Notes in the Margins: Welcoming Iraqis, mental health and tweet-like essay answers

U.S. opens its doors to Iraqi students As the U.S. military gets ready to withdraw its last troops from Iraq this month, the State Department and Iraqi government are stepping up efforts to enroll thousands of Iraqi students in American universities. (USA Today)

The new college-admission essay: Short as a tweet Esoteric questions requiring brief answers add to high school seniors' stress. (Chicago Tribune)

Study: Two-fifths of high school graduates are unprepared for college or the workforce One-third of high school students complete the modern college-preparatory track, and another one-quarter graduate from career-preparatory programs. The remaining high school population, an estimated 40 percent, do neither. (The Washington Post)

A Serious Illness or an Excuse? A growing number of college students are asking for wiggle room with their academic workloads due to mental health issues. (The Wall Street Journal)

Do College Admissions Officers Care About Community Service? 70 percent of admissions officers prefer students to be consistently involved with one issue over a variety of causes. This is a huge increase over 2010 survey results, when 50 percent of admissions officers preferred consistency over variety. (The Huffington Post)

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