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510: What Colleges Want (Part 9): A Crash Course in Standardized Testing

The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions

Release Date: 06/11/2024

613: Inside the Application (Part 6): Making the Decision with Cassidy, Class of 2025 show art 613: Inside the Application (Part 6): Making the Decision with Cassidy, Class of 2025

The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions

Hi friends, and welcome back to the podcast. This one’s going to be short—and honestly, it’s an episode I didn’t think I was going to record. Why? Well, if you’ve been following along with Cassidy’s journey over the past year, you know we’ve covered a lot: from brainstorming her personal statement, to revising her supplements, to weighing her college acceptances. And when we wrapped Part 5, I figured we could leave it there. I thought it might be enough to know she had some great options. Silly me. You wrote in. You wanted to know: Where did she end up? So here we are: the final...

info_outline 612: Admission Nutrients (Part 6 of 6: Intellectual Curiosity): Important Ingredients for a Well-Balanced College Admission Process—And Life with Hillary Dickman show art 612: Admission Nutrients (Part 6 of 6: Intellectual Curiosity): Important Ingredients for a Well-Balanced College Admission Process—And Life with Hillary Dickman

The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions

Welcome back to the podcast! This is our sixth and final chapter of our series on admission nutrients — qualities that can make for a healthier, more meaningful college admission process… and life. In case you missed it, we started with , with Raissa Diamante (Director of admission from Harvey-Mudd College), then I sat down with Deanna Dixon, (Dean of Admission at Smith College) to talk about , then Tom met with Dysean Alexander (Assistant Director for West Coast Admission at Lafayette College) to talk about and Nathan Faust (Loyola Marymount University) to talk about . Today we...

info_outline 611: Admission Nutrients (Part 5 of 6: Service to Others / Community Impact): Important Ingredients for a Well-Balanced College Admission Process—And Life with Nathan Faust show art 611: Admission Nutrients (Part 5 of 6: Service to Others / Community Impact): Important Ingredients for a Well-Balanced College Admission Process—And Life with Nathan Faust

The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions

In Episode 5 of our series on Admission Nutrients, Tom Campbell is joined by Nathan Faust, Admission Counselor at Loyola Marymount University, to talk about Service to Others / Community Impact. In their conversation, they get into:  Why service to others and community impact is a valuable nutrient to fold into your high school experience—and life Tips on communicating your service and community-impact initiatives to admissions officers Examples of how this nutrient may overlap with the others Advice for counselors on how to explain the value of this nutrient to students and families...

info_outline 610: Admission Nutrients (Part 4 of 6: Consistent Engagement): Important Ingredients for a Well-Balanced College Admission Process—And Life with Dysean Alexander show art 610: Admission Nutrients (Part 4 of 6: Consistent Engagement): Important Ingredients for a Well-Balanced College Admission Process—And Life with Dysean Alexander

The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions

In Episode 4 of our series on Admission Nutrients, Tom Campbell is joined by Dysean Alexander, Assistant Director for West Coast Admission at Lafayette College, to discuss Consistent Engagement. In their conversation, they get into:  Why consistent engagement is a valuable nutrient to fold into your high school experience How it’s talked about in an admissions office, and how admission readers like Dysean (and his team at Lafayette) measure it Tips on “translating” your own examples of consistent engagement to an admission officer audience Advice for counselors on how to explain...

info_outline 609: Admission Nutrients (Part 3 of 6: Leadership): Important Ingredients for a Well-Balanced College Admission Process—And Life show art 609: Admission Nutrients (Part 3 of 6: Leadership): Important Ingredients for a Well-Balanced College Admission Process—And Life

The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions

In Episode 3 of our series on Admission Nutrients, Ethan is joined by Deanna Dixon, the Dean of Admission at Smith College, to dive into leadership and initiative. In their conversation, they get into:  What are a few of the qualities Smith College looks for?  How does their supplemental essay point to their institutional priorities and what they’re looking for in an applicant? Why are leadership and initiative important from Smith’s perspective?  What does she think about ChatGPT? When it comes to equity and leveling the playing field, how does she believe the profession...

info_outline 608: Admission Nutrients (Part 2 of 6: Collaboration): Important Ingredients for a Well-Balanced College Admission Process—And Life with Raissa Diamante show art 608: Admission Nutrients (Part 2 of 6: Collaboration): Important Ingredients for a Well-Balanced College Admission Process—And Life with Raissa Diamante

The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions

In Episode 2 of our series on Admission Nutrients, Ethan is joined by Raissa Diamante, the Director  of Admission at Harvey Mudd College, to do a deep dive into collaboration — why is it important to colleges and where does it show up in the application process? Ethan and Raissa get into, among other things: What does the admission review process look like at Harvey Mudd? Why is collaboration particularly important (spoiler: it’s  they look for)? Tips for the supplemental essay (side note: it’s a prompt they’ve kept some version of over the past 15 years) via a brief...

info_outline 607: Admission Nutrients (Part 1 of 6: Intro): Important Ingredients for a Well-Balanced College Admission Process—And Life show art 607: Admission Nutrients (Part 1 of 6: Intro): Important Ingredients for a Well-Balanced College Admission Process—And Life

The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions

Welcome back to the College Essay Guy Podcast! Today, Ethan kicks off a brand-new series: Admission Nutrients — qualities that not only enhance a well-balanced college application but can also contribute to a more meaningful life. In Part 1, Ethan introduces these “nutrients,” breaking down what they are, where they show up in the application, and why they matter. In upcoming episodes, Tom and Ethan will be joined by admission officers from different colleges to take a deeper dive into each one.  In this episode, Ethan shares: What are Admission Nutrients, and what do they reveal...

info_outline 606: Navigating College Applications with AI (Part 2): What Colleges Say + My Advice to Students and Counselors show art 606: Navigating College Applications with AI (Part 2): What Colleges Say + My Advice to Students and Counselors

The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions

Welcome to Part 2 of 2 of this mini-series on AI in college admission! In our , I interviewed Jen Rubin from foundry10 on how students and counselors are using AI in the college admission process. In today’s episode I’ll get into what colleges have to say, and what I would advise as a result. I’ll get into: My biggest concern with AI… in general (spoiler: it’s much bigger than college applications) My concerns related to AI use in the college application process   Common App guidelines + What colleges have to say around AI use What I believe students might miss out on if...

info_outline 605: Navigating College Applications with AI (Part 1): How High School Teachers and Students Use Tools Like ChatGPT show art 605: Navigating College Applications with AI (Part 1): How High School Teachers and Students Use Tools Like ChatGPT

The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions

In Part 1 of 2 of this mini-series on AI in college admission, Ethan is joined by Jennifer Rubin, Senior Researcher at foundry10 and Principal Investigator of the Digital Technologies and Education Lab. Jen is a first generation college graduate and, like Ethan, she didn't have a ton of support navigating the college application and admission process. When Chat GPT was released, she wondered: How were students actually using these tools for the college essay and application process? And how can we make sure AI becomes a tool for equity, not another advantage for students who already have...

info_outline 604: Inside the Application (Part 5): How to Decide Which College to Attend with Cassidy, HS Senior show art 604: Inside the Application (Part 5): How to Decide Which College to Attend with Cassidy, HS Senior

The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions

Hi friends, and welcome back to the podcast! Many of you have been following Cassidy, a current high school senior, as she navigates the college application process. We've walked through her brainstorming exercises, her personal statement writing, and her supplemental essays. And now, at long last, Cassidy has received her college acceptances. Rather than reading the email she sent me, I replied, "Hey, I know you got your acceptances. What if we do a live reveal on the podcast?" So, I genuinely don’t know yet where she's been accepted. Huge shoutout to Cassidy for agreeing to do this live!...

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Today’s episode concludes our 9-part “What Colleges Want” series, where we’ve been walking through the results of the report released by the National Association of College Admission Counselors (NACAC) regarding the factors that colleges deem important. Ethan is joined by Jay Rosner (Executive Director of The Princeton Review Foundation) to talk about standardized testing. 

In this episode they get into: 

  • What are the origins of the SAT?
  • What’s changed in the testing landscape in the last year or two? 
  • Does test optional really mean test optional?
  • How much standardized tests matter for colleges?
  • How do students figure out their preparation timeline and which test to take? 
  • Why might testing be considered problematic?

As the Executive Director of The Princeton Review Foundation, Jay Rosner has developed programs jointly with such organizations as the NAACP, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, College and Graduate Horizons (serving Native American students) and the Asian Pacific Fund. Jay's career has combined education and law, with an emphasis on student advocacy. He has testified before state legislative committees in California, Texas, Illinois and New Jersey, and as an expert witness in cases involving testing. Before attending law school, Jay was a public high school math teacher. Jay holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, a JD from Widener University, and is the proud father of two grown daughters.

 

Hope you enjoy! 

 

Play-by-play

  • 2:16 - How does Jay know so much about standardized tests? 
  • 4:23 - What are the origins of the SAT?
  • 6:40 - How has standardized testing changed in recent years?
  • 11:25 - Is test-optional really optional? 
  • 13:26 - How much do standardized tests matter in the application review?
  • 14:49 - Who should take standardized tests?
  • 20:24 - Is it better to take the SAT or the ACT?
  • 23:30 - What are the benefits of quality test prep? 
  • 27:10 - How can students reach their best score? 
  • 33:54 - How do students know if they should submit their scores or not? 
  • 38:40 - Advice for counselors working with students in marginalized populations  
  • 42:05 - Why do some folks find standardized testing to be problematic?
  • 45:00 - Closing advice for students and counselors 

 

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