Could Harvard be loosening its purse strings?

What college grads should know

It's not exactly the MCAS, but it's the closest Massachusetts' public colleges and universities have come to setting standards of what students should know upon graduation.

In a new report presented at a recent Board of Higher Education meeting, the state outlined the key skills that undergraduates should acquire during their years in school.

The top three areas: Well-honed written and oral communication skills, knowledge and practice of ethical behavior, and the ability to work well with others. Students should also be adept at scientific and quantitative reasoning, critical analysis and logical thinking, said the report, assembled by an advisory group of higher education, civic and business leaders. And they should also have a broad knowledge of human cultures, civic and social responsibility, and be able to negotiate and solve interpersonal conflicts.

The group recommended that the state discuss how to hold public colleges accountable for progress toward the goals, and consider participating in national and international initiatives to measure Massachusetts against other states and countries. The report will also be shared with private colleges in the Bay State.

BU map, Northeastern app

Applying for colleges but can't get there for a campus visit just yet? Aside from the virtual tours on some colleges' websites, students can check out Boston University from the street perspective via a new feature on Google Maps.

BU is only the second university in the country, after San Diego State, where street-level imagery is available, starting this month. To get the images, a biker on a tricycle tricked out with a high-tech camera system pedaled around the campus gathering 360-degree views of the campus, including Marsh Chapel, Kenmore Square, Warren Towers, and Agganis Arena.

If Northeastern is more your style, don't fret. Ken McGrady, a computer and information science student there, has helped the college's undergraduate admissions office develop an iPhone application that will allow users to navigate the campus and get the latest information on events around the school. Among the features: Users can click on the buildings and learn about each one. The first-of-its kind app -- "Discover Northeastern" -- uses a GPS-enabled campus map powered by none other than Google Maps.

GRE gains at biz schools

Aspiring business school students who are also considering graduate school in other fields no longer have to worry about taking both the GMAT (the business school entrance exam) and the GRE (required for most graduate schools.)

More business schools are accepting GRE scores as the sole exam, said Mark McNutt, a spokesman at the Educational Testing Services, which administers the GRE. The list has grown from 170 MBA programs in January to 285 schools today, including seven of the top programs, he said.

Since Harvard Business School announced in April that it would accept the GRE, other prominent business schools at the University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, NYU, and University of Virginia have followed suit. MIT and Stanford several years ago first made the move toward the GRE, to broaden their applicant pools to include more women and students of diverse academic backgrounds, McNutt said.

The GMAT and GRE, mainly multiple-choice tests, essentially measure the same skills -- reading and writing, analytical reasoning, and math proficiency.

The GRE is also undergoing significant revisions in the fall of 2011. The changes will include the elimination of antonyms and analogies, a greater focus on more complex verbal reasoning, and updated mathematical scenarios based in real-life, McNutt said. The computer-based test will also allow test-takers to use calculators, for the first time.