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Some people are surprised at the measures Centenary has taken, to close the program despite the significant cash flow that comes in from running such a program “You don’t want to be too persnickety or you lose the revenue that comes from these programs,” explains Kathryn Mohrman, director of the University Design Consortium.

Many believe that China’s reputation for research misconduct and plagiarism will “hamper the rise of Chinese universities.” The Inside Higher Ed piece points to an inordinate number of recent articles that discuss this issue. Both students and their host academic institutions are being blamed for what’s been likened to a plagiarism “epidemic.” How to “treat” this problem is the source of much debate. Building teacher-student trust, highlighting the importance of learning for learning’s sake, and addressing specific cultural attitudes towards citation and towards misconduct are all avenues that need to be examined in tackling the problem of academic misconduct at international branch programs and amongst foreign students studying in the U.S.

To tackle the problem of conforming to a widely-accepted conduct standard, Michael Smithee, and international higher education consultant says:

You’ve got to be willing to repeat how you approach cheating and what cheating is, and be very clear, every time, so that by the time the course is done, the students will be tired of hearing it. And if they’re tired of hearing it, it probably means that they understand it a little more.

To reinforce this issue to students is crucial; but the fact that teachers and institutional culture play a part in fostering a plagiarism-heavy atmosphere also cannot be denied. According to Teddi Fishman, director of the International Center for Academic Integrity, “[I]f you have a problem this large, it’s not just the student and it’s not just the teacher.”

Do you want to go global with your MBA? Download Internationalizing the MBA, a free special report, to explore the increasingly global canvas of leading MBA programs in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

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• Many b-school students will be returning to class this fall without having had the rosy summer internship experience they had expected—that is, if they were lucky enough to land an internship at all. The main cause for disappointment: Fewer internships are turning into full-time job offers. “The number of offers at the end of the summer is shrinking, because companies don’t know their hiring needs, and so they’re very conservative,” says Kellogg assistant dean and director of career management, Roxanne Hori. The recent Businessweek article that covers this topic (“Salvaging an MBA Internship Gone Bad“) suggests that if you haven’t been offered a job by August, you shouldn’t despair—at least not yet. There are ways to persuade an internship employer to turn your summer stint into the real deal. Some tips from the article: Plan a mid-summer meeting with your employer. Discuss how you will contribute to the company long term. And if your employer still doesn’t bite, continue working hard until the end of the summer, and exit with dignity, making sure that you’re networking and job searching at the same time.

• Another recent Businessweek article compares private and public university spending per student for teaching, concluding that private universities spend twice as much as public ones. In the academic year 2007-2008, private colleges lay out teaching costs, on average, of $19,520 per student, while their public counterparts spent $9,732 per student. Both rates are up significantly in the last ten years—private costs by 22% and public by 10%.

• Yet another salary survey has been released by the Businessweek blog Getting In (“Salaries Strong for Recent Business Grads“). This one reports an increase in the number of jobs that corporate employers plan to offer undergraduate and graduate business grads, particularly to those coming out of summer internships. Looks like the author of our internship article (above) didn’t see this survey finding (conducted by Compensation Resources, Inc.): “This year, nearly 90 percent of corporate respondents plan to offer interns full-time jobs compared to only 60 percent in 2008.”

• Tuck alumni show appreciation to the Dartmouth business school by hitting a world record in its alumni giving participation rate. 66.7% of Tuck alumni participated in the recent Tuck Annual Giving campaign, surpassing other top b-schools by a landslide. The Tuck alumni giving rate has been above 60% consistently for the last 25 years. No other top b-school has ever even come close to that rate—this year, the next highest participation rate was at 42% and the average of the other nine schools on the top ten list was at a mere 20%. (Source: July 2010 Tuck Tip Sheet)

• Seeking more job optimism? The New York Times reports that hiring is on the rise, on Wall Street and elsewhere. A professor at Columbia calls the stock exchange “very resilient.” Everything has its ups and downs–look at hiring stats for companies like JPMorgan or Goldman Sachs, and you’ll see that the economy is about to experience an up. See the New York Times’ “Wall St. Hiring in Anticipation of an Economic Recovery” for more details.

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• Another recent Financial Times article, “Shift to international standards happening, but slowly,” reports on some of the challenges b-schools have been facing in the area of global business harmonization, particularly with regards to accounting. The rules of accounting have traditionally varied by jurisdiction, yet the EU has been attempting to include accounting in its international financial reporting standards (IFRS) since 2005. The U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board, however, have confirmed that they will not meet the June 2011 deadline, creating educational limits for providers who are seeking to standardize and internationalize their accounting programs. Accounting professors must juggle both American and international standards until the two merge following what may be many more years of debate and planning. According to the FT article, soon, localized accountancy training will disappear with the “globalization of accounting practices and the eventual adoption of IFRS.”

• Big GMAT test prep books have gone the way of bulky dictionaries and encyclopedias—they’ve gone digital. Future MBA hopefuls will no longer need to tote oversized paper GMAT books, but will be able to download easily accessible GMAT apps for their smart phones, reports a Businessweek blog post. iPhone apps include Kaplan GMAT Flashcards, GMAT ToolKit, and the new GMAT Pill, a month-long study plan developed by GMAT high-scorer, Zeke Lee. The benefit of such programs—besides for the amount of space they’ll save in your bag—is that they implement more visual explanations through video tutorials. As Lee explains, “What’s special about these videos is they are really helping students change the way they think.” Android and BlackBerry users will also have GMAT options at their fingertips, for affordable, on-the-go GMAT prep.

• Rising college costs are a source of anxiety and anger for many students and their families. According to a recent Businessweek blog, tuition and fees for private nonprofit universities and colleges has increased by about 4.5%, about 0.2% greater an increase than last year. While these increases may wreck havoc on your bank account and retirement plans, it is interesting to note that these tuition hikes (last year’s and this year’s) are actually the two lowest increases since the 1972-1973 academic year. 4.5% may seem unmanageable, but it beats the pre-recession increase average of 6% per year. Another silver lining: Grant and scholarship programs received a 6.8% average increase this year.

Do you need help financing your future college or graduate school costs? Buy our featured ebook, Financing Your Future, by July 31, 2010 and receive 20% off when you use coupon code FUTURE20 at checkout.

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As I followed this first African World Cup, I marveled at how close many of the games were, and how relatively minor plays decided the outcomes. Spain beating Germany on a header off a corner kick was all that mattered. Then there were the refereeing mistakes and questionable judgment calls that seemed to affect whether a team advanced or was eliminated. Did that obvious goal by England against Germany that was missed affect the player’s spirits, thus contributing to their eventual loss? What really was the impact of that clear offside by Argentina against Mexico, or the phantom American foul on a US goal against Slovenia?

As exciting as the games have been, you might be wondering what they have to do with the admissions process. Several parallels strike me.

First, being heavily favored going into the games doesn’t mean making it to the final one. Germany, Brazil and Spain were favored by many at the beginning of play; Spain is the only one that survived. Essentially they had “good stats.” Similarly, a candidate might have outstanding credentials and qualifications for admissions, but the application process seeks people of achievement, leadership, initiative, and impact. Stats are not enough and may not determine the winners.

Second, the ability to take full advantage of opportunities is crucial. Spain’s goal against Germany showed the importance of being fully prepared to use an opportunity to score, just as making it to an interview round in the application process demands that a candidate be fully prepared to beat out other closely qualified candidates in that crucial step of the process.

Finally, each of the 32 initial World Cup teams was talented and well qualified, but each had to prove it had the ability to make it to the final game. Applicants must similarly understand that admission decisions are made by people doing their best to put together a class that is balanced among many different metrics. Using your application, especially your essays, to showcase why you are qualified to “win” can make all the difference.

P.S. Having lived in the U.S., Japan and Mexico – none of whom made it to the final – and having good friends and relatives in both Spain and The Netherlands, I claim neutrality regarding Sunday’s game.

Robbie Walker is a writer, columnist and editor who received her MBA from Chicago Booth. She is happy to assist you in targeting the right schools and identifying the details that best highlight your candidacy.

Want a preview of some of the tips you’ll find in Financing Your Future? Here are a few on staying organized during the scholarship search:

You’ll likely be juggling fellowship applications and your grad school applications simultaneously. Grad School itself can be a constant dance of deadlines, projects, courses, extracurricular activities, and work. Organization, needless to say, is key.

Whatever organizational system works best for you—using paper files, going all electronic, programming deadlines into your phone—make sure you use it consistently.

1. Track all deadlines and all activity on each open application.
2. Note your interactions with your recommenders. When did you contact your recommenders? When did they respond? Have you scheduled meetings or phone calls?
3. Check the order time for official transcripts. When do you need to order them?
4. During your research, when you identify future funding opportunities, file that information with your other fellowship materials and make a note of their deadlines.

In this easy-to-download ebook you’ll find more practical tips on when, where, and how to apply to various funding sources, as well as receive helpful links and resources about scholarships, awards, and fellowships.

Invest in your graduate school future when you buy Financing Your Future today. Save 20% by entering coupon code FUTURE20 by July 31, 2010.

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As your story is the most compelling part of your audio clip, there’s no need to sweat the technical stuff.  Several inexpensive, user-friendly recording options are probably sitting right in front of you, on your computer.

Here are the Top Five Tips for your audio recording:

1) Write as you speak: As you’re writing, speak aloud so that you use language you would normally use for speaking, rather than for writing.

2) Use headphones: When you do record your audio, make sure to use headphones so that you know what you sound like.  But don’t just trust what you hear. Sometimes there are different controls for how loud the microphone is picking up your voice, and for your headphone volume. Recording programs and devices should have a visual indicator for your voice level.

In Garageband, it looks like this in the editing window when you play back what you’ve recorded:

GOOD

See how the bars are green, a little more than midway into the window? This is a good level.

BAD

In this example, my voice is too loud.  This is called peaking and your voice will sound tinny. This means you are too close to your microphone. Move back, or speak more softly so that your voice is in the “GOOD” range.

BAD

In this example, my voice is too low.  I either need to speak up, or move closer to the mic.

3. Practice, and do a test export. Before you record, practice saying your script aloud at least 5 times.  Print it out so that you can underline words you want to emphasize.  You should also time yourself, to make sure that you are staying within the allotted limit. Also, record a short 10 second snippet and practice exporting it into the school’s acceptable format.

4.  Think like your audience. The admissions committee is going to be listening to hundreds, maybe thousands of these clips.  Most people will probably use Garageband–so if you choose to jazz up your piece with one of the audio jingles they provide–most likely someone else will too, and you will sound less unique!  What is going to make you stand out the most is your story.  So again, and I can’t emphasize this enough–unless adding extra music or sound is part of YOUR story–DON’T add it in!

5. Record in front of another person, and smile. This will help you to visualize your audience, and help you sound more like you are telling a story, rather than just reading off a page. By smiling, you will automatically boost your energy, and sound more interesting as you speak.

Stay tuned for the final Part V of the series: Let’s Get Technical . . . with Video.

By Michelle Stockman, who worked in the Columbia Business School admissions office, has a Masters in Journalism from Columbia, and has assisted Accepted.com clients applying to top business schools since 2007. When not advising Accepted’s clients, she is a multimedia producer with works published by Agence France Presse, Economist.com, WSJ.com, the Times of India, and Hindustan Times. She is happy to help you with your application.

• A recent survey conducted by Public Agenda shows that high school guidance counselors are not quite as effective at helping students get into college as they once were. The reason, according to Inside Higher Ed: First budget cuts have increased the student-to-counselor ratio, so counselors spend less quality time with each student; and second, the counselors are just not as good as they used to be. College advisors, on the other hand, received much more positive reviews. (Click here for a critical response from a veteran high school counselor.)

• Even the most prestigious of MBA programs (like HBS) have been called under scrutiny since the recent financial crisis, reports the Financial Post last week. And yet even with such criticism, top MBA programs (like Harvard) are receiving more and more applications. One reason for such an increase in popularity, explains the article, is Harvard’s position in the published rankings. But how reliable are these rankings? With so many ranking reports out there, so many ranking methodologies floating around, and so many surveys and questionnaires that tackle different sorts of questions, how can anyone attribute any justifiable weight to rankings? Surveys show that university adcoms, professors, and students all agree that the rankings are subjective and should not be relied upon, and yet the media seems to continue going rankings-crazy.

For more information about the value (and lack thereof) of rankings, check out MBA Rankings: An Accepted.com Special Report now.

• The Chronicle offers highlights from the career of USC’s now retired president Steven B. Sample, particularly his campaign to find a successful leader to replace his iconic role. Sample, who was president of University of Southern California, is praised for his enthusiasm and success at marketing and has “engineered one of the great recent transformations in American higher education” with his rebuilding and rebranding work at USC which in turn affected the economy and culture of Los Angeles. The new president, who will be named sometime next month, has large shoes to fill, especially since USC’s endowment took a hard hit by the recession. .

• More than one-third of university faculty members saw a dip in their 2009-2010 salaries, reports a recent Chronicle article. Faculty salaries at private doctoral institutions, on the other hand, actually saw a salary increase of about 1.7%.

• CNN Money’s Fortune Magazine ran an article recently on the strengths that military veterans bring to the business world. Wal-Mart U.S. is making particular strides to recruit junior military officers. Jennifer Seidner, senior recruiting manager at Wal-Mart, explains: “The thinking was that we could bring in world-class leadership talent that was already trained and ready to go. And then we could teach them retail, because we know that pretty well.” The result of such an endeavor: Wal-Mart has “tapped into a good mine of talent.” Other companies, as well as business schools, are also beginning to place a higher premium on military veterans in the workforce.

• In a BusinessWeek article entitled “Business Schools Revamp the Application,” author Francesca Di Meglio discusses three major changes to the MBA application process: GRE scores are now accepted by many b-schools instead of just the traditional GMAT; for non-native English speakers, the IELTS is accepted in addition to the traditional TOEFL test; application deadlines are earlier; and last but not least, b-schools will now accept video and/or audio components to the application. Chicago Booth is considered a pioneer is the multimedia aspects of admissions. UCLA Anderson picked up on the trend, offering applicants with an option to present an audio submission, and 70% of applicants accepted the challenge. As Mae Jennifer Shores, assistant dean of admissions at Anderson says, “A lot of business schools have concerns about authenticity. This was a way to get a more authentic view of a candidate.”

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• The Chronicle‘s recent article, “Shrinking Newsrooms Put Colleges in the Content Business,” discusses a missing element in modern media relations: someone who haunts the halls of universities, “stopping by people’s offices and really getting to know them.” As Geoff S. Larcom, a former reporter, states, “You don’t see that much anymore, because everyone’s stretched so thin.” While original reporting on higher education may be on the decline, blogs and online forums related to higher education issues are on the rise, as can be seen in national newspapers like The New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today. But without true reporting and relying almost entirely on opinion blogs, user comments, and online forums, can we be sure that we’re getting accurate information? Where have all the big stories gone, especially those in the area of the sciences and research? Facebook and Twitter updates are fun to read and can even transmit important information; but is it really news?

• In a related article, “J-Schools to the Rescue?” Inside Higher Ed writer Steve Kolowich asks if journalism schools can help save journalism. He suggests that struggling newspapers hire journalism students (who will work for credit) to “fill the gaps left by the pros whom the news outlets could no longer afford to pay.” Such a partnership has indeed been forged, between New York University and The New York Times. The NYT recently cut about 200 newsroom jobs and NYU journalism students are eager to fill those spots. Other universities in other cities are establishing similar alliances in television news studios in addition to newspaper newsrooms. And why not take advantage of students who are willing to work for cheap hire or even for free? However, the problem still remains: When these j-school students graduate, will they be able to find paying journalism jobs, even with some New York Times experience under their belts? So can j-schools save journalism? As long as there are students writing, there will be news content, but students should think long and hard about whether that experience will be valuable in the long run.

• If you’re creative and just a little tech savvy, then applying for b-school financial aid just got a lot more fun, reports a BusinessWeek article. Scholarship applicants from the Netherlands’ Nyerode Business University can now apply for the YouTube Scholarship. Applicants must create a two-minute YouTube video explaining why they think they should win the $15,000 b-school scholarship.  The school’s program director, Professor Eric Meise, explains that these two-minute videos portray a much clearer picture of the applicants as compared to the previously used five-page application essay forms. You can view one of the recent YouTube scholarship videos here.

Related Accepted.com Resources:

• Financing Your Future: Winning Fellowships, Scholarships and Awards for Grad School, an instantly downloadable ebook.
• Navigating the MBA Maze, an ecourse.

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• The Harbus, the HBS newspaper, reports on Harvard’s Immersion Experience Program (IXP), an initiative that focuses on “participant-centered, field-based experiential learning activities.” About 400 HBS students shipped off to six different international programs in India, China, Vietnam, Rwanda, Peru, and UAE/Bahrain.

• State universities continue to make huge budget cuts and plan to further hike up tuition costs, reports BusinessWeek last week. The article “State Universities Brace for Another Brutal Year” discusses how the economic downturn is far from over for state universities, some of which have cut upwards towards $45 million just in the last year and have hiked up tuition 15%. State support for public universities has dwindled, and doesn’t seem to be improving any time soon. Students all over the country are up in arms about this, especially those in the University of California system who suffered a 32% tuition increase. The fact that professors and other university personnel are getting laid off certainly doesn’t help control the anger factor. Private universities are also in the midst of severe cuts and hikes: Yale just cut $50 million from its yearly budget; Dartmouth plans to lay off non-faculty members to help close its $100 million deficit.

• While UC Berkeley may have its share of budgetary problems, at least in the area of diversity the funds are flowing due to a $16 million donation received to support diversity initiatives. The donation is from one of Berkeley’s largest donors, the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, and is intended “to support both research and teaching on diversity and to cultivate a campus ‘built on fairness and acceptance.’” The goal to include incoming freshmen and community college transfer students who are deemed racially and economically diverse is proving a difficult one since affirmative action in California has been banned. (The Chronicle)

Related Resources:

1. Financing Your Future: Winning Fellowships, Scholarships and Awards for Grad School, an ebook.
2. MBA BlastOff: 45 Terrific Tips to Launch Your MBA Application to Acceptance, an ebook.

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