Oh, the difference a day makes. One day, you are on the outside, wondering whether you will ever get into any of your target schools. Then, the next day, you get a call from the MBA admissions board at your first choice school, and your life changes forever. Suddenly, with an acceptance letter in hand, you become more self-assured and start to contemplate whether you will receive scholarships. Then, your second choice school calls and offers you $10K. You now find yourself facing a tough choice: Should I accept the offer from my second choice with a scholarship or the offer from my first choice, even if it does not come through with any funds?

In the short term, you do not need to make this choice. With acceptance letters in hand, you can diplomatically leverage the financial aid offer you received from your second choice school to influence the decision at your first. Once you have been accepted, your first choice just might not be prepared to let you go. Of course, diplomacy is key.

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Joy Lewis/Reporter-NewsNo. 1, chant Jim Ned Elementary School third-graders as the Jim Ned High School girls basketball team cruises by on a bus on the way to the state tournament in Austin on Wednesday.

Nellie Doneva/Reporter-News Parents and students cheer the departing Wylie High School girls basketball team, heading to the state tournament on Wednesday.

Girls basketball teams from Wylie and Jim Ned high schools trekked to Austin on Wednesday for the UIL state championships. Class 3A defending state champion Wylie plays Liberty Hill in a semifinal at 3:30 p.m. today at the Frank Erwin Center on the University of Texas campus. In the Class 2A semifinals, Jim Ned plays three-time defending state champion Brock at 8:30 a.m. Friday.

Nick Clegg has pledged to deal with the “ticking time bomb” of teenagers who are not in work, school or training.

The Deputy Prime Minister announced a £126 million scheme to get 16 and 17-year-olds back into employment or education.

The initiative is part of the coalition’s Youth Contract scheme, announced last November in a bid to tackle youth unemployment.

Under the new initiative, charities and businesses will be invited to bid for contracts worth up to £2,200 to take young people on.

They will receive an initial payment up front, and more money when the youngsters show progress.

At least 55,000 16 and 17-year-olds “Neets” – not in education, employment or training – who have no GCSEs at grades C or above, are expected to benefit.

Mr Clegg said: “Sitting at home with nothing to do when you’re so young can knock the stuffing out of you for years.

“It is a tragedy for the young people involved – a ticking time bomb for the economy and our society as a whole.

“This problem isn’t new, but in the current economic climate we urgently need to step up efforts to ensure some of our most troubled teenagers have the skills, confidence and opportunities to succeed.”

This group of teenagers has been singled out because evidence suggests that unemployment early on can have a permanent effect on earning potential.

By the age of 42, someone who has been frequently unemployed as a teenager is likely to earn 12%-15% less than their peers, the Department for Education (DfE) said.

The announcement comes less than a week after the latest unemployment figures showed that the numbers of 16 to 24-year-olds not in work increased by 22,000 to 1.04 million in the three months to December.

The last Neets figures, for the third quarter of last year, showed that more than a million 16 to 24-year-olds (1,163,000) – almost one in five – were considered “Neet”.

Speaking on Sky News, Mr Clegg said: “I think it is incredibly important that, at that very vital moment in someone’s life, when they are in their teens, that they don’t lose the ambition and the hope and the optimism about working.

“Because once that is lost, all the evidence is that it has a long-term scarring effect and makes it very difficult for youngsters to move into stable employment as adults.”

One of the most memorable parts of school for young children are the field trips that they get to go on while attending school. Even schools for toddlers can offer a variety of different types of field trips. These field trips give the students a chance to get outside the same standard classroom setting they see every day. For teachers it’s an opportunity to try something unique and add some variety to their day as well. So, once you decide that having a field trip for toddlers, the next step is determining what type of field trip to take the little ones on.

A petting zoo is a very popular option for field trips for toddlers. The animals at a petting zoo are smaller than the ones at a typical zoo. The petting zoo is much smaller than a typical zoo as well. This is great as the ability of toddlers to walk long distance is limited, and their attention spans can be as well. The petting zoo is interacting allowing them to touch, feed and learn about the animals.

Another popular destination for toddlers on a field trip are pumpkin patches. Read more…

Carmel High School junior outside linebacker John Kenny has received scholarship offers from the University of Arizona and the University of Iowa, Greyhounds coach Kevin Wright said. Kenny had 98 tackles, including 18 tackles for a loss and six sacks, for the Class 5A state champions (14-1) last season.

Each fall, the student government association at NYU Stern, known as Stern Student Corporation, or SCorp, hosts the Charity Ball, a night of dinner, drinks, and dancing to benefit a New York City–area charity (the charity recipient changes each year). In 2010, proceeds from the Charity Ball, which was held at the Central Park Boathouse, benefitted iMentor, an association that has been connecting high school–aged youth with adult mentors since 1999. The  15th Annual Charity Ball in 2011 was held at Slate and raised nearly $20,000 for CFY, a charity that empowers children in low-income communities by partnering with schools to provide them access to modern technology.

For in-depth descriptions of social and community activities at NYU Stern and 15 other top MBA programs, check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides.