Your College Bound Kid | Admission Tips, Admission Trends & Admission Interviews

In this episode you will hear: (07:45) In this week's "In the news" segment, Mark and Dave discuss a February 14th, 2022 article, by Scott Jaschik that appeared in the Inside Higher Ed. The article is entitled, "Does calculus count too much in admissions." The article presents a pretty compelling case that there is a lot of resistance to the weight placed on calculus in admissions decisions. Mark and Dave look at why study after study can report that statistics or data science is more correlated with life sciences and other course work but that has had little effect on the primacy of calculus. https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2022/02/14/does-calculus-count-too-much-admissions#:~:text=Does%20Calculus%20Count%20Too%20Much,do%20a%20lot%20of%20mathematicians. (30:48) Question from a listener- Question 1 How common is it on today's campuses that they give "credit" for AP/IB but still require a distribution requirement in the same subject area? I am trying to minimize unnecessary stress for my kid. Bobbi from Ohio Question 2 Victoria applied early admission 2 to Auburn. We thought it would be an easy "yes" with her 4.7 unweighted GPA after senior year. However, she applied test optional because her score is 1260 on the SAT. Auburn deferred her. The college counselor at our school and I were completely shocked when they did not accept her. Our college counselor called the admissions officer for our area. She said they did not look at anything except grades and test scores. They did not consider anything else in the application. The Auburn admissions officer encouraged Victoria to send in her test scores. She said her full file would be considered for admission in March. In hindsight, Victoria remembers our tour guide at Auburn in July hinting that Auburn says it is test-optional, but not really. She didn't say it that way, but Victoria realizes now that was meant what she meant. Victoria sent in her scores in late February and was accepted on March 4th. Unfortunately, the delay caused her to miss out on Auburn scholarship opportunities. We wish we had known they were not really tested optional? How common is it for colleges to tell you that they are test-optional but they really aren't completely test-optional? Melinda from NC Question 3- Are all hooks equal or do some count more than others? How can we know which ones count the most (Anonymous question asker) (01:06:55) Our interview is with Chris Gruber-Vice President and Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid at Davidson College-"How the pandemic forced Davidson to examine its own admission biases and make changes" Part 2 of 2 (01:22:15) Our recommended resource for episode 221 is the Documentary "Try Harder". Lisa and Mark were both transfixed watching this documentary and they cannot recommend "Try Harder" more highly. The documentary looks at how the pressure students at Lowell High School feel to go to a prestigious college and the impact this pressure has on their self-esteem and mental health. (01:40:45) Our College Spotlight looks at, "Understanding Danish Universities" with International Specialist Kevin Newton (Part 2 of 2) To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under "the Listen to our podcast icons" Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live. You can ask questions on Twitter that he will answer them on the podcast. Mark will also share additional hot topics in the news and breaking news on this Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans are used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript We would be honored if you will pass this podcast episode on to others who you feel will benefit from the content in YCBK. Please subscribe to our podcast. It really helps us move up in Apple's search feature so others can find our podcast. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes liv

In this episode you will hear: (15:58) In this week's "In the news" segment, Mark and Dave discuss a January 12th, 2022 article, by Ron Lieber that appeared in the New Times. The article is entitled, "College Merit Aid (or the Lack Thereof) makes Early Decision even murkier. Lieber has many legitimate concerns with the lack of transparency colleges have about when it comes to letting families know how much they will have to pay. Mark shares what he believes are the strongest arguments Lieber has, and he also shares a few points where he disagrees with Lieber. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/your-money/college-early-decision-northeastern-merit-aid.html (39:54) It is Bonus content week for our question and Lisa looks at how accommodations for IEPs and 504 plans differ from college to high school: what you need to know to set your child up for a successful transition. (01:07:10) Our interview is with Chris Gruber-Vice President and Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid at Davidson College-"How the pandemic forced Davidson to examine its own admission biases and make changes" Part 1 of 2 (01:24:08) Our recommended resource for episode 220 is the book, The Attack on Higher Education: The Dissolution of the American University (01:38:02) Our College Spotlight looks at, "Understanding Danish Universities" with International Specialist Kevin Newton (Part 1 of 2) by Ronald G. Musto (Author). The book recounts the numerous ways Higher Ed is under attack and he has some steps that can be taken so Higher Ed can thrive for decades to come. To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under "the Listen to our podcast icons" Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live. You can ask questions on Twitter that he will answer them on the podcast. Mark will also share additional hot topics in the news and breaking news on this Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans are used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript We would be honored if you will pass this podcast episode on to others who you feel will benefit from the content in YCBK. Please subscribe to our podcast. It really helps us move up in Apple's search feature so others can find our podcast. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live. Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want to have some input about what you like and what you recommend we change about our podcast, please complete our Podcast survey; here is the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScCauBgityVXVHRQUjvlIRfYrMWWdHarB9DMQGYL0472bNxrw/viewform If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340 or email Lisa at [email protected]. All they ask is that you review their services on their website before the complimentary session. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (12:20) In this week's "In the news" segment, Mark and Dave discuss a April 4th, 2017 article, by Becky Sabky that appeared as an oped in the New York Times. At the time Sabky wrote this, she was a senior member of the admission staff at Dartmouth College. The article is entitled, "check this box if you are a good person". Sabky recounts the letter of recommendation that she read in their 13 years at Dartmouth that had the most profound impact on her. The student was unanimously voted to be admitted. Dave and I deconstruct the op-ed, looking at what this student did to impact Sabky so much. We look at what students can learn and apply to their own lives. (34:55) Shauna from North Dakota has several questions related to when schools recind acceptances for low grades. She also wants to know if students should cover themselves by applying to some EA schools and not withdrawing their applications to protect themselves. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/opinion/check-this-box-if-youre-a-good-person.html (48:30) Our interview is with two MIT admission officers (Chris Peterson and Kellen Manning) who also have other roles at MIT. Chris aka Petey and Kellen provide great insights into "Understanding MIT" Part 2 of 2 Petey answers the question, "how important is the 9th grade in their evaluation" Petey reveals whether grades predict grades at MIT Petey talks about whether test scores predict grades at MIT. He explains what MIT's research reveals on test scores. Petey talks about other cognitive factors that impact grades at MIT Kellen answers a question, "what does MIT do to ensure positive mental health with its students?" Kellen answers the question one of our listeners sent in, "What is MIT's personality"? The guys answer the question, "what does MIT do well" and "what does MIT need to improve"? We close by putting the guys on the hot seat and they were ready for me. Our 25 minute discussion about MIT with Chris Peterson and Kellen Manning will serve as our College Spotlight (01:00:34) Our recommended resource for episode 219 are the waitlist statistics that College Transitions/Data verse produce: https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/waitlist-statistics To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under "the Listen to our podcast icons" Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live. You can ask questions on Twitter that he will answer them on the podcast. Mark will also share additional hot topics in the news and breaking news on this Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans are used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript We would be honored if you will pass this podcast episode on to others who you feel will benefit from the content in YCBK. Please subscribe to our podcast. It really helps us move up in Apple's search feature so others can find our podcast. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live. Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want to have some input about what you like and what you recommend we change about our podcast, please complete our Podcast survey; here is the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScCauBgityVXVHRQUjvlIRfYrMWWdHarB9DMQGYL0472bNxrw/viewform If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340 or email Lisa at [email protected]. All they ask is that you review their services on their website before the complimentary session. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (15:58) In this week's "In the news" segment, Mark and Dave discuss a March 14th, 2022 article, by Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed, "New York Bill would ban legacy admissions and Early Decision"? This legislation would ban legacy and Early Decision from both public schools like the SUNY and CUNY schools and the private schools like Fordham, Syracuse, University of Rochester, Cornell, Columbia, Barnard, Union and St. Lawrence. Mark and Dave discuss whether they think these practices are likely to survive over the next 5-10 years and if they don't, what alternatives would colleges use in their place. https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2022/03/14/new-york-bill-would-ban-legacy-admissions-and-early-decision (45:08) Listener question: What's the point of demonstrating interest if you know you're applying ED? Isn't that already good enough? Do we still need to click on every email, register for virtual visits, etc.? It's the season for eighth-graders to choose their first high school classes. Any insights into best practices in this process? I know that multiple kids in college starting in 2024-2025 will not result in division of the EFC by the number of kids any longer. Do you have suggestions on how I can find out whether a FAFSA college will continue to divide the EFC or whether they will embrace the new change? Also, when would Net Price Calculators be required to be updated to reflect this change? (01:12:12) Our interview is with two MIT admission officers (Chris Peterson and Kellen Manning) who also have other roles at MIT. Chris aka Petey and Kellen provide great insights into "Understanding MIT" Part 1 of 2 (01:22:12:) Our recommended resource for episode 218 is Campus Pride. Campuspride.org assesses whether a college is LGBTQ friendly and supportive. (01:38:55) Our college Spotlight is Franklin and Marshall College (F & M) https://www.fandm.edu/ Part 2 of 2 To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under "the Listen to our podcast icons" Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live. You can ask questions on Twitter that he will answer them on the podcast. Mark will also share additional hot topics in the news and breaking news on this Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans are used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript We would be honored if you will pass this podcast episode on to others who you feel will benefit from the content in YCBK. Please subscribe to our podcast. It really helps us move up in Apple's search feature so others can find our podcast. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live. Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want to have some input about what you like and what you recommend we change about our podcast, please complete our Podcast survey; here is the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScCauBgityVXVHRQUjvlIRfYrMWWdHarB9DMQGYL0472bNxrw/viewform If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340 or email Lisa at [email protected]. All they ask is that you review their services on their website before the complimentary session. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (13:40) In this week's "In the news" segment, Mark and Dave discuss a Feb 22nd, 2022 article, by Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed, "Are recommendation letters a Form of Discrimmination"? https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2022/02/22/colleges-consider-whether-recommendations-are-fair (37:00) Mark continues with a bonus content section. Mark shares with Lisa what he believes would surprise our listeners if they were to be a college admissions officer. Part 3 of 3 (01:16:10) Our interview is with two MIT admission officers (Chris Peterson and Kellen Manning) who also have other roles at MIT. Chris aka Petey and Kellen provide great insights into "what can a student learn from a college's social media presence". Part 2 of 2 (01:25:56) Our recommended resource for episode 217 is The Twitter feed of the VP of Enrollment at Oregon State: Jon Boeckenstedt: @jonboeckenstedt.com (01:34:07) Our college Spotlight is Franklin and Marshall College (F & M) https://www.fandm.edu/ To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under "the Listen to our podcast icons" Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live. You can ask questions on Twitter that we will answer on the podcast. Mark will also share additional hot topics in the news and breaking news on this Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans are used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript We would be honored if you will pass this podcast episode on to others who you feel will benefit from the content in YCBK. Please subscribe to our podcast. It really helps us move up in Apple's search feature so others can find our podcast. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live. Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want to have some input about what you like and what you recommend we change about our podcast, please complete our Podcast survey; here is the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScCauBgityVXVHRQUjvlIRfYrMWWdHarB9DMQGYL0472bNxrw/viewform If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340 or email Lisa at [email protected]. All they ask is that you review their services on their website before the complimentary session. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

(12:05) In this week's "In the news" segment, Dave returns and Mark and Dave discuss a Feb 14th, 2022 article, by Brennan Barnard of Forbes, "Things that make yuo go Hmmm. Brennan Barnard interviews many admission leaders and college counselors in attempt to explain some rather bizarre things that are happening in the world of college admissions. These admission and counseling leaders provide some sage advice for us all. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brennanbarnard/2022/02/14/college-admission-things-that-make-you-go-hmmm/?sh=553fbd54aa02 (36:50) Mark continues with a bonus content section that will run over the next three weeks. Mark shares with Lisa what he believes would surprise our listeners if they were to be a college admissions officer. Part 2 of 3 (01:10:00) Our interview is with two MIT admission officers (Chris Peterson and Kellen Manning) who also have other roles at MIT. Chris aka Petey and Kellen provide great insights into "what can a student learn from a college's social media presence". In this interview, Petey and Kellen discuss the following: Petey and Kellen give their backstory They discuss how MIT uniquely uses (or doesn't use) blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube They also discuss three other powerful forums that often go overlooked: Discord, Reddit, and Quora Petey and Kellen give their perspective on whether forums like Reddit are valuable forums that they would encourage students or parents to frequent Kellen and Petey answer the question, how can a student discern the jewels from the junk in social media platforms Petey and Kellen give their advice to high school students' on how they should manage their own social media accounts Kellen and Petey discuss whether they look up students social media presence when reaching their files?  (01:18:00) Our recommended resource for episode 216 is "The Slice" by Applerouth (see applerouth.com). It is a great college admissions blog but it is also a place to learn about up and coming college admissions webinars. Instead of me talking about the Slice, Applerouth's own, Emma Vigneault to present the Slice to our listeners. (01:27:54) Our college Spotlight is College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. This is part 2 of 2 https://wooster.edu/ To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under "the Listen to our podcast icons" Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live. You can ask questions on Twitter that we will answer on the podcast. Mark will also share additional hot topics in the news and breaking news on this Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans are used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript We would be honored if you will pass this podcast episode on to others who you feel will benefit from the content in YCBK. Please subscribe to our podcast. It really helps us move up in Apple's search feature so others can find our podcast. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live. Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want to have some input about what you like and what you recommend we change about our podcast, please complete our Podcast survey; here is the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScCauBgityVXVHRQUjvlIRfYrMWWdHarB9DMQGYL0472bNxrw/viewform If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340 or email Lisa at [email protected]. All they ask is that you review their services on their website before the complimentary session. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (12:32) In this week's "In the news" segment, Dave has the week off to celebrate his birthday, but Vince Garcia and Mark discuss a Feb 14th, 2022 article, by Frances Dinkelspiel of Berkleyside, "UC Berkeley must slash new enrollment by one third unless high court intervenes. Vince and Mark discuss why the court ruled against Berkeley. They look at whether the problems caused by Berkeley having too many students are real? They also speculate where is this going and what implications does this ruling have? https://www.berkeleyside.org/2022/02/14/uc-berkeley-enrollment-drop-court-of-appeal-ruling (49:24) Mark starts a bonus content section that will run over the next three weeks. Mark shares with Lisa what he believes would surprise our listeners if they were to be a college admissions officer. Part 1 of 3 (01:32:58) Our interview is part 3 of 3 of Mark's interview with Mark Salisbury, the Founder of tuitionfit.org. In this segment, Mark discusses the following: Mark talks about how he gets these aid awards and how he convinces students, parents or counselors to submit their aid awards to Tuition fit Mark talks about the two core principles that Tuitionfit was founded on Mark talks about the mechanics of how an interested student or parent creates an account and what are the next steps Mark talks about how Tuitionfit safeguards for authenticity and for privacy of this highly confidential information Mark shares what a parent gets in return for sharing their student's aid awards with Tuitionfit (01:42:00) Our recommended resource for episode 216 is the The Future U podcast. Jeff Selingo and Michael Horn discuss what's next for higher ed and talk with the newsmakers you want to hear from most (01:50:24) Our college Spotlight is College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. This is part 1 of 2 https://wooster.edu/ To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under "the Listen to our podcast icons" Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live. You can ask questions on Twitter that we will answer on the podcast. Mark will also share additional hot topics in the news and breaking news on this Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans are used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript We would be honored if you will pass this podcast episode on to others who you feel will benefit from the content in YCBK. Please subscribe to our podcast. It really helps us move up in Apple's search feature so others can find our podcast. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live. Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want to have some input about what you like and what you recommend we change about our podcast, please complete our Podcast survey; here is the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScCauBgityVXVHRQUjvlIRfYrMWWdHarB9DMQGYL0472bNxrw/viewform If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All they ask is that you review the services on their website before the complimentary session. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (16:40) In this week's "In the news" segment, we discuss a Jan 13th, 2022 article, "How college applicants embellish essays with sob stories and fake patents. The article is by Isabel Vincent and it appeared in the New York Post. Mark and Dave discuss why this is happening and what if anything can be done about it. They also discuss other areas in the application where fraud is occurring. https://nypost.com/2022/01/13/how-college-applicants-embellish-admission-essays/ (31:39) Lisa and Mark answer a question from Shelly from California: How do I know which colleges should I visit? (01:01:44) Our interview is with Mark Salisbury, the Founder of tuitionfit.org. Mark talks about how he gets these aid awards and how he convinces students, parents or counselors to submit their aid awards to Tuition fit Mark talks about the two core principles that Tuitionfit was founded on Mark talks about the mechanics of how an interested student or parent creates an account and what are the next steps Mark talks about how Tuitionfit safeguards for authenticity and for the privacy of this highly confidential information Mark shares what a parent gets in return for sharing their student's aid awards with Tuitionfit (01:17:34) Our recommended resource for episode 214 is the outstanding reference book, "Colleges Worth Your Money"-A Guide to What America's Top Colleges Can Do For You by Andrew Belasco , Dave Bergman and Michael Trivette (01:27:38) Our college Spotlight is Western Michigan University, aka WKU in Kalamazoo, Michigan. https://wmich.edu/ To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under "the Listen to our podcast icons" Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live. You can ask questions on Twitter that we will answer on the podcast. Mark will also share additional hot topics in the news and breaking news on this Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans are used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript We would be honored if you will pass this podcast episode on to others who you feel will benefit from the content in YCBK. Please subscribe to our podcast. It really helps us move up in Apple's search feature so others can find our podcast. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live. Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want to have some input about what you like and what you recommend we change about our podcast, please complete our Podcast survey; here is the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScCauBgityVXVHRQUjvlIRfYrMWWdHarB9DMQGYL0472bNxrw/viewform If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All they ask is that you review the services on their website before the complimentary session. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (11:15) In this week's "In the news" segment, we discuss Ben Paris Jan 31st, 2022 article, "A Test prep persons anaylsis of the new SAT" Mark and Dave have a detailed discussion of all of the changes in this new SAT, and then they share their opinions about whether these changes are good or bad for students. https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/views/2022/01/31/new-sat-will-feature-important-changes-beyond-going-digital-opinion (34:46) Lisa and Mark continue their discussion of the new SAT by answering a question several listeners sent in asking how the test-optional movement will be impacted by the New SAT. (01:03:50) Our interview is with Mark Salibury, the Founder of tuitionfit.org. Mark shares his backstory, he explains what Tution Fit does and he explains why he started Tuition Fit. (01:09:47) Our recommended resource for episode 213 is the website: https://collegeweeklive.com/ This is a great website if you want to have a live virtual chat with an admission officer or if you want to watch great on demand webinars by college admission experts. (01:26:00) Our college Spotlight is with Sylvia Borgo. Sylvia is a UCLA alum, a college counselor and a substitute co-host for YCBK. Sylvia shares six traditions and programs UCLA offers and she also discusses who is NOT a good match for UCLA. To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under "the Listen to our podcast icons" Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live. You can ask questions on Twitter that we will answer on the podcast. Mark will also share additional hot topics in the news and breaking news on this Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript We would be honored if you will pass this podcast episode on to others who you feel will benefit from the content in YCBK. Please subscribe to our podcast. It really helps us move up in Apple's search feature so others can find our podcast. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live. Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want to have some input about what you like and what you recommend we change about our podcast, please complete our Podcast survey; here is the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScCauBgityVXVHRQUjvlIRfYrMWWdHarB9DMQGYL0472bNxrw/viewform If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All they ask is that you review the services on their website before the complimentary session. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (07:20) In this week's "In the news" segment, we do the big "switcheroo" and Lisa tackles an "in the news" question that was sent in and directed to her. It looks at the Windowless 4500 person dorm that Charlie Munger built at UC-Santa Barbara. We discuss a December 13, 2021 article entitled, "The Munger Dorm is bad, but why" by Aaron Betsky. The article appeared in Architectural Magazine. Aaron Betsky is Director of the School of Architecture + Design at Virginia Tech and a critic and author of more than a dozen books on art, architecture, and design Lisa and Mark discuss why was it built, what makes it unique and what are the risk factors in building a dorm like this. We also discuss the role of big donors in implementing their plans for a school even when the professional architects disagree with their vision. https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/buildings/the-munger-dorm-is-bad-but-why_o (25:28) Question from a listener For medical schools, is it better to go to a "lower" tier undergraduate school and be at the top of your class vs. going to a school where more of the students are at the child's level (and therefore the student would be in the middle of the pack)? Jennifer from Virginia Dave takes Lisa's role in helping answer the question from a listener. He draws off his experience as a Medical Director and Mark draws off his experience of seeing which students from which schools get in medical schools to answer Jennifer's question. (57:10) Mark interviews Gary Clark, the Dean of undergraduate admissions at UCLA and Gary helps us to understand UCLA. Preview (Part 2/2) Gary and I talk about enrollment of non-resident students who are not from California Gary shares statistical information, such as how many students apply and what the acceptance rate is for nursing and he talks about what UCLA is looking for when they evaluate a nursing applicant. Gary describes what "The Compare Favorably standard is" and he explains how this is measured. Gary answers the question, does test-blind apply to AP and IB tests or only SAT and ACT. I put Gary on the hot seat and we get to know the lighter side of Gary (01:09:05) Our recommended resource for episode 212 is the website https://www.uaspire.org Uaspire is a non-profit with the singular focus on college affordability and removing financial barriers so that every student has an equitable opportunity to attain a post-secondary degree without burdensome debt. Uaspire provides training and resources for students and counselors to help them understand college financial systems and the barriers that keep students from graduating because of money. To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under "the Listen to our podcast icons" Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live. Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want to have some input about what you like and what you recommend we change about our podcast, please complete our Podcast survey; here is the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScCauBgityVXVHRQUjvlIRfYrMWWdHarB9DMQGYL0472bNxrw/viewform If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All they ask is that you review the services on their website before the complimentary session. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

(13:06) In this week's "In the news" segment, we discuss two articles on the same topic, that both came out on January 10th, 2022. The first is by Melissa Korn in the Wall Street Journal entitled, "Yale, Georgetown, other Top Schools illegally collude to limit Student Financial Aid Lawsuit Alleges. The second article is by Ivana Saric of Axios and it is entitled, "Lawsuit alleges top colleges illegally collude to limit student financial aid" Dave and Mark discuss what the lawsuit alleges and Mark explains why he thinks one part of the lawsuit Is bogus but another could pose a serious threat to these college's assertion that they are need-blind. https://www.wsj.com/articles/yale-georgetown-other-top-schools-illegally-collude-to-limit-student-financial-aid-lawsuit-alleges-11641829659 https://www.axios.com/top-colleges-lawsuit-financial-aid-illegally-collude-a30ab056-8fd4-47c2-aa25-ca9644c0dc62.html (31:44) Two Questions from our listeners Living in the Northern VA area, many parents feel when their child is applying to VA highly selective schools (W&M, UVA), there is a bias against NOVA high schools. I've heard from several parents there is a "quota" system and they only let a tiny number in from each high school, even if they are well above the middle 50% of applicants. Have you found this to be true? Jennifer from Virginia How do I select a college? Student from New Jersey (50:17) Mark interviews Gary Clark, the Dean of undergraduate admissions at UCLA and Gary helps us to understand UCLA. Preview (Part 1/2) Gary gives what I call the elevator speech, a high level overview of who UCLA is The approach we take is similar to the approach I just took with Courtney Hatch-Blauvelt and Michael Ireland, 90% of the questions are ones that you sent in, and I ask Gary your questions Gary explains how the comprehensive review process works for applications to UCLA Gary shares a few unique things that UCLA does that some of the otther UC's don't do when they are evaluating an applicant Gary tells us what ELC is and he explains how it works in the UCLA admissions process. Gary discusses whether grade inflation at a particular high school is something they look at, or is an A and A no matter what high school the student is coming from. (01:01:18) Our recommended resource for episode 211 is the website https://www.collegehunch.com/. This website has a wealth of information about the colleges you are visiting and it is very user friendly for accessing by phone. It is great to use in the car when you are visiting colleges. (01:13:52) Mark and Lisa have our 3rd and final debate about whether Connecticut College acted inappropriately by telling a student that they will admit the student if the student will withdraw their test score and apply as a test-optional applicant. To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under "the Listen to our podcast icons" Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live. Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want to have some input about what you like and what you recommend we change about our podcast, please complete our Podcast survey; here is the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScCauBgityVXVHRQUjvlIRfYrMWWdHarB9DMQGYL0472bNxrw/viewform If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All they ask is that you review the services on their website before the complimentary session

In this episode you will hear: (18:28) In this week's "In the news" segment, a January, 2022 article in The Hechinger Report, by Jon Marcus "Faced with an existential crisis, some colleges do something that is increasingly rare: ADAPT. Mark and Dave look at the specific changes the colleges in the article made, and they discuss what other colleges can learn from these colleges. They also discuss what the YCBK listeners can apply to their lives from the insights from this article. https://www.pressherald.com/2022/01/02/facing-an-existential-crisis-some-colleges-do-something-increasingly-rare-adapt/ (33:01) It is bonus content week and Lisa guides us through how various theories of decision making can inform students making a choice of which college to attend. This is a great conversation about how subconscious forces can influence all of us in how we make decisions (01:06:00) Mark interviews Gary Clark, the Dean of undergraduate admissions at UCLA and Gary helps demystify how the waitlist works at a place like UCLA. Part 2 of 2 Preview (Part 2/2) Gary explains how so many factors play zero role in influencing the waitlist at a university like UCLA Gary explains the fluidity of the waitlist at UCLA Gary discusses what Summer Melt is and how it impacts the numbers Gary addresses Double Deposits Gary discusses how the admission process varies based on what your college or in some instances, college major is I end with a separate audio file of some info Gary shared with me after our interview (01:11:20) Our recommended resource for episode 210 is the book: "The Introvert's Complete Career Guide: From Landing a Job, to Surviving, Thriving, and Moving on Up" by Jane Finkle. The book provides great advice for how the introvert can get ahead in her/his career. (01:23:45) The college Spotlight is: The University of Missouri (https://missouri.edu/), Part 2 of 2 To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under "the Listen to our podcast icons" Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live. Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All they ask is that you review the services on their website before the complimentary session. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (19:34) In this week's "In the news" segment, a August 19th, 2021 article in Forbes, by Brennan Barnard "the admission double standard" Mark and Dave discuss how it is not uncommon for the admission officers to expect something of students that they do not apply to themselves. Dave and Mark discuss why this happens and what you can do about it. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brennanbarnard/2021/08/19/the-college-admission-double-standard/?sh=67f4234a45e6 (40:44) Mark and Lisa answer two questions, one from a student in Wisconsin an and one from a parent from Illinois: Question 1 How do I know what to do on a college visit? Will from Wisconsin? Question 2 Mark- you offered an amazing session to Old Saint Patrick families last year. I have been listening to your podcast ever since. My question has to do with merit scholarships. Most school websites indicate that income, financial need, etc. do not play into the decision- for example, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Is this real or imaginary? Thank you!, Mary Claire, Illinois (01:05:02) Mark interviews Gary Clark, the Dean of undergraduate admissions at UCLA and Gary helps demystify how the waitlist works at a place like UCLA. Preview (Part 1/2) Gary gives his backstory, including where he grew up and the various colleges he worked at Gary explains the admissions statistics for UCLA for the class of 2025 Gary explains the mechanics of how the waitlist works In part 1 one, Gary explains a few reasons why you can start out with what you think is a long waitlist and immediately it can get whittled down Gary explains some of the unknowns (01:11:58) Our recommended resource for episode 209 is the book: "Crush Your Test Anxiety" by Ben Bernstein. The book gives practical advice on how you can conquer the anxieties that keep you from achieving your peak performance on tests. (01:19:33) The college Spotlight is: The University of Missouri (https://missouri.edu/), Part 1 of 2 To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under "the Listen to our podcast icons" Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live. Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All they ask is that you review the services on their website before the complimentary session. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (08:20) In this week's "In the news" segment, a November 1st, 2021 article in the Hechinger Report, by Jon Marcus "From Google ads to NFL sponsorships: Colleges spends billions at marketing themselves to attract students" Mark and Dave discuss how much they are spending, where they are spending their money and why they are spending so much money. They also discuss whether this is a prudent or imprudent use of their resources. https://hechingerreport.org/with-competition-up-enrollment-down-colleges-are-spending-billions-on-marketing-and-advertising/ (34:26) Mark and Lisa discuss a question that three listeners sent in to us: Why would Connecticut College tell a student with a 1320 on the SAT, that they will admit the student if they withdraw their test score. Mark and Lisa debate whether Conn College crossed an inappropriate line by doing this. Mark and Lisa got really immersed in this debate, with each side having points they wanted to make, so they turned this into a multiple part answer. This is part 2. (57:03) Mark interviews Lynda Doepker, a parent and podcast listener about how she strategically used parent college Facebook groups to learn more about the colleges her daughter is applying to. (Part 2 of 2) (01:07:00) Our recommended resource for episode 208 is the website: "lesshighschoolstress.com". Mark shares why this website was created and how it is designed to reduce the unhealthy stress in the college process. (01:19:20) The college Spotlight is: Sewanee: The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee (https://new.sewanee.edu/) Part 2 of 2 To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under "the Listen to our podcast icons" Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live. Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All they ask is that you review the services on their website before the complimentary session. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (16:05) In this week's "In the news" segment, a November 22nd, 2021 article in the Hechinger Report, by jill Barshay "The number of college graduates in the humanities drops for the eighth consecutive year" Mark and Dave discuss why this is happening and what are the implications of this. https://hechingerreport.org/proof-points-the-number-of-college-graduates-in-the-humanities-drops-for-the-eighth-consecutive-year/ (38:56) Mark and Lisa discuss a question that three listeners sent in to us: Why would Connecticut College tell a student with a 1320 on the SAT, that they will admit the student if they withdraw their test score. Mark and Lisa debate whether Conn College crossed an inappropriate line by doing this. Mark and Lisa got really immersed in this debate, with each side having points they wanted to make, so they turned this into a multiple part answer. This is part 1. (01:00:26) Mark interviews Lynda Doepker, a parent and podcast listener about how she strategically used parent college Facebook groups to learn more about the colleges her daughter is applying to. (Part 1 of 2) (01:11:26) Our recommended resource for episode 207 is the book: "The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe" by Josh Mitchell. The book traces the 70 year history of how student debt is now at 1.6 trillion dollars. (01:21:54) The college Spotlight is: Sewanee: The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee (https://new.sewanee.edu/) To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under "the Listen to our podcast icons" Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live. Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All they ask is that you review the services on their website before the complimentary session. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (12:28) In this week's "In the news" segment, a blog article from the Josiah Barlett center of Public Policy entitled, by Andrew Cline "Is College Worth Is: Usually but not always" Dave and Mark discuss the statistics the blog article shares as they debate if college is worth it. https://jbartlett.org/2021/10/is-college-worth-it-usually-but-not-always-new-study-finds/#:~:text=A%20college%20degree%20is%20a,school%20students%20are%20constantly%20told.&text=Cooper's%20study%20adds%20real%20value,investment%2C%20not%20just%20lifetime%20earnings. (32:30) Mark and Lisa discuss two questions, one from a dad from Colorado and one from a high school student. Here are the two questions: First question- How can you evaluate whether a school does better than its peers at looking after First year students-Dave from Colorado Second question-I attend a small school and two of my peers committed to Duke as athletic recruits, will Duke consider taking 3 students from my small school or will their commitments hurt my chance of admission? Anonymous female student (58:30) Mark interviews two financial aid experts: Michael Ireland, Associate Director of Financial Aid and Courtney Hatch Blauvett, the Director of College Counseling at Miss Hall's school and the former financial aid officer at four different colleges. Michael and Courtney answer 13 questions that listeners to YCBK sent in over the last three months on all topics related to paying for college, financial aid, scholarships, etc. This is part 5 of 5. Preview-Part 5 Courtney and Michael continue their discussion about common mistakes they see a lot on the FAFSA and the PROFILE. Michael finishes up with the FAFSA and then he transitions to the PROFILE Courtney shares the most common mistakes she experiences both when she did financial aid and now that she is a Director of College Counseling Courtney and Michael answer the question, "Are you experiencing more schools requiring the FAFSA for merit aid"? Courtney-If my student will be starting college in the fall of 2022. I have heard that we should pay as we go for the first two years and use very little of our 529. The reason for this is that the colleges use your prior prior year taxes for FAFSA. Because if we wait for the last two years to use the money for the 529 it will not have any tax impact because he will be completed by then. So basically what I'm saying is we can use a lump sum toward his college and it not be held against us Mark puts Courtney and Michael on the hot seat with some lighthearted non financial aid questions Courtney returns for a 15 minute addendum to really emphasize some things about federal loans, student loans, parent loans and graduate student loans. (01:12:14) Our recommended resource for episode 206 is a great source for understanding how Federal legislation will impact what students have to pay for college. If you like following the technical aspects of student aid, the NASFAA Off the Cuff podcast may be for you. No college spotlight this week. Next week we will discuss, Sewanee: The University of the South Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live. Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All they ask is that you review the services on their website before the complimentary session. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (12:25) In this week's "In the news" segment, a November 9th, 2021 article by Emma Whitford of "Inside Higher Ed", "A New push to create a 3-year degree option". Mark and Dave discuss a new 3-year degree. Is this a good idea or not? Which students are likely to take advantage of this? Mark and Dave discuss this and so much more. Part 2 of 2 https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/11/09/colleges-explore-new-three-year-bachelor%E2%80%99s-degree-program (20:18) Mark was asked in our questionnaire what trends he is observing for the future concerning college admissions, Mark and Lisa discuss 15 different observations Mark has made about where he sees admissions trending over the next 5-10 years. In Part 4 of 4 Mark and Lisa discuss the final four trends. (01:00:35) Mark interviews two financial aid experts: Michael Ireland, Associate Director of Financial Aid and Courtney Hatch Blauvett, the Director of College Counseling at Miss Hall's school and the former financial aid officer at four different colleges. Michael and Courtney answer 13 questions that listeners to YCBK sent in over the last three months on all topics related to paying for college, financial aid, scholarships, etc. This is part 4 of 5. Preview Part 4-preview Courtney takes the lead on the following question: Some schools like Franklin and Marshall offer an Early Estimate to students who apply Early Decision, is this different from a Net Price Calculator? https://www.fandm.edu/financial-aid/early-financial-aid-estimate Will a school stand by their Early Estimate and is this something other schools my child is considering will do if we ask them for an Early Estimate. Courtney explains how the Early estimate is different from the net price calculators and she shares two other schools that do this Michael answers the question, how would you respond if someone said, Smith, other schools are doing an Early Estimate, will you do an Early Estimate? Michael takes the lead on the following question: My child is applying to colleges that require the CSS PROFILE. I am divorced and the CSS PROFILE is asking for my ex to complete a non-custodial parent profile, but he has never been reliable, I know he just will not complete this, is there any option for my child or does she need to apply to schools that do not require this? Michael talks about the process they take at Smith when these dilemmas arise to try to work it out so the student isn't hurt Courtney speaks up about her experience Courtney answers the following question: My child was approved for Work-Study? How does she actually get a work-study job and can she get a job that is related to her major? She plans on majoring in Biology Courtney shares how work-study has worked at the schools she has worked and and Michael chimes in and shares how work-study has worked at the schools he has worked at Michael takes the lead on the following question-What are some common mistakes you see students and parents make on either the FAFSA or the CSS PROFILE? Michael and Courtney start this question on part four and finish up answering it on our final segment next week (01:11:55) Our recommended resource for episode 205 is a great source for understanding how colleges look at and interpret an application. It is a case Study that two experienced Rice admission officers lead. If you want to know how the sausage is made: watch this 46 minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P99ERmU5EoU&list=PLM3RTC0IjLJ3RACrqo7tRgpNY30hGFaiY&index=10 (01:25:37) Our College Spotlight is University College London (UCL) and Kevin Newton (our international university specialist) delivers the Spotlight. Part 2 of 2 Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live. Check out the college admissions books

In this episode you will hear: (32:03) In this week's "In the news" segment, a November 9th, 2021 article by Emma Whitford of "Inside Higher Ed", "A New push to create a 3-year degree option". Mark and Dave discuss a new 3-year degree. Is this a good idea or not? Which students are likely to take advantage of this? Mark and Dave discuss this and so much more. Part 1 of 2 https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/11/09/colleges-explore-new-three-year-bachelor%E2%80%99s-degree-program (41:25) Mark was asked in our questionnaire what trends he is observing for the future concerning college admissions, Mark and Lisa discuss 15 different observations Mark has made about where he sees admissions trending over the next 5-10 years. In Part 3 of 4 Mark and Lisa discuss four more trends. (01:03:46) Mark interviews two financial aid experts: Michael Ireland, Associate Director of Financial Aid and Courtney Hatch Blauvett, the Director of College Counseling at Miss Hall's school and the former financial aid officer at four different colleges. Michael and Courtney answer 13 questions that listeners to YCBK sent in over the last three months on all topics related to paying for college, financial aid, scholarships, etc. This is part 3 of 5. Preview Part 3-preview Courtney has a great idea that will help families and will be appreciated by some financial aid officers that she shares Courtney takes the lead on the following question: I've had schools tell me that Net Price Calculators tend to be inaccurate when someone owns their own business or if a student is coming from a family where the parents are divorced, separated or were never married, do you agree with this? Also, are there any other times that Net Price Calculators are not that reliable? Courtney answers this and she shares another group for whom the net price calculators are useless, and Michael adds a fourth category where calculators may not always be accurate. Michael takes the lead on the following question: Our child intentionally applied to colleges that say they meet full demonstrated need, we completed seven net price calculators and a few schools were more than double the best offer. I double checked my work so I know we never made a mistake, how can financial offers vary so much for schools that claim they meet full demonstrated need? Courtney adds some great tidbits to Michael's answer (01:09:40) Our recommended resource for episode 204 is a great source for research on Canadian universities and it is Macleans annual college edition: https://www.macleans.ca/hub/education-rankings/ (01:21:28) Our College Spotlight is University College London (UCL) and Kevin Newton (our international university specialist) delivers the Spotlight. Part 1 of 2 Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you subscribe to our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live. Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All Mark asks is that you review the services on their website before the complimentary session. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (14:14) In this week's "In the news segment, an October 3rd, 2021 article by Ron Daniels of "The Atlantic", "Universities are Shunning Their Responsibility to Democracy" This scholarly article is written by the current president of Johns Hopkins university. Mark and Dave take this esoteric article and discuss how can our listeners apply the truths Daniels articulates to their own lives. Part 2 of 2 https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/10/universities-cant-dodge-civics/620261/ (20:40) Mark was asked in our questionnaire what trends he is observing for the future concerning college admissions, Mark and Lisa discuss 15 different observations Mark has made about where he sees admissions trending over the next 5-10 years; in Part 2 of 4. They discuss trends 4-7 in Part 2 (44:12) Mark interviews two financial aid experts: Michael Ireland, Associate Director of Financial Aid and Courtney Hatch Blauvett, the Director of College Counseling at Miss Hall's school and the former financial aid officer at four different colleges. Michael and Courtney answer 13 questions that listeners to YCBK sent in over the last three months on all topics related to paying for college, financial aid, scholarships, etc. This is part 2 of 5. Preview Part 2-preview Courtney takes the lead on this question but we have a great back and forth and exchange of ideas)-When do you have a good case to appeal the aid award your child received, and how should you appeal? Also, does the student have to do the appeal or should the parent do it? Courtney shares the various terms that different schools use for these appeals Courtney also shares seven areas where people frequently attempt to appeal an aid award that will not be deemed as a legitimate case for an aid evaluation. Michael takes the lead on this thorny question-"We completed a net price calculator for our oldest child and then the aid award came in and it was almost $4000 more than the net price calculator. We requested a meeting and met with the director of financial aid, and he told us that we had not made any mistakes on the Net Price Calculator, but their estimate is the accurate one and their award was final; he said, the net price calculator is only an estimate. Is this an exception, do college's stand behind their net price calculators, and if they don't, how can we trust Net Price Calculators?" (51:26) Our recommended resource for episode 203 is Tom Krieglstein's 2020 book, entitled "Perfect Quotes for College Success: Inspiration, advice, and tips for anyone going to college Paperback by Tom Krieglstein This book has over 300 quotes on 34 topics related to excelling while in college. (01:03:15) Our College Spotlight is Appalachian State in Boone, NC. Lisa just spend three days in Boone and she gives us a breakdown on App State. Part 2 of 2 Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on their website first. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (13:18) In this week's "In the news segment, an October 3rd, 2021 article by Ron Daniels of "The Atlantic", "Universities are Shunning Their Responsibility to Democracy" This scholarly article is written by the current president of Johns Hopkins university. Mark and Dave discuss the salient points from this article in what will be part 1 of 2 https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/10/universities-cant-dodge-civics/620261/ (29:26) Mark was asked in our questionnaire what trends he is observing for the future concerning college admissions, Mark and Lisa discuss 14 different observations Mark has made in Part 1 of 4. They discuss the first three trends in Part 1 (01:01:10) Mark interviews two financial aid experts: Michael Ireland, Associate Director of Financial Aid and Courtney Hatch Blauvett, the Director of College Counseling at Miss Hall's school and the former financial aid officer at four different colleges. Michael and Courtney answer 13 questions that listeners to YCBK sent in over the last three months on all topics related to paying for college, financial aid, scholarships, etc. This is part 1 of 5. Preview Part 1 Courtney Hatch and Michael Ireland both give us their backstory and they share what they enjoy about financial aid and counseling Question 1-My son is interested in out of state public schools but it is going to be expensive for us to pay for out of state tuition for all four years, how can I find out exactly what we have to do to pay "in-state" tuition at his "out of state" school? I have heard it varies from one school to another Question 2-How can we tell if a private college has decent financial health? Where do we do our digging to get info on this? (01:14:00) Our recommended resource for episode 202 is Ron Lieber's book, "The Freshman Survival Guide: Soulful Advice for Studying, Socializing, and Everything In Between by Nora Bradbury-Haehl and Bill McGarvey This book provides sage advice about how to successfully transfer from high school to college. It covers topics like: academics, roommates, mental health, money, social life, etc. (01:26:23) Our College Spotlight is Appalachian State in Boone, NC. Lisa just spend three days in Boone and she gives us a breakdown on App State. Part 1 of 2 Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on their website first. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (07:36) In this week's "In the news segment, an October 25th, 2021 article by Scott Jaschik of "Inside Higher Ed", "Do applicants lie about their race?" The website intelligent asked 1250 white adults whether they lied about their race when they applied to college. Mark and Dave discuss the results of the survey. Dave and Mark also give their opinion on the content and substance of the article. https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2021/10/25/survey-asks-if-applicants-are-truthful-about-race (29:46) Dr. Lisa Rouff takes the lead in her discussion with Mark about the pitfalls of perfectionism and how it impacts students. Part 2 of 2 (46:51) Mark interviews Matt McGann, the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Amherst College. Matt helps us to understand, "Amherst College" This is part 2 of 2: Preview of Part 2 Matt tells us what the 5 College Consortium is and he gives a very brief overview of each of the 5 colleges in the consortium Matt shares the benefits of being at a school that gives you access to the 5 College Consortium Matt tells us what Amherst admissions officers are looking for beyond the three basic things every college wants: Is this a good student, is this a good citizen and will this student plug in and contribute. You don't want to miss his insightful answer I put Matt on the hot seat and you will learn about a side of Matt that didn't come out in the formal part of the interview Matt's discussion of Amherst will serve as our College Spotlight. (54:46) Our recommended resource for episode 201 is Ron Lieber's book, "The Price You Pay for College: An Entirely New Roadmap for the Biggest Financial Decision Your Family Will Ever Make" The book does a pretty good job at removing the shroud of secrecy about how decisions about what you will be asked to pay actually works, so you and your child are not blindsided by an unaffordable offer from a college. Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on their website first. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (12:32) In this week's "In the news segment, an October 4th, 2021 article by Scott Jaschik of "Inside Higher Ed", "Can young alumni get colleges to drop legacy admissions" Dave and Mark and a very special first time guest join them for this discussion. To celebrate episode 200 this special guest also joins Mark and Dave for a second article by Melissa Korn of the Wall Street Journal entitled: "Amherst Drops admissions advantage for children of alumni" https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2021/10/04/can-young-alumni-get-colleges-drop-legacy-admissions https://www.wsj.com/articles/amherst-college-drops-admissions-advantage-for-children-of-alumni-11634731200 We previously discussed legacy admissions on episodes 121 and 180. Here is the article I referenced in the podcast that appeared in the Atlantic by the President of Johns Hopkins: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/why-we-ended-legacy-admissions-johns-hopkins/605131/ (40:00) Dr. Lisa Rouff takes the lead in her discussion with Mark about the pitfalls of perfectionism and how it impacts students. Part 1 of 2 (58:03) Mark interviews Matt McGann, the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Amherst College. Matt helps us to understand, "Amherst College" This is part 1 of 2: Part 1-Preview Preview of Part 1 Matt gives us an overview of Amherst college Matt explains what the Liberal Arts actually are and he explains why the term, "Liberal Arts" is such poor marketing Matt tells us what he thinks Amherst does very well compared to other schools that students look at, and of course, Amherst has done research on this and he shares that research with us. Matt highlights two things in particular that Amherst does very well, based on their research Matt talks about the percentage of students on campus at Amherst Matt shares the things that Amherst needs to do to be an even better college. Matt's discussion of Amherst will serve as our College Spotlight. (01:05:50) Our recommended resource is the podcast, "Motley Fool Answers". The podcast does one or two episodes a year on college money but the monthly Mailbag episodes are chalked full of great financial advice to help every family with their finances. Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on their website first. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (07:52) In this week's "In the news segment, an October 4th, 2021 article by Allison Tate of "USA Today", "How important is it to take AP Classes for College Admissions" Dave and Mark answer several questions including: 1) What are AP classes? 2) How important are AP test scores? 3) How many AP courses should a student take? 4) Are all AP classes equal? 5) Do colleges see AP courses and dual enrollment courses as being equal? Plus more https://www.today.com/parents/how-important-are-ap-classes-college-admissions-t232574 (31:36) Mark and Lisa answer the following three questions from listeners: Question 1) Why does the Common App ask what is the occupation of the parents? If my husband has an executive management position are colleges going to discriminate against our son? (Kim from Illinois) Question 2) I see a lot of colleges we are looking at talk about the QuestBridge college application, what is the QuestBridge college application? Anonymous Question 3) What is the maximum amount of loan debt a student should take out for an undergraduate degree? (01:12:15) Mark interviews Matt McGann, the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Amherst College. Matt will be discussing How to get a research opportunity with a college professor. This is part 2 of 2: Part 2-Preview Matt talks about some other people besides the professors themselves who are great people to reach out to if you want to do research Matt goes into more depth on the difference between doing research at undergraduate only college versus doing research at a place that has doctoral degrees. Matt talks about how the approach, who your mentor is and how the feel will be different Matt ends our interview by giving advice to a high student, what they can do to get an opportunity to start doing research while in high school with a college professor (01:23:02) Our recommended resource is The American Council of Higher Education (ACE) website. We particularly want to draw attention to their top stories in Higher Education. This is a great way to stay current on the hot topics in the news beyond the one that Mark and Dave discuss every week on the podcast. https://www.acenet.edu/News-Room/Pages/Todays-Top-Higher-Education-News.aspx (01:28:46) Our College Spotlight for episode 198 is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, better known as "RPI". This 36 minute college spotlight will be split over episode 198 and 199. This is Part 2/2 Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on his website first. His website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (09:54) In this week's "In the news segment, a September 20th article by Patrick O'Connor of the Counselors' Corner blog, "The media is not a college applicant's best friend" This blog article looks at how what stories the media focuses on out of touch with where most college applicants are at. Mark and Dave discuss why the media focuses on the wrong stories and how their fixation is not in the best interest of college applicants. https://hscw-counselorscorner.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-media-is-not-college-applicants.html (26:09) Mark and Lisa answer the following two questions from listeners: Question 1) My son has lost interest in a specific college because he thinks the acceptance rate is too high; what can you tell him? Ann from Illinois Question 2) If the school meets a full financial need, how can they prevent having too many "needy" students accepted in a given class and still remain need-blind? Tazin from California (56:06) Mark interviews Matt McGann, the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Amherst College. Matt will be our interview for the next four weeks. The first two weeks he discusses, how to get a research opportunity with a college professor. The following two weeks he will help us to understand Amherst College. Here is an outline of the interview: Part 1-Preview Matt gives his backstory including his admission experience Matt tells us what he majored in when in college, and how he applied his major in the real world Matt tells us what research actually is, and you will love his definition of research! Matt tells us about his own research that he has done Matt lets us know how doing research at an undergraduate college differs from doing research at a university that offers doctoral degrees Matt tells us where a student should start when they want to do undergraduate research (01:04:03) Our recommended resource is to look at the college career centers for any school on your student's list. We feature RPI's Center for Career and Professional Development as an example of this treasure trove of a resource that you want to check out for the college's on our student's list: https://ccpd.rpi.edu/ (01:18:30) Our College Spotlight for episode 198 is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, better known as "RPI". This 36 minute college spotlight will be split over episode 198 and 199. Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on his website first. His website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (07:50) In this week's "In the news segment, a September 20th article by Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed, "Admissions Survey in a Wild Year" This article looks at the results of a survey that over 200 colleges completed that looks at how covid impacted admissions in 2020. Dave shares some of the key findings from the survey and then Mark and Dave discuss two very interesting takeaways from the survey https://www.insidehighered.com/news/survey/2021-survey-admissions-leaders-finds-32-had-filled-classes-may-1 (27:32) Mark and Lisa and Sylvia answer three questions that listeners who completed our questionnaire wrote on the questionnaire: Question 1) You talk about all the great resources like college reviews and course catalogs to help students learn about schools. What if your student refuses to engage with any of those resources or won't do the things they need to do to complete their applications? Question 2) What is the right balance of parent involvement vs student ownership in this process? Question 3) What to do if your kid doesn't do a lot of activities? (01:09:26) Mark interviews Kevin Newton who founded, "An Education Abroad". Mark knows Kevin because if someone comes to Mark and asks, can you help me go to college at a place other than Canada or the US, Mark turns that family over to Kevin to work with. Kevin talks about going overseas for college (beyond one year of study abroad) in this interview. Here is an outline of Part 2 of 2: Kevin Newton of "An Education Abroad" discusses the University of Edinburgh in Scotland; he explains how their admissions process works Kevin explains how Americans are perceived in the UK and other International schools Kevin explains whether your extracurricular activities matter for International schools Kevin shares more reasons why students go to university in another country No college spotlight this week (01:16:43) We have two recommended books by Dennis Stemmle this week that help college students with time management and procrastination: Procrastination Solutions For College Students: The Underground Playbook For Overcoming Procrastination And Achieving Peak Performance Time Management Secrets for College Students: The Underground Playbook for Managing School, Work, and Fun Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on his website first. His website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (06:23) In this week's "In the news segment, an October 10th article by Jon Marcus of the Hechinger Report, "Most college students don't graduate in 4 years so the government counts 6 as success" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/college-students-dont-graduate-4-years-government-counts-6-years-succe-rcna2776 (23:56) Mark and Lisa talked to 12-15 students at the following three campuses on September 13th and 14th, 2021: Meredith, NC State and Duke. In this segment, they talk about the following: Where do they find these students? What questions do they ask? How often do they get the cold shoulder? What responses do they get from students? Why are they excited about this practice? Do they believe this is something most students can do? (39:51) Mark interviews Kevin Newton who founded, "An Education Abroad". Mark knows Kevin because if someone comes to Mark and asks, can you help me go to college at a place other than Canada or the US, Mark turns that family over to Kevin to work with. Kevin talks about going overseas for college (beyond one year of study abroad) in this interview. Here is an outline: Kevin gives his backstory and man is it interesting Kevin tells us what his company, "An Education Abroad" does to help students find undergraduate and graduate universities in countries other than the United States Kevin explains the reasons why students choose to go abroad Kevin talks about how you apply to Oxford or Cambridge University (50:21) Our Recommended resources this week is: https://datausa.io/ Friends, please trust me and check out this absolutely unbelievable reservoir of data in every area imaginable. The website uses colorful graphs and charts. Some MIT students developed this and it is my favorite website for college data and it uses IPEDS data. (01:02:38) Mark and Lisa talk about the flagship university for the state of Iowa: The University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa: https://uiowa.edu/ Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on his website first. His website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (16:25) In this week's "In the news segment, an August 11th article by Rick Clark, (Director of Undergraduate admissions at Georgia Tech) from the Georgia Tech admissions blog entitled, "How the Olympics explains college admissions". This is Part 1 of 2 on this topic. https://sites.gatech.edu/admission-blog/2021/08/11/how-the-olympics-explain-college-admission-part-i/ (32:53) A listener named Kendra from Maryland asked our hosts to please address teenage suicide given the rash of suicides on college campuses. We wanted to take advantage of Dr. Lisa Rouff's expertise, so she takes the lead and looks at the causes of teenage suicide, gender differences in suicide, and how covid has impacted mental health. Lisa looks at the state of mental health in our country and on college campuses. She gives us some cues and clues of what to look for, and she tells us what to do if you have reason to believe a teen may be suicidal. Mark shares one service that most campuses have that he feels can be a helpful resource. (01:02:14) Mark interviews Michael Fong, the founder of "The Student Manager podcast". Michael is a lifelong California native. This is Part 2 of 2 Michael tells us how a student or parent can search through the episodes that Michael has to see which colleges he is featuring on each episode, so they can listen to a podcast about a specific college or university that is of interest to them. Michael talks about how he routinely asks students where are the best restaurants to eat if students go to your college or university Michael shares insights from the over 100 college campuses that he has visited Michael goes on the hot seat and he is entertaining Recommended resources this week: (01:11:34) Lisa shares a great recommended resource for us for this week. It is https://www.nami.org/help NAMI is an acronym for the National Alliance on Mental Health. Lisa tells us how to use the helpline to get help for any student in danger of suicide or any other serious mental health problems. (01:22:55) Mark and Lisa spent the afternoon on the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh on Sept 14th and that is our College Spotlight for the week. Mark's daughter is also a grad student there in their Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. They talk about life on all three campuses and they share insights from their visits: (https://www.ncsu.edu/) Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on his website first. His website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (10:35) In this week's "In the news segment, a September 26, 2019 Washington Post article by Valerie Strauss article entitled, "The truth about college admissions — from college admissions deans. In this article, Strauss assembles a group of quotes that Brennan Barnard (another Washington Post contributor) assembled from Admission Deans. These quotes represent the dean's best doses of wisdom for students. Mark and Dave discuss one quote from Brennan and three quotes from the Dean in this episode. Mark and Dave plan on returning to this article to discuss more of their quotes in future episodes. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/09/26/truth-about-college-admissions-college-admissions-deans/ (38:56) Dr. Lisa Rouff has a certificate in understanding ADD. Helping adults and adolescents with ADD is part of her professional clinical counseling practice. She takes the lead in answering a question from Christina: My very bright son with inattentive ADD declared in 9th grade that he was going to be a B student. Anything higher wasn't worth the extra effort to him. He has high intellectual curiosity, is very bright, and the structure of the school isn't his jam. It seems to me he puts more energy into managing to a B than he would simply doing the work and getting an A (which would be easy for him). Where do kids like that end up? This is the final part of a two part answer that began on episode #193. (01:05:30) Mark interviews Michael Fong, the founder of "The Student Manager podcast". Michael is a lifelong California native. Michael Fong gives his backstory, including the creative approach he took to win a scholarship to college Michael tells us about the format of his, "The Student Manager podcast Michael talks about what type of students he chooses to interview on his podcast Michael answers the question, how does he prevent a student who comes on his podcast from giving a biased perspective that would be unfair to the schools he is featuring. (01:18:40)Recommended resources this week: https://www.mefa.org/ (01:30:40) Sylvia Borgo, our newest team member shares her backstory, and then she takes the lead on our College Spotlight. College Spotlight-University of California San Diego (UCSD), La Jolla, California Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on his website first. His website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (11:25) In this week's "In the news segment, an August 6, 2021 Washington Post article by Susan Paterno entitled, "College rankings have fueled an arms race that has pushed higher education astray". The article looks at the history of the US News and World rankings. It looks at how the rankings have become so powerful that they now control the decisions that educators are making about how to run their colleges and universities. The article shares examples of a few universities that invested hundreds of millions of dollars into studying the rankings and making changes to climb the rankings. Some equate rankings with excellence, but this article exposes how that is often not the case. Mark and Dave discuss the article and some of the more salient points that Paterno makes in the article. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/08/06/college-rankings-have-fueled-an-arms-race-that-has-pushed-higher-education-astray/ (35:50) Dr. Lisa Rouff has a certificate in understanding ADD. Helping adults and adolescents with ADD is part of her professional clinical counseling practice. She takes the lead in answering a question from Christina: My very bright son with inattentive ADD declared in 9th grade that he was going to be a B student. Anything higher wasn't worth the extra effort to him. He has high intellectual curiosity, is very bright, and the structure of the school isn't his jam. It seems to me he puts more energy into managing to a B than he would simply be doing the work and getting an A (which would be easy for him). Where do kids like that end up? Part 1 of 2 (56:10) Mark interviews Lisa Keegan, the VP of Enrollment at Bucknell University. The topic of the interview is: Understanding Bucknell. Our interview will also serve as our College Spotlight because Lisa gives us a great overview of Bucknell University Lisa kicks off our interview by giving us a 3 to 5 minute overview of who Bucknell is and what makes Bucknell special Lisa talks about what she regards as their most distinctive programs, both those that are well-known as well as those that fall under the radar Lisa discusses a range of offerings Bucknell provides, including their primate labs and their three colleges. Lisa describes double majoring at Bucknell Mark asks Lisa to discuss Bucknell's reputation, where is it stellar and where can it be improved? Schools have personalities, and Lisa describes what Bucknell's personality is? Lisa tells us who Bucknell's cross-apps are, these are the schools they also apply to when they apply to Bucknell Lisa tells us how demonstrated interest is factored in to admissions decisions Lisa addresses the question, Are students admitted into specific colleges or into Bucknell as a whole? Lisa answers the question, how is Bucknell different than Elon, a school where Lisa spent two decades at. Lisa and Mark discuss, "need-aware" admissions: how does the ability to pay factors into admission decisions at Bucknell? Lisa talks about some of the rich traditions that Bucknell has. (01:15:23) Two Recommended resources this week: 1) The place to go to get what Mark believes is the best step by step FAFSA Walkthrough video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsI46YHy6lw 2) The College Admission Insider podcast. This is one of Mark's favorite College Admission podcasts. It is produced by the admission officers at Bucknell University: https://www.bucknell.edu/admissions-aid/admissions-blog?t=5369 Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-books/ Check out the college websites Mark recommends: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/recommended-websites/ If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on his website first. His website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (10:26) In this week's "In the news segment, an August 11, 2021 Wall Street Journal article by Douglas Belkin, "The case for a college exit exam". The article looks at the pros and the cons of having such an exam. It features the main person pushing for this exam. Mark and Dave debate the pros and cons of having such an exam. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-case-for-a-college-exit-exam-11628690410 (23:45) Mark and Lisa tackle three questions this week. Look for Mark and Lisa to do this more often as they are trying to get caught up when there are at least 30 questions that have been submitted that they have yet to answer. Question 1 is from Elizabeth from California: Now that most schools are test-optional or test blind for admissions, is there ANY advantage to having your student take the ACT or SAT for the purposes of trying to get merit money? I wouldn't want to tell my daughter that she doesn't have to take the ACT and then end up losing out on merit scholarships because they require them for consideration. On the other hand, if they are not using them to determine merit scholarships, then I would wonder what is the point of taking them? What are your thoughts on this? Thank you! Question 2 is from Ryan from Arizona: In episode 62 you comment on the % of how many students pick each essay prompt. Where did you get this data? I ask so I can look it up in several years when my child is filling out the common app. Question 3 is from Bobbi from Ohio: I looked at an online cost calculator for a prestigious (but not unattainable) private liberal arts university. One of the questions they asked in their quick calculator was "Are you working with a CBO?" What does it say about my kid if we are (or, are not) using a CBO in the eyes of an admissions department and/or financial aid office? How (and WHY) would that change how much we are going to have to pay? (46:04) Mark interviews Lisa Keegan, the VP of Enrollment at Bucknell University. The topic of the interview is: The priority of fit when building a college list. This is part 2 of a two-part interview. Preview for Part 2 Lisa is very candid with the pressure administrators feel from trustees about the college's ranking, so Lisa and Mark have a candid conversation about rankings and how flawed they are as a way of selecting a college. Lisa answers the question, how does a student know whether they will feel a sense of belonging at a campus? Lisa shares some great ideas of what to do on a college visit that go beyond the traditional information session and tour Mark asks Lisa if "fit" can change from when you start the process to when you are finishing up? (53:50) Recommended resource: The place to go to get a FSA ID. At least one parent and the student will need to get their own FSA ID to access Federal grants, loans or the Federal Work study program. https://studentaid.gov/fsa-id/create-account/launch (01:02:04) College Spotlight: Meredith College https://www.meredith.edu/ Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on his website first. His website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (10:00) In this week's "In the news segment, an August 19, 2019 USA Today article by Teghan Simonton entitled, "College recruiters aggressively go after out of state students". The article looks at which colleges are taking the most out of state students. It also looks at the reasons why this is happening. Mark and Dave discuss all the points in the article and they tackle the topic, Is this advisable or disgraceful. They also talk about what colleges are doing to keep their competitors from raiding their own state for talent. https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2019/08/19/college-recruiting-enrollment-tuition-in-state/1628566001/ (33:01) Mark and Lisa tackle two questions this week. Look for Mark and Lisa to do this more often as they are trying to get caught up when there are at least 30 questions that have been submitted that they have yet to answer. Question 1 is from Ryan from Arizona: Should my child submit his COGAT results from middle school to college? Question 2 is from Lori from New York: What is the difference between Early Decision 1 and Early Decision 2? (50:41) Mark interviews Lisa Keegan, the VP of Enrollment at Bucknell University. The topic of the interview is: The priority of fit when building a college list. This is part 1 of a two-part interview. Preview for Part 1 Lisa gives her backstory, where she grew up, how she got into admissions and various jobs that she has had Lisa answers the question, "what does a student need to know about themself before embarking on their college search?" Lisa shares some of the common places where students start their search that are often ill-advised. I ask Lisa, how can a student focus on fit when there is so much pressure on them to focus on prestige and she gives us some sage advice (59:26) Recommended resource: A great source for curated lists on a number of very relevant topics: https://www.collegetransitions.com/ (01:08:25) College Spotlight: University at Buffalo (UB)-http://www.buffalo.edu/ Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want a college consultation with Mark, just text him at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on his website first. His website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear: (13:45) In this week's "In the news segment, a September 6th, 2021 Wall Street Journal article by Douglas Belkin looks at the data indisputably proving that colleges are increasingly becoming more female and less male. The article also explores some of the reasons why this is happening. Mark and Dave began this conversation about six weeks ago and they promised a part 2 within eight weeks. Mark and Dave discuss nine reasons why colleges are not appealing to men these days. Mark and Dave had planned on discussing an article by Phillip Cook and Glenn Sacks, entitled, "Mysterious Decline-Where are the Men on Campus" before the WSJ article broke, so Dave and Mark also discuss this article. In fact, they pushed back their college spotlight so they could do a 45 minute deep dive into this topic. For this article, Mark and Dave focus on what happens in the elementary school years. https://www.wsj.com/articles/college-university-fall-higher-education-men-women-enrollment-admissions-back-to-school-11630948233 (49:15) Every fifth week YCBK has bonus content; this is a passion that Mark and/or Lisa just feel they need to share. In this edition, Mark and Lisa are discussing what students should do now if they are in the 12th grade. This is the fourth part of a sequel that began on #175 when they looked at what to do in the elementary and middle school years, #180, what to do in the 9th and 10th grade, 185, what to do in the 11th grade. Mark and Lisa will return to the final episode of this sequel in May of 2022 to look at what to do in the summer between graduating from high school and starting in college. (01:24:04) Mark interviews Eric Furda, who spent over 25 years in high level leadership at both Columbia and Penn. This is the final segment of a three-part interview. In Part 3 of 3, Mark asks Eric the following questions: Preview for Part 3 Eric talks about how colleges use college-specific questions to learn important things about the applicants Eric answers Mark's question, what are the things that are misunderstood about selective institutions? Eric pulls no punches when Mark asks him, how is U Penn different from Columbia and he is answering so I ask him several more follow up questions on the comparison of the two schools. I close by putting Eric on the hot seat and we get to learn a lot about the lighter side of Eric (01:31:38) Recommended resource: A sensational resource for anyone who wants to know which colleges serve Jewish students well: https://hillel.org/college-guide Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful!

In this episode you will hear: (13:45) In this week's "In the news segment, a June 29th, 2021 Harvard Crimson article by Nate Herpich looks at why 2U bought Edx for 800 million dollars, what changes does 2U plan on making, and how will the money from the sale be used. Mark and Dave explain who Edx and 2U are. They discuss many of the frequently asked questions that this article tackles. Online courses are growing and this purchase of Edx by 2U will not only help bridge the gap between well-resourced and under-resourced students but it will allow Edx to stay cutting edge with their offerings for all students. Edx has been around since 2012 when MOOC (Massive Open-Online courses) really took off but in recent years it has fallen behind Coursera. This purchase by 2U is going to help learners from all income brackets. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/06/edx-acquired-by-education-technology-company-2u/ (24:14) Mark and Lisa answer the following question: Our son loves computer science and programming but also is a voracious reader of literature, history and pretty much everything. We've only recently learned about 3+2 programs where a student could do a few years at a liberal arts college and then finish up at a university for CS. Have you done an episode on this topic? If not, we'd be interested in hearing more! If you can couple that with a discussion of the schools that participate (seems like Dartmouth and Columbia team up a lot), that would be great. Also, I can't tell if students apply as incoming freshmen or have to apply once they get to the liberal arts school? For example, if a student gets into say USC for CS as well as a great liberal arts college but won't know if they can get into a companion engineering program if they are supposed to apply as a rising Sophomore, then it seems really risky to go to the liberal arts college Mark and Lisa discuss the pros and cons of 3/2 engineering programs. (45:00) Mark interviews Eric Furda, who spent over 25 years in high level leadership at both Columbia and Penn. This will be a three-part interview. In Part 2 of 3, Mark asks Eric the following questions: Preview for Part 2 Eric answers several questions about institutional priorities and he gives an ingenious way for our listeners to know what a school's institutional priorities are Eric gives advice to any teacher listening about what to focus on when you write a teacher recommendation What is a good AP score? What AP score should a student not submit versus submit? We stay on the topic of test scores and I ask Eric when should a student submit their ACT or SAT scores, and when should they choose to apply test optional? (56:54) Recommended resource: Dr. Lisa Rouff shares another great resource she introduced Mark to named, Corsava. It is a card sort online test that helps identify the qualities in a college each student will thrive at. Mark and Lisa have Corsava subscriptions and we use this test with all of the students that we counsel. Students enjoy this and it takes only about 12 minutes. https://corsava.com/ (01:10:37) Our college Spotlight goes to Spokane Washington to do a deep dive on Gonzaga University https://www.gonzaga.edu/ Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! Music is by SENA HERO/Victor-Alan Weeks.

In this episode you will hear: (09:58) In this week's "In the news segment, a Feb 2nd, 2021 Inside Higher Ed article by Greta Anderson looks at a research study that explains why so many students are applying to HBCU's these days. Mark discusses this article with someone very special to the YCBK podcast family. Dave is off this week as he takes his daughter back to Yale. Dave had gone 82 weeks in a row without missing an episode. Mark and our surprise co-host discuss whether they agree with the findings in this article. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/02/03/more-hate-crimes-led-increased-black-student-enrollment-hbcus (33:42) Mark and Lisa answer the following question from a mom from Wisconsin: Not sure if this is a topic for you or not, but I have heard every episode and I do not believe you have talked about the emotional side of kids leaving college, or leaving the parents, and since Moms are a big part of your audience and you have Lisa now, maybe she could say a few words about it. I am just really struggling with having my daughter go so far away. I know she is so ready to spread her wings, but I am going to miss being so connected to her. Around my area, it is so not the norm to go far away where we live, so I don't have a lot of mom friends who can relate. Most kids go close to home, and the high achievers just go to UW Madison which is close! If it's not admissions-related enough, no problem, I understand - I just was thinking of it since it would be a"new" topic that I don't believe you addressed. Mark and Lisa each give their best advice for parents who are struggling with being separated from their child as they go off to college. (01:03:35) Mark interviews Eric Furda, who spent over 25 years in high level leadership at both Columbia and Penn. This will be a three-part interview. In Part 1, Mark asks Eric the following questions: Preview for Part 1 Eric shares what he has learned from going from an admission Dean to a college counselor Eric answers Mark's question about how colleges are handling challenges like: increased costs, the demographic cliff and the birth dearth that threaten to decrease the pool of applicants Eric answers the question, how do colleges project their yield (the percentage of accepted students who enroll) (01:12:48) Recommended resource: Dr. Lisa Rouff prepared for our question this week by reading the book: The Naked Roommate: For Parents only. We recommended the student edition around two years ago but now Lisa shares what she learned from reading Harlan Cohen's book: The Naked Roommate: For Parents Only: Calling, Not Calling, Roommates, Relationships, Friends, Finances, and Everything Else That Really Matters when ... Goes to College (Student Parenting Book) (01:25:30) Our college Spotlight goes to Temple University in Philadelphia, PA (https://www.temple.edu/) Great news! Even if your child didn't sign up for the SAT or ACT, Jed Applerouth and Ginger Fay are inviting all YCBK listeners and those who you refer to attend their one hour question and answer session about anything and everything about the ACT, the SAT or applying to college. Ginger Fay worked in admissions at Emory and Duke and Phillips Andover, and she was also an independent college counselor; she will join Jed. Jed will do a 15 minute overview of how the ACT is different from the SAT and then they will take your questions for 45 minutes. Just type your questions in the chat box. Now if you want to attend this you need to sign up. Here is a link to sign up: https://www.applerouth.com/signup/?scheduleid=457794 Go to September 8th at 8:30pm and you will see our event. Enter the following code to reserve your spot: M457794. Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live: https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast Feel free to pass this on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. Music is by SENA HERO/Victor-Alan Weeks. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful!

In this episode you will hear: (17:23) In this week's "In the news segment, a July 21st, 2021 Inside Higher Ed article by Scott Jaschik about how colleges tours have changed in the age of covid. The article looks at six colleges in different regions of the country and it looks at how they have made significant changes to how they do tours. Dave and Mark discuss these changes and they chime in with their thoughts. https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2021/07/26/future-campus-tour (37:05) Mark and Lisa answer the following question: Where do late bloomers go to college? When I read about college admissions and listen to your podcast, the featured examples are usually solid high school students with good GPAs and test scores. What about amazing kids who bloom later and perhaps don't show as well in high school? (57:13) This is the first time we ever have a double interview on the podcast. We start with Eric Furda who spent over 25 years in high-level leadership at both Columbia and Penn, but this week I ask Eric a series of questions about his recently released book that he co-authored with Jacques Steinberg entitled, "A College conversation: A Practical Companion for Parents to Guide Their Children Along the Path to Higher Education" (01:31:26) Our second interview is an update from Kristen Mosley about how her scholarship search is going now that she is at Spelman. Kristen has a big announcement for all of us. (01:27:28) Recommended resource: Look at the poll results at niche.com to their question, what one word best describes your school. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. Music is by SENA HERO/Victor-Alan Weeks. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful!

In this episode you will hear: (13:50) In this week's "In the news segment, a June, 2021 Washington Post article by Daniel Douglas Gabriel about how the Simplified FAFSA will no longer be implemented in 2023. Mark and Dave discuss what the Simplified FAFSA is and they have a dialogue about what the implications of this change will be. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/06/11/education-department-delays-fafsa-changes/ (25:56) Mark and Lisa discuss a question from Michele in Michigan who wants to know whether colleges will take into consideration a few lower than average grades that were caused because of the disruptions that covid brought on. (48:30) This week's interview is with a student, Kristen Mosley, a student at Spelman College. Student worked diligently to win 10 outside scholarships. In Part 3 Kristen discusses the following topics: Kristen talks about what she is doing to win scholarships while she is in college We discuss sweepstake scholarships Kristen talks about her experience targeting scholarships from places of worship Kristen breaks down all of her scholarships that she won Kristen talks about something so important that my interview would not have been complete if this topic didn't come up Kristen tells us about what makes Spelman special to her I put Kristen on the 'hot seat" and we get to know Kristen outside of the college search. I close by asking Kristen if her GPA was a 2.8 would she have still won scholarships (58:02) Recommended resource: https://www.collegevine.com, a tremendous free resource for many things including (01:11:23) College Spotlight: College of Charleston https://cofc.edu/ Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. Music is by SENA HERO/Victor-Alan Weeks. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful!

In this episode you will hear: (16:40) In this week's "In the news segment", a June 21st, 2021 article in the Washington Post by five authors entitled, "Colleges want students to get a coronavirus vaccine. But they're split on requiring the shots" Dave and Mark discuss which schools are requiring vaccines and which ones are not. They discuss the pressure colleges feel when they are at odds with their governor and they discuss some creative work-a rounds some schools are using. Dave presents a powerful medical case for why there is no justification for vaccine resistance. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/06/23/colleges-covid-vaccine-mandates-divide/ (42:15) It is bonus content week, every fifth episode Mark uses the question time to share something on his heart. This week continues a series that Mark and Lisa began on episode 175 when they discussed, what to do if your child is in elementary or middle school. In episode 180 they looked at what your child should do if they are in the 9th or 10th grade and this week they took 40 minutes to discuss what you should be doing now if you are in the 11th grade. (01:22:52) This week's interview is with a student, Kristen Mosley, a student at Spelman College. Student worked diligently to win 10 outside scholarships. In Part 2 of 3, Kristen discusses the following topics: Kristen shares some other scholarships that she won and she shares why she feel that she won these scholarships We talk about looking at other high schools for scholarships We talk about whether Kristen used book and websites in her search We talk about workplace scholarships Kristen has a lot to say about deadlines Next we talk about the importance of recommenders, how to get them and how to be efficient with them Kristen tells us how many scholarships she applies to in total and every week. Then we talk about whether Kristen used an accountability partner to help her with her search. Finally, we talk about what Kristen is doing to win scholarships now that she is a student at Spelman (01:33:30) Recommended resource: Hear from Eric Furda (former Dean of Admissions at U Penn) in his own words about his SiriusXM's show,The Process, the monthly program serving students and families with valuable insight into the college search, can be heard on SiriusXM Stars (Ch. 109) on Saturdays and Sundays, as well as On Demand Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. Music is by SENA HERO/Victor-Alan Weeks. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful!

In this episode you will hear: (11:00) In this week's "In the news segment", a June 17th, 2021 article from Jon Marcus of the Hechinger report entitled, "Colleges fight attempts to stop them from withholding transcripts over unpaid bills" Dave and Mark discuss whether it is appropriate for colleges to withhold transcripts from colleges graduates because they have a financial balance. Mark and Dave agree about 75% but the more they talked the more it became apparent that their perspective slightly differs. Mark and Dave discuss how politicians are getting involved and weighing in on the legitimacy of this practice. They also talk about which students are the ones that this practice impacts the most. https://hechingerreport.org/colleges-fight-attempts-to-stop-them-from-withholding-transcripts-over-unpaid-bills/ (27:00) Tony from Illinois has a great question about how his junior son who has POTS should communicate this to colleges. Lisa explains what POTS is, and then Mark shares four options that Tony's son has in how to communicate his POTS. Mark says all four ways make sense in different situations but Mark shares his two favorite ways of the four. (50:08) This week's interview is with a student, Kristen Mosley, a student at Spelman College. Student worked diligently to win 10 outside scholarships. In Part 1 of 3, Kristen discusses the following topics: Kristen gives her backstory, including what she was involved in during high school She tells us what it is like being a student during the pandemic Kristen talks about how important her relationship was with school counselor when it came to winning scholarships Kristen talks about some of the scholarships her school counselor told her about and she shares the details of these scholarships. Kristen talks about how she floundered when she first started applying scholarships and she explains why she struggled so much Next she shares a few changes she made and how she starting experiencing success Finally, Kristen discusses Sorority scholarships (01:01:09) Recommended resource: Get Real and Get In: How to Get Into the College of Your Dreams by Being Your Authentic Self by Dr. Aviva Legatt (01:14:55) Our college Spotlight is Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (https://www1.lehigh.edu/) Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. Music is by SENA HERO/Victor-Alan Weeks. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! EXCITING OPPORTUNITY We are excited to announce that Your College-Bound Kid and School Match 4U are putting together panels of current undergraduates, so parents, students and college counselors can ask the students about their college experiences. This is an excellent way to get beyond the marketing from the colleges and to learn what the student experience is really like. This survey will help us to know which colleges you are interested in meeting students from; it will also let us know what are the best days for us to host these panels. https://tinyurl.com/preferences4studentpanels

In this episode you will hear: (18:18) In this week's "In the news segment", a June 19th, 2021 article from Melissa Korn of the Wall Street Journal entitled, "Hunt is on for high school students who left the college path" The article shares the stats about how many kids veered away from college since graduating from high school. The article shows some of the very creative ways colleges are attempting to lure them back. Dave and Mark discuss how the actions these colleges are taking and they do some forecasting as to whether this is atypical of what we can expect in the future. "https://www.wsj.com/articles/hunt-is-on-for-high-school-graduates-who-left-the-college-path-11624095000." (34:34) Kim from Illinois wants to know when her son should start applying and complete his applications. Mark five of the most common college applications in the country and Mark and Lisa discuss when you should start and finish your application for these schools. (01:10:29) This week's interview is with Christina Lopez, the Dean of Admission at Barnard college, the highly selective women's college that is one of the undergraduate colleges of Columbia University. This week Christina continues to answer questions that students, parents and college counselors who are listeners to our podcast submitted to us. The Barnard interview with Christina went almost an hour, so we divided this into Part 1 and Part 2. (01:23:08) Recommended resource: Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist History podcast did two episodes on the college rankings. The first is called Lord and the Rankings and the second is called Project Dilliard. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. Music is by SENA HERO/Victor-Alan Weeks. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! EXCITING OPPORTUNITY We are excited to announce that Your College-Bound Kid and School Match 4U are putting together panels of current undergraduates, so parents, students and college counselors can ask the students about their college experiences. This is an excellent way to get beyond the marketing from the colleges and to learn what the student experience is really like. This survey will help us to know which colleges you are interested in meeting students from; it will also let us know what are the best days for us to host these panels. https://tinyurl.com/preferences4studentpanels

In this episode you will hear: (20:41) In this week's "In the news segment", a May 22nd, 2021 article from Jon Marcus of the Hechinger Report entitled, "Colleges face a reckoning as plummeting birthrate worsens enrollment declines." " The article includes statistics that show the indisputable proof that colleges are experiencing an enrollment decline. Dave gives us an accurate and insightful overview of the article, and then Mark and Dave share the five things colleges are doing to combat this enrollment decline. https://hechingerreport.org/colleges-face-reckoning-as-plummeting-birthrate-worsens-enrollment-declines/ (46:39) Rob from Texas wrote in and asked us whether there are other programs out there like the dual degree program between Trinity College in Dublin and Columbia University. Lisa and Mark decided last week to take this episode to do a deep diver into this unique program. This week Lisa and Mark talk about what other programs out there are similar to Trinity College and Columbia University dual degree program. (01:07:05) This week's interview is with Christina Lopez, the Dean of Admission at Barnard college, the highly selective women's college that is one of the undergraduate colleges of Columbia University. This week Christina gives us a detailed overview of Barnard College. Christina also answers a few of the nine questions that we selected that you are our listeners sent in. The Barnard interview with Christina went almost an hour, so we divided this into Part 1 and Part 2. (01:21:10) Recommended resource: https://poetsandquants.com/ This website is an excellent source of information for anything related to the best business schools in the US and abroad. It covers undergrad business programs and MBA programs. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. Music is by SENA HERO/Victor-Alan Weeks. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! EXCITING OPPORTUNITY We are excited to announce that Your College-Bound Kid and School Match 4U are putting together panels of current undergraduates, so parents, students and college counselors can ask the students about their college experiences. This is an excellent way to get beyond the marketing from the colleges and to learn what the student experience is really like. This survey will help us to know which colleges you are interested in meeting students from; it will also let us know what are the best days for us to host these panels. https://tinyurl.com/preferences4studentpanels

In this episode you will hear: (06:02) In this week's "In the news segment", a January 19th, 2021 article from Jon Marcus of the Hechinger Report entitled, The pandemic is speeding up the mass disappearance of men from college. " The article includes statistics that show the huge gender disparity between the number of men and the number of women who are going to college. The article examines the reason for this gender gap. Mark and Dave discuss the reasons listed in the article. Mark and Dave say this discussion is so important that they promise to return to this topic again for a Part 2 within the next 10 weeks. Mark would like to thank Khristie, a College and Career counselor in Virginia who is so concerned that we are losing our young men. Khristie asked us to please discuss this on our podcast. https://hechingerreport.org/the-pandemic-is-speeding-up-the-mass-disappearance-of-men-from-college/ (23:58) Question from the listener and College Spotlight Rob from Texas wrote in and asked us whether there are other programs out there like the dual degree program between Trinity College in Dublin and Columbia university. Lisa and I decided to take this episode to do a deep diver into this unique program. This will also serve as our College Spotlight for the week. Next week we will talk about what other programs out there are similar to this. This program is one every college counselor should be familiar with. It is a program that could be an excellent option for someone who wants an International experience that goes beyond Study Abroad. College Spotlight: Trinity College and Columbia dual degree program. https://tcd.gs.columbia.edu/ (01:08:57) This week's interview is with Christina Lopez, the Dean of Admission at Barnard college, the highly selective women's college that is one of the undergraduate colleges of Columbia University. Christina's topic is, should a student discuss their mental health challenges in their admission application. In Part 2 of 2, we discuss the following: Christina answers the question, how is a student to know whether they should share a mental health struggle or whether it will sabotage their admission chances Christina talks about how the essay differs from what a student would say with the therapist Christina talks about how the resources to support mental health vary drastically from one school to another Christina reflects on the admission profession and she gives an honest assessment on where things are when it comes to understanding and accepting student's mental health Christina talks about ones of the tests they use to discern if a student is admissible when they have had mental health challenges Christina talks about some of the missteps that students make in their essays Christina closes with a profound statement about what she looks for and likes to see in an essay. I thought it was so profound that I ask her Christina to repeat it (01:18:00) Recommended resource: Loren Pope's classic book, "Colleges that Change Lives" looks at several dozen small transformational colleges that welcome many B students. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. Music is by SENA HERO/Victor-Alan Weeks. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! EXCITING OPPORTUNITY We are excited to announce that Your College-Bound Kid and School Match 4U are putting together panels of current undergraduates, so parents, students and college counselors can ask the students about their college experiences. This is an excellent way to get beyond the marketing from the colleges and to learn what the student experience is really like. This survey will help us to know which colleges you are interested in meeting students from; it will also let us know what are the best days for us to host these panels. https://tinyurl.com/preferences4studentpanels

In this episode you will hear: (12:58) In this week's "In the news segment", a June 1st, 2021 article from Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed. The article is entitled, "Legacy Admissions Banned in Colorado" " The article looks at the research that led to the decision by the governor of Colorado to become the first state to ban legacy admissions. Dave and Mark present the argument for and against legacy admissions. Mark and Dave share their view on this topic and it is a view that may surprise our listeners. Mark draws heavily off a 2019 article in the New York Times entitled, "End Legacy College Admissions" https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2021/06/01/colorado-bars-public-colleges-using-legacy-admissions (35:20) This week is bonus content week. In episode 175 Lisa and Mark discussed what a student and parent should do in elementary and middle school. In today's episode, Mark and Lisa discuss what a student should do in the 9th and 10th grade. Mark shares 10 things he believes students should do and Lisa comments on the three or four that really resonated with her. Dr. Lisa Rouff draws off over 25 years as clinical psychologist to provide some prescient insights based on her practice. Mark turns to parents and shares four things parents can do and once again, Lisa has some sage advice. (01:09:42) This week's interview is with Christina Lopez, the Dean of Admission at Barnard college, the highly selective women's college that is one of the undergraduate colleges of Columbia University. Christina's topic is, should a student discuss their mental health challenges in their admission application: Christina shares her backstory She shares how her theater background helps her in admissions I introduce the topic of whether a student should communicate their mental health challenges in their admission application Christina candidly shares her own challenge with depression and anxiety; how it impacts her on her job and how she has learned to still excel on her job. Christina relates her own struggles to the struggle's students are facing with the stress of the college process and the challenges of doing well in school and applying to college in the middle of covid-19 Christina explains how she got so comfortable sharing her own struggles publicly (01:19:12) Recommended resource: The Facebook private group College Admissions Counselors. The group brings admissions counselors and college counselors together in one place. The group has almost 18000 members. It is a private group that is only for who can prove they are in the profession. College Spotlight: returns next week with the Trinity College-Dublin 2 plus 2 program with Columbia Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. Music is by SENA HERO/Victor-Alan Weeks. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! EXCITING OPPORTUNITY We are excited to announce that Your College-Bound Kid and School Match 4U are putting together panels of current undergraduates, so parents, students and college counselors can ask the students about their college experiences. This is an excellent way to get beyond the marketing from the colleges and to learn what the student experience is really like. This survey will help us to know which colleges you are interested in meeting students from; it will also let us know what are the best days for us to host these panels. https://tinyurl.com/preferences4studentpanels

In this episode you will hear: (20:10) In this week's "In the news segment", an article from Arvind Ashok of the New York Times. The article is entitled, "The Persistent Grip of Social Class on College Admissions" " The article looks at the research that was based on studying 60,000 essays from authors affiliated with the Student Narrative Lab at Stanford shows that essay content. The research shows essays are more highly correlated with household income than SAT scores are. We talk about the other ways social class impacts admissions. We discuss whether the SAT/ACT is unfairly taking criticism when it comes to the frequent criticisms these tests receive about social class. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/26/upshot/college-admissions-essay-sat.html (45:10) This week's question is from Rob in Texas. Rob has a daughter who is very talented at drawing but she doesn't particularly enjoy drawing. He wants to know whether her talent should outweigh her interests; should she participate in drawing to showcase her talents and will that help her in the college admissions process. (01:02:24) This week's interview is the VP of Enrollment at Babson college, Courtney Minden. We do a 40-minute-deep dive on Babson College. The interview will also serve as our College Spotlight for Babson College. Courtney addresses the following topics: Courtney gives her 3-5-minute elevator speech of who Babson College is? Courtney tells us what a deliberate dreamer is? Courtney talks about the BOW consortium, what is this? Courtney tells us what the Weissman Foundry is Courtney talks about how Babson utilizes Boston in their education Courtney explains What a MCFE is? Courtney talks about why their entrepreneurship is consistently seen as the top program for entrepreneurship program in the country Courtney talks about how every student starts a business at Babson but she really stresses entrepreneurial leadership Courtney shares why students pick Babson over other business schools and why Babson loses out on great kids Courtney shares what Babson needs to do improve Courtney shares who some of Babson's famous alumni are Courtney tells us what she looks for in the admissions process to identify a good potential Babson student Of course, we close with me putting Courtney on the hotseat College Spotlight: Babson College https://www.babson.edu/ (01:25:05) Recommended resource: The Facebook private group Grown and Flown. The group has almost 200,000 members. It is private but most people who apply for membership will be approved. Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. Music is by SENA HERO/Victor-Alan Weeks. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! EXCITING OPPORTUNITY We are excited to announce that Your College-Bound Kid and School Match 4U are putting together panels of current undergraduates, so parents, students and college counselors can ask the students about their college experiences. This is an excellent way to get beyond the marketing from the colleges and to learn what the student experience is really like. This survey will help us to know which colleges you are interested in meeting students from; it will also let us know what are the best days for us to host these panels. https://tinyurl.com/preferences4studentpanels

In this episode you will hear: (09:35) In this week's "In the news segment", an article from Scot Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed. The article is entitled, "Where do Public Research Universities Recruit Students" The article looks at the research that was based on studying 15 universities websites that reveal the high schools they will be visiting for the school year. The article reveals some surprising results about which schools are being prioritized and which schools are being overlooked and neglected. Mark and Dave explain what they believe Is the rational that explains why these public universities recruit where they do. Mark and Dave have an opinion that differs with the implications of the article. https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2021/05/17/study-finds-public-research-universities-recruit-out-state-private (27:52) This week's question is from Yvette in California. Yvette's child had outstanding academic success in high school but she was left really disappointed and even astonished with the bad news she received when admissions decisions were released. Yvette has a series of questions about "what happened" and what should she do next. Mark and Lisa will answer Yvette's questions in episode 177 and in 178 in the question segment. Part 2 of 2 (47:22) This week's interview is the VP of Enrollment at Babson college, Courtney Minden. We look at 'The new ways colleges recruit'. In Part 3 of 3, Courtney addresses the following topics: Courtney talks about the staggering number of virtual events they did last year, what were the different types of events they did with these events. Courtney explains why she knows that these virtual events were effective? Get ready to laugh when you hear her answer Courtney and Mark have a very candid conversation about how schools can track demonstrated interest through a student's online engagement, and how students need to be aware that their engagement or lack of engagement often impacts an admission decision. You are not going to want to miss Courtney's answer. (56:11) Recommended resource: The Facebook private group Paying For College 101. The group has almost 105,000 members. It is private but most people who apply for membership will be approved. (01:03:16) College Spotlight: Colorado University at Boulder (https://www.colorado.edu/) Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. Music is by SENA HERO/Victor-Alan Weeks. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! EXCITING OPPORTUNITY We are excited to announce that Your College-Bound Kid and School Match 4U are putting together panels of current undergraduates, so parents, students and college counselors can ask the students about their college experiences. This is an excellent way to get beyond the marketing from the colleges and to learn what the student experience is really like. This survey will help us to know which colleges you are interested in meeting students from; it will also let us know what are the best days for us to host these panels. https://tinyurl.com/preferences4studentpanels

In this episode you will hear: (07:08) In this week's "In the news segment", an article from Ron Lieber of The New York Times. The article is entitled, "High Schools Are Producing Their College Lists. Don't be misled." The article talks about how in some high schools, there is so much buzz and emphasis on the list of where kids go to college. Mark and Dave talks about why this is an unreliable way to evaluate a high school. Mark has a confession of how he used these lists for pure marketing reasons when he was doing boarding school admissions. Mark and Dave return to their discussion of those who are "Just folks" vs "those who have built in lobbyists". https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/07/your-money/high-schools-college-lists.html (28:33) This week's question is from Yvette in California. Yvette's child had outstanding academic success in high school but she was left really disappointed and even astonished with the bad news she received when admissions decisions were released. Yvette has a series of questions about "what happened" and what should she do next. Mark and Lisa will answer Yvette's questions in episode 177 and in 178 in the question segment. Part 1 of 2 (46:43) This week's interview is the VP of Enrollment at Babson college, Courtney Minden. We look at 'The new ways colleges recruit'. In Part 2 of 3, Courtney addresses the following topics: Courtney discusses Babson's senior fellow interview program, what is it and is it informational only or are these interviews evaluative? Courtney tells us what Platform Q is, why Babson uses them and how they used platform Q? Courtney talks about virtual high school visits and virtual college fairs and we have a candid discussion about how effective virtual college fairs are. (58:33) Recommended resource: The website, https://www.collegewebld.com/ is a great source to see how well various colleges serve students with learning differences. (01:07:13) College Spotlight: Lawrence University, (https://www.lawrence.edu/) Appleton, Wisconsin Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. Music is by SENA HERO/Victor-Alan Weeks. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! EXCITING OPPORTUNITY We are excited to announce that Your College-Bound Kid and School Match 4U are putting together panels of current undergraduates, so parents, students and college counselors can ask the students about their college experiences. This is an excellent way to get beyond the marketing from the colleges and to learn what the student experience is really like. This survey will help us to know which colleges you are interested in meeting students from; it will also let us know what are the best days for us to host these panels. https://tinyurl.com/preferences4studentpanels

In this episode you will hear: (07:37) In this week's "In the news segment", an article from Karen Fischer from the Chronicle Higher Education. The article is entitled, "The employer mismatch". The article looks at study done in partnership with The Chronicle and America's Public Media marketplace that looks at the disconnect between what employers look for when they hire college grads and what students and parents think they look for. Mark and Dave the findings from their study of over 700 employers. Mark and Dave consider this one of the most important "in the news" segments they have discussed, and it will almost assuredly cause the listeners to put more emphasis on what these employers are looking for. (30:12) This week's question from our own, Dr. Dave Williams and he wants to know, why would Tulane waitlist over 12800 students and take no one in 2020. Mark explains the multiple reasons why a college goes to its waitlist and he explains why a college needs to have a larger waitlist than the public thinks. Mark also explains how different schools use waitlists differently. (01:00:04) This week's interview is the VP of Enrollment at Babson college, Courtney Minden. We look at 'The new ways colleges recruit'. In Part 1 of 3, Courtney addresses the following topics: Preview of Part 1 Courtney gives her backstory, including various admission roles she has had Courtney explains the difference between a VP of Enrollment and a Dean or Director of admission Courtney explains what the Virtual Renaissance is, and how she came to realize, this is what Babson needed to do (01:10:09) Recommended resource: The book, "Now You Tell Me: 12 college students give the best advice they never got" (01:20:18) College Spotlight: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (https://twin-cities.umn.edu/ Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. Music is by SENA HERO/Victor-Alan Weeks. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! EXCITING OPPORTUNITY We are excited to announce that Your College-Bound Kid and School Match 4U are putting together panels of current undergraduates, so parents, students and college counselors can ask the students about their college experiences. This is an excellent way to get beyond the marketing from the colleges and to learn what the student experience is really like. This survey will help us to know which colleges you are interested in meeting students from; it will also let us know what are the best days for us to host these panels. https://tinyurl.com/preferences4studentpanels

In this episode you will hear: (07:02) In this week's "In the news segment", an article from Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed. The article is entitled, "Test-optional admissions yields benefits." The article looks at a paper on the topic was published in the American Educational Research Journal. The paper, by Christopher T. Bennett, who is finishing up his doctorate at Vanderbilt where he is studying this issue. The article examines the impact of test-optional admissions on nearly 100 private colleges that adopted their policies between 2005-06 and 2015-16. Mark and Dave discuss the results of Bennett's research and Dave asks a lot of pertinent questions about how this relates to the recent wave of schools that have chosen to go "test-optional". (29:02) This week's question is Bonus content. Every 5th episode Mark shares something that is burning on his heart. This week, we look at what you should be doing if you have a parent in elementary or middle school. The focus is not on how to get your kid in a selective college, although the advice Mark and Lisa give would help with this, but more as a by-product. Mark and Lisa draw on their own experience having had kids go through both of these phases. (56:14) Mark interviews Vince Garcia and they look at why the University of California colleges were so difficult to get in this year. Mark and Vince draw a lot of their commentary from the following article which ran in the LA Times: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-04-12/covid-college-admissions-season-brings-rejection-heartbreak In this final segment Mark and Vince discuss: which UC's students have the best chance of being admitted at The yield of the UC's and how this impacts the wait list We turn to the CSU's and we talk about why their admission experience was so different from the CU's Vince shares some the fields where the CSU's have great programs Vince shares some of the underrated CSU's and UC's (3 of 3) (01:05:06) Recommended resource: The book, I'm going to college-Not You and the subtitle is, "Surviving the college search with your child". Jennifer delanty is the former dean of admissions at Kenyon College (01:15:53) College Spotlight: Trinity University (www.trinity.edu) Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. Music is by SENA HERO/Victor-Alan Weeks. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! EXCITING OPPORTUNITY We are excited to announce that Your College-Bound Kid and School Match 4U are putting together panels of current undergraduates, so parents, students and college counselors can ask the students about their college experiences. This is an excellent way to get beyond the marketing from the colleges and to learn what the student experience is really like. This survey will help us to know which colleges you are interested in meeting students from; it will also let us know what are the best days for us to host these panels. https://tinyurl.com/preferences4studentpanels

In this episode you will hear: (15:18) In this week's "In the news segment", an article from Jon Marcus of The Hechinger Report. The article entitled, "Urgency of getting people back to work gives new momentum to micro credentials. The article looks at how organizations like Western Governor's, edX and BYU Pathway worldwide are offering two to three month online courses in areas that make employees and students more marketable. The article talks about how edX pioneered a stackable degree that allows students to have these micro credentials build on each other toward earning a degree. These courses are surging in popularity. They are very affordable. Mark and Dave discuss the value of these courses and Mark makes a prediction of how where these courses may lead 50 years from now. Dave talks about the group he feels can benefit the most from this new approach to gaining formal education. https://hechingerreport.org/more-students-start-earning-stackable-credentials-on-their-way-to-degrees/ (35:19) This week's question is from a mom named Elizabeth who lives in California. She wants to know how west coast liberal arts and science colleges that offer merit money like Williamette, Whitman, Occidental and Puget Sound compared to east coast colleges. Mark and Lisa continue their conversation they started last week. (Part 2 of 2) (48:35) Mark interviews Vince Garcia and they look at why the University of California colleges were so difficult to get in this year. In this segment Mark and Vince discuss whether the major you select matters at the UC's. They discuss the community college partnerships that exist and they discuss whether there is any geographic preferences at any of the UC's (2 of 3) (57:38) Recommended resource: The book, Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Joseph Aoun. Aoun covers the three skillsets that are essential if you want to robot-proof yourself from the changes created by AI (01:07:55) College Spotlight: Wake Forest University (https://www.wfu.edu/ Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. Music is by SENA HERO/Victor-Alan Weeks. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! EXCITING OPPORTUNITY We are excited to announce that Your College-Bound Kid and School Match 4U are putting together panels of current undergraduates, so parents, students and college counselors can ask the students about their college experiences. This is an excellent way to get beyond the marketing from the colleges and to learn what the student experience is really like. This survey will help us to know which colleges you are interested in meeting students from; it will also let us know what are the best days for us to host these panels. https://tinyurl.com/preferences4studentpanels

In this episode you will hear: (13:24) In this week's news segment, an article from Brennan Barnard of Forbes. The article entitled, "College Admissions: Do you belong". The article looks at the ways in which the pandemic is creating widespread problems like loneliness,anxiety and depression. Mark and Dave discuss the social impact of the pandemic on students but they spend most of their time talking about what can be done about this? https://www.forbes.com/sites/brennanbarnard/2021/04/08/college-admission-do-you-belong/?sh=11fd4f774898 (38:06) This week's question is from a mom named Elizabeth who lives in California. She wants to know how west coast liberal arts and science colleges that offer merit money like Williamette, Occidental and Puget Sound compared to east coast colleges. (Part 1 of 2) (54:20) Mark interviews Vince Garcia and they look at why the University of California colleges were so difficult to get in this year. (1 of 3) (01:05:40) Recommended resource: The Character Collaborative. An attempt by an almost 300-member organizations to change how admissions is done. They want to see character count more in admissions (https://character-admission.org/) (01:17:43) College Spotlight: North Carolina A & T, (https://www.ncat.edu/) Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. Music is by SENA HERO/Victor-Alan Weeks. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! EXCITING OPPORTUNITY We are excited to announce that Your College-Bound Kid and School Match 4U are putting together panels of current undergraduates, so parents, students and college counselors can ask the students about their college experiences. This is an excellent way to get beyond the marketing from the colleges and to learn what the student experience is really like. This survey will help us to know which colleges you are interested in meeting students from; it will also let us know what are the best days for us to host these panels. https://tinyurl.com/preferences4studentpanels

In this episode you will hear: (12:10) In this week's news segment, an article from Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed. The article looks at the ways in which former Temple business school dean, Moshe Porat, manipulated the data in order to help Temple climb up in the rankings. Mark and Dave have a conversation about what students and parents can learn from this debacle. https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2021/04/19/ex-dean-temple-indicted-charges-manipulating-rankings#:~:text=What%20began%20in%20January%202018,the%20school%20offered%20top%2Dranked (29:20) This week's question is from a dad in Georgia and he wants to know how easy will it be for his daughter to switch majors if she gets to college and realizes that English or Journalism is no longer what she wants to study. YCBK is blessed to have Dr. Lisa Rouff take over for Anika as a regular to have a conversation with Mark in the question from a listener. Shout out to Lisa as this is her inaugural episode. (41:49) Mark continues his interview with Mark Kantrowitz -The New Simplified FAFSA – Part 4 of 4 " data-userid="651319618196664320" data-orgid= "651319618883633152">Mark Kantrowitz can be reached on Twitter @mkant and Mark's website is StudentAidpolicy.com (48:56) Recommended resource: unigo.com. A great source for college reviews, college scholarships, college data and answers to challenging questions. (59:26) College spotlight: Clemson University, https://www.clemson.edu/ Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: [email protected]. Music is by SENA HERO/Victor-Alan Weeks. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! EXCITING OPPORTUNITY We are excited to announce that Your College-Bound Kid and School Match 4U are putting together panels of current undergraduates, so parents, students and college counselors can ask the students about their college experiences. This is an excellent way to get beyond the marketing from the colleges and to learn what the student experience is really like. This survey will help us to know which colleges you are interested in meeting students from; it will also let us know what are the best days for us to host these panels. https://tinyurl.com/preferences4studentpanels