My Experience At The Homeless Shelter - 1762 Words

My experience tells me that I am suitable for the work in my applied experience. I have acquired skills, such as critical thinking, group communication, understanding of personal behavior, organization skills, and accepting criticism. Moreover, I take orders well and can work in a stressful environment. I was efficient in what I put in at the homeless shelter and left with an experience of providing a public service within the community. In addition, I learned that I have quality traits, such as compassion, patience, and interpersonal skills to work around others. I was confident enough to approach the families at the shelter and made friends. I was there to listen without judgment, and they appreciated that I took the time to hear what they had to say. For example, I heard the different reasons why these individuals ended up at the homeless shelter and how they feel stuck in their situation. I heard testimonies from families who have undergone many tragedies and were fortunate to h ave the support that the BHC provides. Lastly, the area that I could improve on is conflict prevention among adults. I experienced watching some fights at the shelter, and I do not have the skills to stop it without getting physically involved. Furthermore, my site supervisor believed that I showed exemplary abilities with the families. I would have to say that the five main role of ethics that were involved at the center included fidelity and responsibility, integrity, respect for people’sShow MoreRelatedA Reflection On The Shelter At The Uu Fellowship Of San Luis Obispo, An Eye Opening Experience Essay1586 Words   |  7 PagesParticipating in the overnight shelter at the UU Fellowship of San Luis Obispo, was an eye opening experience. When people think of homeless people, right away they think of the stereotypical description of a homeless person, such as dirty, on drugs, or mentally ill. I was one of those people who had a stereotypical picture in my mind, but participating in this shelter changed my perceptive on the description of homeless. As my shift began, I realized for the most part the shelter was composed of singleRead MoreVisiting a Homeless Shelter Essay938 Words   |  4 Pages When I’m out with my friends, weather we are picking up fast food, or stopping at a red light, and I see a what I assume to be a homeless person asking for change, I’m usually the person that will give them any lose change or singles that I have. Many of my friends hate that I do this, but someone some how I empathize with those people. So naturally when I was asked to do something that I’ve never done before, I chose to visit a homeless shelter. I chose this because although IRead MoreThe Community Of Mount Vernon1182 Words   |  5 Pagesnumber of services and shelters available to people in crisis situations. One of the services offered is the Winter Sanctuary, an emergency homeless shelter in Mount Vernon that provides the homeless with a place to stay during the frigid winter months. I spent two hours visiting this shelter along with one of my classmates, Faith Aleshire. We were able to speak with three homeless women at the shelter, and we learned a bit about their life stories. This experience has broadened my understanding of homelessnessRead MoreThe Homeless Are Homeless : A Middle Class Lifestyle After Marriage1654 Words   |  7 PagesLiving on the streets moving from shelter to shelter they were barely getting the nutrition that is needed to survive. So many people can end up homeless from children, to adults, and even veterans. According to Doran, fifteen percent of America’s homeless are chronically homeless, which means the person has been homeless continuously for a year or more or has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years (Doran). The reason there are so many homeless people now in the country isRead MoreFunding For The Homeless Shelter861 Words   |  4 Pages2015, 564,708 people were homeless on a given night in the United States† (National Alliance to End Homelessness). People become homeless due to a numerous amount of reasons, but the problem comes down to the low number of affordable housing and â€Å"the limited scale of housing assistance programs† (National Alliance to End Homelessness). Coming from a small town in Northwest Iowa and never encountering a homeless person, the homelessness issue in Iowa City was brought to my attention upon arriving hereRead MoreA Study Of Mental Disorders Among The Homeless996 Words   |  4 Pagesamong the Homeless, there are around 740,000 individual’s homeless in the United State s alone at any given night. Homelessness is everywhere, yet it is unseen. And yet at the same time American’s everywhere often take what they have for granted, especially the roof over their heads. Anna Quindlen discusses these issues in her article â€Å"Homeless†. She writes about a woman she met at a bus terminal one day. The woman‘s bag and raincoat were covered in grime, her name was Ann, and she was homeless. SuddenlyRead MoreThe Effects Of Homelessness On The United States1218 Words   |  5 PagesIn Stanislaus county the homeless population has grown from 1,156 in 2005 to 1,800 today and still growing. Modesto had the highest count of homelessness with 983 documented homeless individuals according to a 2015 Modesto Bee study and sadly, the amount increases as surrounding areas begin to enforce strict laws. These laws criminalize and relocate homeless folk to our county. There are no exceptions to the cold reality of homelessness: men, women, children, military veterans, individuals, andRead MoreFive Myths About America1082 Words   |  5 Pagesout America Five myths about America s homeless By Dennis Culhane Sunday, July 11, 2010 Last month, the Obama administration released a plan designed to end homelessness in 10 years. The goal reflects new optimism among academics and advocates that homelessness is not an intractable feature of urban life, as it has sometimes seemed, but a problem that can be solved. This belief is fueled by recent research debunking a number of long-standing myths about homelessness in America -- and showingRead MoreDomestic Violence: A Cause of Homelessness in Women Essay970 Words   |  4 Pages As soon as we moved into this house, you think you can have your way. You are my wife and I tell you what you can do and what you cant do. This kind of statement is typical of what a battered woman knows to be the only truth in her household. Domestic violence is greatly on the rise and is one of the leading causes of homelessness among women in todays society. Rather than approach domestic violence as a direct cause of homelessness, one might hope to understand how such violence could helpRead MoreRacism Against Non Housed Individuals Essay1202 Words   |  5 Pagesthat are seldom heard are that of homeless men. Through the testimony of one homeless man in particular, John Doe, it is hoped that a better understanding and awareness can be brought to the masses. I myself have been prejudice against non-housed individuals. I have given money to a homeless man and presumed he would buy drugs or alcohol with it. When I see them at fast food restaurants, at times, I have felt like the restaurant itself was less clean with a homeless man sitting at a table. I often

Graduation Speech Students With The Tutoring Center Have...

Brendan Rievert Professor Glady-Teschendorf ENG 112 8 Feb. 2016 Tutoring According to Eric Cooper â€Å"students that visit the tutoring center have a higher GPA by .o29.† This may not seem like much but it can be a difference of failing or passing a class. If public schools don t meet a certain standards the No Child Left Behind law will take affect making the school provide extra academic help (Tucker 1). Many people do not realize the power of tutoring and do not understand all the benefits that it can produce other then a grade increase. In fact, in today s large classrooms, children who are struggling, can easily get lost in the crowd. Tutoring allows individualized attention that a teacher may not necessarily have time to provide. Tutoring can be administered in various ways and provides students with additional learning techniques and resources to be successful in today’s academic setting. Giving back to my fellow students through personal tutoring can change many lives and provide resources to direct them down th e right track. The benefits of tutoring include increased academic skills, social skills, and knowledge of the classroom norms (Kalkowski 2). Tutoring can be administered in several ways. Peer tutoring is a system of instruction where learners help each other and, in turn, learn by teaching. Peer tutoring does not have to be one-on-one, it can be with a group. This is not a one-on-one model and this type of tutoring incorporates the teacher. Small group

A Broken Home free essay sample

So my parents, the people who had sex to create me Where to start with that. I guess my life would have been deferent If everything had worked out the way the story books read but that Just wasnt how It happened for me. I grew up In a broken home, meaning my mother and father were not together for the majority of my life and Ive never had the traditional family setting. That being said I still have two parents and this is for them. Mary Most people would write mother or mom here but you lost that title from me a Eng time ago.Because of you I learned real early In life that it takes a lot more than giving birth to someone to be a mother. Because of you I learned a lot about life at an age where my biggest concern should have been which TV show I wanted to watch after a hard day at school. We will write a custom essay sample on A Broken Home or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page You single-handily changed the way I saw the world and the way I saw the people in it with every disappointment and every broken promise. You were the one that made it so hard for me to make friends and the one I blame for my inability to trust people (although you had help). You left me alone to handle the many tasks that a mother should be there for. I handled my becoming a woman and my first day of high school by myself. I got ready for prom without a mothers touch and left for graduation without a mothers smile. And when I needed you most you wasnt there either. Like the time I wanted to confide in you about my first kiss or when I needed your support the first time I ever had my heartbroken. You wasnt there to help me get dressed for my first formal ball and you wasnt the one that aught me when I was too weak to stand after my first love walked straight out of my life.You wasnt the one that caught my tears all those many nights alone and you wasnt the one there that helped me move away from the past when It hurt so bad to look back. BUT YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN. I did just fine without you in my life. I would of loved for you to have been there through it all but you had other plans for yourself and I wasnt a part of them. But do know that I am an amazing person because of everything that you taught me and you should be proud of that.I work hard for everything I have and I appreciate things more because I know how easily things can Just disappear, I fight for things I believe In and I have the courage to say when I think something Is wrong. I have a huge heart and a gentle spoilt but I dont allow people to walk over me. I do my best to see the goodness in everyone but sometimes I fail. Im still learning and constantly making mistakes but I learn from them and hopefully one day you will learn from yours too. Daddy Where do I even start?I am so much like you in almost every way and I am a rue daddys girl all the way to the core. We fight and bicker and bump heads repeatedly but I know thats only because you love me and want the best for me. Youve made mistakes too but you worked hard to correct them and to make them better. And even though things arent perfect, youve done a damn good job of raising me. Youve always been there for me to turn to and confide in even when the situations werent always that pleasant. It was you that handled me growing up and you that watched me cry over those silly boys. You were the one that I went to when I let my world was crashing down because I always knew you would lend a helping you have raised me in a way that I will be able to face it head on without looking back. Sometimes I wonder if I have disappointed you lately with my decisions that you dont agree with and if I have, I am really sorry. But please have faith in me to correct my mistakes because you, my father, have raised me to the standard where I can handle my own and if I ever doubt my own strength or ability I know that I can come to you for the guidance I need to head back down the right path.I love you so much for being there even when you thought you werent helping me at all. Its because of you that I have no fear when faced with hard choices. Its because of you that I smile when others expect me to fail and its because of you that I know that no matter how many mistakes I make, I can always make them right again. I have learned so much from you and I will continue to learn all t he days that youre right by my side. I love you daddy. Youre the only man Ill ever need because you loved me firstSo I may have grown up in a broken home but where the traditional family fell apart many people stepped up and filled the cracks and for that I couldnt be any more grateful. Some may pity me and my situation but really Im one of the luckiest girls in the world because instead of having Just two parents I had many throughout my life. Each one holds their own special place in my heart and taught me something else about myself and the world around me. I am the well rounded, strong individual that I am because of my many parental figures.

Pornoviolence By Tom Wolfe Essays - Tom Wolfe, Wolfe, Slasher Film

Pornoviolence By Tom Wolfe Judging by your most unfavorable reactions to these conversations, I can tell that you don?t like what you hear. Well, what you just heard were the first six paragraphs, the introduction of Tom Wolfe?s 1976 essay entitled Pornoviolence. This story that talks about a convention of tabloid authors begins with those banal introductions. Wolfe felt as if names were obsolete, as the authors that submit these stories are ?stringers? or correspondents from around the country and as a result, they are all known by their stories? titles. Wolfe provides a definition of pornoviolence by distinguishing it from the old pornography. He argues that the media previously attracted readership of magazines and tabloids with pornography. Instead, he claims that today pornoviolence is stimulated by violence that puts television viewers in the position of control, and he supports his position using examples of programs that contain the pornography of violence. Basically, he says that pornoviolence is the pornography of violence; only the weirdest, grossest stuff would be considered as usable material. Video games like the Mortal Kombat series, Perfect Dark, or James Bond 007 and ?slasher flicks? such as Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are excellent examples of gratuitous violence that have been released in the past several years. Inadvertently, Wolfe poses a question to all of us: Do we as people evolve along with the TV violence, or are television producers just giving us what they think we want? English Essays

Theodore Roosevelt The Best President essays

Theodore Roosevelt The Best President essays Theodore Roosevelt could be considered the best president of the United States because of his efforts made in 1904 to 1909 during his full term of being president. Not only did he help the country while president, but he also was a commander of the first U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment in the Spanish-American War, the youngest member of the New York assemble at the age of 23, the president of New York City Police Board from 1895- 1897, assistant secretary of the Navy, governor of New York, and Vice President of the U.S. With this background, Roosevelt became the youngest President in the Nations history at the age of forty-two. Theodore brought new excitement and power to the Presidency, as he vigorously led Congress and the American public toward progressive reforms and a strong foreign policy. All of this helps to make President Roosevelt the best President of the United States of America. Theodore Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858 at 7:45 p.m. at the family brownstone, 28 East 20th Street, New York City. He weighed 8 Â ½ pounds and was described by his mother as a cross between a terrapin and Dr. Young(Doris Faber 175). Roosevelt was the second of four children; he had two sisters and a brother. His parents were Theodore Roosevelt Sr. and Martha Mittie Bulloch Roosevelt. As a young boy he was very sick with asthma so most of his childhood he spent in bed propped up or slouched in a chair. Because of Theodores many illnesses, he was tutored and learned fundamentals from his aunt Annie Bulloch. While studying German and French his tutor Anna Minkwitz predicted, he will surely one day be a great professor, or who knows, he may become president of the United States(Morris 73). As a teenager he joined the Dutch Reformed church. Theodore Roosevelt married Alice Hathaway Lee when he was twenty-two and she was nineteen on October 27, 1880 at the Unitarian Church in ...

SAT Subject Test Dates Guide (2015 and 2016)

SAT Subject Test Dates Guide (2015 and 2016) SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips We have all the information you need about SAT Subject Test (also known as SAT II) dates in 2015 and 2016. While the SAT Reasoning Test (aka the SAT I)changed dramatically in 2016, the Subject Tests didn't have any large changes in terms of content. The exam dates of the SAT Subject Tests, however, were affected. Read on to find out more! Note: This guide covers 2015-16 only; for the current year's SAT Subject Test dates, click here. SAT Subject Test Dates in 2015 and 2016 First, get familiar with the dates when the SAT Subject Test is offered. The SAT Subject Test is generally administered every time the SAT Reasoning test is, except in March (when, historically, the SAT Subject test has not been offered). You can also look at our SAT Reasoning Test Dates for 2015-2016 here. Test Date Regular Deadline Late Registration Online Score Release October 3, 2015 September 3, 2015 September 22, 2015 October 22, 2015 November 7, 2015 October 9, 2015 October 27, 2015 November 26, 2015 December 5, 2015 November 5, 2015 November 23, 2015 December 24, 2015 January 23, 2016 December 28, 2015 January 12, 2016 February 11, 2016 May 7, 2016 April 8, 2016 April 26, 2016 May 26, 2016 June 4, 2016 May 5, 2016 May 25, 2016 June 23, 2016 Which SAT Subjects Will Be Given on Which Dates? Note that not all subjects are given on all dates. We did a historical analysis over a long period of years and found that the following subjects generally given on all dates. Available All Dates: Literature, United States (US) History, Math Level 1, Math Level 2, Biology E/M, Chemistry, Physics. Two Languages are given on almost all dates. Available All Dates Except November: French Reading Only, Spanish, Reading Only. Finally, a few subjects such as theremaining languages and World History are given on a minority of dates. You can do your own analysis based on the 2014 and 2013 dates yourself. Test Name Oct 3,2015 Nov 7, 2015 Dec 5, 2015 Jan 23, 2016 May 7, 2016 June 4,2016 Literature YES YES YES YES YES YES United States History YES YES YES YES YES YES World History YES YES Math Level 1 YES YES YES YES YES YES Math Level 2 YES YES YES YES YES YES Biology E/M YES YES YES YES YES YES Chemistry YES YES YES YES YES YES Physics YES YES YES YES YES YES Languages: Reading Only French YES YES YES YES YES German YES Modern Hebrew YES Italian YES YES Latin YES YES Spanish YES YES YES YES YES Languages:Reading and Listening Chinese YES French YES German YES Japanese YES Korean YES Spanish YES Chart Locations without a YES are assumed to be NO. How to Plan Which SAT Subject Test Dates to Choose First, I would recommend our general guide to choosing SAT test dates. Yes, it's written for the SAT Reasoning Test (SAT I) but the general principles also apply to the SAT subject tests. There is one additional twist for SAT Subject Tests much more than the SAT itself, the best Subject Test dates are strongly determined by when you're learning and forgetting the material. Unlike the SAT Reasoning Test, where you're probably getting better at reasoning year by year, the SAT Subject Test should be taken during or right after when you're studying the highest level of the subject. For example, if your high school does biology sophomoreyear, and you know you won't study biology again, you probably want to take the June exam of biology, or the September exam at latest. Forgetting information is a real problem! Likewise, if you're taking chemistry junior year, but AP Chemistry senior year, you want to time your SAT Chemistry as late as possible senior year (likely the December of your senior year). Therefore, a good rule of thumb is to take the test as close to the end of your most difficult course in that subject! Warning: SAT Test Dates May ChangeSign up to Receive Free Updates // What's Next? Click here to see the full list of SAT Subject Tests and learn how to choose which tests are best for you. Before you decide when to take your Subject Tests, you should look at our list of colleges that require SAT Subject Tests. If you're trying to avoid difficult SAT Subject Tests, check out this article on the easiest SAT Subject Tests. Need a little extra help prepping for your Subject Tests? We have the industry's leading SAT Subject Test prep programs (for all non-language Subject Tests). Built by Harvard grads and SAT Subject Test full or 99th %ile scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so that you get the most effective prep possible. Learn more about our Subject Test products below:

Economic or Gender Concerns During the Interwar Period Essay

Economic or Gender Concerns During the Interwar Period - Essay Example Some societies made an objective of addressing their economy during the interwar period whereby they emphasized on leisure to help improve their economy status. They would change employment patterns and working hours so that they can facilitate the growth of leisure time. According to Joseph Starlin, â€Å"in our country, in the U.S.S.R the workers have long forgotten unemployment. Some three years ago we had about one and a half million unemployed. It is already two years now since unemployment has been completely abolished. Look at the capitalist countries; what horrors are taking place there as a result of unemployment!†According to Mustapha Kemal â€Å"Youth undoubtedly considers the republic a gift presented by your genius and decisiveness to Turkishness more valuable than life itself In its defense, no sacrifice is too great It will be jealously guarded against nothing to existence from the darkness into the light, at the call to follow the path of deliverance we are an d shall eternally be, with laws written with our blood, the guardians of freedom and the future†In eugenicssociety, in the year 1921, there was an attempt to criminalize lesbianism. For the matrimonial causes, Act of 1923 made adultery the sole ground of divorce for either of the spouse.Additionally, further grounds were added in the year 1937 comprising of a wife’s right to divorce her husband for a case of rape.In this society of Eugenics, a person named Marie Stopes came up with a birth control clinic.

Ethics, Virtue and Moral Agency Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ethics, Virtue and Moral Agency - Assignment Example Virtues are the good behavior and morals aimed at promoting good and peaceful coexistence between people and doing good both to oneself and others (David, 77). I prefer that ethics is a real requirement for living in life since without it, the human actions are random and useless. There would be no way to choose between a good goal and a wrong one if there will be none to choose upon. I personally view myself as believing in having virtues to be very important in life. This is because moral goodness is important for peaceful coexistence amongst people in the society. An example is the importance of the virtue of chastity especially among women in my community (David, 34). This will create peace in the community. Another example is the importance of the virtue of patience in society. Moral agency is also important to me very much. It is good to act properly in accordance to the community’s notion. Since everyone has the freedom of choosing what to do, I am always for the choice of doing the right just to avoid problems in

The poem Half caste Essay Example for Free

The poem Half caste Essay The poem half caste has one reference of rhyme in it glow, shadow, tomorrow this rhyming makes the poem seem like a well planned argument rather than a rant. This gives the effect that he is reasoning with someone in an argument (his audience). The rhythm in the poem nothings changed, starts off with a very slow rhythm to it, it sues mono-syllabic words small round hard stones click this creates a slow harsh bitter mood. During the 2nd stanza the pace speeds up, he begins to use repetition and my hands, and my skin, and and this repetition of the word and shows his anger rising, consequently causing the poems pace to quicken dramatically. Once again the rhythm changes, this change occurs in the 4th stanza no sign says it, but we know where we belong the rhythm is slower meaning that he is sad. The rhythm in the poem half caste is very constant, it has a steady rhythm to it mainly because the poem is very humorous and harsh all through the poem yu mean when Picasso mixed red and green, is a half caste canvas The poet in the poem half caste uses many references to imagery, imagery means when you can see what the poet is trying to describe yu mean when light an shadow mix in de sky is a half caste weather this compares having parents of different colours to a natural image of the sky mixing. Nothings changed also uses imagery. Name flaring like a flag this simile shows the proud and insulting dominance of the white mans inn. The white mans inn is posh it is admirable it is up-market but still it squats , it does not blend in with its surroundings, this new inn, with posh food contrasts sharply with the black peoples inn, with plastic tables and no tissues but to wipe your hands on your worn out jeans. The flag of the white mans inn seems to be taunting the man. The poets use language to explore their feelings about racism in many interesting and imaginative ways. In half caste the poet repetition of the words explain yuself this gives a conversational and yet aggressive tone. The poet also uses Creole explain yuself, by the poet using Creole it shows he is comfortable with both sides of his background. In the poem nothings changed the poet uses alliteration and one syllable words to tell his poem. Cuffs, cans, crunch by using mono-syllabic words the poem seems sad, but it also makes it seem snappy and hard hitting. Afrika also uses onomatopoeias click, crunch. Onomatopoeias are words that sound like the sound they make. Both of the poems are expressing their hate for racism they have told it in two different perspectives one from each poet. Tatamkhula afrika has a more aggressive view of racism, he despises it. On the other hand john agard has a more conversational attitude to racism he debates about it and is able to laugh the idea of racism off. John agards poem interested me the most, because I was interested to hear about his ideas on racism (half caste). In conclusion I agree with both poets about their view on racism, racism is for the small minded and it should be stopped.

The Effects of Television Violence on America Essay -- essays research

America has the highest crime rate in the world. Along with that crime rate is also the very high violence rate. Why is violence becoming and everyday event in our society? When you flip on the television and tune into the news, the highlight of every show is somehow directly related or connected to violence. We see it every evening and perhaps say "Oh my gosh" and then forget all about it two minutes later. Or perhaps we don't even make any comments at all, just a simple grunt or â€Å"Oh, how terrible†. This numbness to violence is very scary and real. It makes you blind to the fact, that America has the most crime and violence. Why not Switzerland or Australia? Are we not as civilized and advanced as they are? I believe it is this numbness to violence that has made America such a violent place. When I think back to my childhood and remember television I remember watching such programs as "Sesame Street", "Mr.Rogers", and "Scooby - Doo". I have nothing but pleasant memories filled with happiness, peace, understanding, and learning. When you watch children's programs today you see senseless violence often as the first means of solving a problem. The classic view of "good" versus "evil" is the basis of many of these shows, with violence as the answer. When children watch these programs they often imiatate the actions and "morals" of these characters. Children do not know what "good" or "evil" really is, how can they? This world is not broken into "good" and "evil". "Evil" to children is what opposes them, what does not agree with them, or any other person or thing that poses a possible difficulty. Children must be taught that there are differences in this world. This world is filled with many people ho... ...tion to this problem is censorship. Censorship not at the governmental level, nor at the state level, nor at the cable company level, rather at the level of the parents. They and they alone are the ones who need to decide what is best for their children. When I was a child my mother was always there to tell me what I could and could not watch. Of course when I was smaller I hated it, but now that I am older and a mother myself, I am so grateful and thankful that my mother censored what was fed into my brain. As parents I believe that we are solely responsible for what show we allow to be seen in our households. We have to take the responsibility of censoring what is fed into the minds of our children. And if montoring doesn’t resolve the issue of what is seen by our children we can always do what Peter Goddard said â€Å"You can turn the damn thing off, you know.†

Hlta Job Description Essay

To provide support for pupils, the teacher and the school in order to raise standards of achievement for all pupils (e. g. SEN, EAL, GT, all underachieving groups), by utilising advanced levels of knowledge and skills when assisting with planning, monitoring, assessing and managing classes, and to encourage pupils to become independent learners, to provide support for their welfare, and to support the inclusion of pupils in all aspects of school life. MAIN DUTIES Planning 1. Prepare lessons with teachers, participating in all stages of the planning cycle, including in lesson planning, evaluating and adjusting lessons/work plans. . Develop and prepare resources for learning activities in accordance with lesson plans and in response to pupil need. 3. Contribute to the planning of opportunities for pupils to learn in out-of-school contexts in line with school’s policies and procedures. Teaching and Learning 4. Within an agreed system of supervision and within a pre-determined les son framework, teach whole classes. 5. Provide detailed verbal and written feedback on lesson content, pupil responses to learning activities and pupil behaviour, to teachers and pupils. 6. Motivate and progress pupils’ learning by using clearly structured, interesting teaching and learning activities. 7. Be aware of and support difference and ensure all pupils have equal access to opportunities to learn and develop. 8. Promote and support the inclusion of all pupils, including those with specific needs, both in learning activities and within the classroom. 9. Use behaviour management strategies, in line with the school’s policy and procedures, to contribute to a purposeful learning environment and encourage pupils to interact and work co-operatively with others. 0. In accordance with arrangements made by the Headteacher, progress pupils’ learning in a range of classroom settings, including working with individuals, small groups and whole classes where the assigned teacher is not present, in line with regulations and guidance under Section 133 of the Education Act 2002 and STPCD2003. 11. Organise and safely manage the appropriate learning environmen t and resources. 12. Promote and reinforce children’s self esteem and independence and employ strategies to recognise and reward achievement. 3. Assist the classteacher in encouraging acceptance and integration children with special needs, or from different cultures and/or with different first language. 14. Support the role of parents in pupils’ learning and contribute to/lead meetings with parents to provide constructive feedback on pupil progress, achievement and behaviour, maintaining sensitivity and confidentiality at all times. Monitoring and Assessment 15. With teachers evaluate pupils’ progress through a range of assessment activities. 16. Assess pupils’ responses to learning tasks and where appropriate, modify methods to meet individual and/or group needs. 17. Monitor pupils’ participation and progress and provide constructive feedback to pupils in relation to their progress and achievement. 18. Assist in maintaining and analysing records of pupils’ progress. 19. Contribute to programmes of observation and assessment as planned by the teacher and provide reports, evaluations and other information to assist in the provision of appropriate support for specific children. 20. Support the teaching staff with reporting pupils’ progress and achievements at parents meetings which are usually held outside school hours. Behavioural and Pastoral 21. Recognise and challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation and any form of abuse of equal opportunities, ensuring compliance with relevant school policies and procedures and making sure the individuals/s involved understand it is unacceptable. 22. Understand and implement school child protection procedures and comply with legal responsibilities. 23. Assist in maintaining good discipline of pupils throughout the school and escort and supervise pupils on planned visits and journeys. 24. Provide support and assistance for children’s pastoral needs, for example, caring for sick, injured or distressed children. 25. Provide physical support and maintain personal equipment used by the children at the school. 26. Foster and maintain constructive and supportive relationships with parents/carers exchanging appropriate information, facilitating their support for their child’s attendance, access and learning, and supporting home to school and community links. 7. Supervise pupils in the playground and before school and on bus duty days and plan/organise play time activities when it is wet playtime. 28. Assist teachers by receiving instructions directly from professional or specialist support staff involved in the children’s education. These may include social workers, health visitors, language support staff, speech therapists, educational psychologists, and physiotherapists. Other 29. Any other duties required by the class teacher, Deputy Headteacher, or the Headteacher, which is within the scope of this post. 0. To work within and encourage the school’s Equal Opportunity policy and contribute to diversity policies and programmes in relation to discriminatory behaviour. 31. To promote the safeguarding of children. 32. To carry out the duties and responsibilities of the post, in accordance with the school’s Health and Safety Policy and relevant Health and Safety Guidance and Legislation. 33. To use information technology systems as required to carry out the duties of the post in the most efficient and effective manner.

Iron Crowned Chapter 24

â€Å"What?† exclaimed Jasmine. I didn't share her concern. â€Å"Damn it. I should have banished you the first time I saw you. I don't have time for this, not with everything else. You should be in the Underworld by now. Kiyo isn't going to kill me.† â€Å"I'm serious!† said Deanna, as frantic as a ghost could get. â€Å"You're in danger!† I shook my head. â€Å"Look, I'm sorry about your husband †¦ really, I am. But not every guy is homicidal. Don't transfer this to me.† â€Å"I'm not! This is real. I was going to move on after †¦ after †¦ well, after my husband was arrested†¦.† There was a mournful pause. Her story had come to a close, but it hadn't had a happy ending. â€Å"I wanted to say good-bye formally and went looking for you †¦ but found Kiyo instead †¦Ã¢â‚¬  I put my hands on my hips, wishing I'd brought my wand. I did not need a delusional ghost, not with everything else right now. â€Å"And then he said he was going to kill me?† â€Å"No. He told that other queen he would.† That cut off my snark, leaving me speechless for a moment. â€Å"What other queen?† demanded Jasmine. â€Å"The blond one. The Willow Queen.† Jasmine and I exchanged looks. Suddenly, Deanna's crazy statements had become slightly less crazy. â€Å"What exactly did you overhear?† I asked quietly. â€Å"He told her you were pregnant and that you'd have an abortion if it was a boy †¦ but that he was concerned. He was worried because you hadn't just done it already.† Deanna looked back and forth between our faces, desperate for either of us to believe her. â€Å"He said it was probably just shock and that you'd ‘do the right thing,' but that if you didn't †¦ well, Maiwenn said they'd have to make you lose the baby. Or †¦ if that didn't work †¦ that Kiyo would kill you.† â€Å"That's insane,† I said. â€Å"Kiyo wouldn't kill me.† â€Å"Kiyo doesn't want the prophecy to come true,† said Jasmine. â€Å"It's not that insane.† I turned on her. â€Å"He loves me. This whole idea †¦ it's ridiculous.† â€Å"Why would I lie?† said Deanna. â€Å"You helped me. I'm helping you by warning you before I move on to the next world. I'm telling you, I heard them. Kiyo swore he'd make sure the prophecy couldn't be fulfilled.† â€Å"Kiyo. Loves. Me.† â€Å"Dorian loves you too,† pointed out Jasmine. â€Å"And look what he did. When you think about it, Kiyo's the type who'd think one tragic loss of life was worth saving many. Or something stupid like that.† â€Å"He would.† Admitting it surprised me, and yet †¦ as the meaning of Deanna's words sank deeper and deeper, I remembered my first meeting with Kiyo. He'd found me on Maiwenn's orders. They hadn't known what kind of person I was, if I'd wanted to fulfill the prophecy or not. He'd never said so explicitly, but my impression had been that both were willing to go to extreme means to stop Storm King's heir from being born. Our relationship had obviously changed since then, but maybe †¦ maybe some things hadn't†¦. â€Å"But he wouldn't go that far,† I finished. â€Å"Do you want to take that chance?† asked Jasmine softly. â€Å"Maybe he wouldn't really kill you, but you heard what he said about Maiwenn's ‘magic' abortion.† What had Deanna claimed? That Kiyo and Maiwenn had planned to make me terminate the pregnancy if I wouldn't willingly? â€Å"We just need to talk,† I said, hoping I sounded convincing. My next words gave me away. â€Å"Somewhere I know I'm safe.† â€Å"Kiyo's in the waiting room,† said Jasmine, seeing that I was finally taking this seriously. â€Å"Is this a safe place?† â€Å"Probably not.† I had finished getting dressed. â€Å"There must be a back door. There's always a back door. We'll go †¦ we'll go home. I'll get my weapons, and then we'll go to the Otherworld. He and I can talk about this reasonably in the Thorn Land. I'll be safe there.† â€Å"You'll never make it there,† said Deanna. I'd practically forgotten about her. â€Å"He can follow you. As soon as you leave here, he'll know and come after you.† â€Å"How could he – â€Å" I lightly touched my upper arm, the spot where Kiyo's nails had barely dug in the other night. I took a deep, shaking breath. â€Å"He marked me,† I said. He'd scratched me the first night we'd met too, leaving a long-healing wound that allowed him to track me wherever I went. This one was smaller but would work just as well. Jasmine was already moving toward the door, so full of tension and purpose that she seemed much older. â€Å"We'll just go straight to the Otherworld then. You'll be safe there. Where's the nearest gateway?† I racked my brain, thinking of our location. â€Å"By Morriswood Park. Farther than I'd like.† â€Å"Well, we have to go soon. If we stay here any longer, the doctor'll come ask what's wrong,† said Jasmine. â€Å"And we can't let Kiyo find us in the parking lot.† â€Å"You'll never make it to the park in time,† wailed Deanna. I scowled, but she was right. Jasmine looked at me questioningly. For a moment, I considered calling Volusian, but he might happily kill Kiyo and claim it was in my defense. I wasn't ready for that. â€Å"I know where we can go,† I said. â€Å"Come on.† We left the exam room, stepping out into the hallway. I turned with purpose, opposite the direction of the waiting room we'd entered from. This took us deeper into the clinic, past more examining rooms and their lab. A couple staff members passed us, but we walked confidently enough that no one stopped us. They probably assumed we'd been directed somewhere. Meanwhile, my eyes were searching for an exit sign. There had to be a back door. Surely hypocritical health professionals had to go somewhere to smoke. â€Å"There.† I nodded toward an exit sign, praying it didn't lead to a fire door, which would be of no use to us. Nope. It was just an ordinary door, one probably used for maintenance or shipments. Someone did notice us then and start to ask what we were doing, but by then, we were outside and behind the building. â€Å"Eugenie, where are we going?† asked Jasmine anxiously. Deanna had faded away, perhaps now finally leaving this world after fulfilling what she believed to be her last duty. As we walked briskly toward my car, some part of me kept wanting to think she'd lied. But why? As she'd said, she had no reason. She'd held true to me before. And with every passing second, I grew more and more conflicted, wondering what I should believe. Kiyo loved me. He'd gone out of his way to win me back †¦ but he was firmly set on protecting the human world. At any cost? We'd see. Deanna was mistaken; she had to be. My worst fate was probably going to be Kiyo's talking me to death. We got in the car, and I did briefly consider trying to make a break for Morriswood Park and its Otherworldly gate. After all, what was Kiyo going to do? Get in a high speed chase with us? The thing was, with that mark, he would be able to track me. He could probably feel me moving away now. If we headed anywhere near the park he'd figure it out. He'd either try to beat us there or just catch up with us on the other side. No, I had to go somewhere else. Somewhere with protection. Somewhere I could be sure I was safe until all of this madness was settled. Jasmine's face grew increasingly troubled as we drove away from the doctor's office. She kept glancing back, as though expecting to see Kiyo right on our bumper. When we turned into a suburban neighborhood, her worry shifted to confusion. â€Å"What is this?† â€Å"Home,† I replied, pulling into the driveway of a well-kept house surrounded by trees and flowers. A fence enclosed the backyard but couldn't hide the efforts someone had made to turn a Tucson backyard into something lush and green. The gate in the fence was unlocked as I'd known it would be. The yard was unoccupied, save for birds and insects. The house's patio door had its glass open, covered only by a screen that let in the afternoon air. It too would be unlocked. â€Å"Kiyo won't really do it,† I muttered, as I jerked the door open. â€Å"Maybe he's upset †¦ but we can talk this out. Deanna overreacted. We're overreacting.† We stepped into a small breakfast nook, and in the adjacent kitchen, a man spun around. My heart leapt when I saw him. The familiar, kind face. The graying hair. The tattoos of whorls and fishes. It felt like a lifetime since our last meeting. Roland. I'd gone to my parents' house. Roland's reactions were those of a man who'd spent years fighting and training, but even that didn't prepare him for the sight of us. Astonishment filled his features, quickly giving way to outrage. â€Å"Eugenie! What are you – â€Å" â€Å"Get your weapons,† I ordered, casting an uneasy glance behind me. Jasmine followed as I strode toward him. â€Å"Whatever you've got in the house.† He didn't move. â€Å"You know you're not – â€Å" â€Å"Get them!† I exclaimed. â€Å"We don't have time for this!† I don't know what look I wore on my face, but it was enough to pierce the walls of hurt and anger he'd built between us since learning of my involvement in the Otherworld. I'd taken a risk coming here, a gamble that no matter what happened, Roland would protect me. And I was right. He transformed before my eyes, suddenly the concerned and caring stepfather I'd grown up with. â€Å"What's – â€Å" Before he could finish, the screen door flew open. Kiyo stood there, face dark and stormy. â€Å"What the hell are you doing?† he demanded. â€Å"Why did you take off?† â€Å"You first,† I said, taking a step back toward Roland. â€Å"What are you doing?† Jasmine moved to my other side. My eyes were on Kiyo, but I could sense Roland bracing for battle. Maybe he didn't know what was going on, but anyone could have seen how dangerous Kiyo was. â€Å"I wanted to talk to you, and you disappeared!† Kiyo moved forward a little but stopped, recognizing the united front that Roland and I – and yes, even Jasmine – presented. â€Å"Talk? Is that all you wanted to do?† â€Å"Yes. Of course.† Kiyo glanced between all of us. â€Å"You promised, Eugenie. You promised if it was a boy, you'd get rid of it.† â€Å"There's a girl too!† I exclaimed. â€Å"You can't get rid of one without the other.† â€Å"It doesn't matter,† he said. â€Å"The consequences are too big.† â€Å"I can't kill an innocent. She hasn't done anything.† â€Å"Not directly. Letting her live means he lives. And there's nothing innocent there. He can't live. Eugenie, you know that. I'm not trying to be cruel. Please. Do what's right.† Jasmine and Roland remained silent as this drama played out. Meanwhile, I realized how sickened the language of this whole matter continued to make me. Get rid of it. He can't live. â€Å"You're so quick to kill your own children,† I said in disbelief, echoing what Jasmine had said a few days before. â€Å"Don't you feel any remorse? You know better than me what it's like to be a parent!† â€Å"Yes,† he said, clenching his fists. â€Å"I do know. And it's amazing. I wish you could know what it's like†¦.† â€Å"But I can't? I can't have the same chance you and Maiwenn had?† Kiyo shook his head. â€Å"You aren't the same as Maiwenn. You can't ever be.† It was like a gut-punch. I was stunned into silence, and a bit of his fierceness eased. I think he read my reaction as acceptance. â€Å"Look, I don't get this,† he said. â€Å"I don't get why you're resisting all of this after what you've always said! You never wanted a baby – any baby. If you've changed your mind, then †¦ well, try again. You just can't have these.† â€Å"And what then? I just keep having abortions until a girl comes along? What kind of a sick bastard are you?† I moved forward without realizing it, my anger exploding. Roland put a hand on my arm, keeping me back. It wasn't affection. It was a warning. It was defensive strategy, keeping us together. â€Å"I'm trying to protect the human world,† Kiyo said. He hadn't come any closer, but he was as ready as we were, his reflexes even faster. â€Å"And you should be too.† â€Å"And what happens if I don't do what you want?† I asked quietly. Here it was, the moment of truth. He sighed. â€Å"I don't want it to come to that.† â€Å"To what?† My voice rose sharply, the anguish in me ready to explode. â€Å"What will you do?† â€Å"I'll take you to Maiwenn – by force. And then †¦ and then she'll take care of it.† â€Å"The hell you will,† I said. Goddamnit, I wished I had a weapon. I almost always traveled with them – but not to the doctor's office. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Roland's hand rest on the counter and wrap around something. A wand. He'd had his wand in the kitchen. But of course he would. Unlike me, he hadn't become careless. â€Å"I'll never let that happen. You guys aren't going to experiment on me!† Kiyo's face displayed a mix of emotions. There was sorrow and disappointment. He did care. He didn't want this fight between us – but he also believed in his greater good. He believed he had to do anything to stop the prophecy, and I knew then that Deanna had spoken the truth. Ideally, he just wanted the pregnancy to end. If that wasn't possible, then I was what needed to be eliminated. â€Å"How can you do this?† he asked, his voice both a threat and a plea. â€Å"How can you risk all this – just to save one life?† It was only in that moment, as the words left my lips, that I learned the truth about myself, what I'd been holding deep inside. The girl and boy thing didn't matter. Only the heartbeats did – those tiny, rapid heartbeats pounding in my ears †¦ â€Å"I'm not,† I told him. â€Å"I'm saving two lives.† I sealed my fate with that. Kiyo moved so fast that I wasn't prepared for the attack. He sprang toward me, shape-shifting as he did into his giant fox form, fangs out, snarling. A blast of wind slowed – but didn't stop – his leap, providing enough time for Roland to jerk me out of the way. The wind magic hadn't come from me. It had been Jasmine, which was why the power hadn't packed much of a punch. The unaccustomed magic left her gasping, but it had been enough to buy us a brief escape. Roland pulled me out of the kitchen, out to where we had more space to maneuver in the living room. Kiyo followed without hesitation, all brute strength and speed. â€Å"He can be banished,† I gasped out to Roland. â€Å"The same as a gentry.† Roland gave a brisk nod of acknowledgment. He already knew this, but in the sudden flurry, he didn't have the necessary pause to do a full banishing. Kiyo reached us, throwing himself on me and pushing me away from Roland. I fell hard to the ground, Kiyo's weight pinning me there. As quickly as he'd turned fox, he transformed back into a man. Still displaying amazing speed, he pulled me up by the arm. I didn't know if his intentions were simply to cart me out of the house or to attempt a world-jump then and there, but I didn't give him the chance. I'd recovered my senses and took hold of my magic. The air grew thick, and a hurricane-worthy gust blasted him away – along with a substantial part of my parents' furniture. Kiyo grimaced as he regained his footing and agonizingly took one step at a time toward me. â€Å"Damn it!† he yelled over the roar of the wind. â€Å"Stop this!† â€Å"You stop this!† I shouted back. The magic burned in my blood, and no matter how annoyingly weak the pregnancy had made me, my power hadn't diminished too much. â€Å"We don't even know that this prophecy's real! I've already met one fake seeress. It could all be for nothing.† Roland and my mother had once told me that prophecies were a dime a dozen in the Otherworld, and I'd seen that to a certain extent. Until now, I'd never wanted to take the chance that mine wouldn't come true. â€Å"But we don't know!† Kiyo countered. I could see the irritation on his face. I was keeping a storm raging around me, one that held him at bay while hopefully Roland began a banishing. â€Å"We can't risk it. Please. Please come back with me to Maiwenn. We'll fix this.† I didn't answer and instead kept the storm going. My gaze stayed on Kiyo, but I felt the tingle of shamanic magic – human magic – beginning to glimmer. Roland was indeed performing a banishing spell. Kiyo transformed into a fox again, and with that extra strength, he managed to push through the storm-shield around me and knock me to the ground again. He stayed as a fox this time, holding onto that strength. His teeth bit into my shirt, through to my shoulder, and I yelled out in pain. My magic wavered, and to my astonishment, he began dragging me – slowly – across the living room. His progress was halted when a small end table slammed into his back. I tell you, those things are lethal. Instinctively, he reared up against his attacker: Jasmine. He shoved her away, and she stumbled back. Snarling, Kiyo returned to me, and I had the uneasy feeling my odds were getting worse as to whether he'd cart me away or just kill me. He could hold on to human thoughts in fox form, but they became increasingly influenced by animal reactions the longer he stayed transformed. He suddenly looked away from me, gold eyes on Roland, who stood planted firmly across the room with his wand extended. I'd sensed the banishing earlier because of my training. Now, with the spell in full force, Kiyo could feel it too. Abandoning me for the new threat, Kiyo raced toward Roland. I screamed as all that animal power slammed into my stepfather, pinning him against the wall. The wand flew from Roland's hand. The banishing spell disintegrated. Kiyo shifted to human form again, still trapping Roland. Roland was strong but couldn't match Kiyo's strength. Struggling was useless. â€Å"Stop it,† cried Kiyo. â€Å"Both of you.† His arm pressed against Roland's neck. Roland managed a gasp as the grip cut off his air. Immediately, I let the storm magic around me drop. As I did, I felt that Jasmine had been lending her strength to me without me even realizing it. She too ceased her wielding and struggled up from where she'd been knocked down, coming to stand with me once again. The room fell eerily still. â€Å"Let him go,† I growled, moving slightly forward. I knew I couldn't win against Kiyo in a physical fight, but I also couldn't let him harm Roland. â€Å"This isn't about him. Don't hurt him.† â€Å"Believe me,† said Kiyo, â€Å"I don't want to.† His eyes were dark and human again, but there was still some feral glint in there. â€Å"Come with me, and I'll release him.† â€Å"Come with you,† I said flatly. â€Å"To Maiwenn's?† â€Å"You'll thank me later,† said Kiyo. My mind raced frantically. Roland was struggling for breath. How much longer did he have? Would Kiyo really kill him? I wondered if I could get off another blast of magic. Another attack of wind? Lightning? I could create a controlled bolt indoors, but it'd probably kill both men. And if I went with Kiyo †¦ let him take me to Maiwenn †¦ well. There'd be no getting out of that, no escape. Roland looked ready to pass out. His blue eyes were fixed on me, and then, quickly, he glanced toward my feet. I thought it was him about to lose consciousness, but then I saw the purpose in his eyes. His wand was near my feet, within easy reach. I didn't let on to Kiyo that I'd noticed. Roland's eyes returned to me, some message there. â€Å"Please,† I begged, wondering frantically what Roland wanted me to do. â€Å"Let him go.† I couldn't pull off a banishing spell. There wasn't enough time. Kiyo would release Roland, true, but then I'd be the one attacked again. I honestly didn't know how long Kiyo would play it safe. He was attempting â€Å"reasonable† solutions: force me to go to Maiwenn, blackmail with Roland, et cetera. Sooner or later, if he truly believed the prophecy's threat, he would simply eliminate me. Roland was still staring at me, still wanting me to do something he thought would save us. He'd trained me. Surely I could figure it out. I had to. What could a wand do? It cast spells. It banished creatures, sending them out of this world†¦. I felt my eyes widen. I knew what he was telling me to do. Doing it would save him, I was certain, because Kiyo would release him and come after me †¦ into the Otherworld. Roland wanted me to open a gateway for myself. I could do it. It was a fast spell, one I had the power for. Forcing another being through was what took so much time and effort. But opening the gate and stepping through? That could be done quickly. If it could be done. Getting in was easy. Passing through the worlds unassisted was hard, and I'd even had trouble going through fixed, physical gates lately in my weakened state. Making a blind, unaided transition might not even be possible for me. I'd done it once before, and it had required a lot of power. And dear God, had it hurt. If I could do it, though †¦ I'd get away from Kiyo, and Kiyo would let Roland go in order to chase me down. This could buy me the time to flee to safety. The only thing that might make it possible was that I had anchors in the Otherworld to help pull me in. If I jumped with no solid destination, I could end up trapped between the worlds, my essence disintegrated. Hell, that might still happen, but an anchor would reduce the likelihood. I didn't know where I was in relation to the Otherworld's layout, but the closest anchor would pull me in if this worked. Time to find out. With speed that rivaled Kiyo's, I reached for the wand and then grabbed hold of Jasmine's hand. Bringing her only made my task more difficult, but I wouldn't leave her to Kiyo. With the wand, I summoned the necessary magic and ripped open a gate to the Otherworld. Kiyo realized what was happening and released Roland, trying to reach me – but it was too late. I threw myself into the opening, clinging to Jasmine, and knew it would shut immediately behind us, simply because I couldn't hold open a personal gate for long. It felt just as painful as last time, like I was crashing through the floors in a building. Down, down, down. Smash, smash, smash. Each layer was more agonizing than the last, and with each blow, I felt like I was being torn apart. It was likely I was, and I would destroy Jasmine with me, ripping our souls from our bodies. Then, I sensed a tug. My soul turned toward it, and I felt my fractured self coalesce and become whole, even as that falling, excruciating sensation continued. Then – there was only one impact left: a real one. Jasmine and I slammed into a hard stone floor. My body cried out at the pain. True, physical pain. I had already been hurting from the fight with Kiyo, and now, crashing through the worlds had taken that pain to new levels. Nausea welled up in me, and I fought hard not to throw up. I could hear Jasmine whimpering, but the sights around us were a blur as my disoriented mind tried to get a hold of itself. Finally, the world came into focus, the colors and lines growing sharp once more. A faint hum of magic in the air, one that was always present, told me I'd made it intact to the Otherworld. And Dorian was looking down at me.

Achilles Heel over-Reliance on Technology as a Weak Essays

Achilles Heel over-Reliance on Technology as a Weak Essays Achilles Heel over-Reliance on Technology as a Weak Essay Achilles Heel over-Reliance on Technology as a Weak Essay 1987Brzezinski, Richard, Polish Winged Hussar 1576-1775, Warrior Series. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Ltd. , 2006 Cockburn, Andrew, Why America Lost the War in Iraq, CounterPunch Magazine, May, 2007 counterpunch. org/andrew05192007. html Davies, Joshua, If We Run Out of Batteries, This War is Screwed. , Wired Magazine, 11. 06. 2003, wired. com/wired/archive/11. 06/battlefield_pr. html (accessed 27. 02. 2010) Gentry, John A. Doomed to Fail Americas Blind Faith in Military Technology, Parameters, Winter 02/03, comw. org/rma/fulltext/0212gentry. df (accessed 27. 02. 2010) Kagan, Frederic W. , A Dangerous Transformation, The Wall Street Journal, 12. 11. 2003, opinionjournal. com/forms/printThis. html? id=110004289 (accessed 27. 02. 2010) Libicki, Martin C. , What is Information Warfare (Washington, D. C. : Center for Advanced Concepts and Technology Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University, 1995) Int ernet sources: Military RD: Hits and Misses, http://executiveeducation. wharton. upenn. edu/wharton-aerospace-defense-report/Military-Hits-and-Misses-1008. cfm (accessed 27. 02. 2010) ttp://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Battle_of_Kircholm (accessed 27. 02. 2010, checked with the: Brzezinski, Richard, Polish Winged Hussar 1576-1775, Warrior Series. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Ltd. , 2006; Brzezinski, Richard, Polish Armies 1569–1696 (1), Men-at-Arms Series. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Ltd. , 1987 and general knowledge of Polish history) [1]From nuclear energy through jets and rockets to the Teflon frying pan and Internet – military created a need and a necessity is the mother of invention [2]Military RD: Hits and Misses, http://executiveeducation. harton. upenn. edu/wharton-aerospace-defense-report/Military-Hits-and-Misses-1008. cfm (accessed 27. 02. 2010) [3]Named after French Minister of Defense Andre Maginot, line of fortifications constructed along the French German border were designed to protect France from an invasion or to discourage Germany from attack. Over-reliance on this line lead not only to the fall of France in 1940 but probably also to the so called policy of appeasement which resulted in World War II itself [4] Kagan, Frederic W. , A Dangerous Transformation, The Wall Street Journal, 12. 1. 2003, opinionjournal. com/forms/printThis. html? id=110004289 (accessed 27. 02. 2010) [5]US Department of Defense, Joint Vision 2010, p. 16. [6] Kagan, Frederic W. , A Dangerous Transformation, The Wall Street Journal, 12. 11. 2003 opinionjournal. com/forms/printThis. html? id=110004289 (accessed 27. 02. 2010) [7]Davies, Joshua, If We Run Out of Batteries, This War is Screwed. , Wired Magazine, 11. 06. 2003, wired. com/wired/archive/11. 06/battlefield_pr. html (accessed 27. 02. 010) [8]During the operation Iraqi Freedom Americans were using exactly the same Microsoft chat like civilians – because the program is automatically assigning an ico n to the user, very often distinguished military officers were giving their soldiers orders in screen form of a big-breasted blondes or space aliens [9]Davies, Joshua, If We Run Out of Batteries, This War is Screwed. , Wired Magazine, 11. 06. 2003, wired. com/wired/archive/11. 06/battlefield_pr. html (accessed 27. 02. 2010) [10] Kagan, Frederic W. , A Dangerous Transformation, The Wall Street Journal, 12. 11. 2003, ttp://www. opinionjournal. com/forms/printThis. html? id=110004289 (accessed 27. 02. 2010) [11]Bolia, Robert S. , Overreliance on Technology: Yom Kippur Case Study, Parameters, Summer 2004 army. mil/professionalwriting/volumes/volume2/september_2004/9_04_4. html (accessed 27. 02. 2010) [12]http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Battle_of_Kircholm (accessed 27. 02. 2010) http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Winged_Hussars (accessed 27. 02. 2010) [13]Breed created from the mix of fast and agile Arabian horse with strong and endure European steed were combining the best features of both species.Taking this horses out of the Polish border was forbidden under capital punishment [14]Cockburn, Andrew, Why America Lost the War in Iraq, CounterPunch Magazine, May, 2007 counterpunch. org/andrew05192007. html (accessed 27. 02.

How to Get Into Stanford (by an Accepted Student)

How to Get Into Stanford (by an Accepted Student) SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Many students want to get into Stanford, one of the most prestigious undergraduate institutions in the United States. While getting into Stanford is very tough, there are definite rules to Stanford admissions. Using these rules to your advantage will greatly increase your chances of getting in. Note: the following advice also works for admissions to UC Berkeley and Cornell. While Cornell University and the University of California at Berkeley are not the same as Stanford, they are both very highly ranked colleges with a slight engineering tilt. Stanford University is one of the most difficult colleges to get into, with a current acceptance rate of only 5.1%. It is consistently ranked in the US News’ top five universities. Stanford is the top choice of many students whose focuses coincide with what Stanford offers (e.g. a West Coast life or a large research institution with a slight engineer tilt). Stanford is also, by far, the top US-News-ranked school west of the Mississippi (the second is Caltech, which attracts a completely different crowd). Stanford follows certain rules when it comes to admissions. And no, these rules are not as simple as â€Å"focus all your time on academics† or â€Å"be as well-rounded as possible.† (In fact, those two phrases are the two biggest myths for admissions to Stanford!) Knowing the rules won’t guarantee you admission, but you’ll have a heck of a better chance than if you’re applying in the dark. I'll go over everything you need to know to get into Stanford, whether you're a humanities or STEM student, and I'll explain which admissions strategies are false and could seriously impact your chances of getting accepted if you follow them. Why Listen to Me? There are lots of writers out there giving admissions advice without any personal experience. Most journalists writing articles on Stanford admissions do a few hours of research on the school (or a few days at most) to meet their article quota. However, I have personally spent weeks, if not months, thinking about Stanford admissions. I must have spent over 100 hours explicitly on Stanford admissions, and I got in: A letter from my admissions officer to me after I was accepted to Stanford discussing the admitted-student weekend details. This letter has been modified to summarize meaning and protect privacy. More than just getting accepted, I actually spent a substantial amount of time thinking about what Stanford was looking for and crafting an application specifically for Stanford. To me, Stanford was one of the top two schools I was interested in, so I took the application very seriously. I actually visited the campus twice before even applying, attended admissions sessions where I asked dozens of questions about what they were looking for, searched online and in bookstores, wrote an entirely separate essay, and had a separate admissions strategy for Stanford alone. I’m not saying this to brag; I’m letting you know that I have some unique qualifications that allow me to help you the most. That I was accepted, and that I spent tremendous energy thinking about Stanford, means that my advice can hopefully help you substantially as you prep for the SAT/ACT and apply to Stanford. Truths and Myths of Stanford Acceptance In this section, I’m going to tell you the critical three truths and two myths you absolutely need to know to get into Stanford.The first ones will be well-known, but the final ones will be uncommon knowledge and will help you get that extra boost! Note: if you’ve readour article on Harvard admissions, I will cover some similar material here. You may want to skim this section, but definitely pay attention to the differences between the application processes ofHarvard and Stanford. Also, pay attention after this section because I will talk about Stanford-specific aspects then! Truth #1: You'll Need Strong Academics The first truth is that Stanford is, first and foremost, an academic institution, so you need to have spectacular academics to get in. The 25th percentile score of admitted students is as high as a 1400 (SAT) or 31 (ACT). This means that the vast majority (75%) of Stanford students get above these scores, and those attending with scores lower than these are superstars who make up for their scores in other ways. If your scores are below those numbers, the most effective thing you can do to raise your chances of admission is studying more for the SAT/ACT sincethe primary reason Stanford will reject you is based on scores alone. The 75th percentile of Stanford scores is 1560 (SAT) or 34 (ACT), so if you are above this, you can presume your test scores are sufficient. Myth #1: All You Need Is Good Grades The first and most naive myth is that Stanford only cares about grades. Like most myths, this one results from taking the truth too far. Many people think that, since Stanford is an academic institution, shouldn’t they just care about academics? After all, if you’re trying out for the football team, they wouldn’t measure your skills in baseball, right? The truth is that Stanford, of course, cares about academics as its core, but it also cares about qualities beyond academics. Stanford is not just taking the people with the highest GPA scores and the highest SAT scores. Truth #2: You Should Excel in Multiple Areas Why isn’t Stanford just looking for students with the highest scores? The first reason is simple numbers - there are just too many students with stellar academics. The average ACT score for a Stanford student is 34 - thus Stanford considers this score or higher stellar. Yet a 34 still puts about 1% of the high school population above you. With 3.3 million high school seniors a year, this is about 33,000 students, many times larger than the roughly 2,100 students Stanford accepts each year. Therefore, top colleges like Stanford need to look beyond academic scores to distinguish between these students. The second reason starts with the understanding that many top colleges, including Stanford, are looking for students who can have a significant and positive impact on the world. Stanford believes that non-academic factors, in addition to top academics, help predict who will have a positive impact in the future. These non-academic factors (known under the umbrella term "extracurriculars") include participation in clubs or sports and dedication to helping others. Therefore, we can replace the first myth with our second truth: top colleges care about more than academics and want to see strengths in many areas, from GPA and SAT/ACT scores to extracurriculars and community service. In reality, the above truth of multi-area admissions is actually well-known to people who have done even a minimal amount of college admissions research. The myth of pure academics is more of a non-myth: it’s a myth that lots of people love to bash, but not many people believe. In fact, over-bashing this first myth leads to the second myth, which is more insidious. Myth #2: You Should Be Well-Rounded This second myth, the biggest and most harmful myth, is that Stanford cares about students being well-rounded in the sense that they should be equally excellent in all areas. This second myth is the most pernicious because so many people believe it, unlike the first myth. From many personal surveys, I have found that even well-researched students and parents fall prey to this myth. In fact, I myself, during my early years of high school, believed in this horrible myth, even though I had already done hundreds of hours of research at that point. Because so many educated people believe it, and because it has the potential to steer you wrong, I personally think this myth is the most damaging. The well-rounded myth goes like this: because Stanford wants you to be well-rounded, it’s best to perform excellently in all areas. You should aim for a high seat in your school orchestra. You should be number one or two in your school debate team. Run for student council and become the treasurer. Get a score in the 95 percentile or higher on your SAT/ACT. Get an A- or higher in all your classes. The mythical implication is that the "Stanford Scorecard" grades you based on your weakest area, so you want to eliminate all weaknesses. Under this myth, you should focus all your time on your weakest area to eliminate it and become as well-rounded as possible. At the end of the day, you end up with a mythical optimal application, one where you’re (nearly) equally great at everything. Unfortunately, college admissions is much like an unstable boat: being too well-rounded will sink you. The truth is that Stanford sees being very well-rounded as too boring. Everyone who is well-rounded looks the same: they’re great (but not earth-shattering) in everything. There is nothing to set you apart. Also, dilly-dallying in a large number of areas will make you look like a dilettante. Truth #3: You Should Have a "Spike" in One Area The third and final truth is that Stanford would much rather see a candidate who is OK at most things but really great in one specific area. That specific area is called your spike, and it can be in almost anything: conducting microbiology research, publishing short stories, starting a small business, etc. Your spike makes you a strong candidate because it's unlikely many other students will have the same spike as you, so it helps set you apart and makes you unique. Admitting lots of students with different spikes allows Stanford to create the diverse campus they desire. Furthermore, Stanford is looking for students who will succeed in the future. In our modern world, specialization is the key to success. Think about it, if you break a bone, you want to see a doctor who's great at resetting bones, right? Not a doctor who's pretty good at setting bones and also pretty good at diagnosing the type of flu you have and pretty good at recommending a diet to keep you healthy. It’s okay to be lopsided- in fact, it’s even desirable! You should aim to develop one area that you’re super strong in. In your spike area, you should definitely aim to be nationally or state ranked, or accomplish a goal that’s rare for a high school student. Think top 100 football player in California or top 1000 math competition student in the USA. Think getting a pilot’s license at age 12. In all other areas it suffices to be 99th or even 90th percentile. A moderately good score in your English class will do. A few dozen hours of volunteering will do. Recap The most naive and prevalent myth is that admissions is all about academics. In reality, selecting only for academics leads to an uninteresting community. Stanford cares about extracurriculars too, and doing well in just one area of school (or even all of school) isn’t enough. Unfortunately, an overly-reactionary response to the above generates the worst myth. Myth #2 is that you should be well-rounded and great (but not necessarily excellent) in every field. In reality, being too well-rounded makes you look exactly the same as others who are well-rounded, and it makes you look like someone without direction. The truth is that you want to be OK in every field but especially stellar in one field in particular. Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. Hierarchy: Truth #1: Have great academics (including stellar SAT/ACT scores) Myth #1: It’s all about academics Truth #2: Be good at a diverse set of extracurriculars Myth #2: You should be as well-rounded as possible Truth #3: Focus on one area to be extraordinary Truths and Myths of Stanford Admissions How to Apply This Information to You Based on the above information, your first goal is to ensure you are good at academics. Get good grades in school, and make sure you’re at least at the 50th percentile of the SAT/ACT cutoff for the school you are applying to. Even if you are above the 50th percentile, if you haven’t prepped at least few dozen hours yet, you should aim for the 75th percentile to strengthen your application. SAT/ACT prep is always one of the most time efficient ways to raise your chances of admission. After you’re above the 50th percentile cutoff, the next step is to overcome the first myth. Stanford cares about more than academics, and you’ll want to get good extracurriculars and volunteer experience. Once you have a sufficient set of baseline activities, it’s time to overcome the second myth. Stanford is not all about being diversified and well-rounded. You want one area to stand out above and beyond others. Stanford’s Tilt Towards STEM One difference between Stanford (and Cornell and UC Berkeley) and some of the other top 10 colleges is that Stanfordis not a pure liberal arts college. Instead, Stanford is a liberal arts college with a significant STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) tilt. What does that mean? It means that, all else being equal, if your interests are a bit more towards engineering, that will slightly help your admissions chances. For your base diversity of extracurriculars, it helps to leantowards engineering/math. It also helps if yourspike is in engineering/math. All else being equal, if you were a top 100 young writer or a top 100 math competitor, it's somewhat more helpful for admissions to be the latter. Don’t take my word for it. You can Google this yourself. Note how Stanford is in the US News’ top-ranked engineering schools, whereas Harvard and Yale are nowhere near the top 10. Stanford's strength is not just in graduate engineering, but also undergraduate engineering, making it truly stand out. (Most other stellar graduate programs, like my own Harvard Statistics program, have questionable undergrad programs). At Stanford, better professors mean more cutting-edge grad students and teaching assistants for your undergrad courses. Part of it is also a self-fulfilling prophecy: because good engineering-type undergrads come here, it becomes a good place for similarly interested students. Note, however, that I said Stanford has a STEM tilt. It is, by far, not a STEM-only school, which places like MIT, Caltech, and Carnegie Mellon are a lot more like. This means that, unlike pure engineering schools, math and math extracurriculars are NOT the only things that matter. These next two sections will give you advice based on which subjects you plan to study in college. If you're less into STEM, read the next section, but if you're already focusing on a STEM area and plan on continuing to do so, skip down two sections for guidelines for your situation. Guide for Students Less Interested in STEM Areas Do you plan on majoring in a humanities or similar subject? Then this section is for you! Just because Stanford tilts toward engineering does not mean that the only way to get into Stanford is to be an engineer. You don't even need to be interested in engineering in general. Stanford is not MIT or Caltech. Stanford is incredibly strong in say, economics and literature, as well. Your application can be completely bereft of engineering aspirations, and you can still do well.In fact, I am quite sure that any humanities-heavy application that would have done well at Harvard, Yale or Princeton will do equally well, if not better, at Stanford. However, you should not forget the fact that Stanford still likes baseline diversity. Your spike doesn't need to be related to STEM, but you should still be strong in quantitative subjects. Even if your subject of interest is Prussian history, you should be cautious about getting a B in AP Calculus AB, taking the easiest math classes, or getting as â€Å"low† as a 650 on the Math SAT section. Since Stanford has a very large number of applicants, they have enough humanities-spike applicants who can, at least, get the basic A or A- in the hardest math and science classes. You should take care to put enough effort into these subjects that you don’t drop into the middle of the pack. Stanford doesn’t take the excuse â€Å"I’m just not a math person† (and, in fact, they’re probably against the culture that makes such a phrase commonly acceptable in the first place). What’s a good enough baseline in math? I’d say something in the 720-800 range in the SAT Math section or 32-36 on ACT Math will do. The SAT/ACT is not competitive math - doing well on it doesn’t signal you’re nationally ranked in math. In fact, the SAT/ACT Math sections are only designed to test the most basic common denominator areas covered in high school math classes across the United States. Thus, scoring substantially below a perfect score on the SAT/ACT does actually signal to Stanford a lack of understanding of some rather standard areas of math. Once you get below a 700 (SAT Math) or 30 (ACT Math), Stanford will realize that you don’t have a full command of standard concepts like factorizing variables or applying the Pythagorean theorem. The good news is that you can actually improve quickly and consistently to the 700+ level on the SAT. All it requires is mastering baseline content of math and understanding the highest-gain SAT math strategies (like a slight amount of question skipping and practice). You can study on your ownby reviewing and mastering math content first while focusing lightly on math strategy. If you are studying with PrepScholar, we will automatically detect your situation and give you the right study material for this improvement. Students whose forte isn’t engineering should realize that Stanford is very welcoming of interdisciplinary study. Stanford would love to see an applicant talk, not just about the humanities, but how your expertise in the humanities uses areas like computer science or math to help refine your analysis. If you are truly interested, it will help your application if you mention an aspiration to use some amount of engineering in your future studies. For example, if you are into religious studies, with a focus on the Old Testament, you mighttalk about how you’re interested in using statistical analysis to refine the documentary hypothesis. As for your spike, since your natural strength is outside of STEM, I would not go for a STEM-type spike. Usually, spikes are much easier if done in a field with natural talent, that you naturally enjoy. A STEM spike wouldmake much less sense for you, not to mention it would be a lot less pleasant to accomplish. You should consider competitions for speech, debate, writing, essays, and so forth.For example, for enthusiasts in debate-type activities, there’s Model UN, Junior State of America, governor’s school, mock-trial, and nationwide debate. Competitions provide a direct way for admissions officers to see how good you are, but you can also do other tasks that qualitatively seem similarly accomplished. For example, if you start a theaterclub that has a huge number of audience members, or do journal-quality academic research into Victorian English literature, you will be well positioned for your spike. To find out more, you can see this article on spikes (search for â€Å"Step 1† to get directly to brainstorming!) Guide for Students Strong in STEM If your strong point is actually quantitative, then that’s a great advantage. After all, Stanford is engineering tilted. Even more to your advantage, I personally got into Stanford using this path, so I will have much more refined strategies for you than usual, including naming specific programs to try. Ensure Academic Excellence in STEM Fields Since you consider yourself a strong STEM candidate, at your core, it’s important to be absolutely stellar in the STEM fields - that means all A/A+ on your courses, with only the very occasional A- sprinkled in. Make sure you are taking the most difficult STEM courses offered by your school. That means taking APs when they are available and, within APs, choosing the harder option (Calculus BC instead of AB). For the AP exams, make sure you get a 5 as much as possible in these fields. If you’re naturally talented at STEM and take the hardest courses, there’s a high probability you’ll get great grades. However, you want to turn that high probability into a certainty. The biggest reason for naturally talented STEM students to do mediocre in STEM courses is lack of diligence. Many students naturally talented at STEM want to focus on only what they’re interested in at the moment. It’s important to see the benefits to your STEM education that would be possible if you got into Stanford and convince yourself it is worthwhile to put in the grind that sometimes is necessary to get good grades in school. To illustrate, let me tell you the real story of a high school classmate of mine. Let's call him Kevin. Kevin was intensely bright, would score at the top of intelligence tests, and was into battle bots. He would literally put all his time into building these robots, skipping English classes, Physics classes, and even sleep to spendtime onhis intense interest. Inthe end, he earned D’s in English and C’s in Physics (which he was otherwise great in). Sadly, when it came to admissions time, Kevin wasn’t able to get into any college ranked top 50. With his intelligence, he could have easily swept the US News top 50 if he had put even a modicum of diligence into schoolwork. Okay, so now you’ve got your 5 in AP Calc BC and your A’s in math, science, and technology classes. What’s next? Ensure a Good Academic Baseline Outside of STEM The next step is to make sure that your academics outside of STEM meet at least some baseline of quality. This doesn’t mean that you have to be great in the humanities, but it does mean that you’ll want to keep the B’s in the humanities to a minimum. You don’t need to take any AP humanities classes (after all, I didn’t), but taking them and getting a 4 or 5 on the AP tests and an A/A- in the class will benefit you. Standardized tests like the ACT/SAT are a great way to show well-roundedness. They are difficult enough that getting a sufficiently high score signals you’re in the 95% percentile or above in all the US - certainly enough to qualify as well-rounded. However, the ACT/SAT isn’t specialized enough to be your spike. If you’re a little weaker on the humanities side, again, shoring up your SAT/ACT score is the fastest, most effective way to improve. You’ll want to target an SAT score of above 650 (higher is better) or an ACT score of 28 or above. I firmly believe that being great quantitatively correlates with being smart in general. You can definitely get this score if you put your mind to it. (The only caveat is that you need to be reasonably fluent in English; if you are not a native speaker and aren’t fluent, I suggest you make this a priority, probably through immersion in an English-speaking culture.) Your test prep strategy will be centered around the fact that the SAT/ACT is an analytical test. The same skills you used to become good in quantitative subjects will be useful in mastering these tests. Since you’re only targeting a 650 (or 28) or above on these sections, you don’t need to stress as much about the last few problems and being careless. You do need to memorize all the most common grammar rules and learn how to identify and skip the most difficult problems. You can do this yourself, or you can use our program, PrepScholar Online Prep, to automatically identify these weaknesses and fix them. Include Well-Rounded Extracurriculars Round out your application with some lower-hanging fruit if possible. Get to a leadership position in some club that requires public speaking - whether that be debate, Model UN, Junior Statesmen of America (JSA), or something else. Many areas of politics and law are surprisingly close to the logical systems that you’re used to in STEM. Consider joining a sport - many JV teams are not incredibly competitive. Also, play to your strengths - if you’re more dexterous than strong, choose squash, for example. If you’re fast and have good hand-eye coordination, consider baseball. Sports teams will take up a ton of time though, so make sure you’re well positioned and can handle the time commitment. We have a guide that lists hundreds of extracurriculars, and you can use this list to brainstorm how you’ll build a well-diversified base. Remember, for your diverse activities, you don’t need to be great at them. Participation matters, getting small prizes like being treasurer or best debater matters. Focus On Your Spike Now that you’ve achieved good SAT/ACT scores and have a well-rounded base of activities, it’s time to build up that final factor that will get you in - your spike! This is where you really get to show off your STEM skills. When it comes to spikes, the name of the game is to be highly-ranked in recognized fields. One of the most natural environments to be ranked in is a competition. Now, naturally, the more recognized the competition, the better. As you might imagine, the most well-known, difficult, and participant-heavy competitions are the most prestigious. It’s better to rank in the top 1000 of one of the most prestigious competitions than it is to rank in the top 100 of a competition of middling prestige. Therefore, you should aim for the highest prestige competition you can do well in. You should consider competitions from highest prestige down in that order whenever possible. Here’s how to start. Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. The Two Biggest STEM Spikes When it comes to prestigious STEM competitions, two of them take the day: the US Math Olympiad (I’ll call it the USAMO series here), and the Intel Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). These are two competitions everyone should consider. The USAMO Series The USAMO series is much more centered around pure math and solving problems relatively quickly (think a few minutes to an hour in a timed environment). If you want to get a taste of what an easy problem looks like in the USAMO series, just look at the hardest problems in the SAT/ACT Math section, or the hardest problems on the SAT Math II Subject test. (The hardest problems are usually the last ones.) The ISEF is more about tinkering around, spending days and months doing research similar to university academics, and then presenting your results.ISEF is closer to working on a hobby or personal project for a long time. Here's a sample AMC 12 Problem. If you can get this, you may be a good candidate for a math competition. Three real numbers in the interval [0,1] are chosen independently and at random. What is the probability that the chosen numbers are the side lengths of a triangle with positive area? A)â…™ B) â…“ C)  ½ D) â…” E) â…š To see the answer and a full explanation, go here. If you consider yourself good at math, you should seriously consider the USAMO series (more unofficial info here)- it can really be your spike. The USAMO series is so prestigious that I have known Stanford students whose main spike was placing just within the top 1000 or 2000 in the USAMO series. Why is the USAMO so prestigious? It’s the oldest of the high school subject Olympiads, and it was the subject of Cold War tensions between the US and USSR in the old days. Most importantly, hundreds of thousands of the most mathematically strong students take it, making a top ranking really matter. The best way to sign up is to ask your high school math teacher, and if your high school doesn’t do it, you should aggressively petition them to do it or search for a neighboring high school who will accept you as a guest. A good rule of thumb for whether this spike is for you is ifyour SAT Math score is 760 or above (or your ACT Math score is 35 or above) and your SAT Math II Subject Score is 720 or above. If you don’t meet these thresholds, I would think very hard before making the USAMO series your spike - the USAMO series, after all, is just a much harder version of these tests, in nearly the exact same format. Further, a college applicant who has competitive USAMO series scores but questionable standardized test math scores sends very mixed signals that will diminish the USAMO series accomplishments. Conversely, if you are above the SAT/ACT threshold, you definitely will benefit from taking the USAMO series, even if it isn’t your spike. This is because, if you're above the stated SAT/ACT thresholds, your exam score is not showing your true skill. Your true skill is literally off the SAT/ACT charts; you need to upgrade to the USAMO series to show off all your math skills, even if you don’t perform amazingly. To recap, go into the USAMO series if you do well on math tests like the SAT Math. The USAMO series will be a definite spike for you if you make it into the top 1000-2000 rankings. The best resource to train for the USAMO series is The Art of Problem Solving. If you’re good at tests and competitions, but not math, the rest of this section is for you. Intel ISEF There are also many students who are strong in STEM but aren't at their best when solving timed problems. Some students get anxious from the pressure while others just don’t do well on tests, even if they’re brilliant at STEM. These students might be found writing their own computer program for months at a time or working on a science experiment for weeks. If this sounds like you, the prestigious competition you should consider is the Intel ISEF. Like most science fairs, the ISEF requires you to do research and then present it in a competition. Unlike most science fairs though, the ISEF is the premier science fair across the entire United States. While winning your high school’s local science fair is like winning a 100-meter dash in your town, winning the ISEF is like winning the 100-meter dash in the Olympics. You can’t apply directly to the ISEF. Instead, you have to start out first in a regional science fair, and, if you do well at that, you can advance into the next ISEF rounds. You can read about their judging criteria hereand about a real winner’s experiences here. Some of the key factors to winning include being innovative and original. You have to be rigorous, but not nearly to the degree of professional science research. Being interesting is the name of the ISEF game. What does awinning ISEF project look like?Here’s an excerpt from a press release ona recent winner: Raymond Wang, 17, of Canada, was awarded first place for engineering a new air inlet system for airplane cabins to improve air quality and curb disease transmission at this year’s Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, a program of Society for Science the Public. Wang’s system improves the availability of fresh air in the cabin by more than 190 percent while reducing pathogen inhalation concentrations by up to 55 times compared to conventional designs, and can be easily and economically incorporated in existing airplanes. Wang received the Gordon E. Moore Award of US$75,000, named in honor of the Intel co-founder and fellow scientist. Watch the incredible video here! To showoriginality for the ISEF, it matters that you tackle a problem that is interesting to the scientific community. Since few high school students have a good overview of the academic science literature, it is important for any student to have a professional academic scientist or engineer be their mentor. This will ensure that you work on a problem the field considers important. Also, good mentors with previous experience will know which problems can be done by students and which would be too complicated or time-consuming. After you choose your field and mentor, having the tenacity and focus to put your creative thinking towards the problem is key. Students who have historically had a lot of trouble stayingfocused or finishing projects should be wary. To get started, you can sign up for the ISEF here. With the USAMO, doing well on SAT Math is a good predictor of performance; being fast and being good on tests is important. With the ISEF, tenacity and the ability to stick with a project for hundreds or even thousands of hours from start to finish is important. Ranking in the top hundred for ISEF qualifies that as a spike for you. Other Options for Spikes Beyond the top two STEM competitions above, the number of competitions begins to increase dramatically. In the sciences, you have the Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Informatics (Computer Science) Olympiads. These competitions require you to work with logic very intelligently, and all require memorizing and being familiar with some facts. I’ll eventually have another article on these series (I personally participated in each one while in high school), but for now here’s a quick overview. Math Olympiad is special because it’s the most competitive, with the highest number of people taking the first round. Because so many people prep for the Math Olympiad, the field has changed so that a good part of doing well on it is having tons of practice, so you know immediately which equations you need to pull out when you see a particular mathematical expression. Biology requires the most memorization. In fact, most of the beginning rounds are all about recalling the text of Campbell Biology in a timed fashion. Chemistry is a happy mixture ofusing logic to solve problems and memorizing a moderate list of information to help solve those problems. The hands-on portion of Chemistry and Biology require you to be good at following memorized procedures. On the other hand, Physics and Informatics have a lot of hands-on sections that really require resourcefulness and novel problem solving. In these other competitions, I would say qualifying for the top 20-40 makes the competitio n a spike for you in the eyes of Stanford. Further, not all spikes need to be in explicitly ranked fields. You could discover a new protein with significance to medical research. There wouldn’t necessarily be a competition for the discovery, but if the discovery is qualitatively stunning enough, it can count. For Stanford’s spike, you can brainstorm an amazing discovery: perhaps a biological process, an electrical engineering discovery, or something else. You can also build something new: whether it’s an awesome computer program, a cool robot, or a fun electronics project. You should make sure that the project is impressive though. For example, make sure that qualitatively the project would feel â€Å"as good or better† as ranking 1000 or better on the Math Olympiad. Stanford is all about engineering, and they would love to see you build something of your own. There are many other competitions and ways to show off your special skill within the STEM fields. Generally, beyond the top few listed above, you can also brainstorm your own fields. Once you have a competition or field in mind, it’s useful to evaluate how prestigious it is. Remember, the less prestigious a field, the higher you have to rank to be afforded the same credit. To estimate prestige, first look at how many people participate - the more people who participate, the more prestigious. Second, look at the skills of the average participant: the more skilled people coming in, the more prestigious it is. Using this method, you can find spikes outside of the set ones above. Conclusion Stanford is one of the most difficult universities to get into, as are UC Berkeley and Cornell. However, all of them follow the same pattern of being a highly-ranked school with a slight engineering tilt, and all have a common admissions pattern. Because these schools are highly-ranked, it’s critical to keep in mind the three truths: 1) you need high baseline academics, SATs above 600 and ideally 750 in each section; 2) you need to have a diverse set of extracurriculars that you’re decent at; and 3) you need to have one â€Å"spike† area where you’re ranked top 100-1000. Dispel these two myths: 1) Stanford admissions is all about academics; and 2) Stanford wants you to be as evenly well-rounded as possible. Keep in mind that Stanford has a STEM (engineering) tilt. This means that, if your focus is outside STEM, you should be the best you can be in that area and, if appropriate, tie your work into potential interdisciplinary work with STEM. If you are in STEM, you’ll want to strongly consider pursuing success in a competition to show off the degree of your skill. What's Next? Strong standardized test scores are an important part of your Stanford application. Want more tips for test prep?We have lots of guides for SAT prep and ACT prep! Aiming for a top score?Learn how to perfect your score on the SAT or ACT! Do you already have great extracurriculars?Check out ourcollege admissions and test prepguide designed specially for students like you!