Monthly Archives: August 2015

What You Need to Know About High School Science For College

Only biochemists and astronauts studied advanced sciences in the past. Now, it is definitely necessary to pursue this discipline in secondary school to improve your chances of a college admission.

This is because of a number of students applying to be accepted into college even if they aren’t interested in becoming a scientist.

Your next question might be: how many years of science do you need?

For example, the University of California and Duke University require student to take three years of laboratory science.

If you’re planning to apply to the most selective college after school, then taking basic or advanced classes in Physics, Chemistry and Biology is necessary.

Of course, schools offer a number of sciences. Yet not all of them should be considered apart from the ones mentioned above. Some of these courses are anthropology, astronomy, geology and psychology.

There are universities that are alright with non-lab sciences such as astronomy and geology. A couple of these are the University of Oregon as well as the University of Florida.

This is why it is best to have a clear understanding of which colleges you or your student prefers. In looking the sciences courses necessary for admission, you can then decide which science courses should be taken beforehand.

As for what admission panels look for, they recommend that students take the most rigorous courses offered by their school. Of course, if their school does not offer certain courses, that does work against them. Yet if they do not take classes offered by their school, then this might come to the panel’s attention.

Of course, if science isn’t your favorite subject, academics aren’t the sole focus of admissions. Look to building strength in other areas apart from focusing on real-world interests.

The 1904 Sinking of the General Slocum

By Samuel Phineas Upham

New York has no shortage of interesting stories to tell, there is history on just about every corner, and much of that history lies in the realm of architecture. Skyscrapers, for instance, were meant to be tourist attractions and sparked a competition that was widely publicized around the nation. New York became not just a cultural hub, but a tourist attraction too. In 1904, that cultural hub was brought to a standstill as the General Slocum caught fire and sank.

June 15, 1904

The General Slocum, a passenger vessel that took people on excursions around New York, was readying itself for a chartered boat ride that morning. St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Little Germany District had organized the event. It had been an annual affair for 17 years, and everything looked to be going off without a hitch by 9:30 AM. Not soon after, a discarded match or cigarette caught an oily rag. No one noticed for at least 30 minutes, with eyewitnesses claiming that the blaze seemed to spring up from multiple locations.

The owners of the ship had never replenished the fire hoses, so they fell apart when the crew tried to use them put out the fire. It’s also been suggested that a combination of cheaply manufactured cork and small iron bars were used to bring the life preservers up to weight. Essentially mimicking a preserver in weight alone. Those that were up to code had been hung on deck, subjected to the elements for more than 13 years.

The aftermath caused New York to make serious revisions to building and safety codes.


About the Author: Samuel Phineas Upham is an investor at a family office/ hedgefund, where he focuses on special situation illiquid investing. Before this position, Phin Upham was working at Morgan Stanley in the Media and Telecom group. You may contact Phin on his Samuel Phineas Upham website or Twitter.