Securing a seat at a top M.B.A. program isn’t a slam-dunk for anybody, and it’s rare that an applicant can’t improve his or her candidacy in some way. If you’re thinking of applying to business school in the next year or two, there are several steps you can take now that will pay off in a big way down the road. With a little planning and a commitment of just a few hours a week, you can rethink your current list of "safety" schools and you might actually get into an M.B.A. program you now think of as a long shot.

Community involvement: Business schools aim to train future leaders and want to see applicants who are concerned with doing great work and improving the world around them. Now is the time to deepen or establish your involvement with a community organization. Don’t use your long work hours or grueling travel schedule as an excuse for neglecting this area of your application.

If you haven’t done any volunteer work lately, get online and you’ll find opportunities to get involved by the weekend. It really is as simple as that. Candidates who get started now will have a full year of service under their belts by the time applications are due.

On the other hand, if you have been involved in some form of community service over the last couple of years, now’s the time to step up your activities a notch. Consider roles that will allow you to take a leadership position and create real impact. Offering to organize an event is a great discrete activity that will allow you to work in a team, have an impact, and show results.

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

Academic enhancement: Whether you have issues with your GMAT score or your undergrad GPA, you should take action now to improve your overall academics before next fall. If, after taking the GMAT once or twice, you score below what you believe you’re capable of, consider a prep course to enhance your skills and remind you how to solve those logic-based high school math problems.

An undergrad GPA hovering around 3.5 is generally considered fine. If your GPA is a 3.2 or below, or you majored in liberal arts, you may want to consider taking quantitative classes to enhance your academic profile. The M.B.A. canon generally consists of calculus, statistics, and microeconomics. If you took any of those classes in undergrad and scored a C or below, you should certainly retake the classes now. Where you take the class is much less important than the course material and final grade. A local community college is a great option.

Leadership and management potential: A promotion between now and next fall would be ideal, but you don’t have to wait for your boss to act in order to enhance your leadership and management potential.

Volunteer for that cross-functional team or project; offer to help your boss with a tough long-term goal; or get involved with employee groups at work, whether through volunteering in the community or promoting diversity in your company. Letting others at work know you are interested in developing your people skills may uncover more opportunities to go above and beyond, and provide great material for your résumé and essays.

[Weigh the value of attending a summer business program.]

Enrichment from reading: Many future M.B.A.s become so enmeshed in the daily grind that reading for pleasure is a foreign concept. Good readers make good writers, so immerse your brain in the English language! You’ll not only expand your vocabulary; you’ll also learn, or relearn, techniques for organizing your essays that will enhance both your application and GMAT scores.

Deirdre Leopold, managing director of M.B.A. admissions and financial aid at Harvard Business School, says that it’s a well-known fact that she always asks interviewees what they are currently reading. Pick up the habit and read up on the topics that are important to you. If you need inspiration, find out what HBS professors are reading over summer break. You’ll have more to talk about with interviewers, and you may even gain some material for your essays.

The time to start strengthening your candidacy is now, and I guarantee that focusing on these four areas over the next nine to 12 months will transform your b-school application.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch motorists kill about 133 billion insects a month, splattering bugs on their vehicles and eliminating important members of the food chain, according to a study released this week.

Biologists at Wageningen University in the Netherlands enlisted the help of 250 drivers for a “splash teller” study. Each motorist had to wipe his or her car license plate clean then tot up the bug body count at the end of their drive.

“They are by far the richest species groups in all countries, and therefore play an essential role in the food chain,” biologist Arnold van Vliet, one of a team working on the project, told Reuters.

“Many birds such as swallows, who hunt for insects, depend on insect density. If insect numbers are low they inevitably face severe problems finding food for their young,” he said.

Insects are not only important pollinators of commercial and wild plants, but also form a crucial part of the diet of many animals including birds and bats.

The study showed the most dangerous parts of the country for a flying insect are the coastal provinces of Zeeland, Friesland and Groningen — which Van Vliet said was possibly a reflection of the fact the human inhabitants are more likely to drive longer distances in these less densely populated areas.

Van Vliet said the scientific study was inspired by a similar project in the United Kingdom, carried out in 2004.

(Reporting by Jennifer Martin; Editing by Sara Webb)

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Scientists in Japan said on Wednesday they have created teeth — complete with connective fibers and bones — by using mouse stem cells and successfully transplanted them into mice, a step they hope will lead to progress in stem cell research.

The entire tooth units, which were inserted into lower jaws of mice, attached successfully with jaw bones and the rats were able to chew normally, the researchers wrote in a paper in PLoS One (Public Library of Science).

“The bioengineered teeth were fully functional … there was no trouble (with) biting and eating food after transplantation,” wrote Masamitsu Oshima, assistant professor at the Research Institute for Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science.

The researchers hope this is a step to help the development of new human organs grown from a patient’s own cells.

“At present, researchers worldwide do not have the method to culture three-dimensional organs in vitro (outside the body),” Professor Takashi Tsuji, who led the research, wrote in his reply to questions from Reuters.

“It is important to develop technologies for the culture of the bioengineered organ … for the realization of future organ replacement regenerative therapy.”

Stem cells are the body’s master cells and source of all cells and tissues. They are undifferentiated and experts believe they can generate all the cell types of the organ from which they originate.

Because of their ability to generate different types of cells and multiply and self-renew, scientists hope to harness stem cells to treat a variety of diseases and disorders, including cancer, diabetes and injuries.

FROM STEM CELLS TO WHOLE TOOTH UNITS

Tsuji’s team removed two types of stem cells from the molar teeth of mice and grew them in the laboratory. To control the length and shape of the teeth, the cells were placed in a mold, where they grew into entire tooth units.

The entire tooth units were then transplanted into the lower jaws of one-month-old mice. They fused with the tissues and jaw bones around them after about 40 days, Tsuji said. Nerve fibers too could be detected in the new teeth.

Tsuji stressed the importance of finding the right “seed cells” for reparative therapy. In this case, entire tooth units could be grown because the stem cells were taken from molar teeth of mice — where they later grew into enamel, dental bones and other parts that comprised a regular tooth unit.

In 2010, U.S. researchers created an artificial lung that rats used to breathe for several hours.

(Editing by Yoko Nishikawa)

HOUSTON (Reuters) – It’s a rare person who can say that her artwork is hurtling through space.

But Rachel Hobson, a self-proclaimed space geek and crafts blogger, can certainly claim those bragging rights.

As millions watched the launch of the final U.S. shuttle mission, Atlantis, Hobson had the added thrill of knowing that a photo of her needlework moonscape was on board.

Hobson, a Houston mother, crafter and space enthusiast, won a contest last fall sponsored by NASA and Etsy, an online crafters’ marketplace, with her depiction of the moon’s surface.

The 4- by 6-inch embroidery and crochet project of silk and cotton threads, ribbons and beads was photographed and turned into a lighter weight print for the trip into space.

“My hope with this small piece of artwork is that I can help inspire people to get back in touch with that thing that sparked them as a child, whether it was space or dance or whatever,” Hobson wrote in her entry statement.

Although her prize included a shuttle launch viewing pass, Hobson, who blogs as “average Jane crafter,” also secured media credentials to attend the final liftoff on July 8 as a writer for an online craft zine.

Seeing the shuttle up close was a very emotional experience, she said, especially when she looked up and thought about how a print of her work was inside.

“Launches are just spectacular, no matter what,” she told Reuters. “You can just feel it as it takes off. My entire body started shaking, and I instantly started crying because it’s so awe-inspiring. It’s bright; it’s loud; and it makes the most unreal noise. At the same time, my brain was trying to process that this is the last time that any of us will see it.”

Since a childhood adventure at Space Camp in Alabama, Hobson, now 35, has been awed by the mysteries of space. But a lack of math skills dashed her dreams of ever becoming an astronaut.

When Space Shuttle Challenger exploded just after takeoff in 1986, the loss of its seven crew members left a lasting impression on her, she said.

“I was really intrigued that there were people so dedicated to science and exploration that they were willing to risk to their lives,” she added.

She said the end of the shuttle program is sad for a generation that grew up watching U.S. space missions, and a devastating blow to the community she calls home.

“As people leave the area to take jobs elsewhere,” she said, “not only will we lose their economic contributions, but more importantly, I fear we’ll lose the intellectual richness such a diverse, innovative group of employees creates in our community.”

(Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Paying for college is rarely easy. Ideally, it’s a longterm process of building and using a collection of savings, institutional aid, free money, and—if necessary—loans. 

[Discover more ways to accumulate money at the College Savings Center.] 

But with so many avenues for financing your education, it’s often difficult to sort out what might work best for you, given your situation and time frame. Whether you’ll be moving into your dorm room in two months or you’re starting to save now for your toddler’s college education, here are four often-overlooked considerations that may lessen your financial burden:

Exhaust your federal options: Because federal loans (Stafford and Perkins) are cheaper and have more flexible repayment options, students with financial need should always exhaust their federal options before looking to private loans, says Kevin Walker, cofounder and CEO of SimpleTuition.com. It’s an often overlooked route, he adds, because some families mistakenly assume it’s a complicated process for a loan they may be too well off to qualify for anyway. 

"Some families might believe, ‘We’re upper middle class; our income is upper level so we wouldn’t qualify,’" Walker notes. "Whether you’re Bill Gates’s kid or a child of a family with zero income, you can get a federal Stafford loan." 

[Learn more about the benefits of federal student loans.] 

And, if college is around the corner and you’ve yet to apply for federal aid, it’s also a mistake to assume you’re too late, Walker notes. You can still fill out the FAFSA and work with your college’s financial aid office to evaluate your payment options. Sites such as SimpleTuition, the Department of Education, and Sallie Mae offer more information on federal loans and help students navigate the private loan sector, if necessary. 

Consider 529 plans: If you have some time before college, a 529 savings plan may be an attractive route for you. Named after Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code under which it was created, a 529 plan allows users to select from a variety of funds in which to invest, including real estate and money market accounts. In 34 states and the District of Columbia, parents with a 529 plan qualify for an income tax deduction or credit on contributions. 

[Find out more about 529 plans.] 

These savings plans with tax advantages were effectively created to lessen the number of investment choices families have to make, says Mark Kantrowitz, founder of FinAid.org. But it seems the message hasn’t been fully communicated; in a recent parent survey conducted by Sallie Mae, about half of all respondents who aren’t using a 529 plan didn’t know the option existed. That lack of information was the most commonly cited reason parents didn’t use the college savings plan, according to the 2010 study, How America Saves for College, which surveyed 2,092 parents around the country with children under the age of 18. 

"This is not rocket science," Kantrowitz says, adding that parents and students should be able to navigate the options. Ideally, a 529 savings account will be opened when a child is young, so savings can accrue over time according to an age-based investment allocation. Then, any risky investments have a decade or more to recover. 

Though 529 plans—and the accompanying fees—vary by state, eligibility is not determined by residency. You can opt to enroll in Ohio’s plan if you live in Virginia, for example. Consider your state’s plan first, Kantrowitz recommends, then look elsewhere if its fees aren’t lower than 1 percent or if it doesn’t offer an attractive income tax deduction.

As we reported in last month’s post, U.S. News May Change Its Law School Ranking Methodology, an American Bar Association (ABA) committee approved new standards to be used by law schools to report post-J.D. employment and job placement data. We will know exactly how these new standards will be implemented officially when the ABA posts the instructions for its 2011 ABA Questionnaire, the annual accreditation survey that each law school is required to fill out, within in the next few weeks.

The ABA’s goal is to have the new employment questions ready for law schools to complete in early August 2011. At that time, the standards that were passed in June 2011 will be translated into actual questions that each law school must answer and submit to the ABA for their 2010 graduating J.D. class. 

U.S. News will also collect this same data in fall 2011 and early 2012. We have indicated that there is a strong likelihood we will use this new, detailed jobs data to change the methodology used to calculate the 2013 edition of the Best Law Schools rankings, to be published in 2012. Until U.S. News finishes collecting the new data, we are unable to specify how the methodology will change.

The pressure had been building on law schools from a variety of individuals, organizations, and California Senator Barbara Boxer to do something significant about the integrity and quantity of the law school placement data (see our previous post, U.S. News Again Urges ABA to Improve Jobs Data). One of the more recent attempts to discuss the potential problems law schools face is from a paper written by the University of California—Davis School of Law‘s Joel Murray, titled "Professional Dishonesty: Do U.S. Law Schools That Report False or Misleading Employment Statistics Violate Consumer Protection Laws?"

This paper joins a rapidly expanding body of literature that relate to the law school rankings and examine the impact of the rankings on law schools, the legal profession, prospective students and their parents, and society in general. Murray’s paper analyzes the potential for using the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) against ABA accredited law schools. The paper contends:

In recent years, evidence has emerged indicating that many law schools are misreporting or falsifying employment statistics in marketing materials and to the U.S.News and World Report‘s law school rankings, the preeminent rankings for United States (U.S.) law schools. The reporting of false or misleading employment statistics to prospective students may violate provisions of the FTC Act that prohibit deceptive practices and false advertising. This paper reviews evidence that U.S. law schools are misreporting employment statistics, examines how the FTC Act applies to U.S. law schools, and argues that U.S. law schools that misreport or falsify employment statistics violate multiple provisions of the FTC Act." 

U.S. News hopes that when the new law school reporting standards for J.D. jobs data are fully implemented, it will result in improved credibility and increased transparency of this important consumer information.

Searching for a law school? Get our complete rankings of Best Law Schools.

Since we launched The Scholarship Coach in December 2010, we’ve tried to give you as much advice as possible on how to seek out and apply for scholarships, and also highlight the best ways to boost your chances of receiving a scholarship. We also think it’s important that you understand the bigger picture as to why scholarships have become so essential to the majority of students who want to graduate with a college degree—and why it’s imperative that you understand that scholarships can be vital to your post-college success. Here are the top five reasons why you can’t afford not to apply for scholarships in 2011.

1. College costs a lot more than it used to. According to a 2010 Trends in College Pricing report by College Board, since the year 2000, public four-year tuition and fees have increased more than 5 percent annually above inflation. Tuition at public two-year colleges and private four-year colleges also increased by 3 percent above inflation.

[See which public colleges offer the lowest in-state costs and the lowest out-of-state costs.]

2. The economy stinks, and your parents have no money. Well, hopefully that’s not 100 percent accurate, but there’s definitely some truth to that statement. While parents still very much value contributing to their children’s college tuition, the amount that families can afford to contribute has declined. A study commissioned by lender Sallie Mae and conducted by Gallup found that the number of families who planned to cover few if any college costs had risen while the number of parents expecting to cover more than half of the costs had dropped. A similar survey conducted by Longmire and Company, a higher-ed consulting firm, found that 33 percent—the largest percentage of parents—said they planned on contributing less than $5,000 to their child’s college tuition, barely enough to cover four years of textbooks.

[Learn more about paying for college.]

3. The cost of college living is up. Unless you plan on living at home and commuting to school—a very good option for a lot of college students—plan on paying a lot more than your older brother or sister paid for your apartment, food, books and supplies. All of these things have gotten more expensive.

4. State support for students has decreased substantially. Although it looks like America may have weathered the worst of the recession (let’s hope), many states are still reeling from the economic slump and most have made large cuts in public service funding—including higher education. As a result, public colleges and universities have increased tuition, meaning you’re probably going to pay more now.

5. People owe a lot of money. One quarter of the U.S. population—70 million people—owe a collective $700 billion in student loan debt. Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? It is. According to the Institute for College Access and Success, the average college graduate has acquired $24,000 in student loans by the time they graduate, and that figure is likely to increase. Experts say this may be the next financial bubble to burst.

[Read more about the higher education bubble.]

I know what you might be thinking. And the answer is a resounding yes—going to college is worth it. Your college degree will be one of the most lucrative investments you’ll make. College graduates earn, on average, $20,000 more per year than someone with just a high school diploma, according to a 2007 report by College Board. The cost of attending college may seem daunting, but that’s exactly why finding, applying for, and receiving scholarships are essential to ensure that you won’t struggle to make huge student loan payments upon graduation. Scholarships are no longer just a bonus. They’re crucial for bridging the gap between the increasing cost of tuition and what you and your family can afford to pay out of pocket.

Michelle Showalter joined Scholarship America in 2007 and is an alumna of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

If you believe getting rid of hemorrhoids once for all is simple, rethink it. Some of us really believe one can mearly make use of a hemorrhoid treatment to cure hemorrhoids and then they won’t ever come back. This could not be further from the truth. Nonetheless, one can cure hemorrhoids once for all. To realize success you will have to determine what induces hemorrhoids to begin with and next cease doing them.

Unless you improve your way of life it won’t much make a difference which variety of hemorroid treatment you have including medical operations, your hemorrhoids could very well return. Hemorrhoids develop from exorbitant pressure on your lower pelvis which squeezes the abnormal arteries into a bulb. This is typically caused by a very poor diet routine, one which includes little or no fiber. Consuming fresh fruits and greens can heal that. Insufficient exercising contributes to the development of hemorrhoids due to a decrease in flow of blood. Whenever the blood is not flowing with adequate pressure it can’t force debris through the arteries. You should never be impatient when pooping.

The conclusion is , nowhere is there a hemorrhoid treatment that will cure hemorrhoids once for all. Notwithstanding, if you just consider the resolution to transform your way of life to include a healthier lifestyle then you can nearly always cure and once for all prevent hemorrhoids from ever coming back. In reality, the hemorroid is sometimes there to stay but when you are taking good care of your body, it shouldn’t trouble you.

Bleeding hemorrhoids can be a pain in the butt.For starters, they can trigger considerable displeasure.Still, they can frighten the poor patient horribly if they’re not aware of what is going on. Even though they might be particularly intimidating, bleeding hemorrhoids in fact are never fatal. Hemorrhoids are veinous tissue inside the anal canal that have encountered an substantive amount of pressure, especially during a bowel movement. What takes place is the veinous tissue get bigger then as a result the blood will start to clot. This will cause bulbous veinous tissue that can often times break open. If they do break open that causes your anus to bleed profusely. It looks like it is fatal though it really is not. In the event that you conclude that you do have bleeding hemorrhoids you really should confer with a health practitioner without delay. By doing this you can get started with a hemorrhoid treatment that can fight your hemorrhoids. This commentary covers many of the individual hemorrhoid treatment methods in the market so with a little luck, after examining this you’ll be equipped to make that pressing evaluation.

Typically, doctors tend to recommend surgery to eradicate bleeding hemorrhoids. Surgery is debilitating and what’s more, surgery takes alot of time to heal. That’s the reason you should give some thought to looking after hemorrhoids at your earliest opportunity. If you catch them early and begin to treat them you can often get them to heal on their own with all natural home remedies as an alternative to surgery.

There exists a widely used hemorrhoid treatment involving surgery named a stapled hemorrhoidectomy. Of all the surgical types of hemorrhoid treatment this method is doubtless the most well-known considering that it is the least debilitating. In short the health practitioner will staple your anus with a circular staple and that will for the most part alleviate the bleeding. This kind of hemorrhoid treatment is ordinarily practiced for prolapsed hemorrhoids but it can be used for any bleeding hemorrhoids. Another well-known form of surgery for bleeding hemorrhoids is known as hemorrhoidal artery ligation. This approach uses a proctoscope along with a Doppler transducer. The surgical procedure fundamentally involves the location and ligation of the bleeding veinous tissue. Ligation aids greatly in treating the pressure from the bulbous veinous tissue and consequently minimizes the physical pain substantially. This treatment is also fairly painless.

There are many other treatments for bleeding hemorrhoids, like purely natural remedies for example ointments along with numerous other hemorrhoid treatment. Nearly all of them work by improving your colon health, together with helping with hemorrhoid ailments like itching, pain, swelling, and most significantly, limit the bleeding. So if you are affected by a health problem like bleeding hemorrhoids, there are a variety of hemorrhoid treatment methods which you might look into.

Bleeding hemorrhoids not only are painful; they could possibly be disconcerting oftentimes. hemorrhoids are a disorder wherein arteries in the rectal area are swollen, and if they pop internally or externally, it is thought to be a bleeding hemorrhoid. Seeing as this sort is a lot more problematic than normal hemorrhoids, you really need to be examined by a medical professionsal straightaway, so you might get the most effective hemorrhoid treatment. There exist several hemorrhoid treatment methods that you could perhaps elect for your bleeding hemorrhoids, and in this short post, you are going to learn more about them.

Normally, medical practitioners propose surgery to eradicate bleeding hemorrhoids. Surgery is extremely painful and furthermore, surgery takes a great deal of time to remedy. That is why you are advised to get started curing hemorrhoids at once. If you find them quick enough and begin to treat them you can in many instances get them to remedy on their own with common home solutions rather than surgery.

There exists a widely used hemorrhoid treatment involving surgery commonly called a stapled hemorrhoidectomy. Of the surgical methods of hemorrhoid treatment this approach is in all likelihood the most successful since it is the least painful. In a nutshell the medical professionsal will staple your anus using a circular staple and that will by and large stop the bleeding. This kind of hemorrhoid treatment is most commonly practiced for prolapsed hemorrhoids but it is effective for any types of bleeding hemorrhoids. Another successful form of surgery for bleeding hemorrhoids is referred to as hemorrhoidal artery ligation. This procedure works by using a proctoscope along with a Doppler transducer. The surgical procedure involves locating and ligating the bleeding arteries. Ligation assists a great deal in eliminating the pressure within the bulbous problematic veins and subsequently reduces the discomfort significantly. This treatment is also to some degree painless.

You need not have to undergo medical surgery to eradicate bleeding hemorrhoids. More often than not, hemorrhoids, even bleeding hemorrhoids can repair themselves if treated. You could use creams and salves to assist with the inflammation and itching. Keep on investigating on colon health and learn about how you should do to bolster your digestive system. To start with, you can watch your diet plan, making a point to eat an abundance of fresh fruits and green veggies. Try not to exert too much pressure onto your pelvic region, in particular during a bowel movement, in particular if you are pregnant or overweight. Ensure you keep your butt clean so it won’t get infected. Your body can mend hemorrhoids by natural means if given a reasonable chance.