It started with the Tower of Babel from the biblical Book of Genesis…

There I was, sitting in my IB Business and Management class, wondering why on earth in this era of globalisation we still see language differences as a significant barrier for businesses expanding into new markets.

The biblical story enlightened me with an answer that extends beyond the realm of business: collaboration. 

The absence of a unified language alone poses formidable threats that prevent collaborators. So, my...

从今天开始，我将会解答读者在美国大学申请过程中的问题及疑虑。欢迎大家留言。

今天解答的问题：

1. 除了成绩EC什么才能让一个candidate脱颖而出呢？比如是不是EC能体现一条主线比较好？就是能和你填在commonapp上的intended major联系起来？

2. 如果double major的话workload会不会很大?

3. 我比较担心学一个social science学科毕业后好不好找工作的问题...学校有没有那种fair之类的，像sociology psychology这种专业好找工作嘛...都可以做什么？

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In terms of applying to competitive universities a...

Gender agreements. Subjunctive tense. Imperatives. Conjugations. Words that look easy but turn out to be weird - Lo, Se, Te, Os…

They are all staring at me. Voiceless, yet resolute.

If that’s the attitude Spanish had towards me, then why not respond proactively? With resolution. When first presented the options of continuing to study Chinese at the native speaker’s level or starting to speak a completely new language at the start of one of the most rigorous secondary school educa...

数字小队 | 文

根据美国研究生院委员会（CGS）最新发布的报告。2014学年，中国申请赴美就读研究生人数下降1%，申请数量连续第二年下降。而同期整个美国的国际研究生申请数量上升了7%。

《纽约时报》认为，这显示中国赴美研究生数量的增长趋势已经中断。此前2010、2011、2012连续三个学年，中国的申请数量曾连续保持了20%、21%、19%的两位数增长，来自中国研究生已占到美国国际研究生数量的三分之一。

不过近年来，中国政府在研究型大学建设方面投入巨大，这吸引了不少研究生留在中国国内发展。与此同时，美国的大学则在普遍削减开支，...

For me at the moment, the IB exams are fast approaching. Meanwhile, I realise that the new application season has already started. I have recently been asked to write a recommendation letter, in addition to proofreading and editing personal statements. Having gone through the college / university application cycle and been admitted by my first choice school, I would like to sum up a few tips. They are relevant to different types of applications - for secondary schools and higher education insti...

Jane Austen as a Game Theorist: Reconsidering Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen’s characters may first conjure up images of joyous young ladies and gentlemen in a countra-dance ballroom. Whilst this was my original impression shaped by fictions including Pride and Prejudice, I soon became further intrigued by the potential for interdisciplinary learning. This Exploration Project marries my passions for Literature and Mathematics, and triggers my interest in using statistics to solve real-l...

Position maps of Marketing, also known as gap maps or perception maps, and the idea of positioning in general, could be regarded as metaphors in several ways. 

First of all, whichever approach is used to create maps may cannot be 100% accurate, valid, relevant, or precise. The human perception of the world is dominated by knowledge claims that are mostly assumptions. In reality, peeling the surface of an orange cannot result in a flat surface. Likewise, the Earth, as a globe, cannot be ac...

Pounding with exhilaration was her heart, as she rushed to the platform to the Eden of her mind. With ample confidence did she step into the ancient campus, which incessantly guided her in her midsummer night’s dreams… Step, step, step. Steady and sophisticated did she greet her host. 

     Blossoming petals, bushy plethora;

     Sweeter than perfume is the scent

     Of optimism with no oppression.

     Softened hearts, soaring whispers,

     Songs of life’s mirage… For the

   ...

‘Congratulations. The answer is yes!’

!!!

(Screams, Laughters, and Joyful Tears…)

For high school seniors, those five words (especially the first, ‘Congratulations’) from the universities / colleges of their choice may have been appearing in their dreams night after night. As seniors go through the process that is fearfully known as the ‘College Application Cycle’, they may have the following experience on a daily basis. If you are a senior, circle the one(s) that w...

与骆家辉三次面对面

政治生涯：他沉稳、严谨、勤奋并追求完美。

家庭生活：他是模范丈夫，也是孩子们的良师益友。

今天博文的主人公骆家辉(Gary Locke)无须过多为大家介绍。两年内，我十分高兴能有三次机会见到大使，场合截然不同。每一次短暂的经历都拓宽了我对骆家辉的了解范围，令我亲身体会到他扮演不同角色时的特性。

第一次见到骆家辉，是在“鼎泰丰”，大使先生和太太李蒙(Mona)及三个孩子坐在我们的邻桌。惬意的午后，和家人享用精致点心的画面，已随时间推移淡化了。想必有些读者和我一样，有幸能在自己...

‘Hi! I’m also in the acronym festival known as the IB, haha.’ A new Facebook message popped up.

‘So, what is the IB like?’ So did another. 

A walking-on-the-tightrope experience? A merciless predator of sleep? I remembered the series of dark and grotesque metaphors that fellow IB-students attributed to the IB Program, and grinned at this thought. In a previous blog post (titled 'Edutopia'), I outlined my visions for an Edutopia (education utopia, a perfect curriculum), and ...

● 对于一个身在中国的美国留学生来说，赚钱的门道实在是多得像天上掉馅饼。做英语外教当然是最容易想到的，但有的报酬更加优厚——比如帮中国学生“修改”留学申请材料。看看福布斯的特约作者怎么回忆他们的这段工作经历。 

黄蒂 / 文

这项工作有个很炫的别名——ghostwriting，或许可以翻译成“幽灵写作”。

 美国青年汉娜和肖恩都曾在中国留学，那时他们看到了一则从事出国留学材料“编辑工作”的广告，上面写着“一个星期赚200美元！”。

 在中国，从事留学服务的中介机构生意蒸蒸日上，对于多数中介机构来说，衡量成功的唯一...

Reflections of a Female Bibliophile

15 July, 2011

‘To be or not to be, that is the question.’ A single spotlight, and a pitch-dark stage -- a lost wanderer, merely a foolish player. But where is the dawn of my everlasting darkness? 

I seek no revenge, readers*. Nay, neither sympathies.

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Dashes, dots, disfigured shapes... Strolling forward, a...

By April Xiaoyi Xu © 2014

High above us rests the night sky - tranquil, subtle, and inscrutable. Powerfully, the scene arouses wonder and awe, which invoke a sense of morality and religion in me. Coincidental? Destined? Whether the high power resides there, I do not know. Neither does this bottle of wine, which sits in front of me. A sense of surrealism encompassed us.

At the age of ninety, I am grateful that an event took place a couple of months ago. After all, longevity in our society t...

Often metaphorized as a dragon, China has providing me with food and shelter for the past 17 years. The fact that the country is a rising dragon that has woken up from a humiliated slumber might be perceived as relevant, since our daily living standards are constantly improving. In China’s modern society, we can see that ...

Cheers for Appetite

Learn to travel, travel to learn. Growing up, the increasing appetite for knowledge and progress as a learner is truly empowering. 

'Years, gone. Since when has the timid girl grown up? I still recall the time when she could only communicate with her English-speaking playmates with broken language, and silently watched her friends swim in the lovely lake during a vacation. How is she empowered as a conservationist? Can it be, can it really be her, who pro-activel...

     "Utopia", literally "no place" in Ancient Greek, commonly suggests a perfect zenith. Generations of risk-takers and thinkers, intrigued by the hardship in achieving perfection, have attempted to establish their own utopias with countless philosophical ideas. As idealistic as I may be as a high school student who is inspired by them, I have secretly accepted a daring mission of creating (okay, I mean, "imagining") an education utopia, also known as "Edutopia". Of course, I will just be offe...

As a graduate of Wesleyan University and Harvard Business School, Mr. Karl Furstenberg has worked in selective university admissions for 30 years. Mr. Furstenberg has served as Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Wesleyan University and Dartmouth College, and was also Chair of the Ivy League Admissions Committee. Being well versed in a diversity of aspects including secondary school curriculum, standardized testing and student evaluat...

如果，学校为你的一个梦想买单，你最想做的事情是什么呢？

我先举一个例子：耶鲁大学，在正式开学之前，特别为大学一年级 “新鲜人”推出了“采购时段”。学校为学生们提供了多达数千门课程，耶鲁“新鲜人”可以自由选课。他们可以“大摇大摆”地在不同的课程中穿梭，喜欢的课程，留下来继续听；不喜欢的，径直走出课堂。这绝对不是对教授的“大不敬”，而是校方做出的一个明智的举措。

每一所大学，吸引你的原因各有不同。有的大学，因为古老而神秘。比如：芝加哥大学。学校的宣传视频仅有30秒，气势磅礴的建筑出现在画面上，解说词...

When does it start? Why? How?

00:00, a brand new day arrives, signifying 24 hours until my digital clock declares this number again. A dozen of peers are still on Skype, but let me log off and concentrate more.

00:01 Sheet music, music sheets. Page one, two, and no, go back to one. How does it sound now? Examine this - the flowing melodies, the flying grace of each note, but then - look at this, a fissure in the middle of a beautiful Palace of music. Fix this immediately, g...