124: College Interview Tips and Strategies
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Release Date: 12/28/2017
507: What Colleges Want (Part 7A): Recommendation Letter Crash Course for Students and Families
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
This week, Tom Campbell (CEG’s Community Manager) is joined by Ayesha King (Director of College Counseling at the International School of Los Angeles) to talk about letters of recommendation. They get into: What goes into a letter of recommendation? How are they evaluated by colleges? Who should students consider asking, and how do they ask? What can students and families do to ensure that their letters are the best they can be? What are FERPA rights and why should you waive them? Ayesha King (she/her) has over twelve years of experience in admissions at the secondary, undergraduate,...
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506: What Colleges Want (Part 6): Demonstrated Interest: What Is it, Why Is it Important, and How Do You Show it? with Dean of Enrollment Christine Bowman
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
On today’s episode, Ethan is joined by Christine Bowman, Assistant VP for Admission at Southwestern University. In part 6 in our series on What Colleges Want, Ethan and Christine get into: What is demonstrated interest and how do colleges track it? How important is demonstrated interest to a student’s chance of getting in? How might students find out if a particular school considers demonstrated interest in their admission review? What are some practical ways you can demonstrate your interest to colleges? Christine Bowman is the Assistant VP for Admission at Southwestern, where she...
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505: What Colleges Want (Part 5): A Crash Course in the Supplemental Essays + Application with Ethan Sawyer (College Essay Guy)
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
On this week’s episode, Tom Campbell (CEG’s Community Manager) sits down with Ethan Sawyer (College Essay Guy) for Part 5 in our What Colleges Want series to talk about some of the other written parts of the application—the activities list, additional information section, and supplemental essays. Tom and Ethan get into: How can students write a great Activities List? How can you find out what colleges are looking for in the supplemental essays? And what even is the additional information section? What is a ‘Super Essay’ and how might it be useful? How does a student know when...
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504: What Colleges Want (Part 4): A Crash Course in the Personal Statement with Ethan Sawyer (College Essay Guy)
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
On this week’s episode, Tom Campbell (CEG’s Community Manager) sits down with Ethan Sawyer (College Essay Guy) for Part 4 in our What Colleges Want series to talk about the personal statement. According to the latest State of College Admission report – after grades, course rigor, and positive character traits (see previous episodes), the college essay is what colleges care about most. Tom and Ethan get into: What is the purpose of the personal statement? How do you find a topic, especially if you’re not writing about challenges? Why do I recommend students NOT...
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503: What Colleges Want (Part 3): "Positive Character Attributes": What Are They, and How Do You Show Them in Your College Application?
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
In today’s two-part episode, we’re delving into one of the potentially more confusing aspects of what colleges want — “positive character attributes” — which 65.8% of colleges give considerable or moderate importance. In part 1, I’m joined by Tom Bear (VP for Enrollment at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology) and Bob Massa (former chief admissions/enrollment officer at Johns Hopkins University, Dickinson College and Drew University) to discuss: What are these positive character attributes? Why are they important to colleges? How do colleges decide which qualities to seek...
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502: What Colleges Want (Part 2): A Deep Dive into GPA, Course Selection, and Making the Most of the Academic Opportunities Available to You
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
On today’s episode, Tom Campbell (CEG’s Community Manager) and Nitzya Cuevas-Macias (Director of College Programs at Downtown College Prep) cover: How do students decide which classes to take—and what questions should they ask when deciding? Key recommendations for selecting English, math, science, social studies, language, and elective courses The most frequently asked questions we get asked about courses and grades Nitzya Cuevas-Macias was a first-gen college student at UC Berkeley where she studied History and Legal Studies, and earned her Master’s in Mexican American Studies from...
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501: What Colleges Want (Part 1): A Deep Dive into the Factors Colleges Deem Important & State of College Admissions Report
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Show Notes On today's episode, Ethan sits down with David Hawkins, Chief Education and Policy Officer at National Association of College Admission Counselors (aka NACAC), and they get discuss, among other things: What are the most important factors colleges consider? What significant changes has he seen in the college admission landscape in the past few years? How has the emphasis on college essays (aka the personal statement) shifted? Why has the emphasis in standardized testing changed? What have the impacts been of the Supreme Court decision to ban race conscious...
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414: A Crash Course in Paying for College & Common Affordability Myths
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
On today’s episode, Ethan is joined by Amanda Miller, who got her start in financial aid through the at Davidson College in 2014. A few thousand students, several resources, and dozens of financial aid presentations later, Amanda’s an independent financial aid specialist and college adviser who also serves as the financial aid go-to lady for the Matchlighters program and someone we consider to be a part of the extended College Essay Guy family. Ethan and Amanda discuss: How do people identify the best ways to pay for college? What are some things that people who win...
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413: Intellectual Curiosity + College Admissions: What It Is, Why It Matters to Colleges, and How to Show It
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
In today’s episode, Tom Campbell (CEG’s Community Manager) and Susan Tree (a college counseling and admissions legend with 40+ years of experience) chat about “intellectual curiosity”: a quality that many colleges actively look for in students, yet is a little more ambiguous and nuanced compared to mapping out a high school course plan. This is part 2 of a series about students’ academic background and interests and how they factor into the admissions process. is about all things related to the academic part of a student’s college application— which, at many selective colleges,...
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412: Applying to College as a First-Generation or Low-Income Student: The Matchlighters Scholars Program Experience
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Hey all, today’s episode is a special one. We had one of our rockstar essay coaches, Shira Harris, sit down with two of her former Matchlighter students, Milena Veliz and Sayem Kamal, to discuss their experiences navigating the college application process as First Generation Low Income Students. At the time of the recording, Milena was an incoming sophomore at Macaulay Honors College at John Jay and Sayem was an incoming freshman at Columbia University. They both received full scholarships at their respective schools. In the episode, we’ll listen to Shira, Milena, and Sayem discuss...
info_outlineThis episode is an interview… on interviews! Monica James--whom you may’ve heard previously on the podcast in the episode on Demonstrated Interest--absolutely crushes it in this interview, offering more practical advice than you’ll find in most weekend workshops on this topic. And it’s no wonder: for years she’s been teaching people (and in particular high school students) how to give great interviews. We cover, among other things:
- Why do colleges give interviews?
- Can a bad interview actually hurt your application chances?
- How do you prepare for the interview?
- What’s the one thing that colleges are looking for above all else?
- How do you answer the “Why this college” interview question?
- How do you answer the Strengths and Weaknesses interview Question?
- How do you answer the Tell Me About Your Reading Life or “What books have you read recently” question?
- What is the hardest interview question and how do you handle it?
- What if you get a “bad” interviewer?
- What if you’re asked a question in an interview that you truly don’t know the answer to?
- How much does body language matter in an interview?
- What should you wear to an interview?
- How do I handle a Skype or Phone Interview?
- How do I set up an interview?
- How should I practice?
- What about Scholarship Interviews—are they different?