It’s thought that the device is an irritant in the uterus causing the body to release chemicals that are hostile to sperm and eggs. The design that was most popular for decades was a T-shaped plastic frame on which was wound copper wire. It seems that it isn’t fully understood how the intrauterine device (IUD) works. She produced more than 4,000 witty and humorous columns under the title “At Wit’s End”, with all describing her home life in suburbia. 25 Columnist Bombeck : ERMAĮrma Bombeck wrote for newspapers for about 35 years. The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a battery of five tests designed to demonstrate that a student has the academic skills of someone who has graduated from an American or Canadian high school. This sense of absorbing water effortlessly gives rise to the expression “learning by osmosis”. In the process of osmosis, the solvent tends to flow from an area of less concentration to an area of higher concentration. Osmosis is the movement of a solvent (often just water) across a semipermeable membrane. The term comes from the Spanish “macho” meaning “male”. “Machismo” is an American-Spanish word meaning “virility, masculine pride”. Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies Across (Excerpted with permission from The Updated Comprehensive Step-by-Step Guide to US Undergraduate Admissions, by Shalu Gupta and Sonali Mohan published by Crossword Publishers. The following pages mark the milestones on the journey towards the ‘admission letter’.īased on our experiences and learning, the process has been broken down into small units of information for easy assimilation.
According to Times World University Rankings, 2018, 11 out of the top 15 universities in the world are in the USA.Indian students are the second largest group of international students in the US, representing 14 per cent of all international enrolments.Feedback from students, parents and faculty converge on a single ethos-the US undergraduate system holds the promise of an academic experience like no other. It was also very reassuring to know that majority of US colleges have dedicated housing and dining options at the undergraduate level, and this was a big plus! Along with this, the prospect of seeking admission in hallowed portals of learning like Yale, Harvard, MIT, Columbia, Amherst, Duke, and University of California, LA, was definitely motivating therefore, it was a thumbs up to the US.Ĥ. The undergraduate study programme was an opportunity for our children to discover, excel in fields with a strong academic base as well as enjoy other facets of learning like Art, Music, Theatre, Sports which enhance and contribute towards a holistic development. So, in simple terms, it means that in the beginning, the child is not put into the straitjacket streams of Commerce, Science or Arts.ģ.
The flexibility is to such an extent that one can apply to a college declaring your preferred major (subject) as undecided! In fact the most popular major in the 1st year in many colleges is ‘Undecided’. The undergraduate programme is of 4 years, it is flexible, offering more than 900 fields of study across more than 4,000 universities.Ģ. Its education system is fundamentally different to what is offered in India. So accepting that it is a difficult decision, this is how we reasoned out our choice of the country!ġ.
We cannot promise our kids a stress free life, but we can inculcate the spirit of independence, and bless them with the courage and strength to face life full on.Īnd sometimes, to achieve this, a little separation might be necessary! Here I would like to quote Robert Frost from ‘The Road Not Taken’: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference. Our children will follow their own destiny, just like we followed ours. We also faced the ‘bogey’ of our children not returning back to home and country thoughts which can cause a fair amount of heartache, the presentiment of separation causing most of us to cling and hold our children in what we think is the circle of love determined by common physical space.Ĭan we really control time, distance, space, people and all the other factors that constitute life? It is a difficult decision to send children away at any age, and 18 does seem young to cut the umbilical cord and cast your child some thirteen thousand kilometres away.