In June 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down Harvard and UNCs’ admissions programs for considering race, in isolation, when evaluating applicants (and thus race-based affirmative action). However, the decision noted that universities may still consider an applicant's discussion of how race has affected their life, as long as it is concretely tied to that applicant’s unique abilities or character traits.

At Harvard, admissions decisions are ultimately made by the full admissions committee, members of which advocate for applicants. You are a member of Harvard's full admissions committee who screens applicants from your region and sends the most promising ones to the committee.

In 2021, the Myanmar military deposed the democratically-elected government in a coup and formed the State Administrative Council (SAC) to run the country. In response, democratically-elected lawmakers, along with representatives from various ethnic groups in Myanmar, formed the National Unity Government (NUG) as an alternative government. Myanmar is currently undergoing a civil war.

In April 2021, the nine ASEAN leaders met with the Myanmar junta chief to agree to a "five-point consensus," which included an immediate end to violence in the country, a dialogue among all parties, the appointment of a special envoy, humanitarian assistance by ASEAN, and the special envoy's visit to Myanmar to meet with all parties. The junta has since walked back its endorsement of the five-point consensus.

In 2021, the Myanmar military deposed the democratically-elected government in a coup and formed the State Administrative Council (SAC) to run the country. In response, democratically-elected lawmakers, along with representatives from various ethnic groups in Myanmar, formed the National Unity Government (NUG) as an alternative government. Myanmar is currently undergoing a civil war.

In April 2021, the nine ASEAN leaders met with the Myanmar junta chief to agree to a "five-point consensus," which included an immediate end to violence in the country, a dialogue among all parties, the appointment of a special envoy, humanitarian assistance by ASEAN, and the special envoy's visit to Myanmar to meet with all parties. The junta has since walked back its endorsement of the five-point consensus.

Domestic arts requirements prioritize domestically-produced/created art and home-grown artists (e.g., minimum quotas on the airtime dedicated to broadcasting domestically-produced TV shows, promotion of domestically-produced content on streaming sites, dedicated platform funding for the production and promotion of media depicting culturally-significant stories, caps on the inclusion or streaming of internationally-produced content).

Techno-optimism refers to the belief that all problems (social, environmental, economic) can be solved with technological progress.

Sharia refers to Islamic religious law. Many Muslim-majority countries have dual-legal systems, with Sharia Courts existing alongside secular courts.

A hard commodity is a natural resource that must be mined or extracted. Latin American states have significant reserves of hard commodities. These include a projected 5–10% of the world's demand for oil by 2030, and over a fifth of the global reserves for metals (silver, tin, nickel, copper, and lithium), which are used to produce green energy.

Horse-race journalism is a style of political reporting that focuses on the competitive aspect of elections, campaigns, and politics, such as which politicians are leading across various metrics (e.g., polls or fundraising).

Digital nomads rely on technology to work fully remotely while traveling between different countries, instead of working from a fixed location.