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Here is what I have found after working with kids and talking at length with many college admissions to find the college admissions secrets…These are some great tips and secrets to help you navigate the process:Grades, grades, grades and then more grades. Not for every school, but you can’t camouflage or sugar coat or breath spray great grades. Colleges usually count this as the all important factor and with so many kids applying, they may not even look at your application if it’s not in their general GPA ballpark. So make sure you hit it out.Many schools don’t care much about extracurriculars like most of the UC schools, especially UC San Diego or UC Irvine and yet in contrast, the Ivy’s really do care about your activities (that is if you are also close to their standard run of the mill grade and SAT criteria- about a 3.85/4.0 and 1560 SAT)-it’s what separates the standard from the standout(s). If you don’t have them, don’t apply unless it’s Cornell which loves all As, a 1560 SAT and then to top it off, you will likely also need to have great leadership and/or be very involved in campus and do something related to your major and your magically going to be accepted.I know this from spending hours at seminars and speaking to their admissions directors. You don’t need great activities here, but do need to show them you’ll fully take advantage of every type of club and similar activities on campus.They want leaders and doers (not sleepers) at Cornell.The other Ivy’s “secret sauce” if you will, is that the others want insane world or national championship caliber activities only. You have to be in a different league (and why they probably call it the Ivy League-kidding as you know).“Holistic reviews” are a great “buzz word,” but each school has a secret type of the student they want and you can learn that by what students they admit and who they accept and by studying the scores of admitted students too. It’s tough at first,but the patterns do emerge and as it should be. Every school has its special requirements and admit students that are the right fit.Admissions directors are paid to get applications and do a great job with “PR” encouraging everyone who speaks to them to apply and think they have a good chance when under there breath its more like (“Good luck with just playing the piano and in the school choir with all A’s and a 1500 SAT.” Instead, you’ll hear, “Sure we would love to have you apply.” They actually do a great job of getting the information out there and really have to keep their secrets close to the vest or no one who doesn’t even closely meet there requirements will apply right? Would you apply to schools you have almost no shot of getting in? Now after reading this, I hope you won’t or will limit those longshots. And its our job, as such, to uncover those secrets or closely held information. Acceptance and denials tell you much of what you need to know.And the more people the top schools like U Chicago can turn away, the higher the rankings of the school which is why they love to advertise in “bulk mailings” designed to look personal with your name on it where they paid the college board for your information that “we would love to have you at our school and we’re very interested in you” and sadly they’re probably not. But your application fee is needed for a great cause…to pay for special financial consideration for so many students who do need financial aid. So here’s a little secret…when you get those letters, unless you see one telling you that with a certain GPA you’ll get a scholarship tell your kids to “always recycle the trash.” It’s a great lesson.A lot of people want to be National Merit Finalist (16000 earn this designation annually) and my son was but it on average, after what we learned, it will barely helps you get into the top schools. Most schools don’t even look at it. But there are some schools that do actively recruit National Merit students because they too can advertise that they have 200 National Merit Finalist at schools like Baylor University the U of Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, University of Texas Dallas and University of Oklahoma who absolutely love it.If a school offers a National Merit scholarships like the ones in the link below (or for any set and defined scholarships based on an exact GPA or test score, (and some of these schools below generally do), you really have just hit the educational equivalent of the national lottery. You can also “google” for any school you may want to attend the following: “scholarships at U of Alabama or ____.” But please don’t tell anyone about this list of schools below or this search that helped is get many scholarships and it’s not just for narional merit since these schools are usually also the one who life straight A or 1550 SAT kids and have a great scholarship program in place. In other words check and hopefully check mate mate. You will be blown away by this list (and it’s. A great too not just for National Merit Finalists but if you have almost all As or 1550 SAT. Again please don’t tell anyone since our little secret (see below #10)For any of these merit scholarships (and most are guaranteed if you qualify), do apply to many of these schools because they do want you, it’s a great almost guaranteed admit and you’ll be a VIP, getting special enrollment, first chose of roommates and classes, special forums and events to attend and it’s easy if you do well getting into a top PhD program as a big fish in a small pond with easier competition since you're the star there (if you study hard).Guard this list with your life and it will warm your heart (and checkbook)…drum roll: NMF Scholarships (use it if you are a National Merit Finalist or an A close to all A student or 1550/35 ACT (or even lower in some cases lien a 31 ACT) to look up at least in some cases like ASU, U Arizona and U Alabama for their other great scholarships. They really want top students and offer these fixed scholarships anyone with high grades or test scores to get these kids away from the ivys and top 50. Again guard the list with your life. It got my son 10 close to full rides and why did he have to choose UC Davis over these full rides - why me? That is another secret- have them pay themselves if they don’t take a full ride. What was I thinking?The Ivy’s really don’t care at all about National Merit Finalist award. I would believe that if you don’t have a national merit that they would probably look at the application oddly. Kidding, but sort of.Two schools in the country, for their 75% percentile, actually want all A’s and unless you’re a special admit, you have as much chance of getting in as winning the state lottery. Ready and they are UCLA and Cornell and you didn’t hear it from me. The school statements may try to change or breath mint these facts, but the reality of their numbers prove otherwise. Be a perfect high school student or don’t apply and I’m not kidding. Even special admit students at UCLA need a 3.92 GPA out of a 4.0 for their 25th percentile and why they call it special indeed. But it’s our little secret. Ask around and I can almost guarantee that is close to a fact and in fact I know 50 out of 50 non special admits at UCLA who didn't get in without all As and the 4 who did got in had all As as advertised. I’m sure there are exceptions to any rule just not many here. Yep, the deck is stacked at UCLA with a lot of bright straight A students as this great school should be. But don’t apply and save your parents 100 dollars if you don’t have all As as a regular admit. It’s not a reach, but a pipe dream even if a couple of kids probably do get in with some unusual situation due to a few openings.Cal Tech and MIT want a perfect 800 or 36 in math and that’s pretty much a necessity to get in for a non-special admit students (and it’s actually listed as proof on their websites overall with some statistically anomalies on rare occasions-you want to be well done and not “rare” when applying here). It’s the kids they feel they need to be successful here at this intense university (again as it should be). Heck, even the special admit students like first-time college students, American Indian and African American or for those kids and families where they don’t speak with English at home the 25th percentile generally speaking need a 780 in math to be at the 25% percentile. In other words, just do the math to see if you should apply. That and a national robotics title may (should help). With just about 1000 spots worldwide, you’ll absolutely have to prove you are one of the smartest kids in the world by having some major accomplishment - not a regional science award winner but again that is a little secret and why I told a kid I mentor not to apply this year and he did. He didn’t get inDream big but please spend your money wisely and selectively on top 50 ranked school applications. I’m seeing the last three years so many wonderful all A students and also ones with 4.3 GPA and 1500–1560 SAT and great extracurriculars activities getting rejected from every single top 20 school and for these star kids with a 4.3 kids, from every top 50 school (that or bad coaching more likely from me but that’s another secret right-dont listen to anything I say). Just today, they broke the news to a great kid and this no ordinary student with a 4.3 GPA and 1560 SAT and quality extracurriculars too like a regional silver in academic decathalon. But it wasn’t not enough rocket fuel for MIT or CalTech, UCLA and USC (he did hit it big at 95th ranked UC Riveride and 87th Santa Cruz as his only top 100 spots. He was completely shell shocked and I warned him last year and thankfully he listened to some advise by applying to schools outside the top 50. Other kids this year with all As and 1550 were rejected from UCLA, USC and the ivys, but luckily had some great and wise choices by getting into the rest of the top UC schools (Berkeley Davis, Irvine, Santa Barbara and San Diego all top 50). They were smart to not expect admits into any top 30 schools and each hit with Berkeley as their single choice (if that isn’t a lottery pick then what is but all others weren’t interested. It was a wake call for me too. It’s gotten impossible to get in.Here is a little helpful secret and please don’t tell anyone… Generally, the top students at each high school with high SAT almost always will nail admission into the top Public schools in state-great school like U Michigan, U Washington or UCLA/Berkeley, U Colorado etc so do apply to these schools liberally in state. Why? They know in state students will probably attend due to the inexpensive tuition and you might find yourself with limited top private school selection so do use this great tip wisely even if you don’t love going to say Utah State. The kid listed above with a 4.3 GPA is now loving UC Riverside- a school he wasn’t going to apply to (but my convincing)! has him so excited now as he should be to have a top 100 college to attend. It’s a great feeling to get into a super school like Riverside or Michigan State. Never look a gift horse in the mouth. State schools are phenomenal and in par with any school in the country. Leave your egos at the door and you should be beaming with pride to get in. These are special places.There are only 12,000 Ivy League spots open annually and yet there are about 44,000 public and private high schools in the United States. In other words, if you remove international students and about 35% of the applicants which do you go to athletes according to a major recent article on this matter (Google it). And thus, your high school basically has about a one in six shot of getting a single student to the Ivys annually. The deck is a long shot number wise and don’t think your chances are ever great about getting in. Sure if you have top stats, why wouldn’t you apply, but have many many other wonderful choices. Duke and Northwestern and Hopkins are phenomenal world class schools and they love to feast on these kids who don’t have national caliber titles but do have top notch grades scores and activities too so apply liberally to the non Ivy’s for a great shot if your a top student. Again it’s our little secret since everyone wants the Ivy’s and these are much better shots for most top kids. But they still typically don’t take your average A- and 1400 SAT kid playing varsity soccer. They may occasionally, but you have to be top top top student to get in here as well-just not win a national title etc. a state title may work or something high caliber is very important too.And yet if you happen to go to a famous elite private school like Harvard Westlake in Los Angeles (and with 275 seniors only), they miraculously get five kids in annually to Harvard and five into Stanford…surprise surprise (and they boast about it on there website or they used to anyways). Yep it’s the famous old-school, old admissions are alive and well. And as it should be since these kids who got in are heavily vetted with tests that are much tougher than the SAT and a process that makes getting a membership to Augusta Golf Club look pretty easy. Yep it’s a nice chip shot from these schools into the ivy’s as a good student but a round (or year to attend) will set you back $45000 a year (per kid). And for many it’s worth it.Need blind financial aid is not always the case at some schools as per expert comments stating that it can affect your application process -just check with some people on Quora. It usually won’t affect your outcome but the rumors say that it can. I would still apply if you need the money though.Your stated major can actually affect your admissions at many but not all schools. The best are odd ones like Arabic studies or Greek studies or Chinese studies and something that few others study. My nephew got into USC with solid, but not spectacular scores writing about which classes on history he wanted to take and why and his application never made the history pile. It was a modern classic his acceptance and then he changed majors the following year. A straight A kid is now fortunately going to Berkeley undeclared because I suggested that with Berkeley being number 1 in the country for computer science he could have trouble getting in so he applied undeclared. For schools he was way above the 75th percentile for grades and scores like UCSD and UC Irvine, he applied and got into their computer science and he loved Berkeley and said he’ll go and he can still take some classes and if he does well get a BA in it or another field since he’s ok doing many stem majors. This is a highly intelligent kid who listened without any ego and now is going to his dream school. Be very skilled and layer your admission approach so you have so many more Great options. Those who don’t use these types of creative techniques from my perspective usually end up with very few school choices. Let the kids themselves within reason decide, but now they will have so many more wonderful choices and this gives them confidence to be very proud of what he accomplished. It also gives them the essential healthy esteem they need to move on from the college rejections they will get and really be excited about college.Computer science is a big “no no” for most kids unless you aced the SAT and have top grades too and elite scores higher than the standard admit. You want to come from a position of strength. it makes sense in any impacted or heavily applied majors because the admitted kids are usually extremely high performing test takers on average-ok above average is more like it. It’s very competitive and as such do make sure you can add it as a major because that too could be a major problem as well. If your scores are well above the 75th percentile, then yes apply. At some public schools like UCLA the major won’t hurt or help your chances so ask these question first to the admissions office (call is email them for a fast response) and they will always let you know if your major is a “major” deal or minor (puny right?).Another secret is that yes over 40% of kids end up changing majors anyways and so determine if that is an angle you want to play at a few dream schools anyways (or at schools that you are not that into). But more importantly do what is right for you. One son got into UC Davis and NYU by applying to NYU for its very general…general studies even though he wanted computer science and to Davis for economics (supply and demand made that a smarter decision). But to make sure he had some great choices he did apply to computer science at some great schools like U Alabama and U Arizona because his stats were a bit higher for then and it worked out with a lot of great choices. It usually does make sense to take this more layered or latter approach. Our family had to learn the hard way from our oldest son who was rejected by 16/16 top 50 schools for computer science, but he did get a shot at a top 100 school since it’s not as ultra competitive. And the funny part was you guessed it…he changed majors which I believe impacted his school choices. You do want to have a lot of great college options when all is said and done. For computer science (pre med, physics, any engineering major or business at any top school, please do use care and be aware of the difficulty of getting accepted. But these are all great majors as well. For computer science, most kids studying it love the degree and with 50,000 kids getting USA computer science degrees yearly, it’s one of many reasons why it’s so difficult to get in.The schools want you to believe that you can’t bring up your SAT score, but my kids raised their scores from 1200-1560 and 1000 to 1460 with special, elite test prep. It was ridiculous (and ridiculously priced too) but it did get one son many full ride offers even though he had to pick the more expensive school. I should have told him son, you have two choices —pay for the college yourself or I’ll pay for it with a scholarship but I got sucker punched twice. What was I thinking? “But dad I love my school.” My wallet isn’t loving it but it worked out for him so it’s worth it in select cases. You will know.One of the best kept secrets to getting into colleges is (mathematically) to apply to at least 20 schools that you have a shot at getting in. The one son with tons of scholarships applied to 33 schools and it worked wonders. He had a slightly lower GPA and a top SAT score so I didn’t know where he’d get in so like fly swatting blind fold (sort off) we went college fly swatting and caught some flies (and fleas too) with many rejects as expected. The top 30 schools were all fleas and gave us the old collar and a few nice wait lists as U Chicago so nicely does. It’s there nice way of saying no thank you. But we were thankful and respect them for this nice touch. Work hard in school (and your applications) now and as a result enjoy a great college later. Or by default, community college will be calling to many who take the path of least resistance. No pain and no gain. Don’t worry you'll gain a fresh 10 in college anyways so it may as well be at one you love.To have a great shot, if your special and not a special admit is to target the key demarcation line of 75 percentile for your grades and SAT scores and at any school listing, this information as almost all admissions coaches and experts tell you this is a realistic shot for admissions. It’s certainly not a guarantee but a decent chance, a shot at selection. If your also “special” and a special admit, you will really want to focus in on the 25th percentile line. Anything below that mark is a reach school and anything above is safer school (but you are never safe). These days you really need a “safety net” with a lot of schools, but no school is really a safety school anymore in the days of mass student applications and some really high test scores from elite test preps. Use the common apps to apply to an uncommon number of great schools and then you’ll have many wonderful schools to attend. When college gives you lemons (a tough admissions process),simply make lemon aid and add a lot of sugar to sweeten up the outcome. You will need a “twist.”I see many kids I help mentor with 4.3/4.6 GPA including many AP classes and 1500 Sat or 33 ACT scores who get rejected by almost every top 50 school. Be very careful to have many choices since the admit rate is brutal these days and think about the top five students at each high school that your competing with that have these stats or better and with same or better activities. We like to feel we’re special with all of these accolades, but so are so many others with even more impressive accolades. Think of it as like a fun game of poker where you have a sizeable stack of chips that you won but someone else at the table has more than you.Waitlists are part of the waiting game and you have a possible chance at each school so always say yes that your interested if you are, but do let schools know immediately if not as a courtesy to others. My UC Davis son said that many of his friends were waitlisted so it’s is a possible chance of admissions. And here’s a little secret we discovered last year by accident- If it’s a private school, visit on a regular tour near the freshman enrollment deadline and do let them know nicely how grateful you are that you are a “waitlistee“ (a new word in the American Heritage Dictionary now) and you’ll be surprised when like my sons’s close friend how they pulled him aside and offered him a spot few minutes into the tour as they did at 14th ranked Vanderbilt. Why… part of successs is showing up (and demonstrated interest) so he hit the jackpot therein on a whim to visit. And if you think about it, this was a brilliant move showing interest at a key point in time. Check and chekcmate (mate) for being brilliant and showing up) but he actually also got in the waitlist at UC Santa Barbara too and went there (he had 6 waitlist and 2 acceptances from them and after taking tours too. It more difficult at a public school though. But give it the old college try and try this army tactic if you will. Show up at the admissions office of the school that you were waitlisted at and ask to speak to admissions directors (not the front desk person) and let them know it’s your dream school and then magically you just might end up waking up from a dream and into your dream school. sometimes kids get in a week after school has started and will abandon ship for their dream school.If you get into a school like U Alabama ranked 120 or so— this is an amazing school as is U of Arizona or Baylor. It’s someone’s dream school so if you get in and then visit and be proud of getting into these or other amazing schools. Hold your head up high at any admitted school and be proud. It’s truly a special honor and one that few in the country get to have. Schools outside the top 20 or 40 are unbelievable and you should be so excited to go to a school that the school which chose you feels you are a perfect fit. They know best. And the competition is a little easier at a school where the average is a 3.3 GPA than competing against almost all A students at UCLA. I’m not saying by any means turn down UCLA but the glass here is really half full and not empty wherever you go so look at the bright side (and upside too) for you to ace college and get into a top grad school.This is a huge secret…and a fact, a reality, a truism and it will save you from transferring in two years from a bad fit college. Trust me it happened to me at Santa Barbara as I was encouraged to save money and not go to USC-huge mistake and two years later I was loving USC every waking moment (when I did awake-joking mostly). The key determiner where you go for college for four years of your life (many take 6 years now so choose carefully) should be how well you get along with others here so talk to many students and staff and make sure you would absolutely enjoy being there for four years and not because it’s ranked 10 spots higher than the other. I would choose the lower ranked school in a heartbeat if it’s a much better fit (and you get in). Big fish in small ponds become PhD students (or masters) at top 30 colleges. This is the most underrated and least utilized secret in the list and read it twice or you’ll transfer and hate your school. Maybe this was why I had a bit of a soft spot for my sons choice of Davis over Alabama and it worked out since he loved the school…if you don’t love it don’t attend please. Would you marry someone you like and not love? Of course not and the same holds for college. “Love it or you’ll leave it.”The schools themselves really know where you fit in and if you don’t get in to your Dream school, it’s perfect so just study harder and then prove it to them when you go to their grad school.State public schools like U Michigan or U Texas give major advantages to in state students so buyer beware. You have a major advantage generally being a top student and applying in state… I must state. For example, U Texas is amazing school that everyone in Texas should have at the top of the list. However with only 10% of out of state students getting in (hint you’ll get into top 20 schools as well and probably won’t go here) so why apply unless it’s your dream to attend from out of state. The UC are a better choice for out of state kids…Why? because they take 2–4x as many kids As U Texas and the competition is actually usually easier than from the intense in state California competition, since you are actually only competing against that group of kids. And it’s the same for international spots but they also take much less than national kids. I have found it’s actually a bit easily to get in at the UC schools especially internationally than from the intense CA beauty pageant going on in state. At the UC schools, the very elite out of state kids are usually targeting the ivys so if you are just a smidgen below, you will have a statistically better batting average at the UC schools choice. In state, Texas is a brilliant choice as a top Texas student and people don’t realize what an underrated and amazing place it is and not just for football. U Michigan is one of the best schools in the world too if you get in here too. The top public schools are phenomenal and all under rated by the polls. if you are a top student always target your best two state schools even as back up targets so you’ll hit a bullseye regardless. Let’s keep this public secret private ok?So many kids are focused just on the top ranked schools, but if you also focus on the schools ranked 70–150th (and those unranked) , which are phenomenal btw, with top GPA or SAT scores you’ll likely get some incredible schooling and scholarship offers. Some of the best scholarship secrets are schools like U Alabama, U Oklahoma (it’s better than OK), U Arizona, Arizona State, LSU (they even tell you how much you’ll earn with their on site scholarship calculator so calculate your savings and bag a great admit too with a very high SAT score or GPA (and sometimes with a 3.5 GPA or 1300 SAT. These are smart application choice because admissions at a reduced rate is almost guaranteed. Have some great choices out of the gate. You’ll relax on your other applications.Life can be a breeze … if you get into many of the UC schools since its surprisingly still somewhat of a secret that many are in some of the best and most beautiful places in the world. UC Santa Barbara overlooks a scenic cliff on the Pacific Ocean and to chill or ”chillax,” the kids walk to the sandy beach off campus (Sorry Harvard and Chicago) but the school is breezy,and easy (ier) and a great choice if you stand the admissions heat (I mean sunshine). Ditto for UC San Diego. La Jolla is considered the nicest part of San Diego and it’s an incredible city with beachfront cliffs. Most students will you love it here and some take up surfing if you want (or shopping). likewise, UC Irvine is 10 short minutes from famous Newport Beach, the best and most scenic beach city in Orange County with the best surfing, shopping and scenery anywhere in California. UCLA is a beautiful conclave and among the most scenic communities in Los Angeles- 20 minutes from the ocean and nearby skiing (same day). Davis campus is insane and outside awaits a 1940 movie type old town with classic modern buildings on campus. The UC schools are really amazing from many standpoints not to mention jobs. Do factor in the weather as to whether or not you will want to attend the school of your dreams. Do you like hot weather or cold, four seasons or for some more of a Four Seasons small private college. Do you like hiking fishing and the outdoors and staying inside, a large campus or small; big city or rural….etc. These see below important. I wouldn’t do well in Chicago as much as love the city. For me it’s “Sunshine on my shoulders (great song)” but look at more than the rankings and especially the fit part.Always look closely at the published admit rates and also at the number of applicants. Getting into a UC School is not a breeze unless you have almost all As and secondarily a top SAT score. There is a reason UCLA has more applications about 115,000 than any school in the country and most of the UC are close. Great schools, great values great places to spend four years and Ca employees really respect them. Use math to eliminate schools likely to eliminate you like the ivys which average only 1500 admits worldwide. Seriously what are your real chances of a school that admits 7% of the best, and don’t ever just focus on the ivys and instead always select a wider net and include top schools with a much better acceptance rate like a. Georgetown, Vanderbilt, U Purdue, Virginia etc.Like in geometry, use the angles. For example, how many kids from California are applying to U North Carolina or U Madison Wisconsin (two amazing schools) so when you do you’ll have a chance at one heck of a school by going off the normal grid. Or what North Dakota State and you just mind find yourself getting in with lower stats. I’ve never heard of a top local kid I know doing this trick but it’s a brilliant move. Top Kids from California tend to fly together and apply to all of the UC, some Ivys, maybe a few like Duke or Georgetown but rarely to UNC or Ohio State (Michigan yes)…Applying off of the grid… gets you on the grid and why kids from Alaska do very well getting into top schools so all 50 states are represented (a little known but true secret). Most of all, be that “diversity” candidate or a person the admission director is thinking really why is a kid from San Diego applying to North Dakota State and if so they must want to go here so let’s let them in. Angle off the grid for a few select college choices.Please don’t tell anytime this secret-only 500 US kids apply to Oxford/Cambridge annually so make sure you schedule their own special test (required here) at least one year out since my son couldn’t get a chance to take it 3 months out. Also the tests are insane, so do study for it for a year if interested like you would the SAT. And they do admit 18% and less from US. I’d choose either school over almost any US college but that is another secret I won’t discuss here…The very top, elite schools like Harvard, Yale and U Washington, Duke, John Hopkins etc (all great schools) are trying to gauge your interest so go their summer school and events and tours. This is one of the biggest secrets yet joining Harvard or MIT for a summer school program and doing well even if it’s used to get into Northwestern. This is a huge admissions boost so see what programs they have for high school kids or spend the summer on your own taking a few classes and you have proven to admissions directors you have what it takes to attend an elite college. It’s expensive but spend the summer at Boston as the best money you’ll likely ever spend. And also do Email the admissions departments regularly, click in there website regularly etc since they keep track. Give them some love and they may love your application, effort and it will make a difference if you are a great candidate. Had my son been a little more outgoing during his hour phone interview I helped set up with an amazing admissions director at Cornell, I believe he would have had an offer.You can develop a great repoire with admissions directors (as a parent too) occasionally and if your son is daughter is the right fit you’ll have a possible acceptance. Occasionally call, email and ask to visit with them. Life is about developing relationships and I still communicate with the retired Cornell admission director who was incredible helpful to our family and my understanding of the elite admission processes. I still regularly talk or email to the past Cornell assistant admissions director and consider her a friend. She has been a huge help over the years and a great source for information.Here is an interesting “secret” for athletes (or top performers/artists)-For any friends, family or parents of a star athlete that you know-for someone who will be a recruited, division one caliber athlete where they can play for a team like- they can “vault” into an ivy league school. Ivy’s don’t give any athletic scholarships but more importantly, they do offer amazing financial aid to anyone accepted who applies within a set financial matrix.This is listed on their financial aid website (and with calculators too in some cases. And its why at Princeton (the top ranked US News school), if your parents makes under $300,000 and in other cases under $200,000, and you apply you will get a very liberal (not a degree per se) but a generous financial aid package covering a nice part of your tuition.And it gets even better at the $140,000 a year and is very nominal or free at around $90,000-$120,000 income level. Most ivy’s have similar aid packages making a private education similar or in some cases cheaper than most public schools. For those with top level talent, the coaches have several slots per Division 1 only sports that are almost guarantees forabide by the specific college rules on how and when to contact to let them know your interest level too. To get more info too, you can google “athletics and special admissions at the ivys’ and you will enjoy reading why about 30% of all admits now go to athletes.Now that you read this you too can be one of the “crew.” Regardless, its one way to “bank” an ivy education. And as it should be. Beating Yale at Harvard takes a lot of work and coach recruiting so if you have this level of talent, why play at your state school when you can possible attend an Ivy for free. But don’t tell anyone. Its also our little secret.Take every AP class possible which will save you money on college (up to $77,000 for one year)…if you pass your AP classes with 4 and 5 (or 3s on occasion) this can also help you graduate up to a year early or give you the freedom to double major which is also very smart and distinctive. Typically most Universities will accept a 4 or 5 on the AP test for credit and some a 3 but it varies widely and most students get some but not all credit for their AP classes. And for ones they don’t do be sure to take the same class again and then nail it in college for a so called “Mickey” (as in Mouse) class or an easy A.And it’s a great grade boost for most colleges too. Here is another secret…the UC schools as per several admissions directors have told me they gauge closely having 9 or more AP classes as a major admit factor. It shows them that you took advantage of all that school had to offer by challenging yourself academically .One kid at spring break told me that his AP classes were harder than his computer science classes in colleges and really helped prepare him too. most top schools including the private schools look very closely and ask or calculate this key admission factor. It’s incredible how important this overlooked item is in your acceptance process…My suggestion, as tough as these classes are in high school, is to try within reason to take every AP class that you can handle like a Vegas Buffet. Even if you get a “B” or a 3 on some of the AP test, you’ll probably be able to ace each class again as well as your regular classes at college due to the rigor you had and that is much more important than getting As in high school.The goal of college really should be to focus on getting into grad school or getting great grades for a job since you will a need a minimum of a 3.0 GPA for virtually every Fortune 500 company later (many want a 3.7 GPA so put in the hard work when you. Party a little now and party a lot more in the future.Hard work now will likely help you succeed later in college and beyond so use AP classes, not to game the system, but to learn everything you can. And if you don’t get a 4 or 5 on the Ap test take AP calculus once agoan in college and it should be an A if you work hard again. Just do the math right? I like to say AP classes show your Ap-titude.Here are a few secrets for great extracurrulars? College love leaders who start a few popular clubs and serve as president; It never hurts being student body president either. Put in 400 hours over 3 summers of volunteering at a well known charity and that is a huge positive in your application and hours do count. College love any type of home run activities especially extracurriculars such as speech and debate (you can’t debate that), Academic Decatahlon and Science Bowl, plus any national competition like Siemens or Intel competitions. First, speech and debate for the top participants in any state will likely land you a half or full ride and even better special admission at a great school that has this team. My friend at USC got in as one of the top debaters in Illinois with a half ride and with very low GPA too. We couldn’t believe it and debated the merits therein but that is another story. The best activity (a true secret) to help prepare you for college is Academic Decathalon and it has 11 subjects that will actually help you decide what to major in or a major advantage. My son is going to get his PhD in economics when he graduates from Davis due to him loving economics here and winning a silver at states in it. The kids spend about 3 hours a day and when they go to college almost all of them destroy the curve because it’s so easy in comparison and taking a multiple choice is quite easy for them. We know one kid who has straight As in computer science at number one 1 ranked Berkeley and he said academic Decathalon was much tougher than any class at Berkeley. Another had a 3.9/4.9 in high school and now has 3.85 in computer science and econ at ecom and says college is pretty easy in comparison. They also do interview and speech so the kids become expert interviewers for college and grad school and make lifelong friends and the team has spots for A B and C students. Any kid should strongly consider taking this incredible extracurricular activity and the likelihood of it helping you get top grades and a PhD after college is always positive. Two of my kids did it and since both are almost done, don’t tell anyone but it’s our little (I mean big) secret. Also colleges love it too since it shows you love learning for learning sake and the kids do usually get into better schools than many of their peers with a slight bump for college admissions from what I have seen. Yes doing so is clearly ….“Academic.”A Summer school secret-If your first choice is a school that happens have a special “summer program for high school students” and run in conjunction with the University…then that program could be your “lottery admit ticket” since: A) it shows you are very interested in attending that college (and likely accept if they offer) B) you can talk about it in your essay with personal insights others don’t and C) it shows interest and likely acceptance of an offer. My son’s best friend did this program at Emory (it’s incredible), and sure enough he applied for Early Decision and bingo he hit the lottery with a 4.3 GPA and a 1500 SAT and qualify extracurriculars (into a top 22 ranked school). Then for a “double double,” his family hit the jackpot twice (or paid the slot machine twice depending upon how you look at) when his younger brother did the same thing and is now a legacy and he got in this year. Emory knew he too was dying to go their school (and it was a layup for them by admitting him) since his brother clearly loved it and had him apply. They got two top students guaranteed and kept it all in the family. I also noticed that Princeton loves our kids High School and is the only Ivy League school to regularly offer the public high school an annual admit. Is it by chance… no chance lol is my belief. They know the too kids do well.Both factors are secrets in helping you to heavily increase your odds and especially if a sibling is attending, and don’t forget to also apply to the same school and mention this fact. Why? Now the school knows you’ll most likely accept if you apply since your brother or sister loves it so much they told you to apply. Getting admits to accept their offer of admissions will in fact improve the schools rankings so this factor tells them they have a great shot at getting you… you are a “layup” for them so use this strategy to obtain tough admits. Call the school and find out about the summer school to. For elite colleges aces high school summer school works or even getting two As at Harvard or UCLA is a major green flag (meaning this kid can handle the heat. But if you aren’t brilliant it could also backfire if you get a C so drop any such class I’d you can. Getting As at any major university especially an Ivy or MIT may not be a slam dunk but it close to a layup for admissions if you have good enough scores to get into the main pile. Think about this logically… applicant A is perfect and is applicant B but applicant B took 2 classes at Harvard summer school and got all As. Who ya gonna call…Ghostbusters. No kid B. And taking classes at any elite college will help you get in (or get a possible scholarship if exceptional in every way) into many more colleges and it’s a game changer but with major risks if you do poorly…the so called double edged sword. But if an incredible student in one area put it off the glass softly for a winning basket.Early Decision (ED). Like any other decision in life, this could be your equivalent of the educational lottery (in a good way. Making an early decision for early decision will substantially increase your odds of acceptance, but nevertheless, it’s a case of buyer beware since it’s almost always binding so only do ED if you love the school and do it early. I would strongly advise someone who would love to get into a top ivy to do this and only pick your first choice (not your best chance because you’ll have to live with-and love your choice). It is highly underutilized by top public schools (and I don’t understand why) but it’s always encouraged at private high schools for a smart reason-demonstrated interest. And if your rejected/deferred, usually (not always) you’ll still get a second chance/look in the regular admit pool so you get a double double (ok and a cheesy comment or too right)? Similarly, I would also suggest taking “Early Action (EA) whenever possible at a larger range of schools as permitted… but -again please do read the fine print listed for any school for both because there are a lot of predetermined outcomes hinging on each and in some cases legal binding enrollment (hint your stuck going here unless you can prove financial aid didn’t meet your full need). Spend a lot of time studying and reading up on both and really understand the nuances. I would call severs of the school admission officers (or email them) for their own details. But please don’t tell anyone at the public schools since so few students these days that I have seen including my own bothered to take advantage of this major admissions advantage. It’s also important to usually apply earlier than their regular deadline as a general suggestion.Timing wise, I believe it’s always much better to try to finish some of your applications (or if a self starter) all of them over the summer. Doesn’t it make sense to be finished when everyone else stresses last minute near December and during school which is a major student stressor. Be relaxed, and grab a Starbucks or Net flix while your friends are stressing out big time. Why would anyone do that to themselves (hint most do) when you can likely give yourself a small boost by trying to be the top candidate to apply and on day one. To me anyways, it does show your interest in their school to put them first or early. A family friend whom I advised this year had a possible shot at Princeton as a top all A diversity student from a school they love offering similar diversity students annually. However he waited until the last moment, got behind and he couldn’t apply. This was a major mistake but a life learning moment.. “Showing up” is the number one key to success. Apply yourself and apply early as another big secret. It will open you up to adding many more schools as friends apply and you say you know what I would love to attend Georgetown so you simply crank out another Georgetown app… Soon enough, you are heading off to Washington DC for one great school because you had the time to apply. Always apply and also apply yourself.Don’t ever stress out over college (the best secret of all), because community college is the best option for many kids and if you ace it, you can often times go anywhere in the country. You’ll save money and sure it’s not like a 4 year college but my son did it and loved it and the kids are exceptional here too.For the right kids, usually hard working ones without a super high GPA or SAT score or even without a ego of feeling they need a four year school, community college is a truly a brilliant way to get into many top colleges (and sometimes with scholarships) with solid grades, but remember you do lose out two years of college life “for better or worse.”My oldest got into electrical engineering this way at UC Santa Cruz with a 3.3 GPA, but he also get rejected from UCLA, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara and UC Berkeley and that major is brutal for kids (another secret-watch out for that and computer science in college unless you are incredible at these subjects.Most of all, enjoy the process itself, and it ends up correct in most situations. The colleges know what they are doing; sadly most students do not because they don’t know how the game worksI loved the question and good luck to you. In the end, going to college was found recently in a study to pay 85% more than a high school degree so the fact your attending is worth every penny. Best of luck to you

Interesting that you should ask. Just a week or so ago, I ran across a list of Trump’s accomplishments in just 24 months in office. Just to compare, I also looked up Joe Biden’s record of accomplishments made in 44 years of service.I’ll list Joe’s first…1960: “[O]ne of the best pass receivers I had in 16 years as a coach.” — E. John Walsh, football coach at Archmere Academy.1965: Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Delaware in Newark, with a double major in history and political science and a minor in English.1968: Graduated from Syracuse University College of Law with a law degree.1969: Admitted to the Delaware bar.1970-72: Served on New Castle County Council.1972-77: Single parent to two sons, commuting on Amtrak 75 minutes each way between his home in Wilmington, Delaware and Washington, D.C.Joe Biden: Senate accomplishments1973-2009: U.S. Senator from Delaware, initially focussing on consumer protection, environmental issues, government accountability, and arms control. In his 6 terms as a senator, Joe Biden sponsored or co-sponsored 348 pieces of legislation that became law.1981-97: Chairman or Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee for 17 years.1986: Introduced his Global Climate Protection Act, one of the first bills aimed at addressing climate change.1990s: Authored every major piece of crime legislation this decade, including the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.1992-1995: Strongly guided Balkans policy in the mid-1990s during the Bosnian War, producing a successful NATO peacekeeping effort.1994: Spearheaded the Violence Against Women Act, criminalizing violence against women and creating unprecedented resources for survivors of assault, which was followed by a 64% drop in domestic violence from 1993 to 2010.1997-2009: Chairman or Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 12 years, leading legislation related to terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, post-Cold War Europe, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia.1997: Led the Senate to approve ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention.1998: Led the Senate to approve NATO enlargement and passage of bills to streamline foreign affairs agencies and punish religious persecution overseas.1999: Co-sponsored the McCain-Biden Kosovo Resolution, which called on President Clinton to use all necessary force, including ground troops, to confront Milošević over Yugoslav actions in Kosovo.2000: Sponsored the Kids 2000 Act, establishing a public-private partnership to provide computer centers, teachers, Internet access, and technical training to young people, particularly low-income and at-risk youth.Joe Biden: Vice President accomplishments-2017: Vice President of the United States.2009: Implemented and oversaw the $840 billion stimulus package in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.2009: Chaired the Middle Class Working Families Task Force.2010: Fought for Congressional approval of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which inserted accountability into the financial sector and fortified the stability of the financial system.2011: Led negotiations between Congress and the White House in resolving federal spending levels for the rest of the year and avoiding a government shutdown. Negotiated with Mitch McConnell to agree on deficit-reducing Budget Control Act of 2011.2012: Headed the Gun Violence Task Force in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.2012: Negotiated a deal with Mitch McConnell that led to the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, averting a fiscal cliff and implementing the largest middle-class tax cut in history.2014: Co-chaired White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault.2014: Served as the Obama administration’s emissary to Eastern European governments like Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine worried over Vladimir Putin’s ambitions in the region.Here’s Trumps list…..Economic Growth4.2 percent growth in the second quarter of 2018.For the first time in more than a decade, growth is projected to exceed 3 percent over the calendar year.Jobs4 million new jobs have been created since the election, and more than 3.5 million since Trump took office.More Americans are employed now than ever before in our history.Jobless claims at lowest level in nearly five decades.The economy has achieved the longest positive job-growth streak on record.Job openings are at an all-time high and outnumber job seekers for the first time on record.Unemployment claims at 50 year lowAfrican-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American unemployment rates have all recently reached record lows.African-American unemployment hit a record low of 5.9 percent in May 2018.Hispanic unemployment at 4.5 percent.Asian-American unemployment at record low of 2 percent.Women’s unemployment recently at lowest rate in nearly 65 years.Female unemployment dropped to 3.6 percent in May 2018, the lowest since October 1953.Youth unemployment recently reached its lowest level in more than 50 years.July 2018’s youth unemployment rate of 9.2 percent was the lowest since July 1966.Veterans’ unemployment recently hit its lowest level in nearly two decades.July 2018’s veterans’ unemployment rate of 3.0 percent matched the lowest rate since May 2001.Unemployment rate for Americans without a high school diploma recently reached a record low.Rate for disabled Americans recently hit a record low.Blue-collar jobs recently grew at the fastest rate in more than three decades.Poll found that 85 percent of blue-collar workers believe their lives are headed “in the right direction.”68 percent reported receiving a pay increase in the past year.Last year, job satisfaction among American workers hit its highest level since 2005.Nearly two-thirds of Americans rate now as a good time to find a quality job.Optimism about the availability of good jobs has grown by 25 percent.Added more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs since the election.Manufacturing employment is growing at its fastest pace in more than two decades.100,000 new jobs supporting the production & transport of oil & natural gas.American IncomeMedian household income rose to $61,372 in 2017, a post-recession high.Wages up in August by their fastest rate since June 2009.Paychecks rose by 3.3 percent between 2016 and 2017, the most in a decade.Council of Economic Advisers found that real wage compensation has grown by 1.4 percent over the past year.Some 3.9 million Americans off food stamps since the election.Median income for Hispanic-Americans rose by 3.7 percent and surpassed $50,000 for the first time ever in history.Home-ownership among Hispanics is at the highest rate in nearly a decade.Poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have reached their lowest levels ever recorded.American OptimismSmall business optimism has hit historic highs.NFIB’s small business optimism index broke a 35 year-old record in August.SurveyMonkey/CNBC’s small business confidence survey for Q3 of 2018 matched its all-time high.Manufacturers are more confident than ever.95 percent of U.S. manufacturers are optimistic about the future, the highest ever.Consumer confidence is at an 18-year high.12 percent of Americans rate the economy as the most significant problem facing our country, the lowest level on record.Confidence in the economy is near a two-decade high, with 51 percent rating the economy as good or excellent.American BusinessInvestment is flooding back into the United States due to the tax cuts.Over $450 billion dollars has already poured back into the U.S., including more than $300 billion in the first quarter of 2018.Retail sales have surged. Commerce Department figures from August show that retail sales increased 0.5 percent in July 2018, an increase of 6.4 percent from July 2017.ISM’s index of manufacturing scored its highest reading in 14 years.Worker productivity is the highest it has been in more than three years.Steel and aluminum producers are re-opening.Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and NASDAQ have all notched record highs.Dow hit record highs 70 times in 2017 alone, the most ever recorded in one year.DeregulationAchieved massive deregulation at a rapid pace, completing 22 deregulatory actions to every one regulatory action during his first year in office.Signed legislation to roll back costly and harmful provisions of Dodd-Frank, providing relief to credit unions, and community and regional banks.Federal agencies achieved more than $8 billion in lifetime net regulatory cost savings.Rolled back Obama’s burdensome Waters of the U.S. rule.Used the Congressional Review Act to repeal regulations more times than in history.Tax CutsBiggest tax cuts and reforms in American history by signing the Tax Cuts and Jobs act into lawProvided more than $5.5 trillion in gross tax cuts, nearly 60 percent of which will go to families.Increased the exemption for the death tax to help save Family Farms & Small Business.Nearly doubled the standard deduction for individuals and families.Enabled vast majority of American families will be able to file their taxes on a single page by claiming the standard deduction.Doubled the child tax credit to help lessen the financial burden of raising a family.Lowered America’s corporate tax rate from the highest in the developed world to allow American businesses to compete and win.Small businesses can now deduct 20 percent of their business income.Cut dozens of special interest tax breaks and closed loopholes for the wealthy.9 in 10 American workers are expected see an increase in their paychecks thanks to the tax cuts, according to the Treasury Department.More than 6 million of American workers have received wage increases, bonuses, and increased benefits thanks to tax cuts.Over 100 utility companies have lowered electric, gas, or water rates thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.Ernst & Young found 89 percent of companies planned to increase worker compensation thanks to the Trump tax cuts.Established opportunity zones to spur investment in left behind communities.Worker DevelopmentEstablished a National Council for the American Worker to develop a national strategy for training and retraining America’s workers for high-demand industries.Employers have signed Trump’s “Pledge to America’s Workers,” committing to train or retrain more than 4.2 million workers and students.Signed the first Perkins CTE reauthorization since 2006, authorizing more than $1 billion for states each year to fund vocational and career education programs.Executive order expanding apprenticeship opportunities for students and workers.Domestic InfrastructureProposed infrastructure plan would utilize $200 billion in Federal funds to spur at least $1.5 trillion in infrastructure investment across the country.Executive order expediting environmental reviews and approvals for high priority infrastructure projects.Federal agencies have signed the One Federal Decision Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) streamlining the federal permitting process for infrastructure projects.Rural prosperity task force and signed an executive order to help expand broadband access in rural areas.Health CareSigned an executive order to help minimize the financial burden felt by American households Signed legislation to improve the National Suicide Hotline.Signed the most comprehensive childhood cancer legislation ever into law, which will advance childhood cancer research and improve treatments.Signed Right-to-Try legislation, expanding health care options for terminally ill patients.Enacted changes to the Medicare 340B program, saving seniors an estimated $320 million on drugs in 2018 alone.FDA set a new record for generic drug approvals in 2017, saving consumers nearly $9 billion.Released a blueprint to drive down drug prices for American patients, leading multiple major drug companies to announce they will freeze or reverse price increases.Expanded short-term, limited-duration health plans.Let more employers to form Association Health Plans, enabling more small businesses to join together and affordably provide health insurance to their employees.Cut Obamacare’s burdensome individual mandate penalty.Signed legislation repealing Obamacare’s Independent Payment Advisory Board, also known as the “death panels.”USDA invested more than $1 billion in rural health care in 2017, improving access to health care for 2.5 million people in rural communities across 41 statesProposed Title X rule to help ensure taxpayers do not fund the abortion industry in violation of the law.Reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy to keep foreign aid from supporting the global abortion industry.HHS formed a new division over protecting the rights of conscience and religious freedom.Overturned Obama administration’s midnight regulation prohibiting states from defunding certain abortion facilities.Signed executive order to help ensure that religious organizations are not forced to choose between violating their religious beliefs by complying with Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate or shutting their doors.Combating OpioidsChaired meeting the 73rd General Session of the United Nations discussing the worldwide drug problem with international leaders.Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse and Reduce Drug Supply and Demand, introducing new measures to keep dangerous drugs out of our communities.$6 billion in new funding to fight the opioid epidemic.DEA conducted a surge in April 2018 that arrested 28 medical professions and revoked 147 registrations for prescribing too many opioids.Brought the “Prescribed to Death” memorial to President’s Park near the White House, helping raise awareness about the human toll of the opioid crisis.Helped reduce high-dose opioid prescriptions by 16 percent in 2017.Opioid Summit on the administration-wide efforts to combat the opioid crisis.Launched a national public awareness campaign about the dangers of opioid addiction.Created a Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis which recommended a number of pathways to tackle the opioid crisis.Led two National Prescription Drug Take Back Days in 2017 and 2018, collecting a record number of expired and unneeded prescription drugs each time.$485 million targeted grants in FY 2017 to help areas hit hardest by the opioid crisis.Signed INTERDICT Act, strengthening efforts to detect and intercept synthetic opioids before they reach our communities.DOJ secured its first-ever indictments against Chinese fentanyl manufacturers.Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement (J-CODE) team, aimed at disrupting online illicit opioid sales.Declared the opioid crisis a Nationwide Public Health Emergency in October 2017.Law and OrderMore U.S. Circuit Court judges confirmed in the first year in office than ever.Confirmed more than two dozen U. S. Circuit Court judges.Followed through on the promise to nominate judges to the Supreme Court who will adhere to the ConstitutionNominated and confirmed Justice Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.Signed an executive order directing the Attorney General to develop a strategy to more effectively prosecute people who commit crimes against law enforcement officers.Launched an evaluation of grant programs to make sure they prioritize the protection and safety of law enforcement officers.Established a task force to reduce crime and restore public safety in communities across Signed an executive order to focus more federal resources on dismantling transnational criminal organizations such as drug cartels.Signed an executive order to focus more federal resources on dismantling transnational criminal organizations such as drug cartels.Violent crime decreased in 2017 according to FBI statistics.$137 million in grants through the COPS Hiring Program to preserve jobs, increase community policing capacities, and support crime prevention efforts.Enhanced and updated the Project Safe Neighborhoods to help reduce violent crime.Signed legislation making it easier to target websites that enable sex trafficking and strengthened penalties for people who promote or facilitate prostitution.Created an interagency task force working around the clock to prosecute traffickers, protect victims, and prevent human trafficking.Conducted Operation Cross Country XI to combat human trafficking, rescuing 84 children and arresting 120 human traffickers.Encouraged federal prosecutors to use the death penalty when possible in the fight against the trafficking of deadly drugs.New rule effectively banning bump stock sales in the United States.Border Security and ImmigrationSecured $1.6 billion for border wall construction in the March 2018 omnibus bill.Construction of a 14-mile section of border wall began near San Diego.Worked to protect American communities from the threat posed by the vile MS-13 gang.ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division arrested 796 MS-13 members and associates in FY 2017, an 83 percent increase from the prior year.Justice worked with partners in Central America to secure criminal charges against more than 4,000 MS-13 members.Border Patrol agents arrested 228 illegal aliens affiliated with MS-13 in FY 2017.Fighting to stop the scourge of illegal drugs at our border.ICE HSI seized more than 980,000 pounds of narcotics in FY 2017, including 2,370 pounds of fentanyl and 6,967 pounds of heroin.ICE HSI dedicated nearly 630,000 investigative hours towards halting the illegal import of fentanyl.ICE HSI made 11,691 narcotics-related arrests in FY 2017.Stop Opioid Abuse and Reduce Drug Supply and Demand introduced new measures to keep dangerous drugs out the United States.Signed the INTERDICT Act into law, enhancing efforts to detect and intercept synthetic opioids.DOJ secured its first-ever indictments against Chinese fentanyl manufacturers.DOJ launched their Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement (J-CODE) team, aimed at disrupting online illicit opioid sales.Released an immigration framework that includes the resources required to secure our borders and close legal loopholes, and repeatedly called on Congress to fix our broken immigration laws.Authorized the deployment of the National Guard to help secure the border.Enhanced vetting of individuals entering the U.S. from countries that don’t meet security standards, helping to ensure individuals who pose a threat to our country are identified before they enter.These procedures were upheld in a June 2018 Supreme Court hearing.ICE removed over 226,000 illegal aliens from the United States in 2017.ICE rescued or identified over 500 human trafficking victims and over 900 child exploitation victims in 2017 alone.In 2017, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested more than 127,000 aliens with criminal convictions or charges, responsible forOver 76,000 with dangerous drug offenses.More than 48,000 with assault offenses.More than 11,000 with weapons offenses.More than 5,000 with sexual assault offenses.More than 2,000 with kidnapping offenses.Over 1,800 with homicide offenses.Created the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) Office in order to support the victims and families affected by illegal alien crime.More than doubled the number of counties participating in the 287(g) program, which allows jails to detain criminal aliens until they are transferred to ICE custody.TradeNegotiating and renegotiating better trade deals, achieving free, fair, and reciprocal trade for the United States.Agreed to work with the European Union towards zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers, and zero subsides.Deal with the European Union to increase U.S. energy exports to Europe.Litigated multiple WTO disputes targeting unfair trade practices and upholding our right to enact fair trade laws.Finalized a revised trade agreement with South Korea, which includes provisions to increase American automobile exports.Negotiated an historic U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement to replace NAFTA.Agreement to begin trade negotiations for a U.S.-Japan trade agreement.Secured $250 billion in new trade and investment deals in China and $12 billion in Vietnam.Established a Trade and Investment Working Group with the United Kingdom, laying the groundwork for post-Brexit trade.Enacted steel and aluminum tariffs to protect our vital steel and aluminum producers and strengthen our national security.Conducted 82 anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations in 2017 alone.Confronting China’s unfair trade practices after years of Washington looking the other way.25 percent tariff on $50 billion of goods imported from China and later imposed an additional 10% tariff on $200 billion of Chinese goods.Conducted an investigation into Chinese forced technology transfers, unfair licensing practices, and intellectual property theft.Imposed safeguard tariffs to protect domestic washing machines and solar products manufacturers hurt by China’s trade policiesWithdrew from the job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).Secured access to new markets for America’s farmers.Recent deal with Mexico included new improvements enabling food and agriculture to trade more fairly.Recent agreement with the E.U. will reduce barriers and increase trade of American soybeans to Europe.Won a WTO dispute regarding Indonesia’s unfair restriction of U.S. agricultural exports.Defended American Tuna fisherman and packagers before the WTOOpened up Argentina to American pork experts for the first time in a quarter-centuryAmerican beef exports have returned to china for the first time in more than a decadeOK’d up to $12 billion in aid for farmers affected by unfair trade retaliation.EnergyPresidential Memorandum to clear roadblocks to construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.Presidential Memorandum declaring that the Dakota Access Pipeline serves the national interest and initiating the process to complete construction.Opened up the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to energy exploration.Coal exports up over 60 percent in 2017.Rolled back the “stream protection rule” to prevent it from harming America’s coal industry.Cancelled Obama’s anti-coal Clean Power Plan and proposed the Affordable Clean Energy Rule as a replacement.Withdrew from the job-killing Paris climate agreement, which would have cost the U.S. nearly $3 trillion and led to 6.5 million fewer industrial sector jobs by 2040.U.S. oil production has achieved its highest level in American historyUnited States is now the largest crude oil producer in the world.U.S. has become a net natural gas exporter for the first time in six decades.Action to expedite the identification and extraction of critical minerals that are vital to the nation’s security and economic prosperity.Took action to reform National Ambient Air Quality Standards, benefitting American manufacturers.Rescinded Obama’s hydraulic fracturing rule, which was expected to cost the industry $32 million per year.Proposed an expansion of offshore drilling as part of an all-of-the above energy strategyHeld a lease sale for offshore oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico in August 2018.Got EU to increase its imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States.Issued permits for the New Burgos Pipeline that will cross the U.S.-Mexico border.Foreign PolicyMoved the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.Withdrew from Iran deal and immediately began the process of re-imposing sanctions that had been lifted or waived.Treasury has issued sanctions targeting Iranian activities and entities, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods ForceSince enacting sanctions, Iran’s crude exports have fallen off, the value of Iran’s currency has plummeted, and international companies have pulled out of the country.All nuclear-related sanctions will be back in full force by early November 2018.Historic summit with North Korean President Kim Jong-Un, bringing beginnings of peace and denuclearization to the Korean Peninsula.The two leaders have exchanged letters and high-level officials from both sides have met resulting in tremendous progress.North Korea has halted nuclear and missile tests.Negotiated the return of the remains of missing-in-action soldiers from the Korean War.Imposed strong sanctions on Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro and his inner circle.Executive order preventing those in the U.S. from carrying out certain transactions with the Venezuelan regime, including prohibiting the purchase of the regime’s debt.Responded to the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime.Rolled out sanctions targeting individuals and entities tied to Syria’s chemical weapons program.Directed strikes in April 2017 against a Syrian airfield used in a chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians.Joined allies in launching airstrikes in April 2018 against targets associated with Syria’s chemical weapons use.New Cuba policy that enhanced compliance with U.S. law and held the Cuban regime accountable for political oppression and human rights abuses.Treasury and State are working to channel economic activity away from the Cuban regime, particularly the military.Changed the rules of engagement, empowering commanders to take the fight to ISIS.ISIS has lost virtually all of its territory, more than half of which has been lost under Trump.ISIS’ self-proclaimed capital city, Raqqah, was liberated in October 2017.All Iraqi territory had been liberated from ISIS.More than a dozen American hostages have been freed from captivity all of the world.Action to combat Russia’s malign activities, including their efforts to undermine the sanctity of United States elections.Expelled dozens of Russian intelligence officers from the United States and ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle, WA.Banned the use of Kaspersky Labs software on government computers, due to the company’s ties to Russian intelligence.Imposed sanctions against five Russian entities and three individuals for enabling Russia’s military and intelligence units to increase Russia’s offensive cyber capabilities.Sanctions against seven Russian oligarchs, and 12 companies they own or control, who profit from Russia’s destabilizing activities.Sanctioned 100 targets in response to Russia’s occupation of Crimea and aggression in Eastern Ukraine.Enhanced support for Ukraine’s Armed Forces to help Ukraine better defend itself.Helped win U.S. bid for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.Helped win U.S.-Mexico-Canada’s united bid for 2026 World Cup.DefenseExecutive order keeping the detention facilities at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay open.$700 billion in military funding for FY 2018 and $716 billion for FY 2019.Largest military pay raise in nearly a decade.Ordered a Nuclear Posture Review to ensure America’s nuclear forces are up to date and serve as a credible deterrent.Released America’s first fully articulated cyber strategy in 15 years.New strategy on national biodefense, which better prepares the nation to defend against biological threats.Administration has announced that it will use whatever means necessary to protect American citizens and servicemen from unjust prosecution by the International Criminal Court.Released an America first National Security Strategy.Put in motion the launch of a Space Force as a new branch of the military and relaunched the National Space Council.Encouraged North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies to increase defense spending to their agree-upon levels.In 2017 alone, there was an increase of more than 4.8 percent in defense spending amongst NATO allies.Every member state has increased defense spending.Eight NATO allies will reach the 2 percent benchmark by the end of 2018 and 15 allies are on trade to do so by 2024.NATO allies spent over $42 billion dollars more on defense since 2016.Executive order to help military spouses find employment as their families deploy domestically and abroad.Veterans affairsSigned the VA Accountability Act and expanded VA telehealth services, walk-in-clinics, and same-day urgent primary and mental health care.Delivered more appeals decisions – 81,000 – to veterans in a single year than ever before.Strengthened protections for individuals who come forward and identify programs occurring within the VA.Signed legislation that provided $86.5 billion in funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the largest dollar amount in history for the VA.VA MISSION Act, enacting sweeping reform to the VA system that:Consolidated and strengthened VA community care programs.Funding for the Veterans Choice program.Expanded eligibility for the Family Caregivers Program.Gave veterans more access to walk-in care.Strengthened the VA’s ability to recruit and retain quality healthcare professionals.Enabled the VA to modernize its assets and infrastructure.Signed the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act in 2017, which authorized $2.1 billion in addition funds for the Veterans Choice Program.Worked to shift veterans’ electronic medical records to the same system used by the Department of Defense, a decades old priority.Issued an executive order requiring the Secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs to submit a joint plan to provide veterans access to access to mental health treatment as they transition to civilian life.Increased transparency and accountability at the VA by launching an online “Access and Quality Tool,” providing veterans with access to wait time and quality of care data.Signed legislation to modernize the claims and appeal process at the VA.Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act, providing enhanced educational benefits to veterans, service members, and their family members.Lifted a 15-year limit on veterans’ access to their educational benefits.Created a White House VA Hotline to help veterans and principally staffed it with veterans and direct family members of veterans.VA employees are being held accountable for poor performance, with more than 4,000 VA employees removed, demoted, and suspended so far.Signed the Veterans Treatment Court Improvement Act, increasing the number of VA employees that can assist justice-involved veterans.

Honestly, as a Caucasian woman raised going to the Reservations in native country in New Mexico, I am sick and tired of white people answering this question. How bout we let a real First Nations person talk? Black Elk - WikiquoteGuess what folks - we stole their land, slaughtered their people and their buffalo, gave them diseases they had never even known about, destroyed them with alcohol when we weren’t outright killing them with firearms they had no initial access to, herded their children to schools far away from their families where the children had their language ripped out of them and were often raped and tortured. How would you deal with this if it happened to your people? The Canadian Government Systematically Tortured And Abused Aboriginal Children For 100 YearsBecause white people write the history books, we refuse to acknowledge that Hitler was studying how well we genocidally massacred entire populations and rewrote them out of history, and he used much of our horrific success as a model for how to get rid of the Jews, gypsies, and other outcast populations when he was writing Mein Kampf. Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide?Thanks for yet again perpetuating the white colonizer superiority myth that we whose ancestors were part of the original Holocaust have participated in since the “Founding” (Read Occupation) of this country. I’d love to hear from any First Nations folks out there who can speak to the incomprehensible assault on their land, their peoples, their language, their traditions, their animals, and their spirituality by ruthless, master race colonizers.Read up on this before you rattle on about it white folk!Yes, Native Americans Were the Victims of GenocideHistorians/History Native Americans, genocide by Roxanne Dunbar-OrtizRoxanne Dunbar-Ortiz grew up in rural Oklahoma, the daughter of a tenant farmer and part-Indian mother. She has been active in the international Indigenous movement for more than four decades and is known for her lifelong commitment to national and international social justice issues. After receiving her PhD in history at the University of California at Los Angeles, she taught in the newly established Native American Studies Program at California State University, Hayward, and helped found the Departments of Ethnic Studies and Women’s Studies. Her latest book is An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States.Mass Grave at Wounded KneeThis paper, written under the title, “U.S. Settler-Colonialism and Genocide Policies,” was delivered at the Organization of American Historians 2015 Annual Meeting in St. Louis, MO on April 18, 2015.US policies and actions related to Indigenous peoples, though often termed “racist” or “discriminatory,” are rarely depicted as what they are: classic cases of imperialism and a particular form of colonialism—settler colonialism. As anthropologist Patrick Wolfe writes, “The question of genocide is never far from discussions of settler colonialism. Land is life—or, at least, land is necessary for life.”i The history of the United States is a history of settler colonialism.The extension of the United States from sea to shining sea was the intention and design of the country’s founders. “Free” land was the magnet that attracted European settlers. After the war for independence but preceding the writing of the US Constitution, the Continental Congress produced the Northwest Ordinance. This was the first law of the incipient republic, revealing the motive for those desiring independence. It was the blueprint for gobbling up the British-protected Indian Territory (“Ohio Country”) on the other side of the Appalachians and Alleghenies. Britain had made settlement there illegal with the Proclamation of 1763.In 1801, President Jefferson aptly described the new settler state’s intentions for horizontal and vertical continental expansion, stating: “However our present interests may restrain us within our own limits, it is impossible not to look forward to distant times, when our rapid multiplication will expand itself beyond those limits and cover the whole northern, if not the southern continent, with a people speaking the same language, governed in similar form by similar laws.” This vision of manifest destiny found form a few years later in the Monroe Doctrine, signaling the intention of annexing or dominating former Spanish colonial territories in the Americas and the Pacific, which would be put into practice during the rest of the century.The form of colonialism that the Indigenous peoples of North America have experienced was modern from the beginning: the expansion of European corporations, backed by government armies, into foreign areas, with subsequent expropriation of lands and resources. Settler colonialism requires a genocidal policy. Native nations and communities, while struggling to maintain fundamental values and collectivity, have from the beginning resisted modern colonialism using both defensive and offensive techniques, including the modern forms of armed resistance of national liberation movements and what now is called terrorism. In every instance they have fought and continue to fight for survival as peoples. The objective of US authorities was to terminate their existence as peoples—not as random individuals. This is the very definition of modern genocide.The objective of US colonialist authorities was to terminate their existence as peoples—not as random individuals. This is the very definition of modern genocide as contrasted with premodern instances of extreme violence that did not have the goal of extinction. The United States as a socioeconomic and political entity is a result of this centuries-long and ongoing colonial process. Modern Indigenous nations and communities are societies formed by their resistance to colonialism, through which they have carried their practices and histories. It is breathtaking, but no miracle, that they have survived as peoples.Settler-colonialism requires violence or the threat of violence to attain its goals, which then forms the foundation of the United States’ system. People do not hand over their land, resources, children, and futures without a fight, and that fight is met with violence. In employing the force necessary to accomplish its expansionist goals, a colonizing regime institutionalizes violence. The notion that settler-indigenous conflict is an inevitable product of cultural differences and misunderstandings, or that violence was committed equally by the colonized and the colonizer, blurs the nature of the historical processes. Euro-American colonialism, an aspect of the capitalist economic globalization, had from its beginnings a genocidal tendency.So, what constitutes genocide? My colleague on the panel, Gary Clayton Anderson, in his recent book, “Ethnic Cleansing and the Indian,” argues: “Genocide will never become a widely accepted characterization for what happened in North America, because large numbers of Indians survived and because policies of mass murder on a scale similar to events in central Europe, Cambodia, or Rwanda were never implemented.”ii There are fatal errors in this assessment.The term “genocide” was coined following the Shoah, or Holocaust, and its prohibition was enshrined in the United Nations convention presented in 1948 and adopted in 1951: the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The convention is not retroactive but is applicable to US-Indigenous relations since 1988, when the US Senate ratified it. The genocide convention is an essential tool for historical analysis of the effects of colonialism in any era, and particularly in US history.In the convention, any one of five acts is considered genocide if “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”:(a) killing members of the group;(b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;(c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;(d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;(e) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.iiiThe followings acts are punishable:(a) Genocide;(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;(d) Attempt to commit genocide;(e) Complicity in genocide.The term “genocide” is often incorrectly used, such as in Dr. Anderson’s assessment, to describe extreme examples of mass murder, the death of vast numbers of people, as, for instance in Cambodia. What took place in Cambodia was horrific, but it does not fall under the terms of the Genocide Convention, as the Convention specifically refers to a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, with individuals within that group targeted by a government or its agents because they are members of the group or by attacking the underpinnings of the group’s existence as a group being met with the intent to destroy that group in whole or in part. The Cambodian government committed crimes against humanity, but not genocide. Genocide is not an act simply worse than anything else, rather a specific kind of act. The term, “ethnic cleansing,” is a descriptive term created by humanitarian interventionists to describe what was said to be happening in the 1990s wars among the republics of Yugoslavia. It is a descriptive term, not a term of international humanitarian law.Although clearly the Holocaust was the most extreme of all genocides, the bar set by the Nazis is not the bar required to be considered genocide. The title of the Genocide convention is the “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” so the law is about preventing genocide by identifying the elements of government policy, rather than only punishment after the fact. Most importantly, genocide does not have to be complete to be considered genocide.US history, as well as inherited Indigenous trauma, cannot be understood without dealing with the genocide that the United States committed against Indigenous peoples. From the colonial period through the founding of the United States and continuing in the twentieth century, this has entailed torture, terror, sexual abuse, massacres, systematic military occupations, removals of Indigenous peoples from their ancestral territories, forced removal of Native American children to military-like boarding schools, allotment, and a policy of termination.Within the logic of settler-colonialism, genocide was the inherent overall policy of the United States from its founding, but there are also specific documented policies of genocide on the part of US administrations that can be identified in at least four distinct periods: the Jacksonian era of forced removal; the California gold rush in Northern California; during the Civil War and in the post Civil War era of the so-called Indian Wars in the Southwest and the Great Plains; and the 1950s termination period; additionally, there is the overlapping period of compulsory boarding schools, 1870s to 1960s. The Carlisle boarding school, founded by US Army officer Richard Henry Pratt in 1879, became a model for others established by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Pratt said in a speech in 1892, "A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one. In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him and save the man."Cases of genocide carried out as policy may be found in historical documents as well as in the oral histories of Indigenous communities. An example from 1873 is typical, with General William T. Sherman writing, “We must act with vindictive earnestness against the Sioux, even to their extermination, men, women and children . . . during an assault, the soldiers can not pause to distinguish between male and female, or even discriminate as to age.”ivThe so-called “Indian Wars” technically ended around 1880, although the Wounded Knee massacre occurred a decade later. Clearly an act with genocidal intent, it is still officially considered a “battle” in the annals of US military genealogy. Congressional Medals of Honor were bestowed on twenty of the soldiers involved. A monument was built at Fort Riley, Kansas, to honor the soldiers killed by friendly fire. A battle streamer was created to honor the event and added to other streamers that are displayed at the Pentagon, West Point, and army bases throughout the world. L. Frank Baum, a Dakota Territory settler later famous for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, edited the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer at the time.Five days after the sickening event at Wounded Knee, on January 3, 1891, he wrote, “The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one or more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth.”Whether 1880 or 1890, most of the collective land base that Native Nations secured through hard fought for treaties made with the United States was lost after that date.After the end of the Indian Wars, came allotment, another policy of genocide of Native nations as nations, as peoples, the dissolution of the group. Taking the Sioux Nation as an example, even before the Dawes Allotment Act of 1884 was implemented, and with the Black Hills already illegally confiscated by the federal government, a government commission arrived in Sioux territory from Washington, DC, in 1888 with a proposal to reduce the Sioux Nation to six small reservations, a scheme that would leave nine million acres open for Euro-American settlement. The commission found it impossible to obtain signatures of the required three-fourths of the nation as required under the 1868 treaty, and so returned to Washington with a recommendation that the government ignore the treaty and take the land without Sioux consent. The only means to accomplish that goal was legislation, Congress having relieved the government of the obligation to negotiate a treaty. Congress commissioned General George Crook to head a delegation to try again, this time with an offer of $1.50 per acre. In a series of manipulations and dealings with leaders whose people were now starving, the commission garnered the needed signatures. The great Sioux Nation was broken into small islands soon surrounded on all sides by European immigrants, with much of the reservation land a checkerboard with settlers on allotments or leased land.vCreating these isolated reservations broke the historical relationships between clans and communities of the Sioux Nation and opened areas where Europeans settled. It also allowed the Bureau of Indian Affairs to exercise tighter control, buttressed by the bureau’s boarding school system. The Sun Dance, the annual ceremony that had brought Sioux together and reinforced national unity, was outlawed, along with other religious ceremonies. Despite the Sioux people’s weak position under late-nineteenth-century colonial domination, they managed to begin building a modest cattle-ranching business to replace their former bison-hunting economy. In 1903, the US Supreme Court ruled, in Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock, that a March 3, 1871, appropriations rider was constitutional and that Congress had “plenary” power to manage Indian property. The Office of Indian Affairs could thus dispose of Indian lands and resources regardless of the terms of previous treaty provisions. Legislation followed that opened the reservations to settlement through leasing and even sale of allotments taken out of trust. Nearly all prime grazing lands came to be occupied by non-Indian ranchers by the 1920s.By the time of the New Deal–Collier era and nullification of Indian land allotment under the Indian Reorganization Act, non-Indians outnumbered Indians on the Sioux reservations three to one. However, “tribal governments” imposed in the wake of the Indian Reorganization Act proved particularly harmful and divisive for the Sioux.”vi Concerning this measure, the late Mathew King, elder traditional historian of the Oglala Sioux (Pine Ridge), observed: “The Bureau of Indian Affairs drew up the constitution and by-laws of this organization with the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. This was the introduction of home rule. . . . The traditional people still hang on to their Treaty, for we are a sovereign nation. We have our own government.”vii “Home rule,” or neocolonialism, proved a short-lived policy, however, for in the early 1950s the United States developed its termination policy, with legislation ordering gradual eradication of every reservation and even the tribal governments.viii At the time of termination and relocation, per capita annual income on the Sioux reservations stood at $355, while that in nearby South Dakota towns was $2,500. Despite these circumstances, in pursuing its termination policy, the Bureau of Indian Affairs advocated the reduction of services and introduced its program to relocate Indians to urban industrial centers, with a high percentage of Sioux moving to San Francisco and Denver in search of jobs.ixThe situations of other Indigenous Nations were similar.Pawnee Attorney Walter R. Echo-Hawk writes:In 1881, Indian landholdings in the United States had plummeted to 156 million acres. By 1934, only about 50 million acres remained (an area the size of Idaho and Washington) as a result of the General Allotment Act of 1887. During World War II, the government took 500,000 more acres for military use. Over one hundred tribes, bands, and Rancherias relinquished their lands under various acts of Congress during the termination era of the 1950s. By 1955, the indigenous land base had shrunk to just 2.3 percent of its [size at the end of the Indian wars].xAccording to the current consensus among historians, the wholesale transfer of land from Indigenous to Euro-American hands that occurred in the Americas after 1492 is due less to British and US American invasion, warfare, refugee conditions, and genocidal policies in North America than to the bacteria that the invaders unwittingly brought with them. Historian Colin Calloway is among the proponents of this theory writing, “Epidemic diseases would have caused massive depopulation in the Americas whether brought by European invaders or brought home by Native American traders.”xiSuch an absolutist assertion renders any other fate for the Indigenous peoples improbable. This is what anthropologist Michael Wilcox has dubbed “the terminal narrative.” Professor Calloway is a careful and widely respected historian of Indigenous North America, but his conclusion articulates a default assumption. The thinking behind the assumption is both ahistorical and illogical in that Europe itself lost a third to one-half of its population to infectious disease during medieval pandemics. The principle reason the consensus view is wrong and ahistorical is that it erases the effects of settler colonialism with its antecedents in the Spanish “Reconquest” and the English conquest of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. By the time Spain, Portugal, and Britain arrived to colonize the Americas, their methods of eradicating peoples or forcing them into dependency and servitude were ingrained, streamlined, and effective.Whatever disagreement may exist about the size of precolonial Indigenous populations, no one doubts that a rapid demographic decline occurred in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, its timing from region to region depending on when conquest and colonization began. Nearly all the population areas of the Americas were reduced by 90 percent following the onset of colonizing projects, decreasing the targeted Indigenous populations of the Americas from a one hundred million to ten million. Commonly referred to as the most extreme demographic disaster—framed as natural—in human history, it was rarely called genocide until the rise of Indigenous movements in the mid-twentieth century forged new questions.US scholar Benjamin Keen acknowledges that historians “accept uncritically a fatalistic ‘epidemic plus lack of acquired immunity’ explanation for the shrinkage of Indian populations, without sufficient attention to the socioeconomic factors . . . which predisposed the natives to succumb to even slight infections.”xiiOther scholars agree. Geographer William M. Denevan, while not ignoring the existence of widespread epidemic diseases, has emphasized the role of warfare, which reinforced the lethal impact of disease. There were military engagements directly between European and Indigenous nations, but many more saw European powers pitting one Indigenous nation against another or factions within nations, with European allies aiding one or both sides, as was the case in the colonization of the peoples of Ireland, Africa and Asia, and was also a factor in the Holocaust. Other killers cited by Denevan are overwork in mines, frequent outright butchery, malnutrition and starvation resulting from the breakdown of Indigenous trade networks, subsistence food production and loss of land, loss of will to live or reproduce (and thus suicide, abortion, and infanticide), and deportation and enslavement.xiii Anthropologist Henry Dobyns has pointed to the interruption of Indigenous peoples’ trade networks. When colonizing powers seized Indigenous trade routes, the ensuing acute shortages, including food products, weakened populations and forced them into dependency on the colonizers, with European manufactured goods replacing Indigenous ones. Dobyns has estimated that all Indigenous groups suffered serious food shortages one year in four. In these circumstances, the introduction and promotion of alcohol proved addictive and deadly, adding to the breakdown of social order and responsibility.xiv These realities render the myth of “lack of immunity,” including to alcohol, pernicious.Historian Woodrow Wilson Borah focused on the broader arena of European colonization, which also brought severely reduced populations in the Pacific Islands, Australia, Western Central America, and West Africa.xv Sherburne Cook—associated with Borah in the revisionist Berkeley School, as it was called—studied the attempted destruction of the California Indians. Cook estimated 2,245 deaths among peoples in Northern California—the Wintu, Maidu, Miwak, Omo, Wappo, and Yokuts nations—in late eighteenth-century armed conflicts with the Spanish while some 5,000 died from disease and another 4,000 were relocated to missions. Among the same people in the second half of the nineteenth century, US armed forces killed 4,000, and disease killed another 6,000. Between 1852 and 1867, US citizens kidnapped 4,000 Indian children from these groups in California. Disruption of Indigenous social structures under these conditions and dire economic necessity forced many of the women into prostitution in goldfield camps, further wrecking what vestiges of family life remained in these matriarchal societies.Historians and others who deny genocide emphasize population attrition by disease, weakening Indigenous peoples ability to resist. In doing so they refuse to accept that the colonization of America was genocidal by plan, not simply the tragic fate of populations lacking immunity to disease. If disease could have done the job, it is not clear why the United States found it necessary to carry out unrelenting wars against Indigenous communities in order to gain every inch of land they took from them—along with the prior period of British colonization, nearly three hundred years of eliminationist warfare.In the case of the Jewish Holocaust, no one denies that more Jews died of starvation, overwork, and disease under Nazi incarceration than died in gas ovens or murdered by other means, yet the acts of creating and maintaining the conditions that led to those deaths clearly constitute genocide. And no one recites the terminal narrative associated with Native Americans, or Armenians, or Bosnian.Not all of the acts iterated in the genocide convention are required to exist to constitute genocide; any one of them suffices. In cases of United States genocidal policies and actions, each of the five requirements can be seen.First, Killing members of the group: The genocide convention does not specify that large numbers of people must be killed in order to constitute genocide, rather that members of the group are killed because they are members of the group. Assessing a situation in terms of preventing genocide, this kind of killing is a marker for intervention.Second, Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group: such as starvation, the control of food supply and withholding food as punishment or as reward for compliance, for instance, in signing confiscatory treaties. As military historian John Grenier points out in his First Way of War:For the first 200 years of our military heritage, then, Americans depended on arts of war that contemporary professional soldiers supposedly abhorred: razing and destroying enemy villages and fields; killing enemy women and children; raiding settlements for captives; intimidating and brutalizing enemy noncombatants; and assassinating enemy leaders. . . . In the frontier wars between 1607 and 1814, Americans forged two elements—unlimited war and irregular war—into their first way of war.xviiGrenier argues that not only did this way of war continue throughout the 19th century in wars against the Indigenous nations, but continued in the 20th century and currently in counterinsurgent wars against peoples in Latin America, the Caribbean and Pacific, Southeast Asia, Middle and Western Asia and Africa.Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part: Forced removal of all the Indigenous nations east of the Mississippi to Indian Territory during the Jackson administration was a calculated policy intent on destroying those peoples ties to their original lands, as well as declaring Native people who did not remove to no longer be Muskogee, Sauk, Kickapoo, Choctaw, destroying the existence of up to half of each nation removed. Mandatory boarding schools, Allotment and Termination—all official government policies--also fall under this category of the crime of genocide. The forced removal and four year incarceration of the Navajo people resulted in the death of half their population.Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group: Famously, during the Termination Era, the US government administrated Indian Health Service made the top medical priority the sterilization of Indigenous women. In 1974, an independent study by one the few Native American physicians, Dr. Connie Pinkerton-Uri, Choctaw/Cherokee, found that one in four Native women had been sterilized without her consent. Pnkerton-Uri’s research indicated that the Indian Health Service had “singled out full-blooded Indian women for sterilization procedures.” At first denied by the Indian Health Service, two years later, a study by the U.S. General Accounting Office found that 4 of the 12 Indian Health Service regions sterilized 3,406 Native women without their permission between 1973 and 1976. The GAO found that 36 women under age 21 had been forcibly sterilized during this period despite a court-ordered moratorium on sterilizations of women younger than 21.Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group: Various governmental entities, mostly municipalities, counties, and states, routinely removed Native children from their families and put them up for adoption. In the Native resistance movements of the 1960s and 1970s, the demand to put a stop to the practice was codified in the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. However, the burden of enforcing the legislation lay with Tribal Government, but the legislation provided no financial resources for Native governments to establish infrastructure to retrieve children from the adoption industry, in which Indian babies were high in demand. Despite these barriers to enforcement, the worst abuses had been curbed over the following three decades. But, on June 25, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling drafted by Justice Samuel Alito, used provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) to say that a child, widely known as Baby Veronica, did not have to live with her biological Cherokee father. The high court’s decision paved the way for Matt and Melanie Capobianco, the adoptive parents, to ask the South Carolina Courts to have the child returned to them. The court gutted the purpose and intent of the Indian Child Welfare Act, missing the concept behind the ICWA, the protection of cultural resource and treasure that are Native children; it’s not about protecting so-called traditional or nuclear families. It’s about recognizing the prevalence of extended families and culture.xviiiSo, why does the Genocide Convention matter? Native nations are still here and still vulnerable to genocidal policy. This isn’t just history that predates the 1948 Genocide Convention. But, the history is important and needs to be widely aired, included in public school texts and public service announcements. The Doctrine of Discovery is still law of the land. From the mid-fifteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, most of the non-European world was colonized under the Doctrine of Discovery, one of the first principles of international law Christian European monarchies promulgated to legitimize investigating, mapping, and claiming lands belonging to peoples outside Europe. It originated in a papal bull issued in 1455 that permitted the Portuguese monarchy to seize West Africa. Following Columbus’s infamous exploratory voyage in 1492, sponsored by the king and queen of the infant Spanish state, another papal bull extended similar permission to Spain. Disputes between the Portuguese and Spanish monarchies led to the papal-initiated Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), which, besides dividing the globe equally between the two Iberian empires, clarified that only non-Christian lands fell under the discovery doctrine.xixThis doctrine on which all European states relied thus originated with the arbitrary and unilateral establishment of the Iberian monarchies’ exclusive rights under Christian canon law to colonize foreign peoples, and this right was later seized by other European monarchical colonizing projects. The French Republic used this legalistic instrument for its nineteenth- and twentieth-century settler colonialist projects, as did the newly independent United States when it continued the colonization of North America begun by the British.In 1792, not long after the US founding, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson claimed that the Doctrine of Discovery developed by European states was international law applicable to the new US government as well. In 1823 the US Supreme Court issued its decision inJohnson v. McIntosh. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Marshall held that the Doctrine of Discovery had been an established principle of European law and of English law in effect in Britain’s North American colonies and was also the law of the United States. The Court defined the exclusive property rights that a European country acquired by dint of discovery: “Discovery gave title to the government, by whose subjects, or by whose authority, it was made, against all other European governments, which title might be consummated by possession.” Therefore, European and Euro-American “discoverers” had gained real-property rights in the lands of Indigenous peoples by merely planting a flag. Indigenous rights were, in the Court’s words, “in no instance, entirely disregarded; but were necessarily, to a considerable extent, impaired.” The court further held that Indigenous “rights to complete sovereignty, as independent nations, were necessarily diminished.” Indigenous people could continue to live on the land, but title resided with the discovering power, the United States. The decision concluded that Native nations were “domestic, dependent nations.”The Doctrine of Discovery is so taken for granted that it is rarely mentioned in historical or legal texts published in the Americas. The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples, which meets annually for two weeks, devoted its entire 2012 session to the doctrine.xx But few US citizens are aware of the precarity of the situation of Indigenous Peoples in the United States._______________i Patrick Wolfe, “Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native,” Journal of Genocide Research 8, vol. 4 (December 2006), 387.ii Gary Clayton Anderson, Ethnic Cleansing and the Indian: The Crime that Should Haunt America. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2014.), 4.iii “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Paris, 9 December 1948,” Audiovisual Library of International Law, http://untreaty.un.org/cod/avl/ha/cppcg/cppcg.html (accessed December 6, 2012). See also Josef L. Kunz, “The United Nations Convention on Genocide,” American Journal of International Law 43, no. 4 (October 1949) 738–46.iv April 17, 1873, quoted in John F. Marszalek, Sherman: A Soldier’s Passion for Order(New York: Free Press, 1992), 379.v See Testimony of Pat McLaughlin, Chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux government, Fort Yates, North Dakota (May 8, 1976), at hearings of the American Indian Policy Review Commission, established by Congress in the Act of January 3, 1975.vi See: Kenneth R. Philp, John Collier’s Crusade for Indian Reform, 1920-1954.vii King quoted in Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, The Great Sioux Nation: Sitting in Judgment on America (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2013), 156.viii For a lucid discussion of neocolonialism in relation to American Indians and the reservation system, see Joseph Jorgensen, The Sun Dance Religion: Power for the Powerless (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977), 89–146.ix There is continuous migration from reservations to cities and border towns and back to the reservations, so that half the Indian population at any time is away from the reservation. Generally, however, relocation is not permanent and resembles migratory labor more than permanent relocation. This conclusion is based on my personal observations and on unpublished studies of the Indigenous populations in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles.x Walter R. Echo-Hawk, In the Courts of the Conqueror (Golden, CO: Fulcrum, 2010), 77–78.xi Colin G. Calloway, review of Julian Granberry, The Americas That Might Have Been: Native American Social Systems through Time (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2005), Ethnohistory 54, no. 1 (Winter 2007), 196.xii Benjamin Keen, “The White Legend Revisited,” Hispanic American Historical Review 51 (1971): 353.xiii Denevan, “The Pristine Myth,” 4–5.xiv Henry F. Dobyns, Their Number Become Thinned: Native American Population Dynamics in Eastern North America (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press in cooperation with the Newberry Library, 1983), 2. See also Dobyns, Native American Historical Demography, and Dobyns, “Estimating Aboriginal American Population: An Appraisal of Techniques with a New Hemispheric Estimate,” Current Anthropology 7 (1966), 295–416, and “Reply,” 440–44.xv Woodrow Wilson Borah, “America as Model: The Demographic Impact of European Expansion upon the Non-European World,” in Actas y Morías XXXV Congreso Internacional de Americanistas, México 1962,3 vols. (Mexico City: Editorial Libros de México, 1964), 381.xvii John Grenier, The First Way of War: American War Making on the Frontier, 1607–1814 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 5, 10.xviii http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/06/25/supreme-court-thwarts-icwa-intent-baby-veronica-case-150103xix Robert J. Miller, “The International Law of Colonialism: A Comparative Analysis,” in “Symposium of International Law in Indigenous Affairs: The Doctrine of Discovery, the United Nations, and the Organization of Americans States,” special issue, Lewis and Clark Law Review 15, no. 4 (Winter 2011), 847–922. See also Vine Deloria Jr., Of Utmost Good Faith (San Francisco: Straight Arrow Books, 1971), 6–39; Steven T. Newcomb, Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery (Golden, CO: Fulcrum, 2008).xx Eleventh Session, United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, http://social.un.org/index/IndigenousPeoples/UNPFIISessions/Eleventh.aspx (accessed October 3, 2013).