College Matters. Alma Matters.

Subscribe to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter John calls himself an “average nerd” while in High School. He enjoyed learning and Chemistry was his favorite class. In addition to classes, he was into debate, was in the school orchestra, concertmaster for the local youth symphony. Since he loved science and liked helping people, he decided to be Pre Med in college. John joins our podcast to share...

Subscribe to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter Making sense of the College News of the week, curated by Alma Matters . Shveta Bagade, College Counselor gives us her take on the news. Topics discussed in this episode: What is Rolling Admissions? [] Which Colleges Offer RA? [] Is there a Good Time or Best Time to Apply? [] Are Rolling Admissions Binding? [] Are there any Downsides? [] Closing: Grea...

Subscribe to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter In the Spring of 2023, Tom conducted a special workshop at Westhill High School. In this episode, we talk to Tom & 3 Students, Melissa, Anne and Chelsea, from the Workshop, Motivated by his experiences and based on our discussions, Tom decided to pilot a workshop for rising seniors using episodes from this Podcast to build college lists. On our p...

Sign Up to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter “International”  has always been a part of Lewis’s vocabulary. He was the first International Studies major at Albion College. He had lots of International Student friends on campus & loved traveling.  That has led him to opportunities in international recruiting, admissions over the last 15 years. Today, Lewis is the Regional Manager for South Asi...

Subscribe to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter In High School, snowboarding and photography were Tanner’s passions. He would have loved to do that for the rest of his life. Then towards the end of  his sophomore year, his architecture teacher involved him in building an engineering program for his school. Tanner found himself hooked on engineering - the idea of building things, touching people an...

Subscribe to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter The Honors Programs at Drexel U started in 1991, and became the Pennoni Honors College in 2002. 10 years ago, Prof Cohen became the Dean of the Pennoni Honors College. Dr. Cohen is a Distinguished English Professor, a writer, a novelist.  On this Podcast, Dean Cohen introduces the Pennoni Honors College, Honors Programs, Experiential Programs includi...

Subscribe to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter Erick pursued a lot of interests in High School which included marching band, wrestling and volunteering at Give the Kids the world. But Engineering always interested him, because his dad was an engineer. He just wasn’t sure what kind of engineering. In middle school a friend of his fought through cancer. He is doing well now. Seeing his friend go th...

Subscribe to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter Making sense of the College News of the week, curated by Alma Matters . Shveta Bagade, College Counselor gives us her take on the news. Topics discussed in this episode: Why Apply to FAFSA? [] What Kind of Financial Aid Can You Get By Filling FAFSA? [] When is FAFSA Due? [] Will I still be Eligible, if my parents don’t provide their financial info? [...

Sign Up to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter Bobbi-Jo started in higher education after her undergraduate degree. While she enjoyed her work, the money wasn’t enough. So she took a detour through the Insurance Industry. After the crash of 2008, Bobbi-Jo decided to take an “Interest Inventory” and figure out her next career move. That pointed her to School Counseling. Bobbi-Jo went to grad school...

Subscribe to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter In High School Hanh wasn’t very focused on academics. While STEM came naturally to her, she was more interested in relationships with people. After high school, she joined Nursing School, but soon dropped out because of personal and financial hardships. After working a number of years and saving up some money, Hanh decided to enroll in a local Commun...

Sign Up to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter Education was always important to Paula’s family. So, she did her Master’s in School Counseling and became a School Counselor. Over the years Paula has worked as a Counselor in 4 states, both, in private and public schools.  Today, she is a College Counselor at Jenks High School, which she calls the “very best” Oklahoma. On our podcast, Paula talks abo...

Subscribe to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter In High School, Haylie was very interested in STEM. She did a lot of research, experiments, poring over research papers. In her senior year, she found herself moving away from STEM into Political Science and Psychology.  Haylie joins us on our podcast to share her UG Experience at CU Boulder, Studio Lab, UG Research, Climbing, and Advice for High Sch...

Subscribe to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter In High School, Lea was interested in a variety of activities. Her driving passion had to do with helping people. Her Chemistry teacher told her Chemistry was her future and she should pursue it. She joined college as an undeclared major, with the idea of pursuing Chemistry. That would soon change! Lea joins our podcast to share her undergraduate Col...

Subscribe to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter Anna enjoyed learning in school.  When Anna was in 8th grade, in her Earth Science class, the teacher told the class that the Universe is expanding! That fact completely captivated Anna and launched  her interest in Astronomy and Physics in high school. Anna was socially engaged in school as well. Her crowning achievement was being high school valedi...

Subscribe to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter Paul had a well-rounded experience in High School. He loved the Sciences and took every science course offered in school. He had a number of leadership positions in the  student government. He was on the soccer team, track team, and managed the girls soccer team. From a career point of view, he was interested in medicine.  Paul joins our podcast to s...

Subscribe to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter As a kid, Science for Dr Anil Menon was a dinner table conversation with his parents, who were both scientists. Dr Menon enjoyed those discussions. As a young boy, he was fascinated with Mendeleev’s Periodic Table of the Elements. This fascination led to his lifelong commitment for science in general, and Molecular Genetics in particular. Dr. Anil Me...

Subscribe to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter Making sense of the College News of the week, curated by Alma Matters . Shveta Bagade, College Counselor gives us her take on the news. Topics discussed in this episode: What’s New in FAFSA [] OPT Changes [] Our Guest: Shveta Bagade , College Counselor based in Silicon Valley California. Resources referred to in this episode: Curated News at Alma Mat...

Subscribe to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter Derek’s high schools changed quite frequently. Despite that he loved school and enjoyed science and math, and engaged in activities like Robotics. About half way through high school, Derek realized that he would need scholarships to go to college. He then mapped out a plan to raise his aggregate GPA & achieved it to qualify for the Zell-Miller sc...

Sign Up to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter In this episode we will introduce you to a College Application Workbook. The impetus for this workbook came after I wrote a piece in my newsletter Alma Matters Letter last fall about how college application readers have about 8 mins to read an application. In this Podcast with Athena, we cover, What is Self-Phrase and How to Create Your own Self-Phrase...

Sign Up to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter While Aparna was working in the Social Development sector, she would save newspaper and magazine clippings of higher education and scholarship opportunities.  When she took a break from work, when her daughter was very young, she found herself working at a primary school. Eventually, with some powerful nudging from a friend, Aparna jumped into college...

Subscribe to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter While growing up in India, Prateek participated in Model UN. He found that he enjoyed meeting students from other parts of the world, discussing and debating issues. With these experiences, his interest in Journalism grew. He already loved writing, reporting on world issues. He decided to apply to the US for college, to study journalism. As it turned...

Subscribe to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter As an undergraduate, Prof. Townsend was only able to be a part of a small research project. At that time only a select number of students were able to participate in research. Today, Prof. Townsend is championing CURE - Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience in her Department and across CCRI so that an entire class of students can experience...

Subscribe to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter Saoirse was interested in microbiology in High School. This may have had a lot to do with all the volunteering she did at the Hot Springs National Park. She loved nature and hiking. She also did some research focused on bats at the Park. Saoirse joins us on our podcast to share her undergraduate journey at Rice, Transition to college, UG Research, Im...

Sign Up to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter Elizabeth is a first-generation college graduate. When she was applying to college, she didn’t have anyone in her family that could help her with the process. Luckily, she found people who could help her with her questions. Today, Elizabeth guides students like her younger self, with the college application process. On our podcast, Elizabeth talks abou...

Subscribe to Receive Venkat’s Weekly Newsletter Every year the Coca Cola Scholars Foundation awards a select set of High School Seniors the Coca Cola Scholarship. Sarah is a 2023 Coke Scholar.  In this Podcast, Sarah talks about her passion for CS & AI, Winning the Coca Cola Scholarship, her college search process, and his advice for high schoolers. #CokeScholars In particular, we discuss the...