523: Busting College Admission Myths Using Data: Standardized Tests, Rankings, and the Cost of College with Akil Bello
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Release Date: 12/17/2024
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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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!...
info_outlineIn today’s episode, Ethan is joined by Akil Bello to talk about standardized tests, rankings, and the cost of college. They dig into some common misconceptions about college including:
- Are most colleges returning to requiring standardized testing scores?
- Is it too hard to get into college?
- Are highly-ranked colleges better?
- Is it true that most colleges now cost more than $100,000 per year to attend?
- And more!
Akil Bello is an educator, strategist, researcher, policy consultant, and advocate for equitable access to education. For more than 30 years, he’s worked every job you can imagine related to admission testing and college access from tutor, to test prep company founder to CEO and now works as the Senior Director of Advocacy at Fair Test. When he is not moonlighting reading college applications for a public university, he serves on several advisory boards, writes articles for Forbes, and helps his wife parent their college freshman and HS junior.
We hope you enjoy!
Play-by-Play:
- 1:56 - Akil shares a bit about his background and identities
- 3:57 - What is Fair Test and what does Akil do as Senior Director of Advocacy?
- 6:03 - Myth #1: Most colleges are returning to requiring standardized testing scores.
- 11:25 - Myth #2: Universities are returning to standardized tests because they help attract students of color?
- 13:40 - Myth #3: Standardized test scores are a reliable predictor of GPA in college.
- 16:18 - Myth #4: It is harder than ever to get into college.
- 19:25 - Myth #5: The higher the ranking, the better the school.
- 27:59 - What are some good questions that students can ask themselves when developing a college list?
- 29:52 - Myth #6: College is expensive.
- 33:59 - Myth #7: A particular essay, extracurricular, or passion project gets students into college.
- 37:34 - What are some good questions that students can ask themselves when considering whether or not to submit a test score?
- 43:26 - What are some good questions that students can ask themselves if they are considering writing about race in their college essay or application?
- 46:44 - Akil shares advice to parents and students who are navigating this process
- 51:28 - Wrap up and closing thoughts
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