read the rest of this entry »