DAILY LOBO new mexico
Abandon ship!
wednesday
see page 4
September 7, 2011
More applicants, higher standards by Felipe Medina-Marquez news@dailylobo.com
Students who wish to obtain graduate degrees face more competition and more challenges since last year when applying and attending graduate school. Terry Babbitt, UNM vice president for enrollment management, said he estimates graduate applications have increased nearly 2 percent and registration for new graduate students has increased nearly 5.5 percent since fall 2010. But at a time when graduate degrees are becoming more important, students are facing more rigorous admissions tests and a political climate where funding for education is dwindling. In August, the Education Testing Service announced changes to the Graduate Record Examination General Test (GRE), which is a critical component to many graduate applications. “It’s important that students understand how rigorous this test is,” said Lee Weiss, Kaplan Test Prep’s director of graduate programs. The new version of the general test will be four hours long and will include two math sections, two verbal sections, and two essays. “The decision to revise the test was made several years ago,” Christine Betaneli, manager of government and external relations for ETS, said. “It was done for the purpose of making the test more closely reflect the kind of thinking that test takers do and the skills they need to succeed in today’s graduate and business school programs.”
According to the ETS website, the test is also easier for ETS to score, which allows more simplicity in distinguishing performance differences between candidates. While schools may find the more challenging test useful in selecting applicants, graduate student Tami Lynn said it could exclude qualified graduate school applicants without necessity. “Standardized testing does not mean anything when it comes down to your education,” she said. “I think everyone should be able to go to grad school, and upping the testing is just making it harder for people to have that opportunity.” Despite the difficulty, graduate professor Billy Ulibarri said earning a graduate degree is becoming increasingly important. “The way I see it, more people have bachelor’s degrees now, which makes graduate degrees more valuable,” he said. The data supports this claim. The unemployment rate is about 9.1 percent for people without graduate degrees, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, but it is less than 4 percent for people with graduate degrees, and even lower for those with professional degrees and doctorates, according to a 2010 Politifact article. Weiss said he agrees that earning a master’s degree is a great way to distinguish yourself and to earn more money over the course of your career. “The average person with a master’s or a professional degree earns at least $20,000 a year more, on average, than a person with
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
New GRE
Old GRE Verbal Section
Sentence Equivalence Questions
Antonyms
Reading Comprehension Questions
Analogies
NO Antonyms, NO Analogies
Sentence Completions
1-point increments
10-point increments
2 sections with 20 questions
1 section with 30 questions
30 minutes per section=60 minutes
30 minutes
Quantitative Reasoning Section Multiple Choice Questions
Problem Solving
Numeric Entry Questions
Data Interpretation
1-point increments
10-point increments
2 sections with 20 questions
1 section with 28 questions
35 minutes per section=70 minutes
45 minutes
Analytical Writing Section 2 questions
2 questions
1 Analyze or Issue Task
1 Issue Task - Choose From Two
1 Analyze-an-Argument task
1 Argument Task
30 minutes per task=60 minutes
45 min./issue+30 min./Argument=75 min.
Score Ranges 0-6
Score Ranges 0-6 According to RedBus2Us.com
a bachelor’s degree,” he said. “At a time when it is so competitive to get a job and there’s so much competition from other countries, it’s a great way to differentiate yourself or to set yourself up for a great career.” Meanwhile, for students who are able to beat out the competition,
ANOTHER GLASS, PLEASE
funding their education poses a challenge amid tuition hikes and budget cuts. The deal US Congress reached last month to increase the debt ceiling by $2.1 trillion includes a provision that eliminates the federal Stafford loan interest subsidy for graduate students.
The interest subsidy, which prohibited student loans from accruing interest while students were in school, will be pushed forward on July 12 of next year. After that date, students won’t have to pay the interest on their loans right away, but the interest will increase, according to the provision.
by Luke Holmen
Peck, a UNMPD spokesman, said campus police commonly confront the homeless in the early mornings. “Every morning we spend about the first hour and a half of our day moving homeless people off the campus,” he said. “We try to keep them moving — we ask them, ‘What purpose do you have on campus?’” Peck said UNMPD takes the problem seriously. “We have a zero-tolerance policy for the homeless on campus who are terrifying students, using bathrooms and showers and making a mess,” he said. “We issue them citations, and of course they don’t show up for the citations, so next time we see them they have an arrest warrant on them.” Niforatos said he doesn’t think the homeless should be removed from campus, but student safety should come first. “I’m not expecting there to be
UNM’s homeless seek food, relief holmen@unm.edu
Dylan Smith / Daily Lobo Christy Martinez pours wine for tasting during the 24th annual New Mexico Wine Festival at Bernalillo. Attendees could sample wine from more than 20 wineries from all over the state.
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 116
issue 13
It’s your funeral
Move those feet
See page 2
See page 5
The homeless population in the UNM area has led some students, faculty and staff to feel unsafe, but City and University officials said policies and programs exist to keep the campus secure and take care of those in need. UNM student Joshua Niforatos sent the Daily Lobo a picture on Aug. 29 of a homeless man, whom he said was drunk, urinating on the side of the Communication and Journalism building that faces the bus stop. “I’ve been at UNM now for five years,” he wrote, “and I have seen drunks defecating in urinals and wiping themselves with the Daily Lobo.” Niforatos said homeless people on campus create an uncomfortable environment. “I’ve seen female students constantly harassed by drunks and homeless individuals, sometimes in groups, while walking on campus or waiting at bus stops,” he said. Sergeant Trace
see Homeless PAGE 3
TODAY
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