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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

Release Date: 07/22/2025

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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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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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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

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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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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
  • And more!

Nathan Faust is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University where he earned both his B.A. (2019) and M.A. (2023) in English. After brief stints in finance and sports management, he joined the admission team in 2021 as a regional recruiter in the Pacific Northwest, where he works with students from Oregon and Washington. Nathan is passionate about educational opportunity, enjoys connecting with students, and values demystifying the admission process.  In his free time, Nathan enjoys creative writing, the highs and lows of cheering for the Portland Trail Blazers, camping in mosquito-less places, and spending time with friends also in mosquito-less places.

We hope you enjoy.

 

Play-by-Play:

  • 4:40 – Why is service to others important at Loyola Marymount University (LMU)? 
  • 6:36 – How does LMU view service hours differently and why?  
  • 16:55 – How does service to others impact wellbeing? 
  • 23:56 – How can students best communicate their service work on their application? 
  • 29:40 – How can students weave in service to others in the personal statement? 
  • 33:45 – Where else does service to others show up in the application?
  • 41:03 –  FAQs about service to others
    • 41:43 – What if I want to talk about my mission trip?
    • 43:30 – What if I quit my service endeavor?
    • 43:47 – What if my service program was discontinued?
    • 44:42 – How do I know what really counts as service?
    • 45:34 – What if I didn’t really take anything away from this service opportunity?
  • 47:10 – Closing thoughts and advice for students

 

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