Admissions Beat

The quality of an applicant's senior year program—and the grades achieved in that course of study—are foundational to the academic assessment of any application to a selective college. In an encore episode from Season 5, college counselor Eric Monheim from St Mark’s School in Massachusetts joins SMU’s Elena Hicks and AB host Lee Coffin from Dartmouth to ponder the perennial question: “AP or Honors, which one looks better?" as high school juniors select their senior year curriculum.

For one month each year, two admission cycles overlap as high school seniors and juniors share center stage. As seniors wrap up their searches over the next four weeks and juniors shift into active mode, college counselor Darryl Tiggle from Friends School of Baltimore joins AB host Lee Coffin to map a plan for a purposeful April for both classes.

A "state option" is often recommended as families wrestle with the affordability of college. But focusing on "affordability" of public institutions alone undersells the opportunity and value of a state university as a campus to explore. AB host Lee Coffin welcomes senior admissions leaders from UMass-Amherst and UT-Austin for a comprehensive primer on the state option, and AB producer Charlotte Albright joins the conversation to add her classroom-based perspective as a former journalism professor at Vermont State University.

"How do you decide?" is one of the most probing questions associated with selective admissions. With so many qualified candidates competing for limited spots, decisions are often presumed to be random for those on the outside of the process. In the second conversation of AB's "March Madness" two-pack, New York Times journalist and best-selling author Jacques Steinberg interviews AB host and Dartmouth Dean Lee Coffin to unpack and illuminate the deliberations that unfold in a selective admissions committee. As Steinberg (who has observed such meetings) notes, there is no simple formula dictating their final choices. "I can tell you with every confidence that it doesn't exist. This is my Indiana Jones quest, and so far, I have come up empty, and I expect that I will always come up empty," he says.

In the first of a two-part episode, AB peeks behind the opaque curtain of a selective admissions office in March. Four Dartmouth admission officers join their dean for an introspective conversation about reading applications, which is "the fundamental task we have as admission officers at a college," AB host Lee Coffin notes. As one veteran reader says, "It's my favorite [part of the admissions cycle] because we get to meet people from all around the world...and put ourselves in the life of another person. It is a fundamentally positive and optimistic part of each admissions cycle."

Do Instagram or Reddit rival a guidance counselor as a source of admissions information and advice? Can YouTube match or beat an on-campus tour as a measure of vibe and place? Conventional wisdom says Gen Z prefers social media over in-person activities, but a trio of undergrad admissions bloggers at Dartmouth suggests a more cautious role for social media in a college search. The first-year students ponder the plusses and pitfalls of digital platforms as opportunities for discovery and as rabbit holes to avoid.

The college admissions process spits out lots of stats. Some numbers are straightforward, or they seem to be, while many data points require a nuanced interpretation from an inside source. Always, an ounce of context goes a long way towards appreciating what a number really means. The admissions deans from Colorado College and Dartmouth offer curious consumers of admissions data a cheat sheet on admissions numerology and how to "crunch" the stats that count. "Fair warning," they agree, "there is no code to crack!"

By definition, a guidance or college counselor offers counsel as a search takes shape and progresses. But sometimes that advice is resisted by parents and students. A "reach" or a "likely" designation can spark debate as aspirations meet the truth of a competitive forecast of admissibility. "Let's just see what happens..." or "you never know..." are common reactions of resistance. “I know," a veteran counselor replies. “I am not trying to insult you—I am trying to steer you towards good options."

"What counts?!" is the perennial question asked by parents and students as they wonder what makes a strong application. The answer, it turns out, is complicated. In a re-broadcast of a popular episode from Season 7, the admissions deans at Dartmouth and Brown ponder the nuanced question at hand as they share insights on what admissions officers are—and are not—considering as they build their college communities. Juniors, this conversation will help you discover which colleges match your interests and abilities, while seniors may be glad to know that the way you tell your own story is as important as the transcripts and test scores you submit.

An effective college search starts with discovery. “Start your discovery with the fundamental thing about college,” AB host and Dartmouth Dean Lee Coffin advises. “You are going to college to study, and four ‘Ps’ should guide the first phase of the search. Focus on program, place, people, and price as the building blocks of discovery for each campus." Senior admission officers from Brandeis, Cornell, and Saint John’s of Annapolis join Coffin with tips on how to explore academic programs, classroom types or formats, and general education requirements. They also discuss how place shapes academic majors from campus to campus. “Understand how every institution offers its course of study in its own distinctive way,” Cornell’s director of undergraduate admissions counsels. “And focus on what gets you excited—what learning environment lets you do your best work?,” the Brandeis dean asks.

It's time for the high school class of 2027 to step into the college search spotlight. As juniors kick off their college search, AB resets its narrative spotlight to the discovery phase. In the ninth season premiere, Dartmouth's Lee Coffin welcomes recurring co-host Jacques Steinberg, a former higher ed reporter at the New York Times and the best-selling author of The Gatekeepers and The College Conversation, and Kate Boyle Ramsdell, director of college counseling at Noble and Greenough School in suburban Boston, for a wide-ranging primer on the college search. The trio outlines key milestones in the search calendar; shares tips on identifying criteria and "non-negotiable" factors; advises the development of an exploratory list as an opportunity to discover; and recommends a family's financial capacity as an essential list shaper. "Let's give you a toolkit to move from discovery to applying with a sense of purpose," Dean Coffin says.

In a preseason bonus episode, Admissions Beat cross-shares a YouTube conversation about financial aid from the parenting website Grown & Flown featuring AB host and Dartmouth Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid Lee Coffin and AB contributor Jacques Steinberg, former New York Times higher education journalist and bestselling author of The College Conversation. As G&F notes on its YouTube channel: "In this essential conversation…Steinberg and Coffin break down what families really need to know about paying for college. This is not about negotiating like you’re buying a car—it’s about understanding how colleges calculate affordability, how financial aid works behind the scenes, and how families can make informed, realistic decisions without panic." You can learn more about Grown and Flown’s video offerings here.

For the high school Class of ’26, the first college admissions milestone is at hand as early decisions—some binding, some not—land. In AB's season finale, a trio of deans and a college counselor unpack those decisions, offering guidance on the etiquette of an early acceptance as well as reassurance for those with an early outcome that extends a search into regular decision.

From Grey's Anatomy to Bridgerton, Shonda Rhimes is television's storyteller extraordinaire. The Emmy winner visits AB for a lesson on how to channel main-character energy in an essay or interview. "What would you say to a teenager staring at a blank page, afraid their first draft won’t be good enough?," Dartmouth's Lee Coffin asks her. "Don't overthink your story," Shonda advises. "Just be you."

"Getting in" is the clear goal for almost every applicant, but a college search also yields valuable lessons for the road beyond the admissions process itself. Angel Perez, CEO of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, returns to Admissions Beat for a Thanksgiving week conversation with Dartmouth Dean Lee Coffin that plumbs the lessons of his career in admissions as strategies for the road ahead. "These are the things I wish I knew," Perez notes.

For many students around the world, college presents a rare opportunity to change the arc of a life, to pursue the fabled “American Dream,” where anything can happen for anyone. But for those who are first in their families to attend and graduate from college—a cohort known as “first gen”—the promise of upward mobility means navigating what, for some, can be a mystifying admissions process. “I didn’t know what I didn’t know,” Dartmouth Dean Lee Coffin remembers about applying as a first-gen to college. Three veteran counselors from access-oriented schools and organizations in Boston, Los Angeles, and Kentucky join the AB host, sharing stories and tips about how to celebrate a unique life experience throughout an application and, later, on a college campus. As one observes, “It is time to showcase your tenacity, grit, and a desire for more.”

The media's admissions beat is a very active feed each fall as application deadlines approach. Headlines invite clicks, shares, chatter...and often anxiety as students and parents consume newsfeeds that brim with content. But every admissions-themed article is not "news you can use," and some advice columns need a dose of interpretation. This week, AB host Lee Coffin and producer Charlotte Albright have a conversation about several recent admissions articles from The New York Times and Forbes—and the headlines that sometimes accelerate applicant angst—as they ponder what these posts really highlight. “I want to offer a forum for explanation,” the Dartmouth dean observes, "and what nuggets of information are worth adopting as valuable guidance."

Like most professions, college admissions has its own internal language, and that distinctive style of communicating is especially true as an application is read and summarized. In a special "quiz bowl" episode that fuses NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me with Jeopardy!, four veteran college counselors—all former admission officers who've read thousands of applications themselves—match wits to decode and decipher the unique lingo and shorthand that admissions officers use as they read an application. For applicants, AB Quiz Bowl offers an inside peek at the many things an admission officer notices, as well as some tips about how to emphasize the points you most want to highlight in your own application.

Sticker shock is real. Perceptions of college affordability represent one of the biggest concerns that most families navigate as a college search unfolds, with a 2024 survey of US voters revealing that 77% of Americans see college as “unaffordable.” This week, the pod tackles that (mis)perception as Admissions Beat becomes “Financial Aid Beat.” Justin Draeger, SVP for Affordability at Strada Education Foundation in Washington D.C., and one of the nation’s leading advocates for college affordability, joins Lee Coffin and Dino Koff from Dartmouth for a primer on the ins and outs of financial aid. The trio reassures families that higher ed really can be affordable as they offer tips on completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and colleges' net price calculators, and they help translate some of the “jargony language” that muddies the financial aid conversation and causes unintended confusion.

Like so many things, a college search often looks—and feels—better in hindsight. Parents are important eyewitnesses to a search as it unfolds and concludes, and they have plenty of stories to tell. Two parents from suburban communities full of high-achieving, ambitious students share thoughts and lessons from their children's respective searches a year ago. From the parental POV, they reflect on managing their own expectations and worries, processing the "silent treatment" from a child while "keeping quiet" themselves as they formed opinions and impressions, navigating the chatter of suburbia as well as the instincts of an independent-minded applicant, and planning to do it all again—with lessons learned—as a second child begins an admissions journey.

A college application generates a lot of data. "The transcript is the heart of the application," Emily Roper-Doten of Brandeis notes, "and there's a story in that transcript." And while that story seems straightforward, admissions data is easily misunderstood, as a grade point average, SAT score, and class rank (when available) dance with the rigor of a student's curriculum, the teacher recommendations, and the achievement norms shared on a high school profile. In an updated encore episode from Season Four, the new Brandeis dean joins AB host Lee Coffin from Dartmouth and Jeremiah Quinlan from Yale for a dive into the high school transcript and the role of standardized testing, optional or required. The trio of deans offers a primer on what the numbers mean, which stats matter and why, and how digits or percentages or letters inform an admissions evaluation.

Let your life speak. That venerable Quaker saying is great advice for any well-constructed college essay, but so many seniors wrestle with writer's block as the "perfect" essay eludes them. In a rebroadcast of a popular episode from Season 4, two veteran college counselors and AB host Lee Coffin from Dartmouth offer timely tips on composing an effective college essay in 650 words or fewer. “The essays that I love seem so effortless,” Ronnie McKnight from Atlanta’s Paideia School observes. “It is just an introduction of who you are.” Dean Coffin concurs: “What's the takeaway from what you shared?...And what is it about being a camp counselor, for example, that adds to my understanding of you as an applicant or as a member of the class I'm trying to build?” Adds Sherri Geller from Gann Academy in Massachusetts: “The questions and prompts are…things that 17-year-olds could answer. And if they were given this as an assignment in an English class…and just told to sit and write it without the pressure of thinking, ‘Is this going to affect my college admission decision?’ I think they really wouldn't find it to be that hard.”

From the annual conference of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling in Columbus, Ohio, an all-star cast of 12 deans and college counselors joins AB host Lee Coffin and recurring co-host Jacques Steinberg as they ponder the role of community in a college search and the ways an admissions committee "shapes" its campus vibe from the applicants it considers. "An applicant must suss out the institutional DNA," one counselor advises. Another adds, "and then help us see the person who will sit in the classroom or residence hall...and make the place zippy."

For decades, coming to America for university (or "uni," as it's known in the UK) has been the shared goal of students around the world. Today, that plan is less certain as geopolitical issues raise questions about the wisdom—and even the possibility—of coming to America for undergraduate studies. College advisors from the UK and India join AB host Lee Coffin to ponder the enduring value of an international student body as the classes of the 2030s queue up for their admissions journey.

The national admissions beat is abuzz with fast-breaking stories as the next admissions cycle gets underway. “The fundamentals are the fundamentals,” AB host and Dartmouth Dean Lee Coffin tells recurring co-host and former New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg. “But some policies are in motion.” The AB duo is joined by Matt DeGreef, longtime college counselor at Middlesex School in Massachusetts and a former admission and financial aid officer at Harvard, for a conversation about how best to consume recent news about higher education as you make and shape your college list.

In the eighth season premiere, AB host Lee Coffin and his guests map the shift from discovering college options to applying to those choices. As high school seniors embrace the next phase of their college search, the Dartmouth dean is joined by a guidance counselor from Connecticut and the deans from Colorado College and Princeton as they offer tips about refining a college list, pondering whether a “frontrunner” has emerged or not, and developing a plan to manage the preparation of the application itself. “It’s time to embrace uncertainty and trust a good result,” Colorado’s Karen Kristof advises.

In the season seven finale, Dartmouth's Kathryn Bezella discusses lessons gleaned from her first year as an admissions dean with Lee Coffin, who just completed his 30th year in such a role. In a candid conversation about what they each bring to the conference table where decisions are made, the Dartmouth duo muse about the "roller coaster dynamic" of leading a very selective admissions process, mastering its invisible gears, overcoming nerves, and juggling various priorities while preserving and respecting each student's voice in an increasingly high volume of applications.

For many high school seniors, the college search is an all-consuming process with three clear goals: apply to college, get into college, pick a college. Then, in May, it comes to a hard stop. Now what? Mary Pat McMahon, vice president and vice provost for student affairs at Duke University and AB host Lee Coffin from Dartmouth map out in both practical and philosophical terms the transition from searching for a college to enrolling in one. Drawing on many years of experience in a variety of academic settings, they share tips on navigating the aftermath of the college admissions process as the proverbial baton gets passed from the admissions office to student affairs.

Meet Luis Aguero, a first-generation college-bound student from San Bernardino, Paraguay. Self-taught in English as well as the unfamiliar ways of the college admissions process in the United States, Luis navigated his admissions process entirely on his own: "I didn't have any information at all, I had to go out of my way to learn about the colleges, to learn about admissions and how it works..." He followed his dream toward an American undergraduate experience with the help of the U.S. State Department's EducationUSA program in Paraguay, a book he found about college admissions, and a certain podcast that appeared in his newsfeed. "There's a lot of talk about holistic admissions, but listening to you made me believe it," he tells Coffin. To anyone without a working knowledge of selective college admissions, Luis offers an accessible playbook for self-advocacy.

Mindy Kaling joins AB for its 100th episode as the multi-talented Hollywood star and Dartmouth alumna remembers her own college admissions process in which "I wasn't thinking about the correct things." A high-achieving "comedy nerd" who had been weaned on "mountains of flashcards,” Mindy ponders her journey from home to college as she battled procrastination and a lack of confidence and faced her immigrant family’s high expectations for admissions “success.” Mindy candidly muses about "striving to feel special" as she "chased the feeling of acceptance" as a Latin-loving, theater-focused high school student. She shares the salient lessons of disappointment after her initial college ambitions did not materialize as well as her serendipitous "pivot" towards new opportunities as she moved forward. Whether auditioning for a role, creating a script, or penning a college essay, Mindy underscores the value of "authenticity and freshness" in one's storytelling as she advises future applicants to "be unafraid to be yourself."

AB's third annual open-ended conversation with applicants and parents at Dartmouth's admitted student open house offers insights and tips from those who have just navigated a successful college search. AB host and Dartmouth Dean Lee Coffin and recurring cohost Jacques Steinberg field wide-ranging comments and questions about admissions-induced procrastination, the value of authenticity in storytelling, and stress management in the face of looming deadlines and decisions. As one student observes, "Trust yourself, because you know yourself best."

Extracurricular activities, which are essential ingredients of any college application, yield lessons and skillsets that animate a student's story. Reflecting on his own experience in the drama club at Shelton High School in Connecticut, AB host and Dartmouth Dean Lee Coffin welcomes Gary and Fran Scarpa, the longtime directors of Shelton's drama program, for an unusually personal conversation about what Coffin learned from being actively involved in their productions. "You made me an extrovert," he tells them. The trio reflects on how lessons from the stage—or from a playing field, lab, or church youth group—inform the discovery phase of a college search and provide rich material for the application narrative. Although everyone wants to be a winner, "you don’t aways get the part,” Lee advises applicants. “You’re not all going to be the valedictorian of your class. How do you perform, learn, grow from what you have? Why are you doing what you do when you are not in class? How does it enliven the story of you? Bring that forward.”

Veteran college counselor Doug Burdett, from Brunswick School in Connecticut, joins his longtime colleague and AB host Lee Coffin as they ponder the lessons from their 30-year careers on both sides of the admissions counseling desk. Drawing from those innumerable interactions with students and parents, they muse about the unintended pitfalls that can misdirect a college search just as it gets started. Burdett advises prospective applicants and parents to "focus on community, not the name" as the impulse to "dream big" is balanced against a more pragmatic need to proceed with a sense of what's responsible and realistic. "A terrible list," warns Burdett, "is imbalanced." And if you don’t like an option after exploring it, Burdett says that's "fantastic," because "everything you learn helps test your assumptions about what you like.”

Marcia Hunt, past president of the National Association for College Admission Counseling and the longtime dean of college advising at Florida's Pine Crest School, joins AB host Lee Coffin as he recreates his "Advice to Parents" presentation from Pine Crest's junior kickoff in January. As he shares his tips for successful admissions parenting, Hunt offers context for what he advises as she channels her work with literally thousands of families over the course of her long tenure. She also shares thoughts on how to be a cooperative parent and how to maintain a happy home as a college search kicks into high gear. "Children will listen," Coffin muses as he highlights a memorable passage from Sondheim's poignant musical, Into the Woods. "They do," Marcia concurs.

College admission decisions for the high school class of 2025 have landed, and now it's time for seniors and their parents to assess those outcomes and move towards an enrollment decision by the National Candidate's Reply Date on May 1. Chris Gruber from Davidson College in North Carolina and college counselor Kate Ramsdell from Noble & Greenough School in Massachusetts join AB host Lee Coffin to guide students through April with confidence and a sense of purpose.

Twenty-five years after New York Times education reporter Jacques Steinberg, author of The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College, spent a year observing at close range the selection process at Wesleyan University, Steinberg joined admission officers at Dartmouth for a day inside its selection committee. After his "fly on the wall" day in Hanover, he quizzes Admissions Beat host and Dartmouth dean Lee Coffin about what he saw and heard as applicants from California entered the admissions spotlight. "I would smile when a student would take the time to tell you something that really made them a person, where you could actually almost see and feel having them there. And you all got that message, surfaced it, talked about it. It became part of the discussion," Steinberg tells Coffin, reassuring applicants that the time and care they put into telling their stories to colleges is well worth the effort.

For any college admissions officer, reading and evaluating an application is the work of the work. It is the heart of the admissions process itself, its most essential task. Reading season is the moment when recruitment yields to selection, when assessing merit and potential becomes a blend of reflection and decision as each application is evaluated and a class is shaped. The Dartmouth-based cast of last year's "Learning to Read," AB's most downloaded episode, reunites for a second, heartfelt conversation about their work as admission readers in a most selective admissions environment. The trio offer insights into "what counts" as each moves from file to file, and each reveals the invisible humanity that animates the work of the work.

Many people ask, "What counts?" as they ponder the elements of "merit" in a college application. This week, two Ivy deans tackle this perennial query as Brown's Logan Powell joins AB host Lee Coffin from Dartmouth for a wide-ranging conversation about assessing merit and where it is discovered. They consider the numbers and the narrative--the quantitative as well as the qualitative information--that emerges from a college application. Both deans channel a wise adage from Albert Einstein: "Not everything that can be counted, counts; not everything that counts can be counted."

Discovery is act one of every successful college search, and it should reveal as much about the searcher as about the places being explored. AB host and Dartmouth Dean Lee Coffin leads a “junior kickoff” deans panel that includes Elena Hicks from SMU and Karen Kristoff from Colorado College as well as college counselor Darryl Tiggle of Friends School of Baltimore. The quartet of admissions veterans offer advice and tips for juniors and parents about assessing personal interests and “non-negotiable” priorities that will frame the search; developing a list of college options that sync with those personal considerations; planning in-person or virtual visits to explore those places; and then assessing reactions as early ideas about college become more tangible. Dean Coffin advises, "You have to figure out who you are before you can figure out where you want to go." And when that happens, “You will discover your options with purpose.”

Season 7 of Admissions Beat gets underway at just the right time to give this year's high school juniors a preview of what's to come, as they look closely at themselves, survey the college landscape, and weigh options in higher education. Host Lee Coffin, Dartmouth’s dean of admissions and financial aid, and recurring co-host Jacques Steinberg, author of The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process at a Selective College, and co-author of The College Conversation: A Practical Companion for Parents to Guide Their Children Along the Path to Higher Education, offer calming, concrete advice about how to get started on a search for the school that will best fit each applicant's abilities and aspirations.

In the Season Six finale, Trinity College's Matthew Hyde returns to AB to reflect on his own son’s college search this year. As a veteran admissions dean and a first-time admissions parent, Matt shares advice for his fellow parents on the lessons he has absorbed as his parenting collided with his day job in a very real—and sometimes emotional—way. Following host Lee Coffin’s conversation with Matt, Dartmouth’s admission officers offer a “digital carol” as they reimagine ’Twas the Night Before Christmas with an application deadline theme.

Suburban public high schools in America are home to a significant pool of applicants to most selective colleges. The admissions chatter in those classrooms, counseling offices, hallways, and social media channels can hum at a high frequency as guidance counselors do their best to advise students and parents alike. This week, a quartet of these school counselors from suburban Connecticut join AB host Lee Coffin for a roundtable discussion on admissions life in a suburban town.

Holidays bring people together, and Thanksgiving in the U.S. comes at a particularly challenging moment for high school seniors as they apply to college. Well-meaning friends and relatives might inquire about the status of a college search, or opine about those options, or render a forecast about someone’s chances of admissions. Any and all of it can lead to some Thanksgiving indigestion, so this encore episode from 2023 offers tips and advice about navigating those conversations with poise and purpose.

The language of financial aid brings new—and sometimes confusing—vocabulary for many families. Gail Holt, Amherst’s dean of financial aid, and Dino Koff, director of financial aid at Dartmouth, join AB host Lee Coffin for a lesson in how to interpret and translate this new language. “Let’s demystify the financial process,” Koff offers.

Ever wondered how the elements of a college application came to be the elements of the college application? Today, essays, testing, recommendations, and interviews are fundamental ingredients of most selective admissions processes, but they were not always part of a college application as it evolved over the last 125 years. Dartmouth’s admissions dean Lee Coffin and Maria Morales-Kent, a former admission officer at the University of Pennsylvania and the longtime director of college counseling at Thacher School in California, draw lessons and insights from the courses they have both taught on the twists and turns of college admissions history.