Timing is everything. This is especially true when a student is seeking admission to a college or university and it can often be a long and complex process in the United States.

Many people think the process begins in the final year of high school. However, students should start taking action well before that. In the US, young people generally attend high school for four years. It's suggested that students take their first step toward applying to college in the months before their third year. At this point, young people are still likely to have several unanswered questions in their mind. Those questions could be as complex as"What do you want out of your college experience? " or as simple as"Where do you want to study? Students can get closer to finding the answers by visiting any college or university.

The next step involves testing. Most US students take exams to prove their level of academic performance in the second half of their third year. After taking these tests, the period between the third and fourth years of high school is busy. This is the time when they should narrow the list of colleges and universities under consideration. Once they have made a shorter list, they should contact these schools

Then, students should begin working on a writing sample. Most US colleges and universities require applicants to provide a writing sample that does more than show off their writing ability. It should also tell admissions officers more about who the applicants are. So students should begin working on it even before their final year of high school

Finally, in the United States, most deadlines for college application materials are in early winter. Students should hand in all their application materials a week before the actual date. That way if any emergencies come up, students have plenty of time to contact the schools. Spring is when most schools make their decisions and inform students if they will accept them.

Sleep is an important biological process for people and animals. But some mammals(哺乳动物)like the northern elephant seal, survive with much less sleep.

Researchers in a new study described the unusual sleep pattern of these ocean animals. They found that when these mammals go to feed on trips that can last seven months, they sleep just two hours. Those two hours of sleep are made up of short moments of rest lasting only 10 minutes each as they dive deep to avoid predators(天敌).

The seals’ sleep time during ocean trips is different from the 10 hours a day they spend sleeping on the coast during mating season at places like California’s Ano Nuevo beach.

The researchers placed a head covering with sensors(传感器)on the heads of the seals that they studied. The sensors recorded sleep signals created by the seals’ brains and heart rate. The sensors also recorded the animals’ location and depth beneath the sea. The researchers studied female seals because they go out on long open-ocean trips while males feed in coastal waters.

During dives lasting about 30 minutes, the seals went into a deep sleep called slow-wave sleep while keeping a controlled downward movement. When they then experienced rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, a condition where voluntary movement while sleeping stops, the seals fell into a turning pattern. They sometimes ended up without movement on the seafloor.

Terrie Williams, a scientist at the University of California who helped write the study, said, “It is remarkable that a wild animal will fall into deep REM sleep when there are predators on the hunt.” She added that the seals solve this problem by going into deep sleep in the deep parts of the oceans where predators usually do not hunt them.