302: Part 1: Behind the Scenes of an Admission Office w/ Tom Campbell
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Release Date: 01/19/2022
508: What Colleges Want (Part 7B): Recommendation Letter Crash Course for Counselors and Teachers
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Today’s episode is all about writing letters of recommendation for teachers and counselors. Continuing our series on What Colleges Want, Tom Campbell (CEG’s Community Manager) is joined by Hanah Lim (CEG’s Director of Workshops and a former high school English teacher), where they provide their tips, tricks, and hacks to help you write more efficient and effective letters for your students. Tom and Hanah discuss: How long should letters be and what format works best? How do letters differ between counselors and teachers? What details might be helpful to include, and what should be...
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507: What Colleges Want (Part 7A): Recommendation Letter Crash Course for Students and Families
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
This week, Tom Campbell (CEG’s Community Manager) is joined by Ayesha King (Director of College Counseling at the International School of Los Angeles) to talk about letters of recommendation. They get into: What goes into a letter of recommendation? How are they evaluated by colleges? Who should students consider asking, and how do they ask? What can students and families do to ensure that their letters are the best they can be? What are FERPA rights and why should you waive them? Ayesha King (she/her) has over twelve years of experience in admissions at the secondary, undergraduate,...
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506: What Colleges Want (Part 6): Demonstrated Interest: What Is it, Why Is it Important, and How Do You Show it? with Dean of Enrollment Christine Bowman
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
On today’s episode, Ethan is joined by Christine Bowman, Assistant VP for Admission at Southwestern University. In part 6 in our series on What Colleges Want, Ethan and Christine get into: What is demonstrated interest and how do colleges track it? How important is demonstrated interest to a student’s chance of getting in? How might students find out if a particular school considers demonstrated interest in their admission review? What are some practical ways you can demonstrate your interest to colleges? Christine Bowman is the Assistant VP for Admission at Southwestern, where she...
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505: What Colleges Want (Part 5): A Crash Course in the Supplemental Essays + Application with Ethan Sawyer (College Essay Guy)
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
On this week’s episode, Tom Campbell (CEG’s Community Manager) sits down with Ethan Sawyer (College Essay Guy) for Part 5 in our What Colleges Want series to talk about some of the other written parts of the application—the activities list, additional information section, and supplemental essays. Tom and Ethan get into: How can students write a great Activities List? How can you find out what colleges are looking for in the supplemental essays? And what even is the additional information section? What is a ‘Super Essay’ and how might it be useful? How does a student know when...
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504: What Colleges Want (Part 4): A Crash Course in the Personal Statement with Ethan Sawyer (College Essay Guy)
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
On this week’s episode, Tom Campbell (CEG’s Community Manager) sits down with Ethan Sawyer (College Essay Guy) for Part 4 in our What Colleges Want series to talk about the personal statement. According to the latest State of College Admission report – after grades, course rigor, and positive character traits (see previous episodes), the college essay is what colleges care about most. Tom and Ethan get into: What is the purpose of the personal statement? How do you find a topic, especially if you’re not writing about challenges? Why do I recommend students NOT...
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503: What Colleges Want (Part 3): "Positive Character Attributes": What Are They, and How Do You Show Them in Your College Application?
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
In today’s two-part episode, we’re delving into one of the potentially more confusing aspects of what colleges want — “positive character attributes” — which 65.8% of colleges give considerable or moderate importance. In part 1, I’m joined by Tom Bear (VP for Enrollment at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology) and Bob Massa (former chief admissions/enrollment officer at Johns Hopkins University, Dickinson College and Drew University) to discuss: What are these positive character attributes? Why are they important to colleges? How do colleges decide which qualities to seek...
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502: What Colleges Want (Part 2): A Deep Dive into GPA, Course Selection, and Making the Most of the Academic Opportunities Available to You
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
On today’s episode, Tom Campbell (CEG’s Community Manager) and Nitzya Cuevas-Macias (Director of College Programs at Downtown College Prep) cover: How do students decide which classes to take—and what questions should they ask when deciding? Key recommendations for selecting English, math, science, social studies, language, and elective courses The most frequently asked questions we get asked about courses and grades Nitzya Cuevas-Macias was a first-gen college student at UC Berkeley where she studied History and Legal Studies, and earned her Master’s in Mexican American Studies from...
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501: What Colleges Want (Part 1): A Deep Dive into the Factors Colleges Deem Important & State of College Admissions Report
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Show Notes On today's episode, Ethan sits down with David Hawkins, Chief Education and Policy Officer at National Association of College Admission Counselors (aka NACAC), and they get discuss, among other things: What are the most important factors colleges consider? What significant changes has he seen in the college admission landscape in the past few years? How has the emphasis on college essays (aka the personal statement) shifted? Why has the emphasis in standardized testing changed? What have the impacts been of the Supreme Court decision to ban race conscious...
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414: A Crash Course in Paying for College & Common Affordability Myths
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
On today’s episode, Ethan is joined by Amanda Miller, who got her start in financial aid through the at Davidson College in 2014. A few thousand students, several resources, and dozens of financial aid presentations later, Amanda’s an independent financial aid specialist and college adviser who also serves as the financial aid go-to lady for the Matchlighters program and someone we consider to be a part of the extended College Essay Guy family. Ethan and Amanda discuss: How do people identify the best ways to pay for college? What are some things that people who win...
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413: Intellectual Curiosity + College Admissions: What It Is, Why It Matters to Colleges, and How to Show It
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
In today’s episode, Tom Campbell (CEG’s Community Manager) and Susan Tree (a college counseling and admissions legend with 40+ years of experience) chat about “intellectual curiosity”: a quality that many colleges actively look for in students, yet is a little more ambiguous and nuanced compared to mapping out a high school course plan. This is part 2 of a series about students’ academic background and interests and how they factor into the admissions process. is about all things related to the academic part of a student’s college application— which, at many selective colleges,...
info_outlineMy guest this time is Tom Campbell — who at the time of this recording was Assistant Dean Of Admissions at Pomona College. Tom was formerly the Assistant Director Of Admissions at College of the Holy Cross, his alma mater, and also serves as a Group Leader, Essay Specialist and Faculty Member at the very awesome College Horizons.
This is another episode in our series that goes behind the scenes of an admissions office to let you know what happens when you click submit on your application—where does it go? Who reads it? What are they thinking? How do they make decisions?
In part one, we cover:
- What happens after you hit submit through when you receive your decision?
- How did the Test Optional policy impact admission decisions this year—and how are colleges like Pomona able to create a class without standardized tests?
- How was application reading different from past years?
- Essays: What do you look for in a great personal statement? How much do essays matter? Can they ever hurt your chances?
- Demonstrated interest: How does it really work? What does Pomona track? What do other schools track?
Play-by-Play
- [2:00] Meet Tom
- [3:57] What we’re going to cover
- [4:48] What is Tom’s job like right now, in April 2020?
- [7:40] What is yield?
- [9:00] What happens between students clicking submit to receiving a letter of acceptance (Pomona’s entire process)
- [19:20] What is test-optional, and how does Pomona use test scores?
- [25:39] How does Pomona put together a class? What are its institutional priorities? (Also more on testing)
- [35:15] How were things different this year because of COVID-19?
- [43:10] Tom names some common essay topics
- [45:44] What does Tom look for in a personal statement? How much do essays matter?
- [49:26] Q&A - How does a student's ability to pay tuition affect their chances at Pomona?
- [50:35] Case study - in terms of institutional priorities, what did this student do well?
- [56:22] How tough is it for full-need international students to be accepted?
- [57:40] What does Tom have to say to students who think they must get accepted to a top university or else they’ve failed?
- [59:58] How much does major choice matter when applying?