109: How to Figure Out Which School is Right for You
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Release Date: 05/06/2017
717: A USC Admission Officer on Early Decision, Rural Student Access, and What She Wishes Students Would Ask with Marie Bury Loew
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Hi there and welcome back to the podcast! I’m Tillie Gottlieb, a senior college counselor and content specialist here at CEG. I am delighted to be a guest host today as part of our series interviewing admission officers. We’re getting to know more about this hardworking, thoughtful group of professionals whose job it is to build college communities and shape the culture of our higher education institutions - talk about high pressure! Hearing about their own journeys through the education system, their reasons for working with students all over the world, and the commitments they’re...
info_outline
716: Making the Price of College Make Sense with Adam Miller
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Welcome back to the podcast! I'm Tillie Gottlieb, a senior college counselor and content specialist here at CEG. This season, we're sitting down with admission officers to hear their real stories. I spent years on that side of the desk myself, and one thing I want listeners to walk away with is this: these aren't gatekeepers deciding your fate. They're people trying to build a class and a community, often inside a system that feels chaotic from every angle. So over the next few weeks, we're getting to know some of them as people, hearing what actually drives them, and along the way, getting a...
info_outline
715: On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling (Ep 12: The Translator) with Lavon Robinson
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Hi, friends, and welcome back to our series, “On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling.” I’m Tom Campbell, former Pomona and Holy Cross admissions officer, and one of the CEG podcast co-hosts, alongside my lovely colleagues Tillie and Ethan. In this series, we take a close look at personal essays written by real students, talking about why we love them, what makes them work, and how they came to be. In this episode, we break down an essay that we’re calling The Translator. This student, who worked with one of our amazing essay coaches Lavon Robinson a few years...
info_outline
714: A Live Essay and Application Review with Anna, HS Senior
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Hi friends, and welcome back to the podcast. Today's episode is a special behind-the-scenes look at a live application review I did with Anna, a high school senior I met last year. We recorded this about ten days before her early deadlines, and she was kind enough to let me walk through her entire application in real time: her personal statement, her activities list, and all of her supplemental essays for Yale. Fun fact: Anna emailed me a couple months later to let me know she actually got into Yale (congrats again, Anna!). In this episode, we get into: What it was like for Anna to pivot away...
info_outline
713: On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Storytelling (Ep 10: The Stomach Whisperer) with Tillie Gottlieb
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Hi, friends, and welcome back to our series, “On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling.” In this series, we take a close look at personal essays written by real students, talking about why we love them, what makes them work, and how they came to be. In this episode, we break down an essay called "The Stomach Whisperer" about a student who used to lie on her grandmother's stomach and wonder if the echoing gurgle I’d just heard was caused by the molasses or by the cinnamon. I'm joined today by Tillie Gottlieb, a former admission officer turned Director of College...
info_outline
712: Empowering First-Generation Student Success: The Warren High School BUS program with David Cha
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Welcome back to the podcast! Today’s episode is hosted by Tom Campbell, a former admission officer and now a college counselor and content creator here at College Essay Guy. This show often reminds us that beneath the essays, the deadlines, and the color-coded college lists, this whole thing is really about people — and today's guest is exhibit A. Quick disclaimer: this is a feel-good episode. Very “This American Life.” If you've ever needed your faith in public education restored, cancel your other plans. In a content landscape where some of the loudest admissions "experts" run on...
info_outline
711: On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling (Ep 10: The Silent Assassin) with Amber Patterson
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Hi, friends, and welcome back to our series, "On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling," where we take a close look at personal essays written by real students, talk about why we love them, what makes them work, and how they came to be. In this episode, I'm joined by Amber Patterson, Regional Director of Admission at Texas Christian University. This conversation does two things at once. We read a real student essay closely, line by line, and we get inside an admission reader's head to understand what's actually landing as she reads through it. We get into: What Amber hopes to...
info_outline
710: On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling (Ep 9: Where I Grew Up) with Hillary Dickman
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Hi, friends, and welcome back to our series, “On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling.” where we take a close look at personal essays written by real students, talking about why we love them, what makes them work, and how they came to be. In this episode, I’m joined by Hillary Dickman, Senior Assistant Director of Admission at Colorado College. In past episodes, we've really broken down these essays and gotten into the nooks and crannies of what makes them work. But in this episode, I really wanted to get a sense of how Hillary sees essays from an admission reader's...
info_outline
709: On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling (Ep 8: Molding Clay) with Calvin Pickett
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Hi, friends, and welcome back to our series, “On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling.” In this series, we take a close look at personal essays written by real students, talking about why we love them, what makes them work, and how they came to be. In this episode, we break down an essay that is one of my new favorites. It’s conceptually rich because even though it’s on molding clay, it could be considered any of these montage types: I love/I know, Essence Objects, Skills/Superpower, Identity, Home, or Uncommon extracurricular activity. That’s not a goal I’m...
info_outline
708: On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling (Ep 7: Robes) with Andrew Callery
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Hi, friends, and welcome back to our series, “On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling.” In this series, we take a close look at personal essays written by real students, talking about why we love them, what makes them work, and how they came to be. In this episode, we share an essay that begins: “Robes are the textile version of comfort food; they’re my chicken noodle soup.” And it is indeed about the different robes the student wears and how each one reveals a different aspect of who the author is. I'm joined today by Andrew Callery, a college counselor...
info_outlineOn this episode:
- How many schools students should apply to and when is best to start the process
- An amazing list of resources for helping students get to know themselves better
- Answers: What is the highest-impact hour that someone should spend developing their college list? (answer may surprise you)
- What do parents and students miss out on if they only used US News and World Report?
- What Steven listens for specifically when helping a student develop a list
- What terms Steven uses instead of “reach,” “match” and “back-up” for schools on a list
- We play a game where Steven helps me develop a college list on the fly based on a few preferences (something, he points out, he would never do without more information, by the way)… but he plays along and it’s neat to hear the master at work.