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

In this episode you will hear: (06:00) Question from a listener Mark and Lisa answer a question from a student: If my sister turned down a highly selective school, will that be held against me? (11:35) Question from a listener: Susan joins Mark to answer a question, How does Landscape help admission officers when they are reading an application? (43:45) Question from a listener Lisa and Mark answe...

In the News-Julia and Mark discuss topics to avoid when selecting a topic for your Personal Statement (1 of 2) Interview with Jay Rosner-Part 3 of 4 § We return to challenging Jay's perspective and § Jay explains why "test-free" is better than a school being test-optional § Jay explains the history of the SAT and Eugenics § Jay shares his advice for someone who is wrestling with whether to take th...

In this episode you will hear: (02:36) In the News Mark and Julia answer several question from Assaf from Rochester. He has several questions about Honors College's (23:45) Question from a listener: Our roundtable is back (Hillary, Susan, Julia, Vince and Mark) and we discuss a few questions from an anonymous mom about the Honors section of the Common App. (39:50) Interview Mark interviews Stephen...

In this episode you will hear: In the News-Julia and I discuss U Chicago's new Early Decision Program Interview with Jay Rosner-Part 2 of 4 § Jay explains what he believes the motivations are for the elite colleges § Jay answers the question, why should a highly selective school not use testing, after all, they need some factor to differentiate where most students have all A's, and embellished rec...

In this episode you will hear: (03:35) In the News Mark and Julia answer a question about how colleges evaluate the rigor of under-resourced high schools that do not have many AP courses (28:44) Question from a listener: Our roundtable is back (Hillary, Susan, Julia, Vince and Mark) and we discuss a question from Alison from Ohio about Cum Laude and the Honors section (38:12) Interview Mark interv...

In this episode you will hear: o Mark shares the new changes that were announced this week o Mark and Julia interview Jay Rosner on the Inherent Flaws with the ACT and the SAT-Part 1 of 4 o Part 1-Preview § Julia does an intro of Jay Rosner and then Jay goes into more depth about his background § Jay explains the mission of the foundation that he works for § Jay explains why he went from running a...

In this episode you will hear: (02:25) In the News Mark and Lisa answer the question from a listener: How can you know if a college makes holistic admissions decisions or whether they admit students by the number (12:40) Question from a listener: Our roundtable is back (Hillary, Susan, Julia, Vince and Mark) and we discuss several questions from a student about whether Eagles Scout belongs in the...

In this episode you will hear: o Mark and Julia discuss colleges that offer a binding early program months before their competitors, listen to learn about this unique way to apply to Wake Forest and to the University of Chicago. The two programs are similar in some ways but very different in other ways. o After 5 years, Colonel Robert Kirkland is back, Lynda interviews Rob on the Service Academies...

In this episode you will hear: (03:45) In the News Mark and Julia discuss waitlists and then they discuss an article by Jeff Selingo entitled, "The New Trick Families are using to Lower Tuition" Part 2 of 2 (26:57) Question from a listener: Our roundtable is back (Hillary, Susan, Julia, Vince and Mark) and we discuss a question from a listener in Narobi, Kenya about the Common App. The roundtable...

In this episode you will hear: o Mark shares six different groups of parents where he has seen conflict. Mark explains eight or nine areas where conflict arises on the college process. o After 5 years, Colonel Robert Kirkland is back, Lynda interviews Rob on the Service Academies of West Point, the Naval Academy and the Air Force-Part 3 of 4 o Preview Part 3-Preview § Rob explains how each congres...

In this episode you will hear: (25:20) In the News Mark and Julia discuss waitlists and then they discuss an article by Jeff Selingo entitled, "The New Trick Families are using to Lower Tuition" Part 1 of 2 (49:28) Question from a listener: Our roundtable is back (Hillary, Susan, Julia, Vince and Mark) and we discuss a question from a listener in Narobi, Kenya about the Common App. The roundtable...

In this episode you will hear: o Mark shares one missed opportunity when it comes to the college admission journey o Lisa and Mark discuss an answer to a question from Kerry from suburban Chicago, she wants to know, in this age of students applying to 20 or so schools, is it okay if my student applies to only five or six schools if the college list is balanced. o After 5 years, Colonel Robert Kirk...

In this episode you will hear: (02:08) Question from a listener: Number 1 Mark and Julia answer a question, If a student attends a highly resourced schools, what does a student have to do to get top grades for rigor (31:28) Question from a listener: Number 2 Our roundtable is back (Hillary, Susan, Julia, Vince and Mark) and we are discussing several questions that came in from Amanda from Texas ab...

In this episode you will hear: o Mark shares one missed opportunity when it comes to the college admission journey o After 5 years, Colonel Robert Kirkland is back, Lynda interviews Rob on the Service Academies-Part 1 of 4 o Preview Part 1-Preview § Rob was first on our podcast in August of 2019, but I interviewed him in June of 2019, so exactly, five years ago, in that interview, Rob taught us ho...

In this episode you will hear: (04:28) Question from a listener: Number 1 We have two Questions from listeners today. Susan and Julia answer a question, If something really bad happened at your high school before you got there, should you discuss it? (11:52) Question from a listener: Number 2 Our roundtable is back (Hillary, Susan, Julia, Vince and Mark) and we are discussing whether a student sho...

In this episode you will hear: o Two of our listeners share advice from things they learned from going through the college process o Mark interviews Michael Keaton, the VP of Enrollment at Ursinus College on "The Importance of Fit" o Preview § Julia and I interview Michael Keaton for the third of a trilogy of interviews we did with Michael, the first one was on "problems with the new FAFSA" then w...

In this episode you will hear: (03:05) Question from a listener: Number 1 We have two Questions from listeners today. Susan and Mark answer a question, How do colleges perceive it when a student does three years of high school instead of four years? (12:43) Question from a listener: Number 2 Julia and Mark answer a question from a student; the student received a book award from Notre Dame and he w...

In this episode you will hear: o Julia and I discuss Scholarship Displacement, what is it and is there anything you can do about it; are any states outlawing scholarship displacement o Julia and Mark discuss Stanford's return to requiring the SAT or the ACT and Mark has his first grinding my gears in the last 6 months. o Mark interviews John Hoffman: Reflections on 45 years doing college placement...

In this episode you will hear: (03:05) Question from a listener: Number 1 We have two Questions from listeners today. Lisa and Mark answer a question, How important should a student's experience at an "Admitted Student Program" be when selecting a college? (16:10) Question from a listener: Number 2 Mark and Susan then answer a question about "Project Lead the Way" courses. How do admissions office...

In this episode you will hear: o Mark shares three opportunities he sees too many students and parents missing out on over the summer. o Mark interviews John Hoffman: Reflections on 45 years doing college placement and school placement-Part 2 of 3 o Preview of Part 2 o John talks about the college process for his daughter that was just completed last month o John shared how his daughter communicat...

In this episode you will hear: (02:28) Susan and Mark discuss an Inside Higher Ed article by Liam Knox, entitled, "Pulling Back the Veil" on Enrollment Management. The article is an interview with Stephen Burd on his new book that blames the multi-million-dollar field of enrollment management for much of higher education's woes. Part 2 of 2 (36:50) Question from a listener. A dad from Virginia wan...

In this episode you will hear: o Mark and Lisa answer a question from Mary from South Dakota: Why are there so many kids from the local area at highly selective colleges o Mark interviews John Hoffman: Reflections on 45 years doing college placement and school placement-Part 1 of 3 o Preview of Part 1 o John shares his background o John shares why a Jewish man from NY wants to work with black and...

In this episode you will hear: (26:16) Susan and Mark discuss an Inside Higher Ed article by Liam Knox, entitled, "Pulling Back the Veil" on Enrollment Management. The article is an interview with Stephen Burd on his new book that blames the multi-million-dollar field of enrollment management for much of higher education's woes. Part 1 of 2 (47:30) Question from a listener A dad from Texas wants t...

In this episode you will hear: o Mark shares some updates about upcoming webinars and YCBK meet and greets o Suan and Julia answer a question from a mom with three high school students that are 18 months apart in age; she wants to know of a good organizational tool to help with the college process o Mark interviews Jeff Selingo on a range of topics including: undergraduate and graduate certificate...

In this episode you will hear: (02:08) We have a five-way conversation for the first time at YCBK. Our four regular (Julia, Susan, Vince and Mark) are joined by Hillary Dickman, (Assistant Director of Admissions, Colorado College) for a conservation about how to complete the Activities Section of the Common Application. We discuss the Do's and the Don'ts over the next three weeks. Part 3 of 3 (31:...