The Foreign Service Journal, June 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2018 67 system on entering university. The transition to a U.S. university involves a period of re-entry for students who have lived a cross-cultural life overseas in tight-knit international school com- munities. “Honors programs, international student clubs and other groups can help them re-enter U.S. culture more smoothly, especially if the college they are at is really big (e.g., a state univer- sity),” John M. Evans, upper school counselor at the International School of Prague and an adult TCK, reminds stu- dents. “Honors programs give students a smaller cohort to go through college with, and a benefit typically includes closer relationships with professors.” Students who seek out universities where they will have an option to be a part of a community—be it an honors college or a minority scholars society— will have access to academic, profes- sional and peer mentorship throughout their early years, and will grow into leaders as they continue throughout their university studies. Making the Match Work for You Sometimes we hear of students with great profiles and scores being turned down from institutions whose recent aver- age admitted scores are lower than those of the applicants. Though it may appear that the schools are suddenly getting more selective, that is not necessarily the case. “Yield,” something of a buzzword among college admissions professionals, is the issue; it is the measurement of how many of the admitted students eventu- ally make a deposit and choose to attend the university. Universities don’t want to accept students who are unlikely to enroll (because they are likely to be accepted at and attend a more selective college), as yield is also a significant factor in how