BMW is moving to cylindrical cells for its sixth-generation EV powertrain, which debuts in the Neue Klasse. And now it has a recycling partner. to Redwood, where the nickel, cobalt, copper, lithium, and other minerals are recycled in a hydrometallurgy facility.

We have a habit of ruining things.

Next summer’s horror blockbuster is the biggest release yet to be shot with iPhones—and not even Apple’s latest model.

For years, internet users have seen what they want to in Donald Trump's youngest son. Now a freshman at NYU, he's being obsessively filmed—and making his first appearances alongside his father.

BMW of North America struck a deal to recycle lithium-ion batteries from all of its electrified vehicles with Redwood Materials, the companies announced today. The German automaker said it would instruct its dealers to send old batteries from all of its electrified models, including battery-electric, hybrid, mild hybrid, and plug-in hybrid vehicles from brands like BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce, to Redwood for recycling. Redwood, which was founded by Tesla cofounder and ex-chief technology officer JB Straubel, will handle the end-of-life batteries at its two facilities. One facility is in Reno, Nevada, and the other, which is still under construction, will be in Charleston, South Carolina — somewhat near BMW’s Spartanburg and Woodruff...

It’s a common worst-case scenario for many students aspiring to college: you’ve worked diligently throughout high school to earn top grades and aced your standardized tests. All your studying and those extracurricular activities are finally paying off — you’ve been accepted to your dream school. The problem is, says John Tillman, president of the financial aid planning firm Ecliptic Financial Advisors, there’s no way your family can afford it. It’s a situation that can cause anguish for everyone involved. “As a parent,” he says, “you’re in a situation where now you have to have a discussion about a budget when the student has already gotten excited about being accepted.” This is what admissions officers really want to read in college essays Applying to college? Seven current students on how to stand out and stay sane It’s no secret the cost of a college education has ballooned. In the United States, one year of tuition and fees at an in-state public college ran students an average of $10,662 during the 2023-24 academic year (that total ratchets up to $23,630 for out-of-state students); private schools cost $42,162 per year on average. Over half of graduates from public and private four-year institutions walked away with debt in 2022. On average, students with a bachelor’s degree graduated with $29,400 in debt. Stress due to high student loan payments can have negative impacts on young adults’ mental and physical health. Paying back loans can hamper you as you try to jumpstart a career and may take precedence over saving for retirement, too. Even if you or your parents have little to contribute, getting a college degree is possible without taking out massive loans. In order to side-step future financial stress, students and their families should take a clear-eyed, pragmatic approach to paying for college that starts well before acceptance letters hit the mail, experts say.  Ideally, parents will have begun saving for their child’s college education from the moment they’re born, Tillman says. Three-quarters of college families relied on money from parents to cover the cost of college, according to a recent Sallie Mae and Ipsos study, followed by scholarships and grants. But saving for a child’s education may be unrealistic for some families. Depending on your circumstances, parents — or the student themselves — may want to start setting money aside for college by the student’s freshman year of high school, Tillman says. Whether parents have been saving for years or not at all, they should have a conversation with their child before the end of their junior year of high school about how much money they can contribute, says Brendan Williams, vice president of knowledge at uAspire, a nonprofit that helps students from underrepresented backgrounds access financial aid and navigate higher education.  Parents and their children should be on the same page about how much money each party has available to pay for college, how long the student anticipates they’ll be in school (will they complete a four-year degree or go on to get advanced degrees?), and if they will get a job while in school. That way, the student has an idea of what schools they can realistically afford — and they won’t waste time applying to those they can’t.  Parents and their children should be on the same page about how much money each party has available to pay for college For example, private schools are typically more expensive than public universities. The student might also consider attending a community college first and then transferring to a state university to save money. “You’re saving 35 to 40 percent off the full cost of the four years of school,” Tillman says. “So it’s a very effective way to reduce the overall cost of college.” If the student wants a certain college experience — dorm life, dining halls, and a sprawling campus with fancy facilities — they’ll have to weigh whether these features are worth the possible debt. Williams suggests researching schools’ financial aid programs before applying. Each school has a net price calculator on their website (the US Department of Education also maintains its own database where you can search schools’ net price) where prospective students can enter information about their family’s finances to find out what students from similar backgrounds paid per year, including financial aid and grants.  Students also should apply for schools where they have a strong chance at receiving merit-based financial aid, Tillman says. Scores of schools offer at least some merit-based aid — that is, scholarships awarded based on your grades, leadership ability, or sports and artistic talents. For instance, over half of students at the University of Denver receive non-need based aid during the 2022-23 academic year. Some schools consider every student who applies for merit scholarships, but others may have separate applications.  Schools also usually list the GPA, SAT, and ACT scores of the middle 50 percent of students admitted to the university. For example, the middle 50 percent SAT range for accepted students at Towson University in Maryland is 1100–1300. If your scores are above these ranges, you’re more likely to receive merit-based aid, Tillman says.  Aside from merit-based aid, many students will qualify for need-based financial aid, which is based on your family’s financial situation. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, is how students apply for federal, state, and college financial aid. Fill it out as soon as you can after the form opens for the next academic year.   Aid is offered in the form of grants, scholarships, loans, and work study. On average, students received $8,890 in 2022 in federal grants. Usually, the FAFSA is available on October 1, but the form for the 2025-26 school year will be available on December 1. Some aid is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, so the earlier you apply, the better. There are also scholarships offered by private organizations that students can apply for beyond the FAFSA. Many students wait until they receive acceptances and financial aid packages to start applying, Williams says. However, there are more opportunities available at the start of the academic year than at the end, he says. Students should begin applying for scholarships as early as possible in their senior year of high school — and continue in the months following. Don’t discount scholarships from local organizations, like your school district or banks. You may have a higher chance of earning one because fewer students apply, Williams says. There are also more scholarship opportunities for incoming freshmen, he says, so don’t wait until your sophomore year to try landing scholarships. Make a plan by listing all the scholarships you hope to apply for, when applications open, and the submission deadline, Williams says.  Thomas Caleel, the founder and chair of Global Education Opportunities and the former director of MBA admissions and financial aid for the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, always tells students to think about the return on investment for a degree at a particular school. “If I’m putting my money into this education,” he says, “what am I getting out of it?” “I personally don’t think you should go into this just thinking, ‘I’ll borrow whatever I need to borrow, I’ll figure it out.’ That’s a terrible thing to do.” Students should think about what they hope to pursue after college and if a specific school can best support those goals, whether through a professional network, a unique program or other surprising benefit that will help you get ahead. For example, a California-based student who plans to go into real estate in their home state would get a higher return on investment at an in-state college versus an East Coast university. “It’s going to be much harder for you to leverage that network into a focus on real estate development in the Los Angeles County area,” Caleel says. If you know you want to go to medical school or will pursue an advanced degree, you might have a higher return on investment by starting your education at a community college and transferring to an in-state school for your undergraduate degree, knowing how long you anticipate being in school, Caleel says.   Once students have gotten their acceptances and financial aid award offers — a document that shows how much financial aid, including federal grants, scholarships, and loans the college is offering — they can start comparing the yearly cost of each school. First, look at the details of your aid package. Anything marked as a grant, you do not have to pay back. Federal Pell Grants from the US government are awarded based on the information you included on your FAFSA — the maximum award is $7,395 for the 2024–25 year. Loans are funds that must be repaid and accrue interest. Work study allows you to get an on-campus job to earn money throughout the year. The school will apply your grant and loans toward your tuition, fees, and room and board, while any extra money is paid to you directly. While the net cost for each school you were accepted to may be similar, make sure to compare how much money in loans you would need to repay after graduation.  Try to avoid taking out private loans — money lent by banks and credit lenders and not included on your financial aid award offer — which tend to have higher interest rates. “I personally don’t think you should go into this just thinking, ‘I’ll borrow whatever I need to borrow, I’ll figure it out,‘” Tillman says. “That’s a terrible thing to do, and it puts students in a very bad situation down the road.” There are other associated costs not included in the price of tuition and housing students should be aware of. Factor in how much you’ll need to spend on books, transportation to and from campus, and social expenses, like club memberships and off-campus meals, William says. There are also other incidentals: you might need to buy an air conditioner if you’re going to school somewhere much warmer than where you grew up or a winter jacket for somewhere colder. If the cost of tuition for your dream school is just out of budget, you can try negotiating with the university, Caleel says. Collect documentation of financial aid offers from other schools, any changes in financial circumstances, like a parent’s loss of a job or medical expenses, and parent tax returns. The student should then email the financial aid office explaining how you’d like to negotiate tuition. “It’s best to get as many offers as you can and then go and say — and be honest here — ‘You are our top choice. But to go there, we need to pay $25,000 a year that we just don’t have, and our second choice is $5,000 a year. Can we meet somewhere in the middle?’” Caleel says. Sometimes schools will have extra funds for additional aid, but it’s hardly a given. Although college is a considerable expense, it doesn’t need to be an onerous burden. Students and their families need to be realistic about the costs and shouldn’t discount lesser-known institutions.  “Parents want to be able to say, ‘My child is going to [the] big, shiny university,’” Caleel says, “when the smarter financial decision is for a child to go to a really, really good community college, to a really, really good state college, and save a ton of money.”

One of the most memorable essays college admissions counselor Alexis White worked on with a student wasn’t about a harrowing personal challenge or a rewarding volunteering experience. “It started with the sentence ‘My hair arrives in a room before I do,’” says White, the founder and director of the consultancy firm Alexis College Expert. “It just was the best. And everybody who reads it loves it.” College application essays have an infamous reputation for being one of the most difficult aspects of the application process. But it remains a crucial way to share details about your life and interests — a way to distinguish yourself beyond your grades, test scores, and extracurricular activities, even in the era of ChatGPT (more on that later). You got into college. How will you pay for it? Applying to college? Seven current students on how to stand out and stay sane. Admissions officers are looking to be entertained when reading application essays, White says. Of course, students should use their essay to showcase their curiosities, character, and point of view, but contrary to popular belief, these personal statements don’t need to recount devastating moments of painful growth. “You can be fun,” White says. “You don’t have to have trauma.” There are a number of essays students will need to write as a part of their college application. Over 1 million students apply to college through the Common App, a streamlined platform that allows students to apply to multiple schools at once. There, students write a personal statement, usually between 500 and 650 words, centered on a student’s identity, beliefs, accomplishments, and interests, and can choose from among seven prompts for the 2024–25 application season. One prompt even allows the applicant to write about a topic of their choice. “Write the essay that your heart wants to write,” says college essay coach Cassandra Hsiao.  Individual colleges also ask for additional shorter pieces (around 250 words), also known as supplemental essays, which may ask applicants to explain why they’re applying to this specific school, and about their academic interests and extracurricular activities.  With so much to write, students need to dedicate serious time and effort — White suggests at least eight weeks — into crafting compelling and effective essays. Here’s what college essay pros want applicants to know. Students often put pressure on themselves to have a one-of-a-kind essay topic, White says. There are very few unique concepts, she continues, but what will set you apart is your way into the essay. Start strong with an attention-grabbing first sentence, experts say, that immediately hooks the reader.  Look around your house or room and pick 10 items that spark a memory — like a soccer trophy or a painting you made — and write them down. Or recount a typical day in your life in detail, from the music you listen to in the shower to the snack you grab before bed. The point, Brook says, is to home in on things that you may think of as humdrum, but that you can use to tell a story about yourself. Don’t discount minor details when thinking about extracurriculars and accomplishments. “When my kids are stuck, it’s a lot of chatting about things that they think don’t matter and then we typically come to something really great,” says Tyler. Another tactic is picking five adjectives would you use to describe yourself, suggests White. Expand on each with an experience or memory. Focus on developing a unique lens through which to see an event in your life, with an original point of view. These can be small moments, says Stacey Brook, the founder and chief adviser at College Essay Advisors. For example, one student she worked with wrote an essay about bonding with her mother during drives to gymnastics practice. After the student got her license and no longer had these moments with her mother, she wrote, she felt a sense of loss. “She was reflecting on what those drives meant to her and what it means to grow up and to gain things and lose them at the same time,” Brook says. “That’s the tiniest moment, the smallest slice of life out of which you can make an incredible essay.” Even if you’re writing about a common topic, like school sports or lessons learned from an adult in your life, one way to differentiate your essay is to add dialogue, Hsiao says. “It’s in the specificity that only you can write because you went through that,” she says. Avoid regurgitating your resume, Hsaio continues. Instead, lead the reader through a narrative arc showing your growth. You don’t need to explicitly state what you learned from the experience. Instead, use descriptive, scene-setting language — about how tense you were during that big game or your excitement when you stepped onto the stage — that shows how you’re different on the other side.  Again, you don’t need to share the worst thing that’s ever happened to you — or try to dramatize your life to make it seem more challenging than it is — but help the reader understand the effort you put in to get a new club off the ground, for example. “What you went through objectively might be really small on a global scale,” Hsiao says, “but because it felt big to you and I care about you as the writer, it will feel big to me.” While Brook understands the appeal of ChatGPT, experts say don’t use it to write your essay. College application reviewers will be able to tell. The purpose of these pieces is to display your personality and writing ability and bots will never produce a unique, personalized essay. These chatbots use a style and tone that is immediately identifiable to readers, one that is rife with cliches and an awkward cadence, experts say. Appropriate uses of generative AI include spell and grammar check or as a thesaurus. “Once you start pulling full paragraphs, you’re cheating,” White says. “It’s not your work.” Depending on the school, you may be asked to write one or two shorter supplemental essays. These prompts may have similar themes, about your academic interests or how you relate to the people around you. For these essays, experts say you can reuse answers for multiple schools — but make sure you revise your answers to be specific to each school.  To ensure you’re tackling supplemental essays efficiently, Brook says to collect all of the prompts for the schools you’re applying to and see where they overlap. Hsiao suggests brainstorming three or four activities, obsessions or aspects of your life you know you want to showcase and try to match these topics to essay prompts. This can be anything from an extracurricular to your favorite TV show. “We are prioritizing what is important in our lives and then showcasing that by mixing and matching per school for the supplemental essay questions,” she says. For example, if you plan on writing about your future major for one college, adapt that essay to each school. However, make sure you’re researching each university and adding details about their specific program to your piece, Brook says. For essays asking why you want to attend that specific college, ensure your answers are unmistakably catered to that school. “‘I love Delaware because I can’t wait to go to football games and pledge a sorority, and I’m excited about the business school.’ That is not going [cut it] because you could say that about Rutgers,” says Kyra Tyler, a senior director and college admissions consultant at Bright Horizons College Coach. Instead, pepper your answer with details about school traditions, an honors program you hope to join, interesting research opportunities or what you observed when you went on a tour (whether in person or virtual), Tyler says. Not only do your essays need to be of substance, but they should showcase style, too.  Tyler suggests students avoid metaphor: Don’t talk about caring for your younger sibling in the context of a Bluey episode — be straightforward. (“Kids can’t get away from [metaphors],” Tyler says, “and what happens is they get stuck under them, and they can’t write.”) You’ll want to write vividly using concrete examples instead of plainly spelling everything out, White says. For instance, if you were a camp counselor who helped a nervous child come out of their shell, write a scene showing the camper interacting with other kids rather than simply saying the camper was less reserved. Write as if you were talking to your best friend, Tyler says. Avoid slang terms, but let your personality come through your writing. Try reading your essay aloud to see if it sounds like you.  Don’t forget about the basics, like good grammar, proper spelling, and word choice (make sure you’re not repeating similar words and phrases). You don’t need to focus on the five-paragraph structure, Hsiao says. Just make sure you’re telling a compelling story. Have a trusted adult, like a teacher or parent, read your essay to help point out style and structural issues you may have missed.  After you’ve completed a draft, set it aside for a few days, come back to it with fresh eyes for revisions, Tyler says. College application essays are your chance to share who you were, who you are, and how this university will shape who you hope to be, Hsaio says. Focus on topics you want admissions officers to know and let your voice and passion carry the essay. Correction, September 19, 11 am ET: A previous version of this story conflated the number of applicants with the number of applications sent through the Common App. Over 1 million students apply using the Common App.

It’s that time of year again: Summer is over, class is in session, and high school seniors are filled with dread. Yes, it’s college application season. The formula required to get into many colleges these days involves striking a delicate balance between highlighting personal and academic accomplishments, outlining future interests and aspirations, and painting a picture of who you are versus who you want to be.  The prospect of documenting an entire high school career while also selling your personality can be daunting. It’s normal for aspiring undergrads — and their parents — to feel overwhelmed. But you can manage it, whether you’re applying to five schools or 15.  This is what admissions officers really want to read in college essays You got into college. How will you pay for it? I talked to the people who are most familiar with how high-stakes it can all feel: seven current college students who successfully navigated the process for themselves. Here, they offer their best advice on staying organized, quelling anxiety, and the mistakes they wish they’d avoided. Responses have been edited and condensed for clarity. “At first, I only applied to one school, and then got wait-listed. I ended up applying to more after that. I wasn’t really thinking about college as much as I should have, and I was dead set on this one school. I just assumed the application process and acceptance was going to be a lot easier than it was. I put all my eggs in one basket. I was so overwhelmed and I wanted to get the application out of the way. I wish I would have applied to more schools from the start. I wish I would have relied more on support and help from other people, like my school counselors and friends who had already applied to colleges and got accepted.” —Alani Sage, 19. Applied to five schools, accepted to four, wait-listed at one. Now attends the University of Alabama. “I was one of those students who didn’t get accepted into a dream school, and you feel like it’s the end of the world, like you have no other hope. But now that I look back, I honestly think every single thing that happens, it’s for a reason. If you adapt and accept things head-on, you’ll thank yourself. I’m really happy now. I think that this experience was better for me, better for becoming more mature, more independent.” —Amna Ahmed, 19. Applied to 22 schools, accepted to 10, wait-listed at six. Now attends Wake Forest University.  “Reddit is a great resource. Subreddits r/CollegeResults and r/ChanceMe are great resources because people post their admitted profiles and you can see what their extracurriculars were and you know what they did to get into X school. r/ChanceMe, you post your own application and people say if they think you’re going to get in or not.  “Create a story for yourself that is so authentic and unique to you that anyone that reads it would be like, ‘That is so you.’” Take what people say about your application with a grain of salt, because at the end of the day, they’re not the admissions officer. It’s okay to compare yourself and your application to other people, but it’s not the be-all, end-all. Use it as inspiration but don’t think, ‘This person’s just better than me. I’m never going to have a chance.’” —Dylan Ott, 18. Applied to 15 schools, accepted via early decision to the University of Pennsylvania. “College apps are very tricky if you haven’t previously heard advice or if you don’t have other family members that have gone through them. I struggled a lot, because my family is from India, and they weren’t accustomed to the American college admission process. For example, a lot of my peers could afford college counselors when my family didn’t even know what those were.  I struggled with selling myself and knowing how to tell my story in a way that was unique to me, because from a very young age, I felt pressure trying to be more like people around me. Whenever I was writing my essays, I would try to frame myself as someone that had this background that my peers did, even though I didn’t. Create a story for yourself that is so authentic and unique to you that anyone that reads it would be like, ‘That is so you.’ Pick one angle about yourself to go with. For me, I talked about my self-growth and development, from being pretty shy to being super confident, starting a TikTok, and being in debate.” —Tanu Tripathi, 20. Applied to 11 schools, accepted to six. Now attends the University of Texas. “I spent a lot of time finding my story and writing down my life, asking my parents about things through my childhood that I couldn’t remember that I could draw connections to right now. It was me dumping much of my life onto the page, and then rewriting it and rewriting it and rewriting it again for a long time.  Those 250-word blurb answers were the hardest for me. I wrote about all my interests first and then saw what would match the essay questions for each school. Then you can edit them and change it to match, so you’re not really writing as many essays as you need to. In all, for every single school, there were over 50 essays. But I didn’t write 50 essays. A lot of these are reused, and a lot of them were also 150-word ones. For those questions, I always tried to answer them very creatively and in a way that most people wouldn’t just to show another side of myself.” —Jeremy Hsiao, 21. Applied to 11 schools, accepted to six, wait-listed at two. Now attends Stanford University. “I figured out a system of organization that worked for me. Making a drive on Google was huge. I called it ‘college.’ Within that drive I had different folders for scholarships, supplemental essays, and then my Common App. Once you have those folders, make a huge spreadsheet for all the colleges you’re going to apply to. Divide out your spreadsheet into three different sections: early action, a November 30 or December 1 deadline, and then your regular decision colleges. Having it all in one place helped a lot. Everyone’s going through this at the same time, and it’s really important to talk to your friends and family throughout the whole process for your mental health. Make sure you’re not keeping all the stress and all the overwhelming feelings inside of you. Make sure you’re ranting to your friends, ranting to your mom. Getting it all out is generally going to help you so much more in the long run.” —Chahat Kapoor, 20. Applied to 15 schools, accepted to nine, wait-listed at two. Now attends University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “I talked to a lot of my admission officers and interviewers after I got into these schools and they told me what stood out about my profile was it was so clear what type of student I was going to be. All my activities, my awards, my essays, even my extracurriculars, touched on my leadership and value of community service, specifically in the health field. My junior year of high school when I started thinking about college, I sat down and I wrote out all my extracurriculars and all my awards, and I saw that so many things I did were involved in the health field, and I also had a lot of leadership positions, so that naturally became what I would present in my profile.” —Olivia Zhang, 19. Applied to 26 schools, accepted to 20, wait-listed at two. Now attends Harvard University.