Kindness, not grades and test scores, may become the new “it factor” for college admissions departments.

More admissions officers are including kindness, compassion and helping others in their assessment of college applicants.

“This is a real opportunity for us to think about how we can get along with people, particularly those who are different than us,” said Trisha Ross-Anderson, senior program manager at Harvard University’s Making Caring Common project.

Kindness has been pushed to the backburner in the admissions and education process, she said, but needs to come forward.

“Kindness helps build a better community on campus,” said Ann McDermott, director of admissions at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. As students understand and respect their peers more it improves the college experience for most students. And hopefully, that translates into a better society after the student graduates, she said.

As incivility increases on campus and on social media, kindness becomes more important, say educators. Colleges and universities realize they have neglected to include that message in the highly competitive world of higher education.

“Today, [civility] is so important because of what we see in the larger community,” said Paul T. White, assistant dean of admissions at Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore.

During the required admissions interview for Johns Hopkins Medical School, interviewers note how an applicant treats staff and other applicants.They want to “see how they act with people who aren’t involved in the process,” White said.“If they are rude to someone, I want to know about it.”

He said he looks for things that demonstrate compassion, such as an applicant's service history and letters of recommendation.“I frankly look for others who are interested in serving others and not just checking off a list of ‘Oh, I need clinical experience,’” White said.

White pointed to events like those held in Charlottesville, Virginia, near the University of Virginia, as a larger reason for promoting kindness at the college level.A white supremacist rally ended in three deaths there in August.

The Center for the Study for Hate and Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino, which tracks hate crimes, says incidents increased 20 percent in 2016 in cities with a population of 250,000 or more.

Kindness has not been obvious on the checklist of qualities most schools look for in an applicant.Many students think admissions officers want to see participation in many clubs and extracurricular activities, McDermott said.

Some high-school students find themselves at 4 a.m. swim practice, practicing long hours on the violin or flute after school to achieve first chair in the orchestra, and studying long into the night to keep top grades.

Get into a good school and a good life will follow, is the prevailing expectation, said Iris Godes, associate vice president of enrollment, and dean of admissions at Dean College in Massachusetts. She said many parents put unnecessary expectations on their children, as they feel their kids represent them.

McDermott said students show up to college already burned out because of the pressure they feel to succeed.

“It’s important to reduce the anxiety level that these kids have,” Godes said, “There’s been too much placed on status.It’s about being a good citizen. It’s about being a good person.”

All this activity to compete nationally -- and in the past decade, internationally -- for a spot at a coveted college can exhaust and discourage a student, while conditioning them to think that only kids gifted on many levels have a chance at success.Some students are willing to push the boundaries by padding their resumes or cutting corners on their alleged superlatives, which can lead to cheating, Ross-Anderson said.

More than 175 college admissions offices, including eight Ivy League universities, have joined an effort called "Turning the Tide". “High school students often perceive colleges as simply valuing their achievements, not their responsibility for others and their communities,” according to Turning the Tide’s executive summary.

Many participating schools have added essay questions to the application about kindness and reduced the number of places to list extracurricular activities, Ross-Anderson said.This will make students feel less pressure to participate in numerous extracurriculars.

Students should stop “overloading” on advanced placement (AP) and international baccalaureate (IB) courses that show they are beyond high school curriculum, according to Turning the Tide.They should focus on “sustained academic achievement in a limited number of areas,” the executive summary said.

“Kindness is very important professionally,” Ross-Anderson said, “Employers want people that can collaborate well with others."She admits kindness is hard to measure, “The assessment portion of this work is very challenging.”

“It’s much more an art form than a science,” Elgarico echoed.

At Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, one applicant stood out because of one of his recommendations - from the high-school custodian. The letter spoke to the boy’s kindness when nobody was looking, picking up trash, and how he took the time to learn all the members of the custodial staff’s names, according to the New York Times.

The admissions staff voted unanimously to accept him to Dartmouth.

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It’s tough to gain admission to Yale University, and it’s getting even tougher for international students as standout students from around the world set their sights on Yale.

The Yale Dale News, the campus newspaper, takes a look at the situation here.

Read the full story here.

Ruth Chane, a computer science major from Ethiopia, writes about her experiences settling into student life at Whitman College in the U.S. state of Washington.

"The community at Whitman College made sure I felt welcomed even before I stepped foot on campus," she says.

Read her essay here.

In The Student Life, the student newspaper for the Claremont Colleges, a consortium of five liberal art colleges and two graduate schools in Claremont, California, student Rochelle Lu writes about readjusting to her Shanghai home after spending a semester in the United States.

Read the full story here.

Cedarville University in the U.S. state of Ohio says it’s got more than 140 international students representing 44 countries.

Here, the school interviews Jonathan Sutton, director of international student services. He talks about his job and the opportunities for international students on campus.

Read the full article here.

Morehouse College, a private, historically Black liberal arts college in the U.S. state of Georgia, offers a guide for international students interested in attending the school.

Among the tips to apply and thrive at Morehouse:

• Take advantage of the school’s orientation program
• Turn to the school’s Center for Academic Success for tutoring, support and more
• Immerse yourself in campus life via clubs and societies

Read the full article here.

The administration of President Donald Trump said on Monday it will review Columbia University's federal contracts and grants over allegations of antisemitism, which it says the educational institution has shown inaction in tackling.

Rights advocates note rising antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias since U.S. ally Israel's devastating military assault on Gaza began after Palestinian Hamas militants' deadly October 2023 attack.

The Justice Department said a month ago it formed a task force to fight antisemitism. The U.S. Departments of Health and Education and the General Services Administration jointly made the review announcement on Monday.

"The Federal Government's Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is considering Stop Work Orders for $51.4 million in contracts between Columbia University and the Federal Government," the joint statement said.

The agencies said no contracting actions had been taken yet.

"The task force will also conduct a comprehensive review of the more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments to Columbia University."

The agencies did not respond to requests for comment on whether there were similar reviews over allegations of Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias.

Columbia had no immediate comment. It previously said it made efforts to tackle antisemitism.

College protests

Trump has signed an executive order to combat antisemitism and pledged to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests.

Columbia was at the center of college protests in which demonstrators demanded an end to U.S. support for Israel due to the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's assault on Gaza. There were allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia in protests and counter-protests.

During last summer's demonstrations around the country, classes were canceled, some university administrators resigned and student protesters were suspended and arrested.

While the intensity of protests has decreased in recent months, there were some demonstrations last week in New York after the expulsion of two students at Columbia University-affiliated Barnard College and after New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the removal of a Palestinian studies job listing at Hunter College.

A third student at Barnard College has since been expelled, this one related to the occupation of the Hamilton Hall building at Columbia last year.

The Trump administration is opening new investigations into allegations of antisemitism at five U.S. universities including Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley, the Education Department announced Monday.

It's part of President Donald Trump's promise to take a tougher stance against campus antisemitism and deal out harsher penalties than the Biden administration, which settled a flurry of cases with universities in its final weeks. It comes the same day the Justice Department announced a new task force to root out antisemitism on college campuses.

In an order signed last week, Trump called for aggressive action to fight anti-Jewish bias on campuses, including the deportation of foreign students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests.

Along with Columbia and Berkeley, the department is now investigating the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and Portland State University. The cases were opened using the department's power to launch its own civil rights reviews, unlike the majority of investigations, which stem from complaints.

Messages seeking comment were left with all five universities.
A statement from the Education Department criticized colleges for tolerating antisemitism after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and a wave of pro-Palestinian protests that followed. It also criticized the Biden administration for negotiating "toothless" resolutions that failed to hold schools accountable.

"Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses," said Craig Trainor, the agency's acting assistant secretary for civil rights.

The department didn't provide details about the inquiries or how it decided which schools are being targeted. Presidents of Columbia and Northwestern were among those called to testify on Capitol Hill last year as Republicans sought accountability for allegations of antisemitism. The hearings contributed to the resignation of multiple university presidents, including Columbia's Minouche Shafik.

An October report from House Republicans accused Columbia of failing to punish pro-Palestinian students who took over a campus building, and it called Northwestern's negotiations with student protesters a "stunning capitulation."

House Republicans applauded the new investigations. Representative Tim Walberg, chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, said he was "glad that we finally have an administration who is taking action to protect Jewish students."

Trump's order also calls for a full review of antisemitism complaints filed with the Education Department since Oct. 7, 2023, including pending and resolved cases from the Biden administration. It encourages the Justice Department to take action to enforce civil rights laws.

Last week's order drew backlash from civil rights groups who said it violated First Amendment rights that protect political speech.

The new task force announced Monday includes the Justice and Education departments along with Health and Human Services.

"The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found," said Leo Terrell, assistant attorney general for civil rights. "The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump's renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools."

The Times of India breaks down the most popular subjects for international students to study in the U.S.

STEM and business lead the pack. Read the full story here. (January 2025)

U.S. News & World report addresses some of the misconceptions about U.S. colleges and universities, including the difficulty of getting a visa.

Read the full story here. (January 2025)

US News & World Report details the three top factors in foreign students' decision to study in the U.S. They include research opportunities and the reputation of U.S. degrees. Read the full story here. (December 2024)

A British student who did a year abroad at Bowling Green State University in Ohio talks about adjusting to life in America in a TikTok video, Newsweek magazine reports.

Among the biggest surprises? Portion sizes, jaywalking laws and dorm room beds.

Read the full story here. (December 2024)

Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health reaches out to international students by detailing the international student experience at the school.

Learn more about housing, life in Boston and more here.

China issued its first national action plan to build a "strong education nation" by 2035, which it said would help coordinate its education development, improve efficiencies in innovation and build a "strong country."

The plan, issued Sunday by the Communist Party's central committee and the State Council, aims to establish a "high quality education system" with accessibility and quality "among the best in the world."

The announcement was made after data on Friday showed China's population fell for a third consecutive year in 2024, with the number of deaths outpacing a slight increase in births, and experts cautioning that the downturn will worsen in the coming years.

High childcare and education costs have been a key factor for many young Chinese opting out of having children, at a time when many face uncertainty over their job prospects amid sluggish economic growth.

"By 2035, an education power will be built," the official Xinhua news agency said, adding that China would explore gradually expanding the scope of free education, increase "high-quality" undergraduate enrolment, expand postgraduate education, and raise the proportion of doctoral students.

The plan aims to promote "healthy growth and all-round development of students," making sure primary and secondary school students have at least two hours of physical activity daily, to effectively control the myopia, or nearsightedness, and obesity rates.

"Popularizing" mental health education and establishing a national student mental health monitoring and early warning system would also be implemented, it said.

It also aims to narrow the gap between urban and rural areas to improve the operating conditions of small-scale rural schools and improve the care system for children with disabilities and those belonging to agricultural migrant populations.

The plan also aims to steadily increase the supply of kindergarten places and the accessibility of preschool education.

The Open Notebook, a site focusing on educating journalists who cover science, has complied a list of U.S. graduate program financial aid information for international students.

Read it here.