The College Application Episodes

#116 – Today, we talk about a difficult reality that that many high school students and families experience each year, receiving rejections from colleges that those students aspired to attend. Although rejections (a word I do not like to use in college admissions) are a normal part of the application process, they are never easy to deal with. For the majority of students, applying to college usually comes after hard work and years of dedication throughout high school. By the time they turn in t...

#115 – On this episode, Jankel and I give you six steps to take and points to consider if you are “waitlisted” by a college or university that you absolutely want to attend. We begin the episode by explaining how a wait list works and how students get selected by from a wait list. Throughout the episode, we uncover the chances you will have to be admitted from a wait list, the steps that can be taken to help yourself if you are ever placed in one, and the ways in which accepting admission ...

#103 – On this episode, we conclude our 7-part series on the personal essay. Today, Jankel and I begin by introducing the importance of seeking feedback on your 4th draft. We talk about the people in your life who would be great participants in this feedback-seeking exercise. We go over 7 questions to ask those individuals and present ways to gather even more information from them. The resulting 5th draft will undergo an additional adjustment, and the results will be the 6th draft. T...

#102 – Today, we reach the next step in crafting the personal essay. Jankel and I uncover the process of calibrating the 3rd draft in such a way that it becomes a message that communicates the intended message. We go over the questions to ask to guide that calibration. In the first half of the episode we talk about a mistake some students make when writing their personal essay. Unfortunately for them, that mistake garners them negative attention from college admission officers. The good ne...

#101 – On this episode we give you 12 questions and pieces of advice that will help you turn the information you created on your second draft into a workable third draft. Jankel and I talk about what to do to grab the attention of the college admission representatives reading your essay, and how to get them to become immersed in your story. As we share those steps you should take and things you should do, we also share plenty of what you should not do as a writer. Some of what you will ...

#100 – Today, we uncover the process of turning the first draft of your personal essay into your second draft. Jankel and I go over eight questions to ask about the information on your first draft, so that at the end, you are left with the building blocks you will use to write the body of your personal essay. At the beginning of the episode, we talk about two pieces of advice I often share with parents about some of the ways they could best support their kids in high school. We also let...

#099 – Today, Jankel and I continue giving you insights on how to write your personal essay. We begin by going over the importance of the essay as an integral part of your college application, review the prompts that you will find in the Common App, and highlight the beauty of the essay as the only part of the application in which you control 100% of the narrative. We also present 10 different topics you should stay away from, or at the very least, be very careful with, when writing your e...

#096 - Today, we begin a multi-episode series focused on the personal essay, that is the part of the application where you will have a chance to present yourself in a way that makes a positive and direct impact in your chances for admission into a college or university. That is especially true for the more selective ones, who historically have given more weight to the importance of the personal essay. The episode begins by highlighting the fact that the entirety of the college application ...

#092 – On this episode we conclude our two-part conversation about extracurricular activities by focusing on the different activities that can be included in the college application. Although we discuss participation in clubs, volunteering, and other similar activities, we focus our conversation on ways applicants could present any jobs they may have had while in high school. The experiences gathered in these jobs could be presented in the application in ways that greatly benefit applicant...

#091 – Today, we uncover the admission requirements for Cornell University, focusing deeply on the non-academic factors. For selective universities, high academic achievement is expected and cannot be counted on to differentiate you as a candidate. Rather, it is the non-academic factors of your application that will set you apart. Cornell University, a school with a 10% admission rate, looks for several factors in their applicants, including character, community involvement, and their reas...

#089 – On today’s episode, I present the meaning of the “Summer Melt” and the ways in which it could help you gain admission to college, while at the same time allowing you to negotiate more institutional aid for yourself. Changes in the rules that guide how colleges and universities recruit students now allow colleges to poach students away from other colleges, even after May 1st, commonly known as Commitment Day. This has increased the level of competition among colleges as they seek to ...

#088 – Today, we explore the admission criteria at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, better known as MIT. We begin by analyzing admission information about the most recent freshman class, highlighting the admission rate, standardized test scores, and other academic and non-academic factors considered by MIT Admission Officers as they offer or deny admission to students every year. This episode centers on the one component of the application that is the most important to MIT. Regar...

#087 - Today, we continue our conversation focused on the most important portions of your college application that will garner the attention of College Admission Officers. Depending on what they find on your application, they will decide to continue exploring your qualifications, or not simply deny you admission to that college or university. On this episode, Jankel and I present a very important way to present yourself in a way that impresses Admission Officers, giving you a great chance ...

#086 – This is a very special episode in which I am joined by my son who will share with us some of his observations about a recent trip we took to visit some of the schools to which he will apply. These include, UC Berkeley, Stanford University, and UC Santa Barbara. Although his ultimate goal is to do graduate work in vertebrate paleontology, his undergraduate degree will be in geology. The trip was very informative. As the episode progresses, I share ways in which students can learn ...

#077 – On this episode, we begin by reading a very kind and warm review that was given to our podcast by a parent who is a listener. Towards the end of the review, she asked whether we could talk about college interviews. Jankel and I talked about our plans to talk about that subject on the next episode. But in the meantime, we went over three very important and very commonly asked questions during college interviews. Additionally, we mentioned the importance of sprinkling in informatio...

#076 - Admission into selective colleges and universities requires more than a stellar academic record. Most selective schools follow a holistic admissions approach, in which they consider other aspects of their applicants, including character, talent, work history, community service, and other elements to get to know the applicants as individuals. To them, it is important to know each applicant beyond academics, and to use what they learn about those applicants through their applications ...

# 075 – Class rank is one of the factors considered for admission decisions by college admission officers in some colleges and universities. Because class rank is so important to those institutions, it is important that you understand everything about class rank. On this episode, I talk about what class rank is, how it is computed, and how it is used in the college admission process. Additionally, I present some of the reasons why some high schools choose not to rank students. For ex...

# 074 – Your academic record will be the first part of your application to be checked by the college admission officers of the schools to which you will apply. The courses you take and the grades you receive make up a big part of your academic record. On this episode, we focus on the importance of grades as part of your transcripts, and how they are reported as a Grade Point Average. Jankel and I uncover the difference between unweighted and weighted GPA, and the reason why most schools...

#069 – The information in your high school transcripts is the first element of your college application that will be scrutinized by the college admission officers of the colleges to which you will apply. The classes you took, the grades you earned, and your GPA, will all come together to give them an idea of how prepared you are for college. On this episode, Jankel and I explore this and everything else related to your academic record. At the beginning of the episode, we explore the rea...

#061 – Today, on this solo episode, we uncover the default assumptions colleges and universities make about First-Generation College Students (FGCS). Those assumptions aim to guide the efforts higher education institutions make to support applicants who are considered FGCS. They have to do with the applicants’ academic preparation, ability to afford college, and the ability to manage the college admission process and college success. As the episode progresses, I present the different wa...

#058 – Today, we begin a couple of episodes focused on the path to becoming a medical doctor. This is a topic often filled with misinformation. To dispel myths and do away with bad information, Dr. Shrag Shemmassian joins us today to talk about medical school admissions. Dr. Shemmassian is one of the world’s foremost experts, not just on medical school admissions, but also on college admissions and graduate school admissions. During our conversation, we discussed various elements related t...

#035 – We have reached one of the most important parts of the college admission process, on our senior year checklist, filling out the college application. Today, we explore every area of the application and provide you with advice that will you avoid some of the pitfalls that, in the past, have affected others at this stage in the process. We will discuss the information you will need to fill out the application, including personal information and information about your parents. We wil...