403: AP, IB, Honors, Oh My! How Admissions Officers View Your High School Courses, Rigor, and School Context w/Susan Tree
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Release Date: 08/03/2023
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...
info_outline 507: What Colleges Want (Part 7A): Recommendation Letter Crash Course for Students and FamiliesThe College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
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info_outline 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...
info_outline 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
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info_outline 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...
info_outline 502: What Colleges Want (Part 2): A Deep Dive into GPA, Course Selection, and Making the Most of the Academic Opportunities Available to YouThe 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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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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info_outline 413: Intellectual Curiosity + College Admissions: What It Is, Why It Matters to Colleges, and How to Show ItThe 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_outlineIn 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 all things related to the academic part of a student’s college application— which, at many selective colleges, is seen as the “foot in the door” of their selection process.
This is part 1 of a series we’ll be doing around students’ academic background and interests and how they factor into the admissions process. Part 2 is all 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.
On the episode you’ll hear Susan and Tom discuss:
- Why taking five solid academic courses (English, math, social studies, science and language) each year of high school gives students the broadest range of exciting college options
- How advanced course rigor (including Advanced Placement/AP and International Baccalaureate/IB courses) is evaluated by colleges
- The potential danger of “overspecialization” in an academic subject too early
- The value of demonstrating self-directedness in your academic journey— and where do to that in an application
- How admissions officers evaluate and contextualize your transcript and high scho0l profile when making admissions decisions1
Why these episodes?
- According to the 2018-2019 National Association for College Admission Counseling’s Admission Trend Survey, students’ grades and strength of curriculum are the top two application components that are of “considerable importance” to colleges
- During CEG’s Applying to Highly Selective Colleges & Universities Course, the section on academics received the most questions out of all other application components— and elicited the most confusion!
- While we aren’t able to give all students and families who come to us for support individualized guidance about their particular high school (though we do offer comprehensive college counseling at CEG!), we wanted this podcast to provide the most comprehensive advice possible around academic choices
Play-by-play
- 5:33 - So… Why are we talking about planning your HS Academic Journey?
- 8:28 - What are the benefits of planning your HS experience early?
- 10:39 - What do colleges expect from students?
- 11:08 - How do you check a college website for their required HS coursework?
- 12:48 - How is it different at more competitive universities?
- 13:14 - What if your HS doesn’t offer opportunities for the classes you want to take?
- 14:44 - What is the value of self-directedness?
- 15:06 - How do I better understand how my school is viewed by admissions officers?
- 17:19 - What do admissions officers want to know about the school as it relates to your academic record?
- 19:24 - Why you should be looking at your transcript and school profile side-by-side
- 21:32 - Thinking like an admissions reader
- 22:26 - Transcripts vs. report cards
- 23:38 - How being aware of what colleges have access to can help you be strategic
- 25:44 - How do you put your academic experience into perspective?
- 27:18 - What students often don’t realize about their application evaluation
- 29:50 - How important is it to tell your own story
- 31:28 - HS Counselor Tip: Your School Profile
- 32:56 - AP (Advanced Placement) course considerations
- 35:11 - How will colleges view XYZ courses? Which course is better?
- 42:24 - Why are some independent schools getting rid of AP (Advanced Placement) course offerings?
- 44:00 What does Susan think about IB (International Baccalaureate) Curriculum considerations?
- 47:50 What if my high school doesn’t offer AP or IB course options?
- 49:58 Key Takeaways from Today’s Episode