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Economic Times
7 days ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Ivy League dreams in limbo: Visas, verdicts & very anxious students
Bloomberg Harvard University students wearing graduation gowns walk through Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 29 'Ivy League colleges cannot survive without international students. They are the backbone of America's academic strength. This situation is temporary... it will pass.' I've been saying this often these days, more to calm the nerves of students and their parents than anything else. For over two decades, I've watched thousands of Indian students chase the American Dream—an Ivy League degree, a high-flying job in the US and a life of global success. I've walked this journey with them—from the nervous excitement of SAT prep to nail-biting decisions on colleges. Now, for the first time in my career, I find myself in the eye of an entirely new storm: the growing uncertainty in US college admissions for international students. And yet, I remain calm. Because I know the system is cyclical rather than permanent. (Join our ETNRI WhatsApp channel for all the latest updates) Harvard's Legal Battle Much of the current anxiety stems from the ongoing legal battles involving universities like Harvard. After the Donald Trump administration barred the University of Harvard from enrolling foreign students, a recent court ruling has allowed it to enrol international students, but many logistical roadblocks remain. Roughly 20% of Indian students who have got admission to American colleges and universities this year have already got their visa. About 30% have secured interview dates. The remaining 50% are stuck—waiting for I-20 forms, which are eligibility certificates issued by a college or a university that is necessary to apply for a student visa, or struggling to find open visa slots. No new interview appointments are being issued right now. And we are in June. The August intake is looming large and, understandably, parents are stressed. My advice is simple: stay calm and have a pragmatic Plan B. Many families are now exploring alternatives like the UK and Singapore, or even returning to top Indian universities. But most students still want to hold out hope. They know—as I do—that there's still nothing quite like a US undergraduate education. In this climate, I see three types of students: The Determined Ones: They're willing to lose a semester or even defer a year, just to make it to their dream US college. The Flexible Planners: These students are seriously weighing options in the UK, Singapore and even top Indian colleges. The Hopeful Majority: They are watching and waiting, believing that visa processes will be realigned in time. And there's reason to believe they will. The pressure on the US government to resolve this is mounting—economically, politically and diplomatically. Getting In The other battle is just getting into an American college. With Common Application, AI-assisted evaluations and higher global applications, US colleges have never been more selective. Consider this: the University of Pennsylvania's acceptance rate dropped from 20% in 2005 to just 5.4% in 2024. Boston University's went from 52% to 10.7%. New York University's fell from 32% to a mere 8%. More than 80% of Indian undergraduate applicants to the US are disappointed with the outcomes. Many of them feel they deserve better. But they are up against a system where nearly 35% of seats are locked up by MALDC candidates—Minorities, Athletes, Legacies, Donors and Children of Faculty and Administrators. The competition is only intensifying. The pipeline of Indian applicants is growing rapidly. Students from second- and third-tier towns now outperform their metro-city peers, fuelled by better schools and greater ambition. There has been a huge jump in high-quality institutions across India. IT diploma schools have grown from 80 in 2010 to 175+ today. A-Level schools have doubled from 100 to 200+ in the same period. The US still offers world-class education, but the post-graduation road is no longer guaranteed. A four-year undergraduate degree now costs upwards of $400,000, while an MBA degree can cost $250,000 or more. Yet, only 40% of Indian students who are graduating this year have secured jobs so far. Even in high-demand fields like computer science, the number was lower than expected. Ivy League MBAs are not immune either—23% of Harvard MBA graduates were unemployed three months after graduation in 2024. At Stanford, that figure was 18%, nearly double from just two years ago. Meanwhile, visa uncertainty continues. Optional practical training (OPT) and H-1B rules for visas remain inconsistent. Standardised testing, like the SAT, is making a comeback—adding yet another layer of complexity. As the stakes rise, I encourage students to redefine what success looks like. Elite institutions are fantastic platforms but they are not the only route to achievement. I often recommend Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be by Frank Bruni. It's a wake-up call for those obsessed with prestige. At the end of the day, real success depends on character, curiosity and grit—not just a brand name. Some of my students are exploring Indian post-grad options like the IIMs. Indian companies increasingly value homegrown talent—those who understand the market and are hungry to build something here. This isn't the new normal. It's a moment in flux. My message to students and parents is: stay flexible, stay informed and keep your eye on the long game. Be prepared to pivot. Don't tie your self-worth to a college name or a country's immigration policy. The path ahead demands resilience—the ability to adapt, to reinvent oneself, to embrace uncertainty. We are entering an era where resilience will matter more than résumés. That's what I tell my students when they call, worried, sometimes in tears. I remind them that uncertainty doesn't equal failure—it's just part of growth. In recent months, I have also found myself having deeper, more philosophical conversations with families which I never used to have 10 or 15 years ago. Parents are beginning to ask not just how to get in, but why they are pursuing this path in the first place. And students are more reflective. They care more about alignment—between their passions, purpose and the education they seek. It's no longer just about getting a US degree. It's about building a life that feels meaningful. My role is no longer just about helping them get into a college—it's about helping them think bigger, with confidence, no matter where they land. After all, the dream isn't changing. It's just getting smarter. The path may no longer be straight. But for those willing to stay the course, it can still lead to something extraordinary. The Ivy League dream is still alive—but maybe, just maybe, it's time to dream wider. (As told to Lijee Philip)
Business Insider
19-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
From PowerPoint to plumbing
Two years ago, Zechariah Osburn sat down to fill out the Common Application for college. He dreaded going to school and sitting at a desk all day, but he'd always done well, so an undergraduate degree seemed like a no-brainer. His parents had pushed it, too. But staring down the application at midnight one night during his senior year, Osburn decided to scrap the plan. "I felt like a fraud," he tells me. He didn't know what kind of career he wanted, and didn't have the money for college. Instead of taking out student loans and spending a few semesters partying and soul-searching, he decided to focus on growing his landscaping side hustle into a full-time business. Now, at 20, he's the owner of Z's Exterior Services, which does lawn care, mulching, power washing, and other landscaping services in northern Virginia. He's hired a handful of full- and part-time employees and has plans to continue expanding. And, he says, he still gets a taste of the college experience when he visits his girlfriend. It's not that Osburn is passionate about mulching, but he does love running the business, and it's rewarding to make customers happy. "How much work you put in is how much return you're going to get," he says. Studying for hours and pouring tens of thousands of dollars into a degree doesn't always yield the same results, he says, as he hears about people taking on lots of debt and then struggling to find work. Many Gen Zers are eyeing the ever-rising cost of college tuition, along with roiling uncertainty in many white-collar career fields, and are choosing an alternate path. Americans are losing faith in the ROI of a college degree. In a 2023 Gallup poll, only 36% of respondents had a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in the higher education system, dropping from 57% in 2015. A Pew Research study in 2024 found that just 22% of US adults thought that college was worth it if a student had to take out loans to attend. Zoomers are also most likely to feel that getting a degree is a waste of time and money, a 2025 survey from Indeed found. Per Experian, the average Gen Zer has about $23,000 in student debt. That load is starting to feel heavier now that the perks Gen Zers most want — including work-life balance, financial stability, and a path to becoming their own boss — are disappearing from white-collar jobs. Managers are calling workers back to the office and dismantling the career ladder by assigning entry-level tasks to generative AI bots and agents. A survey from the early career site Handshake found that 62% of college seniors who were familiar with AI tools said they were at least somewhat concerned that rising automation via AI would affect their career prospects, up from 44% in 2023. Once-stable jobs in tech, consulting, recruiting, and law are all at risk of seeing the entry-level tasks increasingly given away to gen AI. Roles for recent college grads "deteriorated noticeably" in early 2025, with their unemployment rate jumping to 5.8%, up from 4.6% a year ago, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. President Donald Trump's tariffs are creating uncertainty in the market and discouraging employers from hiring new workers, and white-collar workers are feeling stuck in their roles. Meanwhile, blue-collar jobs — some of which pay a stable six figures — are starting to look more like an oasis. The proportion of students at two-year colleges focusing on vocational studies compared to other associate degrees grew from about 15% in 2019 to nearly 20% in 2024, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The fastest-growing jobs in the country, per the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, are wind turbine technicians and solar panel installers, followed by roles in healthcare and some in tech, like data analysts or information security analysts. Jobs in construction, plumbing, electrical work, and transportation are all projected to grow faster than the average job-growth rate of 4% from 2023 to 2033. Social media has really introduced Gen Z to what working in new fields can be like. Jennifer Herrity The need for workers in renewable energy, commercial and home construction, and public infrastructure is expected to rise, thanks to projects like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and a global investment in new energy sources. Home prices are soaring in part thanks to construction worker shortages, and wages for those workers are up. And just as demand is increasing, a swath of skilled, baby boomer laborers are getting ready to pack it up and retire. That will open up more gigs for people who want to work in these in-demand, automation-proof roles such as HVAC servicing, plumbing, and construction — and it's unlikely you'll hire a robot to come fiddle with your home's electrical wiring anytime soon. In fact, many analysts predict these fields could experience labor shortages, which is good news for Gen Z. And where generative AI is stagnating growth in industries like tech or consulting, it's accelerating growth for young people who want to start their own businesses. ChatGPT and its ilk have become always-on assistants that help young entrepreneurs automate work like appointment scheduling and generating emails to customers — and they don't have to be put on payroll. And as the digital-first generation, Gen Z doesn't need school to train them on the kind of tech that can make these businesses more efficient. "They're very used to working with technology; it's part of their daily life," says Gary Specter, the CEO of Simpro, which makes job and project management software for field service and trade contracting industries."You're seeing a coming together of technology and these hands-on jobs." For some, a blue-collar pivot would mean abandoning the college dreams laid out by parents, siblings, and countless coming-of-age movies. As America's middle class grew, so did the drive for higher education. In 1970, just 11% of US adults had a bachelor's degree. By 2021, that number had swelled to 38%, according to US Census data. Sending kids to a university became less a privilege and more a given for many middle-class families. But that push ignored other viable career paths and gave rise to a stigma around blue-collar work that persists today, even as rising tuition costs have dampened the appeal of the college dream. Ryan Daniels, 22, left behind college at the University of Florida after his freshman year in 2022 to pursue his pressure-washing business full time. "It was really shocking to people that I was going to let that opportunity go," he tells me. But he's not alone in that shift. The rate of young people enrolled in college dropped from 41% in 2012 to 39% in 2022, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Enrollment in college peaked in 2010, but has since declined from 18 million students to about 15.4 million in 2021. Getting young people into the trades will still take a mindset shift. In a 2023 survey of US high schoolers by Jobber, a software for home professionals, 74% said they thought there was a stigma around choosing vocational school instead of a four-year college, and 79% said their parents wanted them to go to college, while only 5% said their parents encouraged vocational school. A Gallup survey found that around 70% of high school students had heard a lot about college, while less than a quarter had heard frequently about apprenticeships and vocational schools. And it may be blue-collar influencers, rather than a vocational school rep at an assembly, who pull more young people into these fields. "Gen Z really is facing a new set of challenges," says Jennifer Herrity, who follows career trends at Indeed. "Social media has really introduced Gen Z to what working in new fields can be like." Day-in-the-life videos have flooded YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, giving people a peek into careers that many may not have known about unless a family member worked in them. There are some that show consultants or tech workers shuttling from an early morning at Equinox to their offices and then from meeting to meeting, $9 matcha latte in hand, but the more visually interesting videos come from people doing hands-on work in their fields. There are electricians, plumbers, landscapers, and more who show themselves out in the wild getting their complicated jobs done. Osburn tells me he watched videos on social media about starting his landscape business. Now, he has 45,000 followers watching him on Instagram as he drives his trucks around Virginia . Lexi Abreu, an electrician with 200,000 followers on YouTube, walks viewers through tricky wiring jobs and makes tongue-in-cheek visual gags about working as a woman in a male-dominated profession. While college kids pinch pennies, those who go into trades can start earning immediately. Average entry-level construction jobs start at around $19 an hour, and rise to $45 at the top level, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Maintenance and repair jobs start around $14 an hour but can go as high as $44 an hour. The average electrician and plumber make about $29 an hour, according to Indeed. Instead of surviving on cup noodles for four years, Daniels has built a business, RHI Pressure Washing, and can pay not just his own bills, but those of three employees. Already, people are increasingly seeing the value of working in the trades. In 2024, 66% of adults said they believed there were well-paid, stable jobs available to those with only high school diplomas or GEDs, up from 50% in 2018, a survey of about 1,500 people conducted by the think tank New America found. The blue-collar perks don't mean college degrees are dying anytime soon. The median pay for a Gen Z college graduate in 2024 was $60,000, based on data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, compared to $40,000 for a high school graduate. That gap widens as college-educated workers age and advance through their fields. And some of these stable fields are hiring for college grads, too: The fastest-growing industry for new college grads is in construction, LinkedIn says, and entry-level workers are also rising in number in the utility sector and oil, gas, and mining industries. Daniels would have graduated from college this month, but in that time, he has instead spun out his high school side hustle of pressure washing into a full business. He spends most of his day running the business side. That means using ChatGPT almost daily, whether it's to draft responses to customers or mass emails, Daniels says. Gen AI might "take away from white-collar jobs, and it really helps us out here."
News18
24-04-2025
- General
- News18
OFSS Bihar Class 11th Admission 2025: Registration Begins Today, Here's How To Apply
Last Updated: OFSS Bihar Class 11th Admission 2025: BSEB starts registration for Class 11th admission 2025 today. Students can apply via OFSS until May 3, 2025. OFSS Bihar Class 11th Admission 2025: The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) will commence the application process for class 11th admissions today, April 24. Students who wish to take admission to class 11th for the academic year 2025-27 can apply on the official website – Interested students can apply for the Bihar Class 11th Admission 2025 in the Arts, Science, or Commerce streams via the Online Facilitation System (OFSS) until May 3, 2025. Step 1: Visit the official website- Step 2: Click on the option for filling out the Common Application Form. Step 3: Fill in your information and click Submit. Step 4: Your filled Common Application Form will be displayed on your screen. After confirming your application form, a One-Time Password (OTP) will be sent to your registered mobile number. Step 5: Enter the OTP in the system to complete the final submission. Step 6: After OTP verification, pay the application fee of Rs 350 . If your name is in the merit list issued by the Bihar School Examination Board, the system will automatically show your Application ID, First Preference Institution, Name, Father's Name, Roll Code, and Roll Number in the application form. If the information shown is incorrect, the candidate should not proceed with the application. In such cases, contact the board for correction. If the displayed details are correct, complete the form and submit it. Students who have passed Matriculation (10th) from CBSE, ICSE, or other boards must upload their mark sheet and submit their application using the equivalent marks percentage formula. Candidates must select a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20 schools/colleges as options for enrollment. First Published:
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
High schoolers await college acceptances with more competition than ever
Greendale, Wisconsin — Near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Greendale High School seniors Nicholai Galusha, Carly Antczak and Brady McCravens put in a lot of work to earn high despite stellar stats and robust resumes, they're facing major competition. The class of 2025 is the biggest and most diverse in history, with 3.9 million high schoolers graduating this year, according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. That's why 18-year-old Galusha didn't take any chances when it came to college applications, applying to 33 schools in total. "I just really wanted to broaden the options that were out there, because it's really a lottery with these competitive schools," Galusha said. Galusha paid nothing for the 33 submissions. Fees typically range from $30 to $100, but many schools waive them to attract more applicants. Through March 1, students turned in more than eight million applications through the Common Application, which is accepted at more than 1,000 schools. "Seeing people be part of like 10 different clubs, be working since they were 12 years old, be in multiple different organizations, and it's kind of hard not to compare yourself to that," Antczak said. Another factor driving the 6% increase in applications: Many universities no longer require ACT or SAT scores, including those used to reduce the number of applications to more selective universities. Jon Burdick spent 40 years screening college applications at Cornell, the University of Southern California and the University of Rochester. "As the universities try to be more selective — because that communicates value — students at the same time say, 'Well, I want to get into the most selective place, because that creates value for me.' So there's an incentive on both sides to apply to more places and to take more applications all the time," Burdick said. Some universities have been overwhelmed by the flood of submissions, handing out more deferments and pushing back acceptance dates to deal with the volume. That is keeping anxious students waiting even longer. "No matter how many applications they get, I'm just hoping they take the time to read my essay and take good note of who I am," McCravens said. Despite a peak in the number of high school graduates this year, some relief is ahead as class sizes are expected to shrink over the next 15 years. When asked what advice they'd give to next year's applicants, the three seniors said not to put too much stock into what colleges they get accepted to. "These colleges don't know who you are as a person. It's just you on paper," Antczak said. It's advice that's easier to accept — once the acceptances are in. Tiger Woods confirms relationship with Vanessa Trump, Donald Trump Jr.'s ex-wife What is Signal, the app Trump's team used to chat about Yemen war plans This week in nature: a new Yellowstone vent, a star is born and the rescue of a dozen chicks
Washington Post
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
More state colleges are admitting students — before they apply
More states are easing the stress of the college search by letting high school students know they are promised admission before they even apply. It is a paradigm shift in the often tedious admissions process that can require students to spend lots of time and money with no guarantee of success. States say they are hoping to keep talent close to home and develop an educated workforce. They are turning to a 'direct admission' model that matches students with local colleges based on their grades and sending a powerful message that postsecondary education — whether vocational training or a bachelor's degree — is within reach. The number of state-run, direct admissions programs has jumped from one in 2015 to more than a dozen today, including: Idaho, Minnesota, South Dakota, Washington, Indiana, Hawaii, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Utah, Illinois, Texas, California, New York and Oregon. Five of those states adopted the policy in 2024. Several other states have introduced legislation this year, including Arkansas, or have pilot programs in the works. While individual colleges and online admissions platforms such as the Common Application have been experimenting with direct admissions for years, the increase in state-run programs could have a tremendous impact on the movement, said John Lane, vice president for academic affairs and equity initiatives at the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. 'Having state higher education offices and systems on board brings scale, resources and perspective,' Lane said. 'It also increases the long-term sustainability of direct admissions.' Part of the appeal of direct admissions is that it is a race-neutral way to increase diversity. The Biden administration had urged colleges to explore the policy after the Supreme Court in 2023 struck down the use of race-conscious affirmative action in admissions. And as the Trump administration pressures colleges and universities to abandon diversity, equity and inclusion practices, more states and individual institutions are likely to turn to direct admissions, higher education experts say. 'By being universal, direct admissions is race-blind,' said Jennifer A. Delaney, associate professor of higher education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 'So in the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling, it's become attractive for states to move the needle a bit on equity measures without having a race-specific policy.' Direct admissions programs build on guaranteed admissions policies popularized by Texas, in which high school students in the top percentage of their graduating class are automatically admitted to certain public colleges. The newer programs are more inclusive and proactive in informing students of their options and the requirements to enroll. Still, the movement has challenges. An offer alone is not enough to get students to enroll when their ability to pay for college remains an open question. And enrollment is no guarantee of graduation. State direct admissions programs vary in scope and design. Utah's program features all 16 of its public colleges and universities, while California's is focused on the 10 campuses of the California State University system. Minnesota, Idaho and Wisconsin use data-sharing agreements with high schools to pull students' transcripts for information. Connecticut and Illinois, which use the online platform Common Application for their programs, rely on self-reported student data that is later verified. In most cases, colleges and universities are given a choice to participate and can set a GPA threshold that students need to meet to be automatically admitted. Students usually receive a letter early in their senior year with a list of schools where they are guaranteed admission and must then submit an application to the school of their choice. When Anna Miranda received a letter in the mail listing the nearly 50 Minnesota colleges that admitted her in 2022, the St. Paul native wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Until that point, she had not heard of the state's direct admissions program and wondered if the notice was an advertisement. 'It was a little confusing,' Miranda said. 'But after I brought it up to my high school counselor, she explained and I was just relieved.' Among the list of schools was Miranda's top choice — Augsburg University. Knowing that the private university in Minneapolis wanted her allowed Miranda to 'stop stressing' and start focusing on enrolling, which she did the following fall. There was always a question of whether college was in her future, said Miranda, 19, a political science major in her sophomore year. Her parents supported the idea but weren't certain they could afford it. And as the first in her family to go to college, Miranda didn't know how to navigate the process. 'Getting the letter kind of knocked down a barrier,' she said. 'It made me feel more confident.' One of the big selling points for direct admissions is the way it engages first-generation students like Miranda, said Stephanie Ruckel, director of strategic enrollment at Augsburg. The policy, she said, eases the fear of rejection and encourages students to ask more probing questions about whether the school is a fit. Wendy Robinson, assistant commissioner for programs, policy and grants at the Minnesota Office of Higher Education, said direct admissions also makes clear that most colleges are eager to accept students, a reality that is lost in all of the public attention on highly selective schools. 'Students hear a lot of narratives around how hard it is to get into college,' said Robinson. 'The truth is that the majority of colleges accept the majority of their applicants the majority of the time.' To change the narrative, Minnesota set out in 2022 to include public, private and tribal colleges in the lineup of schools in its direct admissions pipeline. All of the more than 50 schools participating in the Minnesota program waive their application fees and most don't require an essay or standardized test scores. The same is largely true for the direct admissions programs in Wisconsin, South Dakota and Idaho. Having pioneered the direct admissions model in 2015, Idaho has fine-tuned its program. Sara Scudder at Idaho's Office of the State Board of Education said the state has changed the criteria five times — lowering the GPA threshold and eliminating SAT requirements — simplified its online application and increased awareness through videos and social media posts. Those efforts have increased first-time undergraduate enrollment by an average of 50 to 100 students per participating campus in Idaho, with the strongest gains at community colleges, according to a 2022 study of the state program. Taylor Odle, assistant professor of educational policy studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and co-author of the study, said the results show that states shouldn't solely focus on high-achieving students when designing direct admissions programs. 'This behavioral nudge is going to be most effective for the people who didn't know that college was an option for them, and those are most often students who fall further down the academic gradient,' Odle said. Yolanda Watson Spiva, who runs the nonprofit Complete College America, said colleges must provide academic and social support to directly admitted students to ensure they graduate. A proponent of the admissions strategy, she said it could yield the best results as part of a continuum in college completion, not a stand-alone initiative. 'Access alone won't address the challenges that historically disadvantaged and underrepresented students are likely to face once they arrive on campus,' she said. 'This has to be holistic.' Getting students with few financial resources to enroll remains a significant challenge for the direct admissions movement. Odle and Delaney's study of Idaho found that its direct admissions policy had little to no effect on the enrollment of students whose household earnings were low enough to qualify for the federal Pell Grant. A separate 2023 study conducted by the pair, using Common App data across four states, also found minimal impact on enrollment, even though the admissions policy resulted in more applications from minority, first-generation and low-income students. State leaders say the next evolution of direct admissions is to pair admission offers with financial aid awards. That may mean using the same data that determines whether a student is qualified for admission to determine their qualification for institutional or state-based scholarships. Texas Commissioner of Higher Education Wynn Rosser said the state is exploring possibilities as it builds out its new direct admissions initiative, which was launched in 2024 with 31 universities. 'The most significant barrier students and families tell us about is being concerned about cost, being concerned about debt,' Rosser said. 'If we can send the message that there is a place for you and you can afford it, then we want to send that message early and consistently.'
