The Admissions Directors Lunchcast

It is easily the hottest topic of the year in college admissions - the appropriate and reasonable use of artificial intelligence in the world of college admissions. How and where can this new technology by used to help, create efficiencies, and improve the process? Emily Smith, Vice President of Partner Success at CollegeVine kicks the conversation off with a top-of-the-funnel discussion, includin...

Do virtual tours still work after the pandemic? It's a resounding yes from us, and our guest, Andrew Klotz, Co-Founder and CEO of Circuit Virtual Tours, based in Toronto, Ontario.

Let's take a different look at international students - specifically, Americans going to study in Europe. This week focuses on the reasons some families are looking to study overseas, and how European colleges are trying to crack open the North American market. There are lessons in here for all of us. Sara Bitner, Co-Founder and Head Education Advisor at Launch Education Advisors, gets us star...

Ever the hot topic, we're tackling the best practices for communicating with parents through the college admissions process. After scouting them at the Illinois ACAC conference last spring, Nathan asked them to bring the insights from their presentation to our listeners. Christopher Chiakulas, Post-Secondary Counselor at Hersey High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois, gets us started with t...

At long last, The Admissions Directors Lunchcast comes back for an eighth season. We've got an intriguing slate of topics coming your way, every Tuesday from now until the end of October. If you just can't wait to see who's coming each week, this quick teaser episode will give you the inside scoop early.

Every season, a few interviews need just a bit more space than we can fit into our regular format. When the full interview can't fit into one hour, we catch up in between seasons to give an unedited conversation. Originally published as one of two interviews for our episode on "Supporting Black Students and Families", we now bring you the extended conversation with Dr. Paris Wicker,...

Every season, a few interviews need just a bit more space than we can fit into our regular format. When the full interview can't fit into one hour, we catch up in between seasons to give an unedited conversation. Originally published as part of our episode, "Getting The Most Out Of Visits in March, our conversation with Kate Hooper, Senior Associate Director of Admissions for Prospective...

Every season, a few interviews need just a bit more space than we can fit into our regular format. When the full interview can't fit into one hour, we catch up in between seasons to give an unedited conversation. Originally published as one of two interviews for our episode on "Supporting Black Students and Families", we now bring you the extended conversation with Katie Mathews, Pro...

Every season, a few interviews need just a bit more space than we can fit into our regular format. When the full interview can't fit into one hour, we catch up in between seasons to give an unedited conversation. Originally published as part of our episode, "Getting The Most Out Of Visits in March, our conversation with Jenna Shulman, Independent Educational Consultant with Jenna Shulman...

Wrapping up the Counselor's Choice season, we bring you the hot topic: is college admissions a business? Of course, the answer probably isn't plainly "yes" or "no" - but where on the spectrum between those two answers do we land? Where should we land? To guide us through this, we have Jennifer Jessie, also known as Jenn The Tutor, from Northern Virginia, thinking throug...

You've thought about it. Those of us who've been through a few Aprils in this job have considered it at least once - making the leap to independent educational consulting. This week, we're discussing just that - why are admissions leaders considering moving over, what's changed in the last few years, and what's the difference between those who decide to do it and those who don&...

Like a time capsule to our future selves, from time to time, we check in on the enduring hot topics in our profession. This week, at the suggestion of our influencer guest, we're discussing the state of test-optional admissions in 2024. Moira McKinnon, Director of College Counseling at Berwick Academy in South Berwick, Maine, helps us understand how students today are interpreting the myriad o...

We are fortunate to offer this special episode of the Partner Series, sponsored by CampusESP. We are joined by Leslie Gale, Vice President of Customer Success at CampusESP, sharing results from ongoing research projects that will help all of us better serve black students and families.

We all do this work to best serve students - and this week we're holding a focused conversation on how we can best support Black students and families through the college admissions process. The conversation starts with Katie Mathews, Professional School Counselor at Northside College Prep High School in Chicago, Illinois. Katie suggested this topic, and leads the conversation with insights an...

Campus visits are important components of every college's recruitment and yield program. Having an opportunity to help students learn about campus life is critical. But what's the other side of that equation? What should colleges be learning about students during a campus visit to assist in finding a match? This topic was recommended by our influencer guest, Jenna Shulman, Independent Educ...

It's another week of Counselor's Choice Topics! This week, we're discussing college application essays - but in a different twist. Instead of thinking about this from the student perspective, we're thinking about it from the other side of the desk. What is the fair and appropriate use of the application essay in an admissions process? Should we ever use the content to determine the...

We intended to talk about this a few seasons ago, but kept putting it off. Just kidding. This season, the theme is Counselor's Choice - each week, we bring on an influencer who has identified a topic that needs to be discussed with Admissions Directors in 2024. This week, it's the challenge of procrastination among students. We begin with Laurie Kopp Weingarten , President of One-Stop Coll...

It's a fact of life in our profession: we can no longer plan for a thorough, comprehensive training program in August to onboard new counselors. Today's admissions counselors are starting year-round, they're leaving year-round, and there's no reason to believe things are changing any time soon. With this new staffing model, what is the best approach for training, development, and r...

We are fired up for the next season of The Admissions Directors Lunchcast! This time, we took a different approach to developing the content: we asked influencers (school counselors, independent educational consultants, and community-based organization professionals) to tell us what topics they think admissions directors should be thinking about this year. This season, we have sixteen outstanding...

While we were all taken aback by the news of the FAFSA delay, we do not need to just wait for the ISIRs to finally arrive. We tracked Nathan down in the South of France to record our initial reactions, with tangible, immediate tips and strategies that Admissions Directors can deploy today to minimize the negative impact, or even find benefit from this delay. As a rare treat, the video version of t...

It was a great week for us when we were able to release an interview with one of the leading voices in the intersection between admissions and financial aid: Ellen Johnson, Vice President for Enrollment Management at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Enjoy this extended conversation, where we were able to dive in even deeper with Ellen about how counselors can better serve students, an...

Everyone loves a good set of travel tips. This week, you can listen in on the extended conversation we had with Melissa Lustic, Director of College Counseling at The Meadows School in Las Vegas, Nevada. Yes, like always, we did get around to "life before GPS."

Financial aid is always a hot topic - especially the year we are recording in August for an episode in October about financial aid when the FAFSA is scheduled to be released in December with an extended interview dropping in January. This extended cut comes from everything we discussed after the interview with Sara English, Post-Secondary Counselor at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire...

What do you get when you get three former CTCL admissions counselors together discussing a magical candy committee? An extended J Term episode, that's what. We are thrilled to bring you the extended cut of our interview from last summer with Sawyer Earwood, Independent Educational Consultant and owner of Virtual College Consulting in Every Town, USA. More important topics than the candy commit...

This season, we're going back to basics. Each week, we'll dig deep into a stage in the recruitment process that admissions counselors need to be trained on. The goal is to help our listeners, Admissions Directors, identify opportunities to improve or enhance the development of their team. Each episode correlates with a module of Lunchcast Leadership - a two-day workshop we offer to admissi...