In this episode you will hear:   (04:37) In The News Hillary and Mark examine why some high schools may have a very poor track record of sending kids to a particular college, but how students and parents have to be very careful to not misinterpret what this means. (14:50) Question from a listener:  Mark and Susan answer a question from a listener, and they share tips of what a student and family can do to find out more about what the housing situation is like for any college campus...

In this episode you will hear:   Mark shares his thoughts on the election and then he shares the great debate that is emerging about the requirement for students to submit a letter from their college counselor.   Mark interviews David Hawkins Link to the articles Dave and discuss Factors impacting admission decisions High School Students perceptions of the College Process     Part 3-Preview ·         David talks about the first ever high school NACAC has authorized to survey high...

In this episode you will hear:    (03:29) In The News Julia and Mark discuss an Inside Higher Ed Article by Liam Knox, entitled, “Higher Ed’s Antitrust Problem’  (26:48) Question from a listener:  Mark and Hillary answer a question from a listener, and they share tips for when an admission officer comes to do an information at your high school  (41:33) Interview  Jay Rosner explains tips for students to get their highest possible score when prepping for the ACT and the SAT-Part...

In this episode you will hear:   Mark and Susan discuss the history of NACAC and Susan shares what stood out to her at the NACAC conference. Mark interviews David Hawkins of NACAC, about factors 5-15 of the things that matter the most when admission decisions are made.   Rank these from 1 to 30 according to what is most important to you in a college   1.       Area Surrounding the College 2.       Campus Beauty and Feel 3.       Career Outcomes 4.       Class Size 5.       Clubs,...

In this episode you will hear:   (01:48) In The News How does a transcript get to the colleges and whose responsibility is it to get the transcript to the colleges (19:50) Question from a listener:  Mark and Hillary answer a question from a listener, and they discuss who a student should ask to write her/his teacher recommendations? (34:00) Interview  Jay Rosner explains tips for students to get their highest possible score when prepping for the ACT and the SAT-Part 3 of 4 ...

In this episode you will hear:   Mark explains how Canadian universities are different from American universities Rank these from 1 to 30 according to what is most important to you in a college   1.       Area Surrounding the College 2.       Campus Beauty and Feel 3.       Career Outcomes 4.       Class Size 5.       Clubs, Sports and Extracurricular 6.       College Rankings 7.       College Setting (large city, small city, suburban, college town, remote) 8.      ...

In this episode you will hear:   (02:20) In The News Mark and Julia discuss whether a student needs to tell a college if they drop a course in the senior year after reporting that they would be taking the course in the 12th grade? (08:22) Question from a listener:  Our Roundtable is back; this time it is Hillary Dickman, Vince Garcia, Susan Tree and Mark Stucker and they answer a question about the use of video submission in your applications-Part 2 of 2     (23:06) ...

In this episode you will hear:   Mark explains the different versions of Direct Admissions. Direct Admissions had so much buzz at the NACAC conference. Rank these from 1 to 30 according to what is most important to you in a college   1.       Area Surrounding the College 2.       Campus Beauty- 3.       Campus is contained, protected, and distinct from the area outside the campus 4.       Campus Setting (large city, small city, suburban, college town, remote) 5.       Career Outcomes...

In this episode you will hear:   (03:36) In The News Mark and Julia discuss whether colleges see your senior year grades when they made admissions decisions (17:26) Question from a listener:  Our Roundtable is back; this time it is Hillary Dickman, Vince Garcia, Susan Tree and Mark Stucker and they answer a question about the use of video submission in your applications-Part 1 of 2     (34:10) Interview  Jay Rosner explains tips for students to get their highest possible...

In this episode you will hear:   Mark explains the different versions of Direct Admissions. Direct Admissions had so much buzz at the NACAC conference. Rank these from 1 to 29 according to what is most important to you in a college   1.       Area Surrounding the College 2.       Campus Beauty- 3.       Campus is contained, protected, and distinct from the area outside the campus 4.       Campus Setting (large city, small city, suburban, college town, remote) 5.       Career Outcomes...

In this episode you will hear:   (10:50) In The News Mark and Julia discuss SlideRoom, what is it and what tips do we have for students using SlideRoom?   (21:40) Question from a listener:  Our Roundtable is back; this time it is Hillary Dickman, Vince Garcia, Susan Tree and Mark Stucker and they answer several questions from a mom who wants to know, why is the Common App asking about the Future Plans of my daughter after college?   (35:44) Interview  David Graves, a 27-year...

In this episode you will hear:   Mark answers a question from a high school senior, if I did very well on my test scores and I am applying to colleges that do no use tet scores, is it okay if I let them know my scores in a clever way; Erin Wolfe, 18 Reasons why aid awards are all over the place from one school to another; Mark interviews Erin Wolfe Part 2-Preview ²  I start out by asking Erin about why do some schools that require the CSS PROFILE do not share their home equity multiplier...

In this episode you will hear:   (06:50) In The News Mark and Julia discuss why some colleges are moving away from requirinteacher recommendations. (28:10) Question from a listener:  Our Roundtable is back; this time it is Hillary Dickman, Vince Garcia, Susan Tree and Mark Stucker and they answer a question, how can I know if the college I am interested in is struggling financially     (45:35) Interview David Graves, a 27-year veteran of the admission office at the...

In this episode you will hear:   Mark shares a tip about applying Early Action. Mark lists the top California colleges that stood out in 20 categories. Erin   o       Mark interviews Erin Wolfe Part 2-Preview ²  Friends, part 2 is going to really get deep in the weeds on how financial aid works as Erin continues to give reasons why if a student gets in six schools with money, the financial aid awards are all over the place. Erin shares what Assets are counted in the Assets...

In this episode you will hear:   (02:06) In The News Mark and Andy Stricker (Dean of Admissions at Connecticut College) discuss how does athletic recruiting work for students who are applying to selective colleges. 7 of 7 (18:34) Question from a listener:  Our Roundtable is back; this time it is Hillary Dickman, Vince Garcia, Susan Tree and Mark Stucker and they answer a question, do I only submit a score of 5 to a highly selective college   (46:46) Interview  David Graves, a...

In this episode you will hear:   Mark shares 5 takeaways from this 13 visits so far that he wants listeners to think about when visiting college Mark shares 28 Factors to Rank, from 1-26, according to what is important to your student and your family when you are building a college list 1.     Most important factors: Take some time to look at the 28 factors to the left and rank the following things that matter a lot to some students and pick the 10 things from this list that matter...

In this episode you will hear:   (04:40) In The News Mark and Andy Stricker (Dean of Admissions at Connecticut College) discuss how does athletic recruiting work for students who are applying to selective colleges. 6 of 7 (22:48) Question from a listener: Kevin Newton answers a second question from Dale from Virginia about how International Universities look at IB courses     (33:00) Interview David Graves, a 27-year veteran of the admission office at the University of...

In this episode you will hear:   1.     Most important factors: Take some time to look at the 27 factors to the left and rank the following things that matter a lot to some students and pick the 10 things from this list that matter the most to you and rank them from 1st to 10th, according to what you value the most in the college you select, 1st means, “most important”. Put a number, from 1-10 on the things that you care the most about from this list. o    Area Surrounding the College...

In this episode you will hear:   In The News Mark and Andy Stricker (Dean of Admissions at Connecticut College) discuss how does athletic recruiting work for students who are applying to selective colleges. 5 of 7 Question from a listener: Kevin Newton answers a question from Dale from Virginia about how International Universities look at IB courses     Interview David Graves, a 27-year veteran of the admission office at the University of Georgia does a 2-hour deep dive into...

In this episode you will hear:   Mark shares 16 college admission To Do’s that once you complete them, they will reduce your stress Vince interviews Sarah Lovely, an expert in admissions and the arts. 4 of 5   Preview of part 4 ²  Sarah continues discussing dance majors and she talks about students who want to dance for a dance company ²  Sarah gives in depth advice for music majors ²  Sarah talks about how a student can assess heir talent level ²  Sarah talks ahout summer programs ...

    (06:28) In The News Mark and Andy Stricker (Dean of Admissions at Connecticut College) discuss how does athletic recruiting work for students who are applying to selective colleges. 4 of 7 (31:39) Question from a listener:  Mark flies solo to answer a question he is getting asked a lot: Which activities do I include in my application?     (46:20) Interview  Julia and Lara, a mother and daughter talk about how they worked in partnership to identify and win 14 external or...

In this episode you will hear:   Mark provides an update on four admission related hot topics that are in the news: ·        More states banning legacy admissions, which ones are also considering this ·        How is Affirmative Action and mandatory test score requirements impacting the racial and ethnic diversity at MIT ·        We discuss the survey results on a new study that looks at how families pay for college ·        Why are AP test score averages increasing so much Vince...

In this episode you will hear:   (01:53) In The News Mark and Andy Stricker (Dean of Admissions at Connecticut College) discuss how does athletic recruiting work for students who are applying to selective colleges. 3 of 9 (18:44) Question from a listener:  Lisa joins Mark to discuss how students should respond to a request to do a video submission with their application     (34:46) Interview  Mark interviews Carlynn Greene, AKA, “the Scholarship Guru” on the topic of, How...

In this episode you will hear:   Mark provides an update on four admission related hot topics that are in the news: ·        More states banning legacy admissions, which ones are also considering this ·        How is Affirmative Action and mandatory test score requirements impacting the racial and ethnic diversity at MIT ·        We discuss the survey results on a new study that looks at how families pay for college ·        Why are AP test score averages increasing so much Vince...