110: How to Create a Great College List (Part 2)
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Release Date: 05/12/2017
615: Rethinking “Best” Colleges: Tools, Tips, and Mindset Shifts for a Better College List with Jay McCann and Dr. Steven Antonoff, Co-Authors of The College Finder
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Hi friends, and welcome back to the podcast. In today’s episode, I’m joined by two special guests: Dr. Steven Antonoff and Jay McCann, co-authors of the newly updated 5th edition of The College Finder: Your comprehensive guide to finding colleges that fit YOUR unique path. In this conversation, we dig into some of the biggest questions students and families face in the college search today, including: What—if anything—are rankings good for in 2025? Beyond starting salaries, which outcome metrics actually indicate value? What’s a responsible way for students to use AI in the search...
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614: 13 Mistakes High School Students Make When Creating Their College List
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Welcome back to the podcast. It’s September, which means many students are building the list of colleges they’re applying to. Today I’m joined by New York Times Bestselling Author, Harlan Cohen, who walks us through his 13 most common mistakes students make when they’re creating their college list. We cover, among other things: The importance of shifting from what “they” want… to what you want The problem with rankings The importance of doing “future math” Why treating college as a one-year experiment can lower the stakes And more Harlan Cohen is the...
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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...
info_outlineTed’s book has been a go-to reference for me (and many other counselors) in our work with students and I loved getting a chance to go behind the scenes and hearing how the sausage is made. We discuss, among other things:
- Why did the Fiske Guide happen in the first place?
- How does Ted avoid sounding generally positive about all schools?
- How the Fiske Guide ratings systems differs from that of US News and World Report
- Who actually writes all 882 pages of the Fiske Guide
- The best approach for students who have no idea what they want
- Some of the biggest mistakes students and parents make when searching for a school
- The dangers of narrowing your college choices too early on.
- One quality Ted finds essential to having an amazing college experience