At Harvard, leaner time means no more hot breakfast

Thanks to my loyal blog reader for sharing this article with me.

This shows the austerity measurements done at Harvard University. This reflects the reduction in budget for them, due to financial crisis and their endowment dropped by 27%.

Read up more at here .

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Video Lectures from Top Institutions

Academic Earth's website has been revamped, and right now, it shows clearly the large number of video lectures that you can watch for FREE from world's top institutions.

Currently, the lectures available are from Berkeley, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, UCLA and Yale.

Check out at here .

An interesting lecture by Google VP of Search Product and User Experience on “Google: Ideas Come From Everywhere”. The lecture was made at Stanford in 2006.

View It Here

It is 10 short clips of about 3 minutes each.

Lecture 1 - Ideas Come From Everywhere

Lecture 2 - Give Ideas Credit, Not Credit for Ideas

Lecture 3 - Work with Smart People

Lecture 4 - License to Pursue Dreams

Lecture 5 - Learning From Mistakes

Lecture 6 - Data is Apolitical

Lecture 7 - Creativity Loves Constraint

Lecture 8 - Bank Users, Not Money

Lecture 9 - Don't Kill Projects; Morph Them

Lecture 10 - Surviving the Bubble

At another site, there are 100 selected free lectures from top institutions are linked from here .
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Chen Chow's Other Posts
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Encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I will be more than happy to post it to share

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10 Reasons an Ivy League degree is overrated

Thanks to Amber Johnson who wrote to me to share this article with you guys - my blog readers!

It is an article on "10 Reasons an Ivy League degree is overrated" by Amber Hensley. The link is here

The 10 reasons are:-

1. Elitism

2. Publication vs Instructor's Ability to Teach

3. You can get many of the benefits online for free

4. CEO pay is not necessarily greater

5. Ivy League education not well suited for entrepreneurs

6. Poor environment for undergraduate studies

7. Quality vs affordability

8. Too much pressure on students

9. Money spent on undergraduate education could go towards a graduate education

10. Low Payback ratio

My personal viewpoint on the arguments of those 10 points raised in the article is as follow:-

1. While I won't say that every alumnus/alumna of Ivy League faced this problem, it is apparent that the environment in the universities, particularly top universities would give a wrong impression to the graduates, since the people that they would work with after they graduate would not be of the same type (who managed to get into those institutions). So, some of the alumni may face difficulty in adapting and mingling/working with others.

2. The professors may not be very good at teaching skills, but undeniably they are very smart and have a lot of knowledge in the field.

3. Yes. Make full use of those free material online! It's free and we should do lifelong learning!

4. Money shouldn't be the main barometer anyway. :)

5. This is perhaps due to the marketably of these graduates, and with that, tend to be more risk averse. Might not be as risk taking, to quit a high paying job, to start a business or work on a start up. Too much at stake, including long term career progression.

6. Am not agreeing with this aspect. Would still argue that the quality is top notch. Students choose courses, so there are big or small class size.

7. You get what you pay for.

8. Getting in is tough, but surviving there is not too tough. Really depends on what you hope to achieve there.

9. This is debatable. I would not exchange my 4 years of undergraduate life with anything else.

10. For those on loans, agree that Return on Investment may be low, and payback may take quite some time, but if you could afford it, lifetime return would hopefully be there.

To all, what do you think on this?

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Encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I will be more than happy to post it to share

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Inside The Admissions Game

Thanks a lot to Kai Sheng for sharing with me the link of this article.

It is a Newsweek article back in 1999, to look at the admission through observation at University of Chicago. It is a very apt article.

For full article, go to here .

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Inside The Admissions Game
Who Holds The Keys To Elite Schools Like The University Of Chicago? How Do They Choose? An Exclusive Look.

Do we really want Rebecca? Almost any college would offer a seat in its honors program to lure such a talented applicant. But this is the choosy University of Chicago, where the 12 members of the admissions committee can't even decide whether to let her through the door. With seven applicants competing for each of 1,011 slots in the class of 2003, Chicago clearly doesn't need Rebecca. Rick Bischoff, her advocate on the committee, argues that she has strong leadership skills. He recalls being so impressed when he first met the young woman that he muttered, "I sure hope she's smart." In fact, her transcript is very good. And yet Chicago has already rejected hundreds of applicants with better grades. Bischoff tosses on the cluttered conference table a Kelly-green folder that sums up Rebecca in 32 pages. "Look at the way her teachers write about her," he urges. "Plus, she doesn't like 'Dawson's Creek'."

Around the room, brows furrow. This is a zero-sum game: accepting Rebecca would mean curtains for yet another of the nation's most gifted high-school seniors. One committee member complains that the girl's answers to application questions don't echo the lofty academic ideals that Chicago projects in its literature. "Yes," a pro-Rebecca member fires back, "and don't you get suspicious when they do?" Bischoff, his arsenal nearly spent, launches what Chicago admissions counselors call "the don't-give-a-s--- argument." So what if Rebecca will get only C's in math--she, and not some higher-scoring robot, is the provocateur we want sitting in class. Dissenting voices crackle, but fall silent when Ted O'Neill speaks. O'Neill, 52, is a machinist's son who came to this work after years devoted to the study of Romantic poetry. As dean of admissions, he has spent a decade urging his staff to look past grades and test scores. Yes, other kids appear more deserving. "But we are the University of Chicago," O'Neill reminds his colleagues. "We can do what we damn well please, so long as we have good reasons." Moments later, Rebecca is admitted.

In an age when jurors scurry from murder trials to explain their verdicts on CNN, few deliberations remain secret. But what happens behind the door of the college-admissions office each year is still a dark mystery to 2.5 million applicants and their jittery retinues of parents, teachers and counselors. Over the past year, Chicago permitted NEWSWEEK to watch what goes on behind the wizard's curtain. The only condition: that we obscure the identities of kids like Rebecca, whose real name is, well, not Rebecca. This week Chicago's decisions on whom to accept for the fall of 1999 will land in mailboxes around the globe: big envelopes for those invited to the great Gothic campus built with John D. Rockefeller's millions--and small ones for those who'll be enrolling somewhere else.

The American tradition of "going East" to find the best colleges means Chicago will never have the cachet of the Ivies, with which it competes aggressively for students. But these days Chicago is hot. The number of applicants grew 25 percent this year alone. More remarkably, their average SAT scores leaped 20 points, to about 1370, with the biggest surge from the very top kids. Those who get big envelopes can enter the owlish, arrogant place that refused the Queen of England an honorary law degree because she'd done no scholarly work to deserve it. Chicago prides itself on being a grind. As the school's own recruitment book dryly warns, "You know you're doing well when your GPA is higher than the number of hours you sleep a night."

The admissions cycle that ends this week formally began last April 1 when the first batch of high-school juniors visited campus. A year earlier, though, Chicago was already sending recruitment packets to 45,000 of the nation's top sophomores. By last summer, an explosion of visits to its campus--up 50 percent from 1997--signals Chicago's growing popularity. For O'Neill's harried staff, it's a bittersweet prospect. By instinct they want to share their school with every applicant who's qualified. But more great kids ultimately means... more small envelopes.

By late fall, applications for "early action" flood into the admissions office, a cozy warren of small rooms in twin-towered Harper Library. This autumn there are 1,238 "EA" applicants, 44 percent more than a year ago. Because of Chicago's narrow appeal to brainy kids, perhaps 80 percent of all its applicants could succeed here. Far fewer, of course, will ever be accepted. This buyer's market allows the admissions staff to consider a delectable question: if nearly every applicant is qualified, then who is most desirable? For Chicago, the answer is the high-end student who embraces complex ideas and ceaseless discussion, who reads "Anna Karenina" and can't wait to tell someone about it. "We tell people we're seeking rigor," O'Neill confides one brittle December day, walking through a sunlit stone quadrangle. "What we're really seeking is love."

With a Dec. 11 deadline to mail its early-action decisions fast approaching, the committee gathers in O'Neill's high-ceilinged office to make its toughest calls. Admissions counselor Jessica Marinaccio frames the first dilemma: "What do we do with a kid who's brilliant--in one area?" A second counselor, startled by the overly math-centric file of the boy we'll call David, marvels that he seems "differently cerebral." But a third, Adele Brumfield, looks concerned: David also doesn't communicate well. "Look at his essays," Brumfield murmurs. "If we take him, he won't be able to convey ideas to anyone but his buddies in the Math Club." The committee doesn't reject David, but votes to defer its decision until March.

The next case generates more heat. Kevin has flitted through almost every activity in his high school. Trouble already: serial joiners don't impress Chicago. Better to pour years of devotion into a few deep interests. In the words of Michael Behnke, a university vice president who oversees admissions, "The kid who touches every group has no impact. He won't be missed." O'Neill, meanwhile, has spotted something else: Kevin plays several sports. O'Neill observes that smart athletes manage time well, and find unorthodox ways to succeed. He recalls a recommendation written years ago by a high-school football coach: "This boy reads poetry and physics in the locker room. I don't have another one like him."

Kevin's case also broaches what Chicago calls "the grits argument." Can this country boy succeed in a bigger setting? Chicago aggressively recruits small-town kids, often waiving their application fees, even though on entering, their academic skills can trail those of top private-school grads by two years. Why are they often desirable? Peter Chemery, an associate admissions director, explains that small-town kids tend to be well developed as individuals. Like big-city kids, they've had a wider range of experiences than sheltered suburbanites. By that measure, the truly disadvantaged student is the child of a soccer mom, shuttling from one scheduled activity to another. "This image of 'well-rounded' suburban students with long lists of extracurriculars is an utter fiction created by the college-admissions industry," Chemery says

After debating Kevin's future for 21 minutes, 11 members of the committee make a show of hands. The tally: five to admit, four to defer, one to deny, one unsure. O'Neill rules. Kevin is in.

He's one of 708 young people from the strong early-action pool who receive acceptance letters in December. Eighty-nine percent are from the top tenth of their classes, often in the nation's most competitive high schools. An optimistic guess: 45 percent of those accepted early by Chicago will enroll next fall. With its class one-third filled, O'Neill's staff now braces for a second, much bigger wave of applications that will wash in by Jan. 1.

To evaluate each applicant, Chicago counselors begin by composing little stories about them. Each youth's folder contains her application form, transcript and letters, along with a statistical sheet that profiles the student's high school: how hard do teachers grade, how many advanced-placement, or A.P., courses are offered. The entire file is first read by the admissions counselor who recruits in the student's region of the country. The counselor then writes perhaps 200 words suggesting whether this person belongs at Chicago.


The counselor also grades each applicant 1 to 5 for academics, A to E for activities, talents and character. The best 20 percent (often 1-A's) become "express" files that go straight to O'Neill for approval. Most files, though, go from the first reader to a second counselor, then to an associate director like Chemery. If the three of them can agree on how to classify an applicant, her file goes with others like it into one of 21 boxes that sort applicants into cohorts: the 2-B's in one box, the 3-minus-B-pluses in another. Before decision letters go out, O'Neill also gives many of the files a fourth look.

The most contentious or borderline cases go to meetings of the full admissions committee. These can be no less passionate than a debate between professor and student. "The purpose," O'Neill says, "is to make sure we have the applicant's story straight." The meetings also teach young counselors--the committee's average age is 35--how Chicago resolves vexing questions. Examples: Why is this girl's transcript so uneven? Is this kid so full of himself that our faculty--which itself brims with prima donnas--will complain that he can only spout his own dogmas? Do we care that she attempted a break-in at school if she was only trying to retrieve her books?

The troubling case of Justin hits three such chords. His grades have ranged from F's to A's. He's had one scrape with the law. He now ranks near the top of his class, and his test scores are superb. Two of Chicago's counselors, put off by his unstable record and his self-absorbed essays, have urged rejection; one says there is "little evidence he cares about anyone but himself." And yet Justin has risen from the dead, his file resurrected from the "double deny" box by an associate dean who says the two counselors' notes haven't captured whatever drives Justin. O'Neill is intrigued. "First he failed, and now he's doing the best he can," he says. "What more can we ask?" But a disturbing comment from Ben Hernandez, a young counselor, silences the room: while Justin's essays acknowledge his earlier mistakes, at no point does he accept responsibility for them.

Justin's case is so confounding that committee members set it aside and turn to Roberto. His recommendations are strong, his test scores weak. Chicago does not segregate its minority applicants into pools where they compete only against each other. O'Neill does acknowledge that "if they're qualified, minorities have an easier time being declared desirable," because they bring fresh perspectives to the classroom. Often, though, the question is whether Chicago's rigor will engage an applicant or overwhelm him. The committee looks to its own minority members--two African-Americans, a Latino and a native African--for the answer. On average, minority students have lower standardized test scores than white students. But, says O'Neill, "later in life, they succeed. We help make things accessible for them."


O'Neill and Hernandez see Roberto as a strong candidate, a once purposeless youth who now shows great potential to be a leader. "We would hear his voice permeate this campus," Hernandez says. After a poor beginning, the boy's high-school grades are moving upward. But just as the committee appears ready to accept Roberto, counselor Kazi Joshua invokes the memory of Justin. "Why do you believe in transformation in this case," he pointedly asks, "and not the previous one?" Again, the group pauses.

When admissions officers at selective colleges don't know how to resolve these tough calls, they often turn to an applicant's essays. The student's words can seal his fate--a fact not lost on applicants who write one set of good responses and adapt them for as many colleges as they can. Chicago is famous for asking questions for which there can be no boilerplate answers. Example: given the probability that the federal tax code, nondairy creamer, Dennis Rodman and the art of mime all came from outer space, name something else that has extraterrestrial origins and defend your hypothesis. (One response: Barbie, who has seduced millions of women into fruitless attempts to mimic her alien shape.)

A less outlandish question asks why you want to attend Chicago. It is not cool to answer, as some applicants do, "I want to attend Columbia because..." or "I am very impressed by your engineering school," something Chicago doesn't have. The essays also allow applicants to explain the most formative moments in their lives. There is no right answer here, but there can be wrong ones. Counselors roll their eyes at sagas told in formulaic ways, as if lifted from books on how to get into college: "As the storm raged, the other climbers were nearing hypothermia as I led them down the mountain in British Columbia..." Good essays show imagination and self-awareness. "I can be radically moved by an essay, usually because it draws together the other elements of the file," Chemery says. One of this year's best: a Latino applicant's essay on his love of classical music and books.

If essay answers are useful to counselors, standardized test scores often are not. Listen to committee debates, and it's clear that because scores tend to correlate with grades--both high or both low--many times the scores aren't even mentioned. The numbers often say less about the applicant than about the quality of school district, or the private-school tuition, that his parents have been able to afford.


With 12 days to finish its job, O'Neill's team still has 4,000 applicants hanging in the balance. Of this year's nearly 7,000 applicants, roughly 2,000 were accepted during the early-action phase, or have been chosen to receive acceptance letters that will be mailed in late March. An additional 1,000 applicants clearly won't make the cut. Admissions officers close in on the remaining candidates from above and below, moving toward the point where the last applicant is accepted and the next goes onto the waitlist. The crush of applications has backed up the system by six crucial days.

Chemery, Bischoff and Andre Phillips, the third associate director, begin to comb one last time through every box, even the double-denies. Occasionally they slide files from box to box, making sure they've arranged the whole field from most desirable to least. The system functions like artificial intelligence, learning more about parts of the pool as it lopes along.

The job of pinpointing how many people to accept falls to Bischoff. Ideally, Chicago wants to mail only as many acceptances as it takes to put those 1,011 freshman fannies in the seats next fall. The math is complex. Each cluster of applicants has a different probability of actually enrolling: Chicago will lose some 1-A kids to Harvard, but it will enroll a higher percentage of 2-B's, a group for whom the competition among colleges isn't as ruthless. Bischoff's magic number: Chicago will mail an additional 2,452 acceptances. Counting the early- action admits, the total will be 3,160. Teams of counselors will carefully check each decision letter to prevent dreadful mistakes.

As March dwindles, it's clear that the line between admit and waitlist will fall somewhere in the 3-plus-B-plus cluster. But how to differentiate among the 475 similar files in that group? The committee meets for a full day to discuss 29 randomly drawn files. The hope is to find some way of determining whom to accept and whom to waitlist. Once a border is established, it's relatively simple--if laborious--to accept virtually all students above that line and waitlist those below. To force decisiveness, O'Neill decrees that the committee can accept only half of these 29 applicants. Soon a pattern emerges. Applicants with great grades and accomplishments are voted onto the waitlist; those with some extra spark are accepted. A dutiful student at the very top of his class creates no special excitement. The next youth, an immigrant who's written a soul-stirring essay about his parents' lonely struggle to support their family, is a unanimous admit.


And those lingering cases? In the last hour of its last meeting, the committee settles them. David, the heavily mathcentric student, goes onto the waitlist. Roberto is denied admission; his first-semester grades were lackluster. Finally, the debate over Justin, the once troubled applicant who rose from the double-deny box, becomes the most prolonged of any this year. The admissions committee weighs his strong first-semester grades and a second letter of recommendation from his high-school counselor, and votes to admit him. Justin's resurrection is complete. Among his supporters is Hernandez, who before had opposed him. Says Hernandez: "He's turned it around."

Last Friday--three days behind schedule--all the big and small envelopes go into the mail. For the first time, Bischoff runs the whole class through a computer program. Only then does Chicago learn that it has accepted 1,529 men and 1,631 women. Their average SAT score is about 1420. Their ethnicity, something that many applicants don't divulge, still isn't known in the aggregate. Chicago prides itself on using no gender, racial, geographic or other quotas in deciding whom to accept. "We're not 'building a class,' creating this ideal little world with so many of these and so many of those," O'Neill says. "We accept the best, and hope to get as many as we can."

Those who are accepted must commit to Chicago by May 1 or go elsewhere. During this five-week window, O'Neill's phone will ring many times, with parents complaining that their children, too, should have been accepted. O'Neill will scour each file, often thinking to himself, "What's wrong with this kid? He looks good!" It frustrates him to have to say no. At the same time, he is the steward of a finite resource: an education at one of the world's finest universities. O'Neill will handle these callers--some angry, some desperate--like a man who understands how much anxiety the admissions game can create. Next year, his daughter Libby will be applying to colleges.

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Encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I will be more than happy to post it to share

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Rejection: Some Colleges Do It Better Than Others

Thanks to Eugene Lee for sharing with me this article from Wall Straits Journal.

The link is at here .

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Rejection: Some Colleges Do It Better Than Others

Members of this year's record-size high-school graduating class applied to more colleges than ever -- and now, that's resulting in a heavier than usual flurry of rejection letters.

Hundreds of students at high schools from Newton, Mass., to Palo Alto, Calif., have created cathartic "Wall of Shame" or "Rejection Wall" displays of college denial letters. On message boards at CollegeConfidential.com, students critique, attack and praise missives from various schools, elevating rejection-letter reviews to a sideline sport.

Even with impressive test scores and grades, abundant extracurricular activities, good recommendations and an admission essay into which "I poured myself heart and soul," Daniel Beresford, 18, of Fair Oaks, Calif., netted 14 rejection letters from 17 applications, he says. Among the denials: Harvard, Yale, Johns Hopkins and the University of Chicago. (He's bound for one of his top choices, Pepperdine University.) When he "realized it was going to be so much harder this year," he started calling in reinforcements, asking teachers and friends to open the rejections for him.

Here, based on my own highly unscientific survey of actual letters, student interviews and message boards, are my picks for this year's most noteworthy college rejection letters -- and the liveliest response by a student.

Toughest: Bates College, Lewiston, Maine. Most rejection letters, in an effort to soften the blow, follow a pattern: We're sorry, we had a huge applicant pool, all our applicants were terrific, we wish we could admit everyone. Bates, a competitive, 1,700-student college, expresses its regrets to rejected applicants and praises its applicant pool. But it delivers a more direct, and perhaps more honest, message: "The deans were obliged to select from among candidates who clearly could do sound work at Bates," the letter says.

The letter touched off a chorus of moans online. One recipient, a 17-year-old high-school student from California, says it "implied that you had been rejected because you s-." Bates Dean of Admissions Wylie Mitchell acknowledges that he had one applicant "take me to task for such an abrupt letter." But he says he carefully considered how to convey respect for applicants and decided that brevity is the best route. The letter aims to clarify that Bates is "denying the student's application, and not rejecting the student," Mr. Mitchell says. He doesn't see counseling recipients as the role of college deans.

Stanford University sends a steely "don't call us" message embedded in its otherwise gentle rejection letter. In addition to asserting that "we are humbled by your talents and achievements" and assuring the applicant that he or she is "a fine student," the letter says, "we are not able to consider appeals." It links to a Q&A that reiterates: "Admission decisions are final and there is absolutely no appeal process." It also discourages attempts to transfer later, an even more competitive process. One recipient, whose heart had long been set on Stanford, cried for hours, her mother says, after interpreting the letter as, "we never want to hear from you again so don't bother."

Stanford admissions dean Richard Shaw says the ban on appeals is necessary because other California universities allow appeals and families assume Stanford does too. Even after sending that firm message, Stanford, which has an admission rate of 7.6%, still gets about 200 attempted appeals. "We care deeply about the repercussions" of the letter, Mr. Shaw says, but "there's no easy way to tell someone they didn't make it."

Kindest: Harvard College. Despite an estimated admission rate of about 7% this year, this hotly sought-after school sends a humble rejection letter.

"Past experience suggests that the particular college a student attends is far less important than what the student does to develop his or her strengths and talents over the next four years."
"I didn't feel a teensy bit bitter about" it, says recipient Evelyn Anne Crunden, 18. Instead, the letter's "warm and apologetic tone ... made me feel proud for having even applied."

Duke University, Durham N.C., also drew raves for a gracious missive emphasizing that it's not passing judgment on individuals, but trying to put together a well-rounded class. Undergraduate admissions dean Christoph Guttentag won particular praise from students and parents for the line, "I know you will find an institution at which you will be happy; I know, too, that the school you choose will benefit from your presence." Says Mr. Beresford, who was one of the 18,000 recipients: "It made me feel like I was a good applicant, not just another rejection."

Mr. Guttentag says he's had particular empathy for rejected applicants since his own daughter was rejected by several kindergartens four years ago. "We know we're imparting bad news, and we just want to make it as human as we can," he says.

Most Confusing: University of California, San Diego. Officials there rejected 29,000 candidates not once, but twice. After sending a first round of rejections, they accidentally sent all 47,000 applicants, including those who had been denied, an email invitation to an open house for admitted students: "We're thrilled that you've been admitted ... join us this Saturday ... and get a glimpse of the powerful combination that can be you plus UC San Diego." The errant message raised some false hopes. "It would be cool if this means they changed their decision," one rejected applicant says he thought.

Less than two hours later came 29,000 re-rejections. "We deeply regret this mistake, because we understand the level of distress it has caused" for many, university officials wrote. "We continue to wish you success." The admissions staff worked all night and through the next two days, making and taking calls, to straighten things out, a spokeswoman says. "We would never intentionally confuse students."

Another surprise package came from Penn State, which sent the hoped-for "fat envelope" with a rejection letter inside. Applicants who receive a fat envelope assume they've been admitted. But Penn State sends a fat envelope to students who have been denied admission to its biggest campus, at University Park, Pa. One mother says her daughter was "so excited then ... No!" She adds, "I had to pick her up off the floor."

The envelope contains information on others among Penn State's 20 campuses where the student is invited to enroll, with the right to transfer later to University Park, says admissions executive Anne Rohrbach. "We've had some people not laugh about that," she concedes. "We don't see them as denials," she says, but as invitations to qualified students the university would like to enroll elsewhere.

Most Discouraging: Boston University. To students who have family ties to the university, its letter begins: "We give special attention to applicants whose families have a tradition of study at Boston University. We have extended this consideration in the evaluation of your application, but I regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you admission." Consideration of family legacies is common practice at many universities. But Rob Flaherty, 17, a North Reading, Mass., recipient, said he felt the wording in BU's letter translated to "we made it even easier for you and you STILL couldn't get in." Admissions head Kelly Walter says BU tries to deliver such bad news "with as much sensitivity as possible." Most applicants appreciate an acknowledgement of their family ties, she says, and she regrets that "our efforts fall short with some."

Biggest Spin: Numerous colleges spin the data in their rejection letters as a well-intentioned way of comforting denied students. University of California, Davis, says it had "42,000 applicants from which UC Davis could enroll a freshman class of 4,600." This implies an 11% acceptance rate. Its actual admission rate is closer to 50%, because many accepted candidates ultimately enroll elsewhere.

UC Davis undergraduate admissions director Pamela Burnett says most applicants understand that actual enrollment rates vary and she hasn't received any complaints that the language is misleading.

Best Coaching: Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick. This 2,200-student institution added handwritten notes to almost all the 600 denial letters it sent this year, explaining areas of weakness, such as math grades or English skills. The personal detail, says Ron Byrne, a vice president who oversees admissions, helps students understand "it's not a rejection of them, and they know very concretely some of the things they can do" to improve their chances if they apply again.

Best Student Response: Living well. As the rejections sunk in, many students rebounded to console each other. After getting rejections from Harvard and Yale, Isaac Chambers, 17, Champaign, Ill., a top student, track athlete, student-government leader and an editor of his school's online newspaper, posted these words of advice for other rejected candidates on CollegeConfidential.com: "When you're in the dough," he wrote, "fax the colleges that denied you a copy of your rejection letter every day -- letting them know just how badly they screwed up."

For commentary on college rejection and other work-family issues, see our blog, TheJuggle.com. Email sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com.
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Encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I will be more than happy to post it to share

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Admit Rate for Class of 2013

This post compares between the acceptance rate of various top US Universities for this year, Class of 2013.

Harvard - 7.0% (about 30,000 applicants)
Yale - 7.5% (1,981/26,000)
Stanford - 7.6% (2,300/30,428)
Princeton - 9.8%
Columbia - 9.8% (2,496/25,428)
MIT - 10.2%
Brown - 10.8% (2,708/24,988)
Dartmouth - 12.0%
UPenn - 17.1%
Cornell - 19.1% (34,381 applicants)

Cornell is catching up with UPenn soon.

The info is obtained from the links below:-
http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/a-few-more-colleges-report-low-admission-rates/?hp
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/28413
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/28434
http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2009/04/02/News/Admit.Rates.Decrease.At.Most.Ivies.Interactive.Graph-3693289.shtml

Looking into history (using graph by Emily Babay and Kritika Seksaria) - the link by dailypennsylvanian.com

UPenn - About 23% (Class of 2004), then drops to about 20%-21% (Class of 2005-2009), drops to about 18% (Class of 2010), drops to about 16% (Class of 2011), and marginally increase to about 17% (Class of 2012 and then Class of 2013).

Brown - About 15%-16% (Class of 2004-2009), about 13-14% (Class of 2010-2012), drops to about 11% (Class of 2013).

Columbia - About 15% (Class of 2004), About 10%-12% (Clas of 2005-2008), about 13% (Clas of 2009), about 11% (Class of 2010), about 10% (Class of 2011-2013).

Cornell - About 30% (Class of 2004), about 25% (Class of 2005), about 24% (Class of 2006), about 30% (Class of 2007), about 29% (Class of 2008), about 27% (Class of 2009), about 25% (Class of 2010), about 21% (Class of 2011), about 20% (Class of 2012), about 19% (Class of 2013)

Dartmouth - About 21% (Class of 2004), about 23% (Class of 2005), about 20% (Class of 2006), about 17% (Class of 2007), about 18% (Class of 2008), about 17% (Class of 2009), about 15% (Class of 2010-2011), about 13% (Class of 2012), about 12% (Class of 2013).

Princeton - About 12% (Class of 2004), about 11% (Class of 2005), about 10% (Class of 2006-2007), about 12% (Class of 2008), about 10% (Class of 2009-2013).

Harvard - About 10% (Class of 2004-2010), about 9% (Class of 2011), about 8% (Class of 2012), about 7% (Class of 2013).

Yale - About 15% (Class of 2004), about 13% (Class of 2005-2006), about 11% (Class of 2007), about 10% (Class of 2008), about 9% (Class of 2009-2010), about 10% (Class of 2011), about 8% (Class of 2012), about 7.5% (Class of 2013).

If we look at selectivity of those Ivy League universities, from toughest to easiest (Based on my naked eye observation at the graph by Emily/Kritika):-

Class of 2004 - Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Yale, Dartmouth, UPenn, Cornell
Class of 2005 - Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Yale, Brown, UPenn, Dartmouth, Cornell
Class of 2006 - Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, UPenn, Cornell
Class of 2007 - Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, UPenn, Cornell
Class of 2008 - Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Brown, Princeton, Dartmouth, UPenn, Cornell
Class of 2009 - Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, UPenn, Cornell
Class of 2010 - Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, UPenn, Cornell
Class of 2011 - Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, UPenn, Cornell
Class of 2012 - Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown, UPenn, Cornell
Class of 2013 - Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, UPenn, Cornell

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How to Make Full Use of Universities' Life

17th April 2009 already, so it is 2.5 weeks since the U.S. admission decision was out. Some of you were thrilled, some of you were happy, some of you were ok with it, some of you were sad, some of you were depressed.

I hope that you have come back to reality. To those of you who have gotten in to your dream schools, I would say Congratulations and do make full use of the opportunities. To those of you who got into your safeties, I would still say Congratulations and do make full use of the opportunities. To those of you who has not yet gotten into any university or any of your dream university, I would say that you should never give up, and also not forget to make full use of the opportunities that you are going to have.

Frankly speaking, getting in is just the first step. Some might still be on cloud nine. Yes, you deserve to be so, but I hope that come August, when you hop into the plane, you can be back to be level-headed and focus on your mission, vision and dream.

My this blog post would share on my thoughts to all of you on how to make full use of university life. I have to admit that I fail to make use of my university life. I was pretty much not well exposed when I made the journey. I was struggling initially, and in fact, for quite a long time. I didn't manage to really live up to what I should be doing there. Nevertheless, I would say that I have learned a lot throughout my 4 years there. It was a whole world of change.

Before the journey on the morning of 20th August 2001 from KLIA, I had never taken a plane before. I had never really spent time with an American before. My English command was horrendous. I don't have world view. I was still stuck with my world of knowing stuff that was carried in The Star, and nothing else. That was my world. My first non-textbook English book was "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond, a required reading by my alma mater. It was horrible trying to read a thick English book. I can't recall how many times I fell asleep on the bed trying to read it. To be frank, the words might have been read, but literally I don't understand it.

Okie, lets look forward, and not backward. But what I am trying to do here, is to share what I know, especially to those of you who might come from same background as I. Each of us has different background. While some might be very well exposed, not everyone is as fortunate. I know that some of you who got into very prestigious universities are still in the state of daze. I was too. I never expected myself to get into Cornell. My SAT was one of the weakest among those who applied. I had no national or international credentials. I was never a straight As students.

So, to those of you in those background, don't give up. It will be a struggle, but I hope you can prepare from now, and you will be better off in 4 months' time, when you make your journey over. Don't compare with others who start from different starting line. Main thing is you need to breakthrough yourself. There might be frustrating moment, there might be stressful moment, there might be time that you would be crying, there might be time that you would want to give up. All these not meant to scare you, but to tell you that the journey that you might have to go through. It is not an easy journey, but everything starts from your first step. Make the step ahead. You have gotten the opportunities, wherever you are going to study. To those of you who are staying back for another year, don't give up. Learn as much as you can. There are still a lot of resources online. Do keep up the learning.

While during the application processes, I might have stressed that you should try your best to get into best possible universities, but at this stage, what I will stress is that irrespective of where you are going to head to, make full use of it. What matters is your utilization of the opportunities. You could be at world's best institution and never make use of the opportunities.

Some of the ways that you can utilize during your university time include (in no particular order):-
a) Have fun! Try to enjoy your campus life. If you don't, then there is no meaning in life. So, main thing is explore on stuff that you like to do, or want to do and do it!

b) Before you set out for the journey, try to list down maybe 10 or 20 of stuff that you really hope to do in your life, and during your university days, do go and get those done. You will be able to achieve some of those, no matter how large is the dream. Be willing to dream big. Dream big is one of the most important elements of life. Tony Fernandes gave me 3 words "Dare to Dream", Idris Jala gave me 3 words too "Dream the Impossible". Both the sharings has the word "Dream".

c) Plan your time, at least for each semester or each week/day. Structure your life, so that you can optimize it. Of course, not meant to be fully rigid. Be flexible, but plan it, and mark down the stuff that you want to do.

d) Never procrastinate (Tara's favourite word... hahaha). If there is an interesting opportunity/event etc that you hope to participate, do join it from year 1. Don't wait till the last year, or you might never have the chance to do it.

e) If you have passion in research or plan to go for Master's/PhD, then do start doing research from year 1. Read up about the professor's research, go and meet them during office hour, and start from there!

f) Do attend the office hours of professors/teaching assistants. Those are great time for you to learn from them. Discuss not just about homework/exam, but learn from them in general.

g) Time Management is very crucial. If you can't manage your time well, you will have a hell of time in your university life. Especially if you are taking heavy workload and busy juggling with a lot of other activities.

h) Load yourself with enough load. As most universities give you a free hand in choosing how heavy your workload, do choose appropriately. Measure based on how much workload you think you can take, while not jeopardizing your other stuff. Make full use of those.

i) Take courses that you like. While you might be majoring in a field, do try to explore to take courses that you hope to learn something from, or something that you hope to pick up a skill or two that will be helpful in your life. Be proactive in planning and don't forgo the opportuniites to take a course, because you are afraid that you can't do well in it. Don't think in that manner.

j) Mingle with others. I am not saying that you shouldn't mingle with Malaysians, but you should mingle with others too. Try to go beyond your comfort zone and mingle. The Malaysians or Asians could be your supportive group, and there is nothing wrong in mingling with them. Actually, you shouldn't fully alienate this group too. But strike a balance, maybe spend 2 nights a week having dinner with the Malaysians, but not all 7 nights.

k) Explore new experience. Don't just get involved with only those stuff that you have done before. Nothing wrong exploring further on those of your passion, but takes the chance to do something new. It could be a new sport, a new discipline, a new type of activity etc.

l) Attend public lectures. This is my favourite. I attended 200+ of those during my free time in my university days. These sharings by those who have been there and done that, would help you to prepare for your future. You name it, those Nobel Prize Winners, Presidents/Prime Ministers, CEOs, academicians, NGOs, activists etc will be there to speak. Choose those that you want to listen and learn from.

m) University is the time to take risk and try out. No harm in trying out things and fail. It is a platform for you to learn and grow.

n) Share what you know with others, and learn from others. University environment provides a lot of networking opportunities with fellow students and others. And everyone there is a potential source of your learning. While you are waiting for bus, while you are hanging out at your dorm's lounge, strike a conversation with others. You might create awareness in others or learn from others.

o) Campus is not your limit. The sky is. Go and explore opportunities beyond your campus, be it for international conferences, international research, study abroad, research programs, outreach program, internships, externships, shadowing etc. Some of those international conferences could include Business Today International Conference, Harvard Project for Asian & International Relations (HPAIR) Business/Academic Conference, International Youth Leadership Conference, DOHA International Conference, South East Asia Youth Leadership Service Network (SEALNet), Wharton Global Conoference, China Synergy Programme for Outstanding Youth, World Youth Congress etc.

p) Traveling. During holidays, do go out and travel. Save up during semester and travel. It will broaden your horizon. Don't just go to those mega cities, but walk into civilizations, go into nature, go into new areas that you have never explored, and try to interact with the community there. Observe the people there. It is a lot of learning.

q) Try out the food from around the world. There are just so much new and interesting food around. Do try it. Yes, today, this effect is not as huge, as a lot of food chains are now here. But no harm trying a good meal. Do try to mingle with people during meal time too. Like during lunch/dinner, just sit down with strangers in dining hall and strike a conversation! :)

r) Fraternities/Sororities, while not everyone would want to be part of it, or not everyone will get used to those kind of life, do explore it as well. Maybe could be attend occasional parties there, visit your friends there etc. The network is something to learn and build too.

s) Give back to community there. Get involved in charity/community stuff there. It is a good way to know more about the people that live there. Interaction there will give you learning, while the people there will learn too.

t) Learn from the world, be it internet, libraries etc. Don't stop learning and don't just learn because it is going to be tested in exams. Education is way beyond it. It is about wholesome education and really learn how to learn.

u) Alumni network is crucial. Build up the ties, where it will become a community of learning together. Support one another, and this network will be applicable throughout your life.

v) While you need to put in the hours to get all the homework done, rush all the projects, and be ready for exams, don't let this be the only thing in your educational experience. Those are an integral part, but not let this affects your other parts of life.

w) Sports is a big part of university education, be it participate in it or attending those sports events. I definitely have a lot of memorable time in Lynah Rink, cheering for the Big Red ice hockey team.

x) Do internship. It will prepare you for the career world, especially if you are looking to go into career world after that. If you can't get a good internship in the summer of year 1, no harm getting it back home, but do explore different internships, and it could be ticket to your permanent job offer.

y) Whenever you need help, do ask for it. Whenever you need support, do ask for it. Don't be alone to go through it. The same if others need your help/support, do provide for them too.

z) And the most important thing is share with others what you know. Help others to reach their dream. While you might not realize it, what little effort that you have done, could mean a lot to some people. Lets make this world a better place and lets help others to reach their dream too!

I've finished all 26 alphabets. Guess I should stop. Before I end, I should say that attitude/character is very crucial. Start your university life with the right mentality. Go there with some self-confidence, but don't forget to stay humble. It is a platform for you to learn and grow and do go for it.

I wish you all the best and hope that you could share more ways to make full use of univesities life here too! (I know you're gonna say Facebook! Yes, it is true, Facebook, Gmail, Gchat, MSN is important too to keep in touch with others and make your work more efficient!


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Admits from Malaysia

Congratulations to the following admits and wait lists:-
Sean Chang, Vichian, Muhd. Amin - united states merchant marine academy admit
Xianjin - Villanova School of Business admit
Ahmad Abrar - CMU admit and NYU wait list
Katherine - CMU admit, cornell wait list
Ian - Colby Wait list
Renuhaa - UPenn admit, CMU admit, Northwestern admit
Jamie - UPenn admit, CMU admit, Northwestern admit

For full list (based on those whom I know):-

Berkeley - Hui Juin, Yee Jie, Jayson Poon, Jie Min, Wern Chia, Nellie, Katherine, Si Ning, Jee Ian, ZJ (PhD)

Boston - Clarys Chan Lai Wah

Brown - Charis Loke (Early Decision), Jonathan Chua, Elaine Leong, N. Sharmala, Alison Lo plus 2 more (Wait List: Plus 1 more)

Caltech - Zhi Kin, Suk Sien plus 1 more, ZJ (PhD)

Carnegie Mellon - Bernard Cheng, Michael Chow, Mark Wong, Wui Yarn, Katherine, Ahmad Abrar, Renuhaa, Jamie plus 2 more (Wait List: Lee Kiat, Plus 1 More)

Colby - (Wait List: Ian)

Columbia - Kristin Khor (Master's) plus 1 more (Master's), Suelynn (Wait List: Tara Thean, Gabrielle, Kenneth Hiew, Joyce, Carmen, Elaine Leong plus 2 more)

Cornell - Chang Ha and Boon Jim (Early Decision), Pei Xin (PhD), Pei Yee (Master's), Raymond (Master's), Yin Wei, Wen Jun, Bryan Chong, Si Ning, Jee Ian (Wait List: Sher Minn, Joyce, Carmen, Hui Juin, Katherine plus 1 more)

Dartmouth - Alison Lo (Wait List: Gabrielle, Yin Wei)

Georgetown - Raymond (master's)

Harvard - Yin Wei, Sharon Teng, Suyin (HBS MBA), (Wait List: Tara Thean, Alison Lo)

Johns Hopkins - Katherine, Carmen, Bernard, Jonathan, Wui Yarn, Raymond (Master's)

Middlebury - Elaine Leong, Evelyn (Wait List: Gabrielle, Ian Low, Amelia Lee)

MIT - Yi Hui, Hew Mun (Master's of MIT Sloan and Harvard Med School Dual-Degree), ZJ (PhD)

Northwestern - Wui Yarn, Carmen, Jie Min, Tee Jin, Bernard, Renuhaa, Jamie plus 1 more (Wait List: Sher Minn, Katherine plus 2 more)

NYU - Soraya, Hui Juin, Xiao Shan, Joyce (Wait List: Khye Theng, Ahmad Abrar, plus 1 more)

Olin - Philip Loh

Pomona - Evelyn

Princeton - Tara Thean, Kai Sheng, Jee Ian, Elaine Leong, Alison Lo (Wait List: Hui Juin)

Scripps - Evelyn

Stanford - Kimberley Ho (Early Action) plus 1 more (Master's), ZJ (PhD), Tara Thean, Zhi Kin, Vin Nie, Alison Lo (Wait List: Zi Liang, Bryan Chong, Mark Wong, Tee Jin, Sharon Teng, plus 1 more)

Swarthmore - Elaine Leong

Texas, Austin - Camellia

Tufts - Raymond (Master's)

UChicago - Raymond (Master's), Tzuo Hann (PhD), Yin Wei, Vin Nie, Hasan Hilmi, Alison Lo (Wait List: Hui Juin, Yee Jie, Joyce, Sharon Teng plus 1 more)

UCLA - Jie Min, Wui Yarn, plus 1 more, ZJ (phD)

United States Merchant Marine Academy - Sean Chang, Vichian, Muhd. Amin

UPenn - Tzuo Hann (PhD), Suyin (Wharton MBA), Zi Liang, Khye Theng (Wharton), Xiaoshan, Hui Juin (Wharton), Renuhaa, Jamie (Wait List: Sharon Teng (Wharton), Marisha Naz (Wharton) Plus 1 More)

Villanova School of Business - Xianjin

Wabash - Ian Low

Washington (St. Louis) - Nellie

Wellesley - Gabrielle

Wesleyan - Abraham Ngu, Tara Thean

Williams - Hasan Hilmi (Wait List: Gabrielle)

Yale - (Wait List: Carmen)
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If there are more names, do let me know. If there is mistake, do let me know too.


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Encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I will be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

Sharon Teng

Sharon Teng has agreed to let me feature her in a post here too! :)

Sharon's admission decision is as follow:-
Harvard University - admit
Stanford University - Wait Listed
Wharton Business School - Wait Listed
University of Chicago - Wait Listed
Princeton University - rejected
University of California, Berkeley - rejected

What I am showing this is to hopefully motivate everyone that it is possible that the only university that you get in, could be your top choice university, which could be most fit to you.

Like in Sharon's case, she applied for 6 universities, and she got 1, and it is Harvard, and after this, she will be a Harvard student and Harvard alum. Rest assured that she is definitely a very deserved student. She worked hard for it too! :)

So, to all, do give it a try. You never know. A lot of these are unpredictable.

Hopefully, my blog could serve as motivation for those who are going to apply in future years. Have received a few emails from those who told me that they have seen the list last year, and strive to have their names there this year, and it is there. So, yours could be next year!

Today, some of the people have their dreams realized. Some have their dreams shattered. But what I think is important is that we learn through the process, and irrespective of which path you are taking from now onwards, optimize the opportunities there! And definitely hope that you would share your experience with others too! :)

Good Luck! Thanks for the support of my blog. Yesterday, 1st April 2009, was a memorable day for my blog. 3,392 page views were recorded on a day. Last year's april, for entire month of April, my total page views were 8,182 only.

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Encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I will be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

Updated Admission Decision - 2nd April 12:45am

Sorry for not having updates for hours. Was working and clearning through all the emails from all of you. :) Some of the latest admit decisions that I got and have green light to post (I do not repeat those that I have posted earlier)! Congratulations to Sharon Teng for getting admitted for Harvard University, with wait listing for Wharton Business School University of Pennsylvania, wait listing for Stanford University and wait listing for University of Chicago! Congratulations to Elaine Leong Li Jing for getting admitted to Class of 2013 for Princeton University, Brown University, Middlebury College and Swarthmore College, with wait listing from Columbia University! Congratulations to Jee Ian for admission to Princeton University, Cornell University and University of California, Berkeley for Class of 2013! Congratulations to Hui Juin for admission to Wharton Business School University of Pennsylvania, with wait list from Cornell University and Princeton University. Congratulations to Si Ning for getting admitted to my alma mater - Cornell University! Congratulations to Wui Yarn for getting admitted to John Hopkins University and Carnegie Mellon University! Congratulations to Raymond for getting admitted for Master's Program at Johns Hopkins University! Congratulations to Mark Wong for getting admitted to Carnegie Mellon University and wait listing for Stanford University! Congratulations to Ian Low for getting admitted to Wabash College, with waitlisting from Middlebury College. Congratulations to Carmen for her triple waitlisting at Yale University, Cornell University and Columbia University. Congratulations to Joyce for her double waitlisting at Cornell University and Columbia University Congratulations to Tee Jin for Stanford University wait listing. Congratulations to Marisha Naz for Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania wait listing. Congratulations to Sher Minn for Cornell University wait listing. Congratulations to Lee Kiat for Carnegie Mellon University wait listing. Congratulations to Amelia Lee for Middlebury College wait listing. Hope that all those of you who are on wait-listing and desire to study there, could manage to transform your wait list into actual admission! To all of you who didn't manage to get into any of your dream university, hope that you are fine. It is very touching when I receive emails from a few of you thanking me for my help, even though you didn't get in. With your positive attitude, I am sure you can go far in life. Do treat this application process, as a learning and keep on developing yourself. To all those who got in, do make full use of the opportunities! The listing as I know (If there is any error/mix up, do let me know. Sorry in advance if that happens):- Berkeley - Hui Juin, Yee Jie, Jayson Poon, Jie Min, Wern Chia, Nellie, Katherine, Si Ning, Jee Ian, ZJ (PhD) Boston - Clarys Chan Lai Wah Brown - Charis Loke (Early Decision), Jonathan Chua, Elaine Leong plus 1 more (Wait List: Plus 1 more) Caltech - Zhi Kin, Suk Sien plus 1 more, ZJ (PhD) Carnegie Mellon - Bernard Cheng, Michael Chow, Mark Wong, Wui Yarn plus 2 more (Wait List: Lee Kiat, Plus 1 More) Columbia - Kristin Khor (Master's) plus 1 more (Master's), Suelynn (Wait List: Gabrielle, Kenneth Hiew, Joyce, Carmen, Elaine Leong plus 2 more) Cornell - Chang Ha and Boon Jim (Early Decision), Pei Xin (PhD), Pei Yee (Master's), Raymond (Master's), Yin Wei, Wen Jun, Bryan Chong, Si Ning, Jee Ian (Wait List: Sher Minn, Joyce, Carmen, Hui Juin plus 1 more) Dartmouth - (Wait List: Gabrielle, Yin Wei) Georgetown - Raymond (master's) Harvard - Yin Wei, Sharon Teng  Johns Hopkins - Katherine, Carmen, Bernard, Jonathan, Wui Yarn, Raymond (Master's) Middlebury - Elaine Leong (Wait List: Gabrielle, Ian Low, Amelia Lee) MIT - Yi Hui, Hew Mun (Master's of MIT Sloan and Harvard Med School Dual-Degree), ZJ (PhD) Northwestern - Wui Yarn, Carmen, Jie Min, Tee Jin, Bernard plus 3 more (Wait List: Sher Minn, Katherine plus 2 more) NYU - Soraya, Hui Juin, Xiao Shan, Joyce (Wait List: Khye Theng, plus 1 more) Olin - Philip Loh Princeton - Kai Sheng, Jee Ian, Elaine Leong (Wait List: Hui Juin) Stanford - Kimberley Ho (Early Action) plus 1 more (Master's), ZJ (PhD), Zhi Kin, Vin Nie (Wait List: Zi Liang, Bryan Chong, Mark Wong, Tee Jin, Sharon Teng) Swarthmore - Elaine Leong Tufts - Raymond (Master's) UChicago - Raymond (Master's), Tzuo Hann (PhD), Yin Wei, Vin Nie, Hasan Hilmi (Wait List: Hui Juin, Yee Jie, Joyce, Sharon Teng plus 1 more) UCLA - Jie Min, Wui Yarn, plus 1 more, ZJ (phD) UPenn - Tzuo Hann (PhD), Zi Liang, Khye Theng, Xiaoshan, Hui Juin (Wharton) (Wait List: Sharon Teng (Wharton), Marisha Naz (Wharton) Plus 1 More) Wabash - Ian Low Washington (St. Louis) - Nellie Wellesley - Gabrielle Wesleyan - Abraham Ngu Williams - Hasan Hilmi (Wait List: Gabrielle) Yale - (Wait List: Carmen) --- Would use this to promote the seminar - http://usapps2009.blogspot.com/ . Do check it out!

Berkeley, MIT, Caltech, Stanford, UCLA, Boston, Chicago, JHU, Northwestern

Congrats to ZJ for getting into 5 PhD programs, with 1 more waiting for decision. So, ZJ might get the full 6 admissions into very prestigious schools. ZJ has gotten admission for PhD to Berkeley, MIT, Caltech, Stanford, UCLA, and still waiting for Georgia Institute of Technology. Congrats!

Congrats to Clarys Chan Lai Wah for getting admitted into Boston University for Class of 2013! I was chatting with her, and she was saying, still waiting for decision, and suddenly a message with all capital letter "OH MY GOD I GOT ACCEPTED INTO BOSTON UNI" came in!

Congrats to Hasan Hilmi for getting admitted into University of Chicago for Class of 2013.

Congrats to Bernard Cheng for getting admitted into Johns Hopkins University and Northwestern for Class of 2013!!!

Congrats to Jonathan Chua for getting admitted into Johns Hopkins University Class of 2013!!!

Congrats to all! Hope you will make full use of the opportunities there!

If anyone knows of any admission decision, do update me!

The listing that I have is as follow:-
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Berkeley - Hui Juin, Yee Jie, Jayson Poon, Jie Min, Wern Chia, Nellie, Katherine plus 1 more, ZJ (PhD)

Boston - Clarys Chan Lai Wah

Brown - Charis Loke (Early Decision)

Caltech - Zhi Kin, Suk Sien plus 1 more, ZJ (PhD)

Columbia - Kristin Khor (Master's) plus 1 more (Master's)

Cornell - Chang Ha and Boon Jim (Early Decision), Pei Xin (PhD), Pei Yee (Master's), Raymond (Master's)

Georgetown - Raymond (master's)

Johns Hopkins - Katherine, Carmen, Bernard, Jonathan Chua

Middlebury - (Wait List: Gabrielle)

MIT - Yi Hui, Hew Mun (Master's of MIT Sloan and Harvard Med School Dual-Degree), ZJ (PhD)

Northwestern - Wui Yarn, Carmen, Jie Min, Tee Jin, Bernard plus 2 more (Wait List: Sher Minn, Katherine plus 2 more)

NYU - Soraya, Hui Juin, Xiao Shan

Stanford - Kimberley Ho (Early Action) plus 1 more (Master's), ZJ (PhD)

Tufts - Raymond (Master's)

UChicago - Raymond (Master's), Tzuo Hann (PhD), Yin Wei, Vin Nie, Hasan Hilmi (Wait List: Hui Juin, Yee Jie)

UCLA - Jie Min, Wui Yarn, ZJ (phD)

UPenn - Tzuo Hann (PhD)

Washington (St. Louis) - Nellie

Wellesley - Gabrielle

Williams - (Wait List: Gabrielle)

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Encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I will be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

Congrats to Katherine, Carmen, Gabrielle

Congratulations to Katherine for getting admission from Berkeley and Johns Hopkins Class of 2013, with waitlisting from Northwestern!

Congratulations for Carmen to get into Johns Hopkins too!

Gabrielle got waitlisted for Williams and Middlebury!

Good Luck to all for 1st April 5am!
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Berkeley - Hui Juin, Yee Jie, Jayson Poon, Jie Min, Wern Chia, Nellie, Katherine plus 1 more

Brown - Charis Loke (Early Decision)

Caltech - Zhi Kin, Suk Sien plus 1 more

Columbia - Kristin Khor (Master's) plus 1 more (Master's)

Cornell - Chang Ha and Boon Jim (Early Decision), Pei Xin (PhD), Pei Yee (Master's), Raymond (Master's)

Georgetown - Raymond (master's)

Johns Hopkins - Katherine, Carmen

Middlebury - (Wait List: Gabrielle)

MIT - Yi Hui, Hew Mun (Master's of MIT Sloan and Harvard Med School Dual-Degree).

Northwestern - Wui Yarn, Carmen, Jie Min, Tee Jin plus 3 more (Wait List: Sher Minn, Katherine plus 2 more)

NYU - Soraya, Hui Juin, Xiao Shan

Stanford - Kimberley Ho (Early Action) plus 1 more (Master's)

Tufts - Raymond (Master's)

UChicago - Raymond (Master's), Tzuo Hann (PhD), Yin Wei, Vin Nie plus 1 more (Wait List: Hui Juin, Yee Jie)

UCLA - Jie Min, Wui Yarn

UPenn - Tzuo Hann (PhD)

Washington (St. Louis) - Nellie

Wellesley - Gabrielle

Williams - (Wait List: Gabrielle)

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Hope that these admission decision will serve as motivation for those who are applying next year or future year. Hopefully, you can strive, so that your name can be in this list! :)

To all those who are planning to apply for US Universities and want to have a little guidance over 3 days, Wun Min (MIT '11) and myself are organizing a preparatory seminar. For more details, go to here .

Others include Lim Su Ann (pinkpau, Columbia '12) and Saw YiHui (MIT '13) have confirmed to be facilitators too.

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Listing of Admitted Students as of 28th March 2009

Below is the summary of all the admission decision that I have announced in my blog over the past 2 weeks.

Berkeley - Hui Juin, Yee Jie, Jayson Poon, Jie Min, Wern Chia, Nellie plus 2 more

Brown - Charis Loke (Early Decision)

Caltech - Zhi Kin, Suk Sien plus 1 more

Columbia - Kristin Khor (Master's) plus 1 more (Master's)

Cornell - Chang Ha and Boon Jim (Early Decision), Pei Xin (PhD), Pei Yee (Master's), Raymond (Master's)

Georgetown - Raymond (master's)

MIT - Yi Hui, Hew Mun (Master's of MIT Sloan and Harvard Med School Dual-Degree).

Northwestern - Wui Yarn, Carmen, Jie Min, Tee Jin plus 3 more (Wait List: Sher Minn plus 1 more)

NYU - Soraya, Hui Juin, Xiao Shan

Stanford - Kimberley Ho (Early Action) plus 1 more (Master's)

Tufts - Raymond (Master's)

UChicago - Raymond (Master's), Tzuo Hann (PhD), Yin Wei, Vin Nie plus 1 more (Wait List: Hui Juin, Yee Jie)

UCLA - Jie Min, Wui Yarn

UPenn - Tzuo Hann (PhD)

Washington (St. Louis) - Nellie

Wellesley - Gabrielle

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There are a few "Plus 1 More", which means either the admitted student requests to stay anonymous or I still could not reach the admitted students yet.

If there is any missing/error, please kindly let me know.

There are a lot more who get admitted to various U.S. universities. Some of those universities have quite a number of admits or I simply are not aware of your admisison.

If you like to include your name for any university, do let me know. Will do.

Thanks to all informants for feeding me the info and thanks to all accepted ones for allowing me to post your decision here.

Hopefully that this will be a motivation for future year's students.

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Newly added:-

28th Mar 4:31pm - Congrats to Vin Nie for getting into University of Chicago Class of 2013!
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Chen Chow's Other Posts
Subscribe to Chen Chow's blog

Encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I will be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

The Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) Business Conference 2009

The Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR), a student-run organization at Harvard University, extends a special invitation for your students to participate in the HPAIR 2009 Business Conference. For almost 20 years, HPAIR has organized the largest Harvard student-run academic and business conferences at Harvard and in Asia annually. We draw approximately 700 undergrad, graduate, and working professional delegates from top institutions around the world, in addition to professors from the Harvard Business School and leaders of various corporations around Asia.

This summer, HPAIR will host the Business Conference “Braving New Frontiers: Tomorrow’s Ventures Today” in Tokyo, Japan from 6th to 9th August 2009. Attracting hundreds of talented students and young professionals, our conference provides a comprehensive analysis of the current and future developments of economic trends in Asia. Our forum for discussion provides opportunities to engage and interact with leaders from around the globe to gain knowledge and insight into a broad spectrum of industrial development and advances. Our goal is to offer a rigorous academic program and continuous forum of exchange to facilitate discussion about the most important issues relevant to the Asia-Pacific region.

The Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR), a student-run organization at Harvard University, extends a special invitation for your students to participate in the HPAIR 2009 Business Conference. For almost 20 years, HPAIR has organized the largest Harvard student-run academic and business conferences at Harvard and in Asia annually. We draw approximately 700 undergrad, graduate, and working professional delegates from top institutions around the world, in addition to professors from the Harvard Business School and leaders of various corporations around Asia.

This summer, HPAIR will host the Business Conference “Braving New Frontiers: Tomorrow’s Ventures Today” in Tokyo, Japan in August 2009. Attracting hundreds of talented students and young professionals, our conference provides a comprehensive analysis of the current and future developments of economic trends in Asia. Our forum for discussion provides opportunities to engage and interact with leaders from around the globe to gain knowledge and insight into a broad spectrum of industrial development and advances. Our goal is to offer a rigorous academic program and continuous forum of exchange to facilitate discussion about the most important issues relevant to the Asia-Pacific region.

For more info, go to here .
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Chen Chow's Other Posts
Subscribe to Chen Chow's blog

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

JPA News Release on JPA Scholarships for SPM 2008

This news is quoted from NST .

Some of the observations I made from this article:-
1. Those with SPM 9A1s are not automatically getting JPA scholarships
2. Those who get into Top universities would get chance to get JPA scholarships (pending applications)
3. Previously, you need to have 9A1s and above, as well as offer from top unis, but this year, you don't need the 9A1s requirement.
4. For JPA scholarships, academic now counts for 75% (instead of 70%), interview 5% (instead of 10%), family economic background 10% and co-curricular activities 10%.

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PUTRAJAYA: There will be no automatic scholarships for those who score nine 1As and above in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination this year.

Public Service Department (PSD) director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam said the scholarships were only a benefit for last year.

Last year, students who got nine 1As in the 2007 SPM examination were automatically eligible for scholarships from PSD for Form Six until the first degree locally.

"Last year, if they had nine 1As and they got into Form Six, we offered them scholarships. If they did well and entered local universities, the scholarships continued.

"This year, there has been no announcement. There is no decision yet," Ismail told the New Sunday Times.

What remains this year, he said, were the 2,000 overseas and 10,000 local scholarships.
"Within the overseas allocation, we also reserve scholarships for those who get into elite schools. It can be Ivy League schools, the top school in England or the Group of Eight universities in Australia.

"For that kind of scholarship, you have to get a place there. So it doesn't matter even if you study on your own. Once you get a place in Harvard, we offer you a scholarship.

"But it must be in the field that the government wants. If you take classical dancing, then of course there will be no scholarship."

Last year, said Ismail, 87 students received this type of scholarship and this year, it will be offered as part of the 2,000 overseas scholarships.

Aside from these, there are also scholarships for foreign universities that have a local campus -- Nottingham, Monash, Curtin and Swinburne -- as well as the Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology University.

If a student gets nine 1As in the 2007 SPM examination, enters A-Levels and then gets a place in Monash University, would he still be eligible?

"Yes, he can still be considered. He can apply, but it is not automatically given. He becomes like any other applicant."

Ismail said there would be no reduction in the number of scholarships offered by PSD as a result of the current economic conditions.

"So far, the government has said it will maintain the number of overseas scholarships at 2,000 places and local scholarships at 10,000 places.

"This year, we have 1,676 students with straight 1As and 6,277 who obtained all As. There are only 2,000 overseas scholarships.

"The problem now is that all the bright students want to do medicine in England. That is not possible.

"It is not that they don't qualify. It is because medical schools overseas now have an international quota and we have to compete with the rest of the world as they are very selective."

Ismail said the department was also working with the Higher Education Ministry this year to retain some of the top students for local research universities as part of efforts to improve the universities' rankings.

"We will probably give them extras to retain them, and they may possibly be able to spend one semester or so overseas. I will have to work this out with the universities and the ministry."
The selection criteria for overseas scholarships has also been changed.

"Last year, it was 70, 10, 10, 10. This year, it is 75 points for academic excellence, 10 points for curriculum, 10 points for family economic background and five points for the interview.
He said there was the interview process for overseas scholarships, but not for the local ones, which require 80 points for academic excellence and 20 for economic background.

"We still have the interview process for overseas scholarships because we are sending these students away for five or six years. We want to see if they are prepared mentally. We've had cases where students started feeling lonely in their second year.

"This is a big investment. When you go to medical school, we have to spend over a million ringgit. That is why the interview is important and it is the tipping point."

For this year, the government has allocated more than RM832 million for overseas scholarships and more than RM413 million for local scholarships.

"Students wanting scholarships must keep in mind that the competition is getting tougher, because there are a lot more brilliant students than there are scholarships the government can offer."

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Chen Chow's Other Posts
Subscribe to Chen Chow's blog

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

Workshop for Preparations for Ivy League, Ivy Standards and Top Liberal Art Colleges

Workshop for Preparations for Ivy League, Ivy Standards and Top Liberal Art Colleges

Date:- 4th July 2009 (Sat), 5th July 2009 (Sun), 15th August 2009 (Sat).
Time:- 10am to around 5pm/6pm for each day.
Venue:- KL/PJ/Subang - To be confirmed.
Cost:- RM25 for all 3 days (Payable on Day 1)

Facilitators:- Current Students/Alumni/New Admits of Ivy League Unis, Ivy Standards and Top Liberal Art Colleges.

4th July (Day 1) - A to Z of Applications
5th July (Day 2) - Interviewers Panel, Essays/CV Workshops, Interview Workshops
15th Aug (Day 3) - 1-on-1 Essays/CV Review, Mock Interview, Q&A with Alumni/Current Students/New Admits

(Between Day 2 and Day 3, students would work on their essays/CV, and prepare for interview).

This seminar/workshop is only open for students. Parents would not be admitted.

To sign up, contact usapps2009 AT gmail DOT com . Limited spots. First come first served.

This seminar/workshop is organized by Wun Min (MIT '11) and Chen Chow (Cornell '05).

* If anyone has real problem of paying the RM25 cost, please kindly let us know. We'll consider reduce/waive it for you.

Kristin Khor - Columbia Master's

Congratulations to Kristin Khor, who would be enroling in Columbia University for Master this fall 2009. She was originally supposed to go there last year, but she deferred it for 1 year, to work at a law firm in Wall Street.

Congrats!
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Chen Chow's Other Posts
Subscribe to Chen Chow's blog

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

Congrats for Admission to MIT, Caltech, NYU, Tufts, Chicago, Cornell, Sloan, Harvard

After highlighting on Saw YiHui's admission for MIT Class of 2013 for undergraduate this morning, I have heard of a few other good news to share!

Loke Zhi Kin got admitted to Caltech Class of 2013!!! Since Chen Yee got in a few years back, I don't think any other Malaysian has gotten in for undergrad.

Then, a little source told me of a Malaysian got into NYU Class of 2013 for undergrad. Unfortunately, I still do not know of the name of the admitted student... :(

Then Raymond told me of his Master's admission to Tufts Fletcher School and University of Chicago, besides Rutgers. Great that he is getting a bunch of offers, especially with him gotten Fulbright Scholarships.

Then, Pei Xin, a senior in Purdue University told me that he got into my alma mater, Cornell University for PhD in Genetics and Development with full financial aid!

Last but definitely not least, Hew Mun, ATU7 who did her undergrad at Brandeis, told me of her good news of being admitted for a dual-degree master at MIT Sloan MBA and Harvard Medical School for Master's in Health Science & Technology, under Biomedical Enterprise Program. She was one of the 10 students around the entire world that got offered this program.

Syabas and Congrats to all of you! There are many more other admission good news that they have shared with me! Congrats too! I would update as I know of more good news. If anyone knows of any good news, do share with me!

To all who got in, hopefully you would make full use of the opportunities there. Getting in is the first step, and it must be especially sweet, after a lot of hard work! Don't waste the opportunity! All the best!

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Chen Chow's Other Posts
Subscribe to Chen Chow's blog

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

Cornell Increases Class of 2013 class size

Cornell has issued a statement to all alumni yesterday.

One of the significant point is that the class size of Cornell Class of 2013 would be grown by approximately 100 this year, from 3,050 students to about 3,150 students. This would be good news for those who hope to make it to Cornell University!

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Board of Trustees Presidential Message
Mar. 6, 2009


Dear Members of the Cornell Community:

I write to update you on the state of our university as the economy worsens around the world and at home. Even though Cornell's financial situation has become more challenging, I remain confident in our collective ability to re-imagine the university in ways that will not only get us through the immediate crisis but also set us on a sounder long-term course, with our excellence undiminished and our commitment to student access preserved. This communication continues my pledge to proceed with transparency and accountability through the difficult days ahead and to keep the Cornell community informed.

The size of Cornell's required budget reductions has grown in recent weeks, reflecting diminished investment performance and other factors dictated by the realities of the marketplace. Today, at its meeting in Ithaca, the Cornell University Board of Trustees approved the following additional initiatives to help us through these difficult times:

The board has authorized the sale of up to $500 million in taxable bonds to provide working capital and institutional liquidity. This approach - which is similar, though more modest in size, to that being utilized by other large universities - will alleviate pressure on the endowment and other sources of funding as may be necessary over the next several years to meet operating shortfalls and other potential liquidity needs.

To address the decrease in endowment earnings, which we expect to continue for the next two to three years, the board has agreed to reduce endowment spending by 15 percent, effective July 1, 2009, with additional reductions planned in fiscal years 2011 and 2012.

These actions are to be taken in addition to those already reported to you in earlier communications, including: pausing construction through June 30; reducing base budgets across the university; tapping reserves (uncommitted fund balances) to pay down existing lines of credit; increasing charges for tuition, room and board; growing the size of the Class of 2013 by approximately 100 students; and beginning to develop institutional and academic plans that will inform our budget decisions over the longer term. Specifically, these measures include:

Budget adjustments:

$60 million base budget cut that will net $50 million in savings for FY10;
$50 million budget correction based on strategic planning in FY11; and
$35 million allocated from the endowment for financial aid starting in FY10.
Use of uncommitted fund balances:

$75 million reallocated from unrestricted fund balances (reserves) in FY09; and
$75 million reallocated from unrestricted fund balances (reserves) in FY10.
It is clear that, in addition to the pause on external hiring currently underway, Cornell will need to reduce its workforce over the next few years to bring our budget back in balance. Faculty and staff retention remains a top priority during this operational review, and we will continue to examine solutions that temper the need for layoffs. Last week, Vice President Mary Opperman announced two voluntary retirement programs that give eligible staff members the option to consider retiring and enable the university to reduce its payroll through a voluntary workforce reduction strategy.

With these actions now in place, we must come together as a single university and embrace strategic planning for the university. Such planning has a checkered history in higher education, but our ability to choose wisely those areas to emphasize and to invest in will be completely dependent on developing a shared vision of our future.

I appreciate the more than 650 suggestions that have been submitted to help set Cornell on a better course and the sacrifices that many in our community have already made as a result of the financial crisis. We still have much work to do before we are in a position to rebuild the university, but I am heartened by the willingness of so many to think creatively about the future.

In less challenging times, we might have avoided some of the difficult decisions that lie ahead. But a new reality is at hand for higher education, as well as for the rest of our economy. We are at a defining moment in Cornell's history. It is time to reconfigure the university in ways that not only guard our excellence and breadth, preserve our accessibility, meet our responsibilities to the local community and the State of New York, but that also consolidate our academic and administrative functions in imaginative and cost-effective ways.

I thank you for your patience and understanding in these difficult times and welcome your suggestions and insights as we move forward.

Best regards,


David J. Skorton

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Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share

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Chinese Students Want To Know : How Do I Get Rich?

Thanks to Kumar for sharing with me on this.

What is your thought on this? Do you think Malaysians would think similarly?

This is quoted from Forbes .

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In February, three Wharton faculty colleagues and I had the pleasure of dining with 19 visiting students from one of China's most prestigious universities. The students were young. They were charming. They were very intelligent. And they were very, very goal-directed.

My colleagues and I had each prepared brief opening remarks, but the students were having none of it. They had elected a delegation leader, and the delegation leader, as quickly as possible, got to the question the students all wanted to address: What are the implications of the current financial and economic crisis?

A colleague in the accounting department gave them a careful, scholarly, even-handed explanation of how firms' decisions on the repricing of assets in their portfolio could perhaps have been used, perhaps unintentionally, to create false expectations in the marketplace, and could have been done in a way undetectable to auditors, leading to over-investment in toxic subprime assets.

No, that's not what the students wanted to discuss. With much less tact, I explained that, indeed, mispricing of assets at an inflated price could have been deliberately used to create the illusion of value, and this could then have been used to create the very real rewards of wealth for the financial engineering wizards responsible for the scheme.

This got us much closer to the questions that the visiting students wanted to address. Their first round of questions were basically, How can I get that job? How can I get a high-paying job in investment banking now?

My colleagues and I attempted to convince them that those jobs simply will not exist again, at historical levels of compensation, in the months or years before these students' graduation.

This led to a second round of questions, like, What can I do while working as a desk drone in an audit firm in China to ensure that I can get into Wharton, Harvard or Stanford, and get a job in investment banking later? The students were patient. They did not need a job with a $10 million bonus now, as long as the prospect of receiving it later would still arise.

I then suggested that perhaps they might work for companies that made things. Actual things. With a burgeoning middle class that would soon be larger than the entire population of the U.S. or Western Europe, surely there was going to be a huge domestic market for things in China. The students could pursue careers with companies that were working to develop and to sell appliances fit for a Chinese home, or mass-market, branded consumer package goods for the new middle class Chinese consumer.

This was met with stares from the students. Another colleague from the management department suggested that Chinese retailing and distribution offered two other growth opportunities for a bold young entrepreneur. Again, we got mostly stares.

I then explained that there are really only three ways for an individual to earn tens of millions of dollars a year:

--Create a company that creates real wealth and keep a piece of the company. Bill Gates did that at Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ), and he is, probably, still one of the five wealthiest men in America. Vanderbilt (railroads and shipping), Carnegie (U.S. Steel (nyse: X - news - people )) and Rockefeller (Standard Oil) did it, too. These men played hardball, seeking to crush commercial competitors, but they did successfully transform America and the world.

--Facilitate the creation of real wealth by others and keep a piece of each transaction. J. P. Morgan convinced European investors that they would earn far more investing in the fastest-growing industries in the United States than they would investing in their more developed, more mature and more slowly growing domestic markets. He directed the capital that led to the industrialization of the United States. American industrialists got rich. European investors got rich. America was transformed, and his share of each transaction ensured that Morgan became wealthy as well.

Venture capitalists, early round investors in new companies and firms that underwrite their initial public offerings all facilitate the creation of new companies and the creation of jobs and wealth, and profit from it. Early investors in Microsoft, Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ), Oracle (nasdaq: ORCL - news - people ) and Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) all profited quite handsomely from it.

This used to be the principal function of Wall Street firms other than those principally in retail brokerage. But it produces individual Wall Street executive wealth only slowly, and only when Wall Street produces increases in national wealth. Patient men like Warren Buffett still facilitate wealth creation, and Buffett may be richer even than Gates.

--Steal it. Stealing money is much more reliable than earning it. You can steal wealth slowly, the old-fashioned way, buried within the operations of trading for the house account. Or you can steal it quickly, by using obscure and poorly understood financial artifacts to produce the illusion of wealth creation. Then you take a piece of the illusionary wealth, as personal cash, now. Then you exit and duck for cover before the entire game blows up. Better yet, you can sell your private equity firm to naïve investors for one final twist of the knife into the carcass of your nation. (Deliberate fraud, like those allegedly committed by Bernie Madoff or Robert Allen Stanford, is too crude to be of interest to young financial engineers, and too likely to result in extreme punishment.)

I then suggested that if students were not interested in earning their money through entrepreneurship (too risky), then investment banking in China offered the next best alternative for personal wealth creation. Facilitating investment in, and growth of, companies catering to the wants, needs, cravings and longings of China's growing middle class, offers Chinese investment bankers a path toward personal wealth by creating national wealth, much as J. P. Morgan did for America.

The students, though, were uninterested in banking in China. After the students left, it took my colleagues and me a couple of hours to figure out why this was so. I-banking in China is about improving China. The students saw i-banking in America as being about improving their own personal wealth, first and foremost; if the client could be assisted without too much personal inconvenience then and only then did they see American i-banking as also being about value creation.

I asked myself, What have we done? When I thought that the craze for private equity careers and investment banking careers among the brightest Western students was the fault of Western business schools, I felt both shame (for perhaps having contributed to this) and fear (for how we as a nation could possibly compete with foreign nations where the best and brightest young students sought real careers).

Perhaps the fear was unwarranted. Perhaps the best and the brightest students of other nations also wish to transform their homelands from economic dragons into paper tigers, following the Western model. Interestingly, our own students are indeed learning to manage, learning to market, learning operations and production planning and logistics; they are working hard to get ready for a world of things. Perhaps America doesn't have as much to fear from foreign competition as we thought.

Eric K. Clemons is a professor in the Information Strategy and Economics Group at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.



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Chen Chow's Other Posts
Subscribe to Chen Chow's blog

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)