Walgreens Company Analysis and Recommendations Assignment

Walgreens Company Analysis and Recommendations - Assignment Example The main focus of the retail giant drug chain store over the years has been expanding the retail footprint. Over the years they have concentrated more on opening stores than focusing on the needs of the customers as well as the employees. They have in the past used command and control approach in executing their business strategy. Therefore, they have set out clear roles and instructions for the employees which are closely monitored and evaluated. This needs to change as employees work better when they feel valued and that they can contribute to decision making. Leadership at Walgreens entails command from the top on duties and orders that should be followed by the employee. They are made to feel like cogs in a machine. This trend should change as employees should be made to engage more in decision making and giving suggestions. The top to down approach on leadership should be minimised. Better communication and relationship between the top management and entry level employees should be encouraged as team work will ultimately make for a happy work environment and therefore better service delivery. It is also important to keep training employees on better management and work ethic practices. It is of paramount importance to engage employees in better personnel management techniques rather than using the command approach (Kotler & Armstrong, 2014). Once the employees feel valued, they will be happy and satisfied with their work. This will eventually trickle down to becoming more productive at the work place, rather than feeling pressured to deliver all the time. Other than employees, customers’ needs should always be a priority. It is good for the business to connect with the customers on an emotional level (Shalowitz, Stevens & Kotler, 2013).Walgreens can differentiate itself from the competition by better service delivery. It is necessary to engage with the customers one a one on one level. As such, Walgreens

The New Deal and Its Triumph Essay Example for Free

The New Deal and Its Triumph Essay The New Deal and it’s Triumph The 1930’s were a time of despair, poverty and distress and those who lived during this time believed it would be better to die, than to continue to live this way. When Franklin D. Roosevelt came into office in 1932, the United States was in the most disconsolate moments of the Great Depression. However, he brought with him a promise, a promise to make things better through a series of reforms he was planning on implementing known as the New Deal. In the first one hundred days following his inauguration as president, FDR, had already put into place a variety of programs, all with the goal to briskly improve the lives of those that had been most affected by the Great Depression and boost the economy. Through these programs FDR hoped to create jobs, lower the amount of people living on the streets, and most of all, uplift the spirits of the American people which had taken the biggest hit of all. The New Deal was a success because even though many minorities were overlooked, the overall population was influenced in a significant positive manner through job creation and governmental aid despite having negative effects in other areas of the country. Although the New Deal was an overall success in the United States, a significant amount of the minorities, especially the African Americans and Native Americans were neglected as opposed to the rest of the population. During the Great Depression, 50% of the African American citizens became unemployed, due to the fact that they were the first to be fired, and the last to be hired. Furthermore, many of the programs put into place by the New Deal, by improving the lives of other Americans, would damage and harm those of the African Americans. For example, as the excerpt from the Gilder Lehman Institute of American History online textbook , when the AAA was put into place between 1933-1934, more than 100,000 black workers who made their living as sharecroppers and tenant farmers were forced off the land (document B). When African Americans had a job, such as in the WPA, their working conditions would be incredibly harsh and unmerciful. These men were forced to work under harsh circumstances and if they didn’t they would lose  their job. A WPA foreman in the South being interviewed by a questioner from the Federal Writer’s Project claimed that, â€Å"As a matter of fact they cannot be sick for more than five days in succession. If they are†¦ they are automatically dropped from the rolls† (document H) demonstrating that these workers cannot afford to be sick if they want to be able to maintain their jobs. Additionally, even though the Black Cabinet was formed during these years, no civil rights reforms became law during the 1930 since the New Deal had no intention of working towards the civil rights movement. Another minority that was significantly overlooked and even negatively impacted was the Native Americans. As Document G mentions, â€Å"Many Indian problems remain unresolved, but every one has been addressed†. Sometimes, by addressing these problems, the government would actually hurt the Native Americans. For example, the Navajo Reduction Program forced hundreds of Indians to kill or sell thousands of their sheep and other forms of livestock; therefore raising the tension between the Native Americans and the government. The New Deal, even though it helped and lessened the economic problems throughout the country, actually weakened the situation of many minorities such as the African Americans and the Native Americans. The overall population of the United States was significantly enhanced by a number of the programs put into place by FDR through the New Deal. Roosevelt made the purpose of these programs and what he intended to do with them clear through he Fire Side Chats. For example, in one of these many chats, he claims, that â€Å"First, we are giving opportunity of employment to one-quarter of a million of the unemployed, especially the young men, to go into forestry and flood prevention work (document B) † He planned to do this through programs he implemented a short time after such as the CCC and WPA, which gave jobs to young men all over the country, whether they were skilled or not. Slowly, the effect became clear not only in the amount of young men with jobs, but also in the overall attitudes of those in America, which had begun to lose hope. As George Dobbin, he declares that â€Å"It’s the first time in my recollection that a President ever got up and said, ‘Iâ€⠄¢m interested in and aim to do somethin’ for the workin’ man (Document C)† Norman Thomas would have agreed with this whole heartedly since one of this main  objectives was to try and support the industrial worker and to improve their conditions. The results of these programs being put into place were obvious, as unemployment statistics were brought to light. In only two years, the unemployment rate had gone down from 20.6 % to a 14.2% (document E). These percentages strongly supported the idea that the New Deal programs were helping boost the country’s economy once more. Finally, many of these programs brought assistance to other areas of living. For example, the WPA brought hot lunches to schoolchildren and would serve 500,000 meals a day (document D). This made it possible for many children, living in detrimental conditions, to eat at least one nutritional meal a day. Huey Long, a past governor of Louisiana, would have agreed with this hot-lunch program due to the fact that he believed in the re-distribution of wealth from the rich to the poor, and in this case the money is being targeted to those of more humble background. Many programs put into place by FDR such as the CCC and the WPA significantly improved the wa y of life of hundreds of Americans. Eventually, even though the New Deal brought with it a lot of progress and improved life conditions, there were some areas of every day life it was not able to amend completely. One of these was the spirit of the American people. Songs such as â€Å"No Depression in Heaven† performed by the Carter Family showed the true feelings of those that were still struggling to survive. Lyrics such as â€Å"out here the hearts of men are failing† or â€Å"no orphan children crying for bread, no weeping widows toil or struggle, no shrouds, no coffins, and no dead (document E)† demonstrated how desperate and disconsolate many of the people are still and how they feel that it would be better to die, than to continue to live this way. Other negative impacts of the New Deal on the United States was the continuous discrimination towards woman and the fact that they were paid lower wages by many of the programs put into place such as the WPA or the PWA. Additionally Alden Stevens mentions that, â€Å"the New Deal Indian administration is neither as successful as its publicity says it is,† (document G) showing how improvements were not made in all areas of life in the United States. Furthermore, programs such as the TVA destroyed the environment by flooding hundreds of acres of land in order to build dams and reservoirs. The New Deal did not bring with it only positive effects towards the country. It had  negative connotations as well, those which could be observed in different, minor aspects of every day life. When FDR put into place the New Deal, he had three goals in mind. These were reform, recovery and reconstruction. He pretended to do this through various programs he implemented right away, which included the CCC, the WPA, the SSA, and much more. Slowly the effects of these programs began to be seen all over the country and the overall response was that yes, this program was working. People stopped living on the streets and began working, those who had lost everything now had insurance, and unskilled workers were now learning skills they needed in order to get a job. Even though many minorities were overlooked, and not all aspects of life in America were improved, the general impact of the New Deal was a positive one. Therefore, the New Deal was a success, because through this Roosevelt was able to create jobs and provide governmental aid, despite having slight negative effects in other areas of the country.

Commercial Identity :: Essays Papers

Commercial Identity This is one of the best essays I ever wrote. It was also the easiest and quickest to write because I had fun doing it. It was amazing how much my writing improved when I decided to have fun with it. "Forced" writing never turns out well no matter how skilled the writer is. Although girls may tell you they don't judge a guy based on the brand of beer he drinks, they are lying! Bud Light's new spot shows two guys fail miserably when they offer two good looking (surprise, surprise) ladies the wrong beer. The music stops, the pool ball that was about to fall in the corner pocket comes to rest on the edge. "On second thought, how about a Bud Light," says the more studly one. The music is rockin' again. The eight ball catches a drift and falls into the pocket, and those lucky ladies have found some happenin' guys who drink the coolest beer. The moral of the story is "buy a Bud and be a stud." However, that is not the only message in this commercial. The mere fact that commercials like this are successful indicates that they influence people's identity in society. That is a pretty deep and somewhat abstract statement to make about a commercial with a one sentence plot: "Guy gets girl because guy drinks a really cool beer." However, the statement is true and can easily be supported. Advertising today plays an unusual role in society in that it both reflects and effects our identities. That 30 second spot told me that I want to be just like those cooler-than-cool-Bud-Light-drinkin' guys. What did they look like? How did they dress? Those 30 seconds leave the viewer a mental picture of what cool is and what they want to be like. Just turn the T.V. on to Sunday afternoon football and you will see a dozen other commercials that support this definition of cool. Cool is being handsome. Cool is having a chick at your side and, most importantly, a beer in hand. (Bud Light, Coors, Miller--It doesn't matter, they all get the ladies.) Advertisers have certain expectations about their target audience. That is, they assume they know exactly who they are and who they want to be. Commercials try to reflect this on television to greater appeal to a their target audience. For example, football fans like beer, women, and tough cars (not necessarily in that order). Commercial Identity :: Essays Papers Commercial Identity This is one of the best essays I ever wrote. It was also the easiest and quickest to write because I had fun doing it. It was amazing how much my writing improved when I decided to have fun with it. "Forced" writing never turns out well no matter how skilled the writer is. Although girls may tell you they don't judge a guy based on the brand of beer he drinks, they are lying! Bud Light's new spot shows two guys fail miserably when they offer two good looking (surprise, surprise) ladies the wrong beer. The music stops, the pool ball that was about to fall in the corner pocket comes to rest on the edge. "On second thought, how about a Bud Light," says the more studly one. The music is rockin' again. The eight ball catches a drift and falls into the pocket, and those lucky ladies have found some happenin' guys who drink the coolest beer. The moral of the story is "buy a Bud and be a stud." However, that is not the only message in this commercial. The mere fact that commercials like this are successful indicates that they influence people's identity in society. That is a pretty deep and somewhat abstract statement to make about a commercial with a one sentence plot: "Guy gets girl because guy drinks a really cool beer." However, the statement is true and can easily be supported. Advertising today plays an unusual role in society in that it both reflects and effects our identities. That 30 second spot told me that I want to be just like those cooler-than-cool-Bud-Light-drinkin' guys. What did they look like? How did they dress? Those 30 seconds leave the viewer a mental picture of what cool is and what they want to be like. Just turn the T.V. on to Sunday afternoon football and you will see a dozen other commercials that support this definition of cool. Cool is being handsome. Cool is having a chick at your side and, most importantly, a beer in hand. (Bud Light, Coors, Miller--It doesn't matter, they all get the ladies.) Advertisers have certain expectations about their target audience. That is, they assume they know exactly who they are and who they want to be. Commercials try to reflect this on television to greater appeal to a their target audience. For example, football fans like beer, women, and tough cars (not necessarily in that order).

How does Golding present his characters in the opening chapter? Essay

Ralph is the first character to be introduced; he is introduced as being ‘the boy with fair hair’. Here Golding has played with the idea of Hitlers ideal, fair hair, blue eyes, etc. to show that Ralph has a seemingly perfect physique. His fair hair also shows that Ralph is a seemingly good character, because the idea of his hair being light in color contrasts any boy who has dark hair. This is a very conventional way of representing characters which is used due to the time in which Golding was writing; nowadays writers would try to stray away from this idea. One of the first actions which Ralph performs is to pull up his socks; this symbolizes the idea that he still retains the rules and regulations of being in a school environment. When Piggy places his trust in Ralph, Ralph uses this to gain the respect and friendship of Jack. This suggests, along with him being voted as chief and the way he handles Piggy when he confronts him about his nickname, that he is the politician of the group. Ralph is quite immature in the way he expresses joy, standing on his head, which suggests that he is not the most adequate leader. He is also not as intelligent as Piggy and without Piggys help with the Conch he could have never become Chief. Piggy is introduced as ‘it’ then the ‘voice’ and then ‘fat boy’. His physical body is also unattractive he is the fat boy or ‘Fatty’. He is introduced this way so that we immediately dislike him, and take the side of the other boys who bully him. Later on in the chapter we realize Piggys importance, he is always right, so when Ralph suggests they will be rescued soon and Piggy believes that they won’t, we know that they will not be rescued soon. Although we know that the ridiculing of Piggy is a natural thing for boys to do we still blame the boys for doing it as we believe we would not do the same. When Piggy meets with Ralph Piggy immediately offers Ralph friendship by asking his name, but Ralph rejects Piggy because of his appearance, as we would expect. But Piggy continues to place trust in Ralph as he does not want to be the social misfit which he is used to being, as suggested by his continual mentioning of his Auntie which suggests a sheltered home life. He places his trust in Ralph by firstly telling him his nick name and secondly by exposing himself to Ralph. As revenge Piggy does all that he can, he with holds his vote for Ralph for a short period when the vote for chief is occurring. This expresses his anger. Piggy asks everybody’s name as it gives him some security and allows him to enter a social group, but only the younger children tell him their names as they do not see him with the same prejudice and so look up to him as a ‘bigger boy’. But when Jack arrives Piggy is intimidated, because of Jack’s appearance and authority. He shows this by cowering behind Ralph, which also expresses his respect and trust in Ralph. Jack is introduced as â€Å"the boy who controlled them†. Jack looks smart and impressive and so Ralph wants to become his friend. When Jack informs us of his name he tells the group that he wishes to be called Merridew. This is because this is the name which he has been called at school and been held in high regard allowing him to have authority, but what he does not yet realize is that his ‘title’ means nothing now. Ralph on the other hand is happy with his identity and so doesn’t mind being called Ralph. Jack is a stereotypical bully which explains why Ralph is intimidated by him. He shouts, orders, and is usually aggressive. Jack is used to being in control and so when he joins the group he automatically tries to take control. However when it comes to the vote, only the people in the choir who still respect his authority, unwillingly vote for him. When Ralph is voted to be chief, Jack is mortified, but Ralph realizes that Jack could be a powerful ally and so consoles him by offering the title of Hunter. This gives Jack some authority outside of the choir and gives him the chance to undermine everything which Ralph says.

The Contemporary Life in Xijing, An Ancient Chinese City

In 1993 China was hit with an â€Å"event that caused a great literary and publishing earthquake†¦ † The Abandoned Capital hit bookstores in late July of 1993. This novel is Jia Pingwa†s graphic and sexual explicit insight on the contemporary life in Xijing, an ancient Chinese city. The novel never indicates time references but it is understood by readers that it is right after the Cultural Revolution. Jia is a well-known novelist that was famous for writing â€Å"pure literature. † So it was to everyone†s amazement that Jia wrote a novel that was so pornographic. The novel is about a middle-aged writer that engages in sexual immorality, deceit, and corruption. Many critics say it†s autobiographical but Jia denies all accusations. The Abandoned Capital was written in a way that Chinese readers have never seen before. During the Cultural Revolution self-indulgence was looked down upon, thus so was sexuality. The result of this was the ignorance of sexuality for the Chinese for years to come. To some, the sixty detailed sex-scenes in the novel were the first time they encountered sex. Jia, a peasant from the ancient capital of Xian, admits that he put the sexual content to keep readers interested but says his novel was really about the corruption of China. He further confesses that he got all his research from maopians, porn videos. Another reason for the shock from the novel was the fact that Jia had broken the three rules that they were so accustomed to by Chinese readers. 1) He downplayed the hero describing him as a â€Å"sexual pervert† with no power, no money, no influence and sex was the only way to escape his empty life. 2) He wrote explicitly about sex and 3) he did not offer a happy ending. Jia also said that he chose a writer as the main character because he knew them best. Not too many people see the novel†s true statement, which is the clear description of the â€Å"Chinese social system from the inside out. † Most critics see The Abandoned Capital as a novel with â€Å"unbearable vulgar sex scenes. † Yet I believe that bad press is always better than no press, and boy did Jia receive plenty of bad press. Actually the over all reception of the novel was pretty much fifty-fifty. Most of the elders and elite†s of China demanded if Jia was going to write about sex freely, why couldn†t he write it with some â€Å"beauty and depth. † Even Jia†s fellow writers poked at his writing saying â€Å"he wrote exactly the way he f***ed. † And then of course there are the feminists. They see the novel as an obvious â€Å"male chauvinistic† view of women. They say that in Jia†s eyes â€Å"women are playthings, having no business in life except being the object of male appreciation and pleasure. † They also added, â€Å"it†s as if Jia has never stepped into the twentieth century. Even the author of China Pop, Jiangying Zha comments on her distaste of the novel saying â€Å"all that dirt†¦ † As I said before, not everyone disliked the novel. Evident fans of the novel were merchants at local bookstands. The first print run of 480,000 copies was completely sold out within two months! By the end of 1993 the novel had sold over a million copies. The following summer rumors of a ban on the novel began going around. This of course gave the novel even more publicity and made Chinese readers even more curious. Other fans of the novel compared D. H. Lawrence†s Lady Chatterly†s Lover, which also contained sexual scenes, to Jia†s novel. One Beijing graduate student said reading both may cause a young man to masturbate but â€Å"with Lawrence he may feel a but ashamed of himself afterwards, but never with Jia! † And some bluntly say, â€Å"there is absolutely nothing perverse in this novel†s sex scenes. † A friend of Jiang adds that Jia is describing China†s current social system. With the â€Å"daily transactions of power, how people manipulate at all levels, the bribing, the networking, and the giving and receiving of favors. He further adds that people in the social system â€Å"know the invisible rules, and they know they can†t beat the system. They also know they can play along with this old game. † It is said that no other Chinese novelist has ever illustrated this picture so well as Jia. Another friend of Jiang†s is a business lawyer that agrees with the fact that The Abandoned Capital is the Chinese society in a â€Å"nutshell. † He even describes his encounters with taking advantage of the system. The Cultural Revolution left China with numerous changes. However, as noted earlier, the Cultural Revolution left China as uneducated about sex as a ten-year-old child. In the seventies sex and romance disappeared from Chinese arts and literature. During these times men and women stayed single while displaying interest only in the revolution. The children of the revolution grew up in a vacant environment. They were not taught sexual education like the U. S. Jiang herself had not learned about the birds and the bees until she was nineteen. It was so bad that movies with kissing scenes were censored for children. During the mid-eighties the reform years were in full swing. With it came the market of pornography. Guangdong, Fujian, and Hainan Island were the first mainland provinces to acquire the market. The flood of pornography astounded the Chinese government. There was nothing they could do to stop it. If they closed down one pornography ring a number of others would take its place. Every city and province in China has felt the effects of the flood of pornography. Some incidents include a television station worker that was so caught in his porno movie that he actually connected the wrong line and aired the movie to the entire city. Some companies award clients with porn videos. By far the most disgusting display is children under ten were among the audience in cinemas showing porn. The lack of sexual educational programs will just keep this industry booming. Where else will the Chinese â€Å"fill in the blank spot important to millions? † Some parts of the population watched their farm animals mate for their education. This led one couple to have â€Å"eight years of anal intercourse†! I believe without proper education on any subject leads to uninformed versions of that subject. Being a man I don†t totally think pornography is bad, but it shouldn†t be used for sexual education. Growing up in a Chinese family I know very well how the red children of the revolution felt. However, living in America, there were so many ways to be educated on sex. I myself learned the facts of life through television and friends. I also was privileged to receive sex education in high school. Taking sex ed really removed a lot of myths about sex for me. The times have changed and China has to change with it. China is always playing catch up to the rest of the world. Today sex is a freely talked about subject and China should realize this. Without proper sex education teenagers of China will be misled and probably endanger themselves. I believe Jia Pingwa didn†t write his novel to emphasize sex. I myself haven†t read the novel but I do truly believe that he wrote the fictional novel to describe his feelings toward the Chinese society today. Most bold writers are often misunderstood and this case is no different. Maybe living in America all my life has given me the freedom to think this way but if China would lighten up a little it would be only then the real learning begins.

Whats Considered a Bad SAT Score Avoid This

What's Considered a Bad SAT Score Avoid This SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Many students worry that a bad SAT score will be the kiss of death for their college applications. The SAT is an important part of the admissions process, so you obviously don’t want to submit a crummy score - but how do you know whether your score is all that bad to begin with? If you're worried about low scores, understanding where your scores stand in relation to other students’ is the first step to improvement. In this post, I’ll talk about comparing your own scores to those of the general population, your peer group, your target schools, and even your own potential scores. I'll finish off with strategies to bring up scores no matter your goals or study timeline. With this information, you'll be well-prepared to make necessary steps in improving your SAT scores. A Note on Percentiles Before we get started, I want to take a minute to explain percentiles, which arean important concept to grasp when we talk about comparing your SAT scores to different groups, whether they're big or small. Percentile scores are not the same as percentage scores (for example, a number out of 100 that tells you the fraction of correct answers you gave on a test). Percentile scorestell you how you do in relation to other people, which is really helpful when you’re dealing with a scoring system that isn’t necessarily intuitive. For example: A 10th percentile score means that you scored higher than 10% of the people who took the same exam 50th percentile means you scored higher than half 90th percentile means you scored higher than 90% of test-takers. You can have a high percentage score on a test and still end up with a low percentile score (if the test was easy), or a low percentage score and a higher percentile score (if the test was hard). For example, if you score a 90% on an exam where only 10% of students scored below a 90%, you'd be in the 10th percentile. This information is important because your actual SAT scores are only useful when you cantranslate them to percentile scores. When we talk about good or bad scores, we're inevitably comparing your test scores to those of other people or groups. Now that you know all about percentiles, we can get into the nitty-gritty stuff: what is a bad SAT score? Low Scores Compared to the US General Population We're starting big here - to get a basicunderstanding of low SAT scores, we'll look at how the general population performs on their tests. Your definition of low or poor scores might differ from other students - a reasonable cutoff for low scores, for simplicity’s sake, would be at the 25th percentile (so, the bottom quarter of scorers). As you may already know, the SAT is currently scored out of 1600points (the lowest you can score is 400).The average composite SAT score is around 1000, which is about the 50th percentile. Because the scoring system has recently changed, we don't have a lot of information about typical So that you can get a better understanding of general performance, here are some other important percentile cutoffs and their corresponding composite scores: 25th percentile→about 840 composite score 50th percentile→about 1000 composite score 75th percentile→about 1200 composite score If you'd like more detailed information about SAT percentiles, check out our score rankings guide. Low Scores Compared to Your Peers I don't usually recommend comparing yourself to peers;in this case, it's unfortunately necessary. Now that you know how you may compare to the rest of the country, the next step in figuring out what a low score is would be to figure out what your peers are scoring. Although college admissions officers often view SAT scores as a decent measure of academic preparation, they recognize that many other factors - including family income, social privileges, and educational advantages - play into students' scores as well. Thus, you'll be most likely compared to students who are similar to you in terms of school type, geographical area, background, interests, and grades. The better a handle you have on your peers' scores, the more nuanced your understanding of what a low score will be. Getting ahold of this information will be a bit more sensitive than just looking up average national SAT scores. Even if you can't get information right from your classmates, there are steps you can take to get a good estimate of peers' SAT score ranges: Get your school report with SAT score information. This report will have aggregated scores from students from your high school. How does the high school average compare to the national average? How do your scores (real or target) compare to those of your peers? See your guidance counselor. If you don't have access to your school report, or you're having trouble interpreting the information, your guidance counselor should be able to give you an idea of how your peers perform on the SAT. Ask around. If you're still having trouble getting information on peer scores, you could try asking your classmates. This will beespecially helpful if you can get info from honors students - their scores will generally be more competitive. SAT scores can bea touchy topic, however,so be sensitive and respectful if you discuss this information with your classmates. Use a rough rule of thumb. When lacking good information about peers' performance, you could use these (general) rules of thumb. Just keep in mind that these may deviate from your own school's averages depending on average performance (i.e. whether SAT scores at your school are above or below the national averages): Low composite scores for honors students (top 1/3rd of the class) will be around 1117, or 70th percentile nationally Low composite scores for top honors students (top 1/10th of the class) will be around 1256, or 85th percentile nationally Low Scores for Your Target Colleges Knowing how your scores compare to your peers may help you hone in on appropriate target, reach, and safety schools. How do you figure out what these schools will think of your SAT scores? What's the low score cutoff that will put your application in danger? Put simply; a low score is a score that will get you rejected.Schools don’t really publish hard minimum SAT requirements, but it’s east to get a general idea of what SAT scores they expect from applicants. In general, the bottom 25% of scores for a particular school is the danger zone. You can still get into a school if your score falls below the 25th percentile, but the chances are that your application will have to be exceptionally strong in other areas (e.g. GPA, extracurriculars). The "middle 50" percent of scores is a pretty safe range to aim for. If all students' scores were lined up in order, the middle 50 would be the range of scores from the 25th percentile to the 75th percentile. Your SAT scores don't necessarily need to be at the top of this range to get into a particular school, because by definition, 75% of its students have scores lower than those at the 75th percentile. If you want more information about SAT score ranges for particular schools, just google"[school name] PrepScholar admissions requirements." You can easily convert old SAT scores (out of 2400) to the new scoring system by multiplying by 2/3. What do you do, though, if your scores consistently fall in the bottom 25% of score ranges for the schools you're considering? Although it'simportant to have reach schools, it would be wise to apply to some less competitive schools as well. Apply to several schools where you fall into the "middle 50" score range in addition to a few safety schools to optimize admissions options. Low Scores for Yourself This isn't a comparison that many students consider when setting their own goal scores. There's so much focus on outward comparison that sometimes we forget to consider our own capabilities when thinking about low or high scores. It's important to be realistic about your own strengths and weaknesses when setting low score and high score parameters. If you set your score goal too high, you'll cause yourself unnecessary stress and frustration; set it too low, and you could miss out on opportunities at more competitive schools. How do you get an idea of what's reasonable? Your first step is to get a baseline score. Study for about 10 hours to gain basic familiarity with the SAT before taking a full practice test. Your score will give you a concrete place to work from. Keep in mind that many students, with adequate test prep, can improve 240+ points from this original baseline. This important initial step should help you understand what to expect from yourself when it comes to good and bad scores. If you’re not improving much after your baseline, then you know that the way you’re studying isn’t working. You may consider your baseline score to be within your low score range since you achieved it with minimal study time. To learn more about how to set appropriate SAT goal scores, read our guide to good and bad SAT scores. Don't get discouraged if you have low scores - that just means you have room to grow! How Do You Raise a Low SAT Score? If you've gone through all the steps of comparison and you find yourself disappointed with your scores, not to worry! There are things you can do to bring up those scores, but your plan of attack will vary based on your goal score and your study time availability. So what's your goal score? If your scores are already pretty high, and you want to get them as close to perfect as possible, read our guide to scoring a 1600. If your scores are in the lower end of the range, and you want to bring them up across the board, check out our posts on bringing up your reading, writing, and math scores. How much time do you have to study? If you have quite a bit of time on your hands, read more about setting a study timeline. You can also dive deeper into our blog sections dedicated to the reading, writing, and math sections. If youaretaking the SAT relatively soon, check out our last-minute study tips and strategies. Disappointed with your scores? Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points?We've written a guide about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. 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Edwin H. Colbert - Profile of the Famous Paleontologist

Edwin H. Colbert - Profile of the Famous Paleontologist Name: Edwin H. Colbert Born/Died: 1905-2001 Nationality: American Dinosaurs Discovered: Scutellosaurus, Staurikosaurus, Effigia, Lystrosaurus, Coelophysis About Edwin H. Colbert During his long life, Edwin H. Colbert made his share of major fossil discoveries; he was in charge of the team that unearthed a dozen Coelophysis skeletons at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, in 1947, and he also named Staurikosaurus, one of the earliest known dinosaurs of the late Triassic period. For 40 years, Colbert was a curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where his mentor was the distinguished fossil hunter Henry Fairfield Osborn, and he wrote a series of popular books (including 1945s seminal The Dinosaur Book: The Ruling Reptiles and Their Relatives) that helped introduce baby-boomer kids to paleontology. When he was already past 60, Colbert accepted a post as curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Museum of Northern Arizona. Today, aside from Coelophysis, Colbert is best known for his 1969 discovery of the skeleton of an early therapsid, or mammal-like reptile, Lystrosaurus, in Antarctica. Before Colberts expedition, various Lystrosaurus fossils had been unearthed in South Africa, and paleontologists had come to the conclusion that this creature couldnt possibly have been a good swimmer. Colberts discovery proved that Antarctica and South Africa had once been joined in a single southern continent, Gondwana, thus lending support to the theory of continental drift (that is, that the earth’s continents have slowly been joining, separating, and moving around over the last 500 million years or so).