Getting started in the college application process can be a daunting task. While the paperwork itself will require careful management, the creative energy that must be given to developing key messages and application themes—and crafting them into compelling personal statements—can be all-consuming.

Over the course of the summer, I will devote this space to providing guidance regarding application preparations. The following are strategies for starting the process. In the coming weeks, I will focus on tips and strategies for refining your presentation.

1. Be purposeful in your searching: It’s June and you are early enough in the selection process that your list of colleges may still be growing. This is not a problem as long as you are purposeful in your deliberations. Make sure the add-ons make sense and fit your needs well. Adding colleges—especially "reach" schools—on a whim ("I’ll never know if I don’t try…") is not a good idea. You don’t increase your odds of admission simply by increasing the volume of "tries." Moreover, the addition of such schools will detract you from giving the quality attention to the applications that, in the final analysis, make the most sense for you.

2. Work toward a short list: While your college list might be in flux at the moment, you need to establish September 1 as the point at which you will have narrowed it down to the schools about which you care the most. And how many colleges would that be? Try eight or fewer. Keep in mind your ability to gain admission rests, in part, on your ability to demonstrate to the institution that you "get it"—that you see the synergy that exists between your talents and needs and its culture and offerings. With each application beyond eight, your ability to do a good job in making the case with each school diminishes greatly.

3. Visit college campuses: One of the biggest mistakes highly qualified students make as they apply for admission is the decision to put off the campus visit until after the admission decision has been made. The best way for you to know what you are getting into—and for the college to have confidence in your level of interest—is to visit the college’s campus.

[Learn more about college tours.]

4. Research application requirements for colleges of interest: As your short list begins to materialize, develop a spreadsheet on which you can track the test requirements, essay topics, and submission deadlines. If you anticipate using the Common Application, go to www.commonapp.org to become familiar with the submission requirements. You won’t be able to download the 2012 application components until August, but you can at least familiarize yourself with essay prompts and supplemental forms that might be required at some colleges.

5. Develop a résumé: Résumé writing is a good reflective exercise. While you don’t need to worry about creating a professional résumé, compiling the activities, experiences, and accomplishments of your recent past will give you a better sense of what you have to offer a college. You can then draw from this in presenting your application and share it with the people who will write letters of recommendation for you.

6. Identify key messages you want to convey in your application: As you apply to colleges, you want to make sure they know who you are and what they will get if they admit you. Selective colleges are very deliberate as they choose students with an eye toward assembling communities that include talents, interests, and perspectives that range the spectrum. What do you have to offer? Leadership? Cultural sensitivity? Inventive curiosity? Compassion for the less fortunate? Begin thinking now about how you will convey key messages regarding your potential "gifts" as you apply for admission.

7. Talk with teachers now about letters of recommendations: Your teachers and your college adviser are positioned well to help you tell your story when you apply for admission. First, however, they must know it! Give them the courtesy of time to develop a letter for you and make sure they have the information they need to augment the presentation you will be making with your application.

[Read more about letters of recommendation.]

8. Investigate financial aid options: If you know that you will need financial assistance in order to attend college, now is the time to begin exploring your options. Investigate sources of independent scholarships and make arrangements to speak with financial aid officers at colleges to which you will apply. Ask the latter if they can give you an estimate of your Expected Family Contribution. The more you know about actual costs at the front end of the process, the easier it will be to identify and target schools that are likely to admit you and give you the assistance you will need.

[Know your Expected Family Contribution.]

Corrected on 6/29/11: An earlier version included nine public colleges in calculations for this article. The national endowment average has been changed to reflect only private schools.

I’ve met a lot of college students who assume that they must slog their way through graduate school to enjoy a successful and lucrative career.

What is troubling, however, is how little information young adults know about what is involved in earning a graduate degree that can be expensive and a huge time commitment. No one should pursue a graduate degree without a lot of research and soul searching.

Here are some of the things you should know about grad school before you forge ahead:

1. Don’t be in a hurry. There’s rarely a good reason to go to grad school immediately after earning a bachelor’s degree, observes Andrew Roberts, an associate professor of political science at Northwestern University and the author of a fabulous book, The Thinking Student’s Guide to College: 75 Tips for Getting a Better Education. The book is primarily focused on undergrads, but it does contain advice on graduate school issues.

Roberts says that it’s hard for students to know if grad school is the best option until they’ve been in the workforce for a while.

[Read 7 tips for selecting college classes.]

2. Don’t make grad school your default move. Students often enter grad schools without knowing much about the eventual careers to which a graduate degree could lead. The worst thing young adults can do is go to graduate school because they aren’t sure what else to do or they can’t find jobs. Grad school, after all, is often an extremely long commitment. A Ph.D., for example, can take six years.

3. Don’t expect to get a job as a professor. Even if you do survive grad school, the job market for Ph.D.’s in academia is lousy. Fabio Rojas, an associate professor of sociology at Indiana University, summed it up in one of the many blog posts that he’s written about graduate school life over the years at orgtheory.net.

Here’s one of Rojas’ observations:

The job search process is harrowing for academics…there is little guarantee that persons completing their terminal degree will land a job teaching and doing research in their area. At a top medical school, the question is if you will get the residency of your choice. At a top graduate program, it’s often doubtful that someone will be offered a job at all.

[Read more about the value of a graduate school degree.]

4. Life in the Ivory Tower can be a grind. Grad programs are hard work and require much more challenging coursework. Roberts notes in his book that "the course material now becomes, to a considerable extent, technical, insider reading—that is, dense, abtruse, jargon-filled works polished in academic journals and by university presses. …You will not be tempted to recommend your reading lists to friends outside your field."

Fabio warns about "toxic" grad programs where departments provide no support for students and seem happy to pit students against each other. He describes the most common grad program as one guilty of "benign neglect." A few good students get support from professors, but most don’t.

[Get tips on how to pay for graduate school.]

5. Ask intelligent questions. If none of this dissuades you, here are some questions that William Pannapacker, an associate English professor at Hope College, in a column in The Chronicle of Higher Education, suggested would-be graduate students ask before selecting a program:

1. What kind of financial support can a student expect to receive during the entire course of the program?

2. How much educational debt do graduates leave with?

3. How many discussion sections and courses are graduate students required to teach in order to receive a stipend each year?

4. What is the average annual teaching load for graduate students?

5. How many years does it typically take to graduate?

6. How long are graduates on the academic job market?

7. Where is every graduate employed in academe and in what positions: tenure track, visiting, adjunct?

8. Where are graduates working, if not in academe?

9. Does the program lead to appealing career paths outside of academe?

10. What percentage of students earn doctorates?

11. How many earn master’s degrees?

12. What reason do students drop out?

Conventional wisdom suggests that students perform better when they are enrolled in smaller classes. But new research and advocacy groups suggest that targeted resizing of classes—including increasing class sizes in certain subjects—can save districts money while minimally impacting student achievement.

Education Resource Strategies, a nonprofit organization that researches educational budgeting, estimates that up to $6 billion could be saved nationally by increasing class sizes by just one student. Currently, more than 80 percent of education spending is used on compensation, according to the organization. A report released in May by the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, states that the same move would reduce the number of teachers necessary by approximately 7 percent.

[Learn how increasing the graduation rate would improve the economy.]

Class-size legislation has remained an important political issue in many states. At least 24 states have enacted class-size laws that limit enrollment. Karen Miles, executive director of Education Resource Strategies, says these laws can hurt students in the long term. Important programs like teacher development classes and extracurricular activities have been cut in order to employ enough teachers to keep class sizes low, she says. Districts in Florida have hired teachers for a year, knowing those teachers would have to be laid off, she says.

"We’re subjecting these kids to brand new teachers every year," Miles says. She argues that districts need to think about implementing class size "trade-offs" that could improve education. Increasing enrollment in certain electives might allow some core classes, such as ninth grade English, to have fewer students, she says.

[Getting ready for college? See how to stand out in large college classes.]

Others, including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, have come around to her way of thinking. In a March letter to governors weighing state budget cuts, he wrote that states should use federal money in a way that would have the "greatest positive impact on students." Among his suggestions were "targeted adjustments in class size, and compensation models that reward the best, most effective work."

In a March call with the media about the letter, Duncan expanded on his thoughts: "If I was asked a question, ‘You can have an extraordinary teacher, but have 28 children in your class, or you could have a mediocre teacher with 23 children in your class,’ as a parent, I would take the higher class size every day of the week," he said.

[Find out how Secretary Duncan may revise No Child Left Behind.]

Research shows that drastic class size reduction can improve student performance. The most widely cited research, the Student Teacher Achievement Ratio study conducted in the late 1980s by the state of Tennessee, showed that when class sizes were reduced from 22 students to 15 students, student achievement increased by about three months of additional schooling. Subsequent studies have shown that slight increases or decreases in class size enrollment have negligible effects on student achievement.

The May Brookings report says, "It appears that very large class-size reductions, on the order of magnitude of 7-10 fewer students per class, can have significant long-term effects on student achievement … These effects seem to be largest when introduced in the earliest grades, and for students from less advantaged family backgrounds."

Miles, from Education Resource Strategies, stresses that schools and districts need a strategy when it comes to changing class enrollment. If class sizes are increased, the money saved should be spent training effective teachers. She says schools should experiment with hiring part-time experts to teach reading in small groups. If there are three third-grade classes in a school, for instance, those classes could be combined for part of the day in classes such as art.

"The highest performing schools are thinking really differently about group size and how teachers are grouped together throughout the day," she says.

Enrollment reductions should be focused on underprivileged students and young students, she adds. Better teacher evaluation systems need to be developed and implemented so that ineffective teachers can be held accountable for student performance, and effective teachers can be rewarded.

[Read about developing better teacher evaluation systems.]

Miles acknowledges that class sizes are a hot-button issue with parents nationwide. "It’s an incredible lighting rod," she says. "Parents like small classes. Class size is the one thing that parents can objectively count—they’ll say, ‘What is my class size?’ It seems like good politics to mandate these class sizes."

See how your school stacks up in our rankings of Best High Schools. Have something of interest to share? Send your news to us at highschoolnotes@usnews.com.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan warned school districts Tuesday against attempting to shut down lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clubs and gay-straight alliances.

In the open "Dear Colleagues" letter, Duncan stressed that LGBT students are often the target of bullying and verbal harassment, and that after-school clubs can help students cope with the bullying.

"By encouraging dialogue and providing supportive resources, these groups can help make schools safe and affirming environments for everyone," Duncan wrote. Duncan claims that some school districts around the country have attempted to block gay-straight alliances from forming, and that barring their formation or shutting down LGBT clubs is illegal according to the 1984 Equal Access Act, which protects student-initiated groups of all types.

In February, a high school in Corpus Christi, Texas, shut down all after-school clubs to prevent a gay-straight alliance from forming in a move that circumvented the Equal Access Act. After the founding student got 55,000 people to sign her petition, the school board reversed its decision, allowing the club to form. A school in New Mexico recently considered the same move.

[Learn how California is trying to require gay history education.]

LGBT groups are lauding the move. Carolyn Laub, executive director of the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, says the letter "validates the importance of gay-straight alliance clubs."

"It signals that the [Obama] administration and the Secretary of Education see the value in gay-straight alliance clubs," she says. "Our hope is that it will send a really clear message to any administrator who is trying to ban all clubs to stop gay-straight alliance clubs."

High-profile instances of LGBT bullying that led to suicide have made bullying a major national issue. Last fall, Tyler Clementi, then a freshman at Rutgers University, killed himself after his roommate broadcast video on the Internet of Clementi having sex with another man.

[Learn how cyber bullying is getting more dangerous.]

Duncan wrote that the Department of Education would issue legal guidelines explaining the Equal Access Act so schools could "ensure that all students, including LGBT and gender nonconforming students, have a safe place to learn, meet, share experiences, and discuss matters that are important to them."

Schools do not need to endorse LGBT-friendly clubs, but they must give all student groups equal meeting spaces and resources. Duncan wrote that the Equal Access Act’s requirements are "a bare legal minimum," and encouraged districts to "go beyond what the law requires in order to increase students’ sense of belonging."

Laub, of the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, says that these clubs complement other policies in making school a safe environment for LGBT students: Bullied students need to know where to get support, and they need to know they are protected against bullying under school policy. Laub feels schools can help students feel welcome by including LGBT issues in curricula, especially in history, and that teachers should be trained to intervene when they witness bullying.

See how your school stacks up in our rankings of Best High Schools. Have something of interest to share? Send your news to us at highschoolnotes@usnews.com.

This time of year, many applicants—even highly qualified ones—face the dreaded news that they weren’t accepted into the school of their dreams. For those of you wondering if there’s a magic solution to reapplication, consider this: With just 5 percent of applicants making it into Stanford Graduate School of Business‘s Class of 2012, and 12 percent landing a spot at Harvard Business School in the Class of 2013, getting into a top M.B.A. program isn’t as easy as pulling a rabbit out of a hat. However, I can recommend a few tricks that might yield more positive results.

First, give yourself a break from this intense process. Applying to business school is stressful, and starting over without taking a breather only sets you up for failure since you’ll be burned out before you even begin. Once you’ve taken the time to mentally regroup, it’s time for some intense soul searching. Everyone has room for improvement, so take a cold, hard look at yourself and your first application to see where you can do better next time.

[See U.S. News's rankings of Best Business Schools.]

It’s unlikely that the rejection came as a result of just one element of your application, but the common red flags include a lack of leadership skills and experience, less than stellar recommendations, and low GMAT test scores and/or undergraduate grade point averages. Was there room in your GMAT score for improvement? Would you have taken a class to boost your quantitative profile before applying if you’d had more time? Were you lacking depth or breadth in your extracurricular activities, or is there room for a leadership role in your volunteer activities? Admissions committees want to hear that you’ve made progress in your career and significant improvements to your application since they last turned you down.

Due to the large number of applications most top M.B.A. programs receive each season, feedback is difficult to come by. If you do have the opportunity to speak with a member of the admissions committee, take advantage by asking for details about each area of your application. Make sure you walk away from any feedback session with action items for next year. For those still feeling anxious about what to do next time, my company offers a two-hour session with a consultant to evaluate your application from last season and provide feedback and action steps for reapplication.

[Get more tips on strengthening your M.B.A. application.]

If you’re reapplying for a second or third time, you should consider adding a few less-competitive programs to your list in addition to your top one or two dream schools. Some people apply to places that are clearly wrong for them. If your scores don’t come close to those of an average student at the school, it’s not likely you’ll get in next time unless you make tremendous strides on your GMAT and have added other, extremely impressive qualifications, too.

Perhaps the most important quality I can stress in the business school application process is resilience. It’s very easy to look at successful people and assume their road was smooth. But for most successful people, including those occupying the seats at top M.B.A. programs, the road was a bumpy one. What separates them from the crowd is not a lack of failure; it’s that they picked themselves up and tried again when they’ve failed. If you’re struggling with getting up after being knocked down, try to apply a dose of resilience. I love this quote from magician David Blaine, who is renowned for his public endurance challenges: "Magic…is pretty simple. It’s practice, it’s training, it’s experimenting, while pushing through the pain to be the best that I can be." The same goes for applying, or in this case, reapplying, to business school.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said if Congress does not reauthorize and amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)—popularly known as No Child Left Behind—he will take actions to amend the law himself.

A clause in the law permits the secretary of education to waive certain parts of the act—a power Duncan said he would consider use if states agree to enact reforms.

[Learn about a bill that may improve graduation rates.]

ESEA was up for renewal and an overhaul in 2007, but Congress opted to extend the law on a year-to-year basis. The law, proposed by then-President George W. Bush and passed in 2001, set a goal of making all children "proficient" in reading and math by 2014. In March, Duncan told Congress the law was "broken," and said that up to 82 percent of all public schools could miss targets set by No Child Left Behind.

President Obama has also asked Congress to revise the bill, saying the benchmarks it set don’t accurately measure students’ progress. "We know that four out of five schools in this country aren’t failing," he said at a March appearance at a Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, Va. "So what we’re doing to measure success and failure is out of line."

Duncan says he won’t wait for Congress to revise the act to make widespread changes in education. "Principals, superintendents, and children cannot wait forever for the legislative process to work itself out," he said during a conference call. "As it exists now, No Child Left Behind is creating a slow-motion train wreck for children, parents, and teachers."

[Learn how the U.S. can model education after other countries' systems.]

Given Duncan’s past statements, it’s likely he would reduce or eliminate sanctions for schools that didn’t meet the reading and math proficiency benchmark. Duncan did not specifically say what reforms he would want states to enact or what parts of the law he would waive, although he made it clear that he would prefer to not use his waiver power.

"This is Plan B," he told reporters. "Plan A is to have Congress move. If that doesn’t happen, we can’t sit here and do nothing."

See how your school stacks up in our rankings of Best High Schools. Have something of interest to share? Send your news to us at highschoolnotes@usnews.com.

In the event that you identified blood in the market your anus, mostly when passing excrement then you most likely have bleeding hemorrhoids. If you have discovered this then not only have you been going through substantial anguish it in all probability frightened you . The fact is, bleeding hemorrhoids are not life-threatening. Hemorrhoids are simply veinous tissue which have inflammed as a consequence of having withstood an serious amount of pressure. This often will happen when passing excrement. If you usually do not eat well or might be impatient when passing excrement or are overweight or expecting a baby, that might me the cause for the pressure. The inflammed veinous tissue are clotted with blood, creating a bulbous lump. If it ruptures that can cause your anus to bleed profusely. Albeit it is not life-threatening it may well become infected which possibly can turn into a life-threatening condition. If you discover that you have bleeding hemorrhoids you are encouraged to consult with a health practitioner at once. Do this because, you want to get hold of a proper hemorrhoid treatment so you can treat your hemorrhoid well before it evolves into a considerable condition. This post includes many of the particular hemorrhoid treatment solutions at your disposal .

Surgery is the number 1 remedy to cure bleeding hemorrhoids. Even so, it has its side effects. To start with, surgery triggers substantial physical pain. What is more, surgery is not going to normally recuperate so quickly. The ideal hemorrhoid treatment for bleeding hemorrhoids is to avoid it altogether. You can do that if you determine that you have hemorrhoids early and start hemorrhoid treatment without delay. Think about your food intake, specifically fiber and drink a lot of water. Hemorrhoids can get better practically with just a bit of care. Keep your anal area clean and use an antiseptic.

Two variations of surgery are in existence that are generally made use of to stop bleeding hemorrhoids. The first is generally known as ‘hemorrhoidal artery ligation’. . It involves identifying the abnormal veins and then ligating them. This practice makes use of a proctoscope as well as a Doppler transducer. The practice lessens the pressure on the veinous tissue and by doing this lessens the pain. Another effective strategy used for treatment of bleeding hemorrhoids is named a stapled hemorrhoidectomy. This process entails stapling the hemorrhoid with a circular staple. The stapled hemorrhoidectomy stops the bleeding. This variety of operation is also a great deal less debilitating than other methods of surgery.

Many other treatments exist for bleeding hemorrhoids, including non medical treatments for example ointments as well as other kinds of hemorrhoid treatment. Just about all of them work by improving your colon health, as well as minimizing hemorrhoid ailments like itching, pain, swelling, and most important, control the bleeding. So if you suffer from a condition like bleeding hemorrhoids, you can find many hemorrhoid treatment solutions of which you could investigate.

In the event that you have detected blood surrounding your anus, chiefly when defecating then you in all likelihood have bleeding hemorrhoids. If you have detected this then it most likely scared you half to death. The fact is, bleeding hemorrhoids are not lethal. Hemorrhoids are just merely problematic veins which have puffy on account of having gone through an abnormal amount of pressure. This mostly occurs when defecating. If you tend not to eat healthy food and/or are impatient when defecating and/or are too heavy or expecting a baby, that could be the root cause of the pressure. The puffy problematic veins are clotted with blood, developing a bulbous swelling. If it ruptures that will cause your anus to bleed a pretty good bit. Albeit it is not lethal it might become infected which can potentially turn into a lethal difficulty. Should you discover that you have bleeding hemorrhoids you might want to have a chat with a medical physician as fast as possible. You want to take advantage of the best suited hemorrhoid treatment so you can get your hemorrhoid healed before it will become a substantial disorder. This short article summarizes some of the alternative hemorrhoid treatment strategies you can find .

If you are afflicted by bleeding hemorrhoids, it is likely you’ll be getting surgery. This is why you really should clear up this difficulty as soon as possible to avoid worsening your difficulty . Hemorrhoid surgery is known for extreme post surgery pains, and it almost always takes quite a very long time to recover.

One hemorrhoid treatment program would be the stapled hemorrhoidectomy. This hemorrhoid treatment doesn’t cause much pain, it uses a circular stapler to limit the bleeding of the puffy problematic veins. This hemorrhoid treatment program is in fact used to treat prolapsed hemorrhoids, but can also work on just about all bleeding hemorrhoids. Another hemorrhoid treatment is referred to as hemorrhoidal artery ligation, which makes use of a proctoscope and a Doppler transducerto identify and ligate the blood vessels which causes the bleeding of your hemorrhoids. With the ligation of your blood vessels , the pressure will be substantially diminished. This procedure is fairly painless and safe, and is a preferred alternative to various other uncomfortable hemorrhoid treatment strategies.

While a medical physician is most likely to suggest surgical treatment as a way to treat your bleeding hemorrhoids,you should be able to recuperate from bleeding hemorrhoids using alternative hemorrhoid treatment methods. You might administer ointments and creams to relieve the itching and pain. You can apply a ‘sitz’ bath also. Basically, if you can make yourself eat fruit and veggies as well as fiber this should help quite a lot. Try not to apply extreme pressure on your lower pelvic area, in particular when defecating. If you are expecting a baby or too heavy be particularly careful to not hurry it. Hemorrhoids, even bleeding hemorrhoids can, and quite often do, recover if you will merely attend to them.

Natural and organic treatment alternatives are frequently the most effective approach to opt for for hemorrhoid treatment. Despite the fact that you’ll be able to obtain other hemorrhoid treatment techniques, even in the event your hemorrhoids are relatively severe you can often cure them by making usage of natural procedures. This report will mention a great number of types of non-medical hemorrhoid treatment treatment alternatives which are obtainable.

Considering that you are reviewing this report, you are likely to be struggling with hemorrhoids currently and needing a hemorrhoid treatment. If you’re hoping to obtain prompt relief of the soreness and itching you may look at a hemorrhoid treatment known as witch hazel. Witch hazel should help by numbing the inflamed vicinity. A person can usually obtain witch hazel out of your local store or acquire it on the web. Also, there are actually a number of salves which use witch hazel as the principal ingredient for their hemorrhoid treatment

The soreness and itching of hemorrhoids can usually be caused by bacteria as opposed to the hemorrhoids. The inflamed location is at risk of harm by bacteria as such could easily end up being infected. One very powerful hemorrhoid treatment used to manage the soreness and itching of hemorrhoids is what’s often called a sitz bath. Essentially, just fill a tub with enough reasonably hot water to position your buttocks into. Add sufficient salt to virtually saturation. To disinfect the inflamed location it’s recommended to to put in an antiseptic like isopropyl alcohol to the water. Make sure the water is as hot as you can reasonably take it. This will likely deliver prompt relief, in particular if bacteria is the main cause of the problem. If you can make yourself continue doing this procedure a number of times on a daily basis for a number of weeks it can totally do away with most hemorrhoids.

A couple of plant based remedies for curing hemorrhoids are Butcher’s Broom for hemorrhoid treatment and Horse Chestnut. These are usually in teas. These have been utilised for decades for hemorrhoid treatment. Theseplant based remedies are recognized for healing poor circulation and weak blood vessels. Be sure that you research Horse Chestnut though before employing it. Some men and women are allergic to it.