Harvard’s Admissions Process Unveiled in Federal Court

The cause of many a teary meltdown or, more rarely, a celebratory scream-fest, Harvard University’s rigorous admissions process has long been a mystery.  That is, until the University was required to glimpse their decision making process in front of a judge earlier this week. This comes as part of a federal trial that was brought as Harvard was accused of admissions discrimination against Asian-American applicants.  Many secrets were revealed during the much-hyped trial — even the judge joined in, likening the revelation of admissions secrets to the release of the secret recipe for Coca-Cola. Some of the tidbits of information were more shocking than others. We found out that students whose parents who had “already committed to a building” or have “an art collection which could conceivably come our way” were more likely to be accepted (big shocker there), but also that students from “sparse country,” as they referred to rural areas, were more attractive to admissions than those from urban areas (a bit less predictable). The trial just started, so it has been inconclusive in determining whether Asian-American applicants are in fact being discriminated against, allegedly through stereotypical descriptions that bring down their personality ratings in admissions files.

Question 1 on the Massachusetts Ballot has Huge Implications for State Healthcare

Anyone who registered to vote in the November elections will see Question 1 front-and-center on their ballot when the day arrives. It has quickly become one of the most highly discussed initiatives on the ballot. Question 1 was proposed by a local nurses’ union, and if passed would place limits on the amount of patients that could be assigned to individual nurses in hospitals.  For most hospital departments that number would be four patients to a nurse, but for special units like intensive care, the ratio becomes one patient to one nurse. Proponents say that it will allow for safer patient conditions and a more manageable workload for nurses; that is bolstered by a recent nurses’ union survey that revealed 77 percent of Massachusetts nurses reported feeling overwhelmed, and averaged workloads of 6 to 8 patients.  However, opponents charge that essentially, it would “take complex, clinical decisions out of the hands of…nurses and put them into the hands of politicians.” Critics also add that the limits are too strict and could even cause some small hospitals to close. In all, if the majority says “yes” to Question 1 it will result in about a 949 million increase in healthcare costs in Massachusetts.

Boston Red Sox to Face Off Against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series

For the first time since 2013 and the fourth time in this century, the Boston Red Sox baseball team is going to the World Series. They will be playing it out against the Los Angeles Dodgers starting on Tuesday, Oct. 23. The first two games of the series will be played at Fenway Park in Boston, and the next two at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. This is the first time that these two teams will face off against each other in the World Series. The Sox are favored, and they get to start Game 1 with the home-team advantage at Fenway after winning the most home games out of any MLB team this season. Still, it’s not going to be any walk in the park to beat the Dodgers.  The Dodgers’ pitcher Clayton Kershaw is the real deal, and the L.A. team is hungry for a victory after losing the 2017 World Series. Whatever the outcome, this Series will be one for the books.