On campus, March 6
1. You know the excuses when it comes to skipping class – hangover, too cold, fake job interview – but did you ever stop to think how much it really costs you? Well, Paste BN College crunched the numbers for you. According to the most recent survey by Class120, which came out in 2015, the average college student skips 240 classes by the time he or she graduates. For students at an in-state, public university this adds up to $7,200 of wasted tuition money over the course of four years, and $24,960 for students at private schools.
2. If you thought Ivy League schools had low admission percentages, you haven’t seen anything yet. It turns out NASA’s astronaut class has an astronomically lower acceptance rate. According to NASA, 18,300 people applied to its 2017 astronaut class — a program that selects eight to 14 individuals to become astronaut candidates. That makes this program 74 times harder to get into than Harvard, according to Business Insider. “We have our work cut out for us with this many applications,” said Brian Kelly, director of Flight Operations at Johnson in a press release. “But it’s heartening to know so many people recognize what a great opportunity this is to be part of NASA’s exciting mission. I look forward to meeting the men and women talented enough to rise to the top of what is always a pool of incredible applicants.”
3. Transferring to an Ivy League school can be even more difficult than getting in as a freshman. And for students interested in Princeton, it was literally impossible. Until now.The school recently announced that beginning in 2018 (at the earliest), it will open a limited number of spaces for transfer students as part of the university’s strategic planning framework. Princeton, which adopted its transfer ban in 1991, is the last of the eight Ivy League schools to create a transfer policy.
4. Christine Ortiz is setting out to break the mold with a radical approach to higher education. The dean of Graduate Education at Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently announced that she’s taking a (minimum) one-year leave of absence to start a nonprofit, residential research university for undergraduates on up. And, get this — there will be no majors, lectures or classrooms. The school, still in the early stages of planning, will structure itself totally “outside of the degree system,” says Ortiz. Instead it will create a space where people can see a project from inception to completion. "There’s been so much that’s happened in the last 10 years that’s making some things very obsolete. … We know now that the disciplinary boundaries are essentially artificial and that science and technology doesn’t fall into these artificial systems, and there’s opportunities to create new scientific fields. … There are so many more waiting to be discovered," Ortiz tells Paste BN College.
5. Interested in math and business? An accounting major may just be the right fit for you. This major involves lots of math classes, as well as courses in business, marketing, finance, statistics and economics. A degree in accounting opens up numerous possibilities and can lead to careers in tax accounting, auditing, consulting and more. According to College Factual, the top undergraduate programs for accounting degree in the U.S. are:
- Bentley University
- University of Notre Dame
- Bryant University
- New York University
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Read the full list by visiting college.usatoday.com.