Hey friends, welcome back to the podcast. Ten years ago, a group at Harvard released a report called Turning the Tide, and it attempted something audacious: getting college admission (of all things) to make caring count. This June, the fourth report in that series came out, written with NACAC's Center for Innovation in College Admission, and my sense is it's the most urgent one yet. Here's a stat that struck me: 34 percent of teens say they have little or no meaning or purpose in their lives. For young people 19 to 25, it's 51 percent. My guests today wrote the report: Dr. Rick Weissbourd, psychologist and faculty director of the Making Caring Common project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Trisha Ross Anderson, MCC's Senior Director of Higher Education and College Admission Initiatives, who some of you will remember from episode 503 of the podcast. In today's episode we talk about what admission officers, counselors, and parents can each do; why your teen doesn't necessarily need one big passion; and what ten years of trying to turn this tide has taught them. One more thing: the report asks adults to stop demanding a passion from teens and to start asking what they find meaningful. Rick Weissbourd is a psychologist and senior lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard Kennedy School, where he serves as faculty director of Making Caring Common, HGSE's national project on raising kids who care about others and the common good. He leads the Turning the Tide college admission initiative, which has engaged more than 300 admission offices in elevating ethical character, easing achievement pressure, and expanding access and equity. He is the author of The Vulnerable Child (named one of the top ten education books of all time by the American School Board Journal) and The Parents We Mean to Be (named one of the top books of 2009 by The New Yorker), and a founder of ReadBoston, WriteBoston, and the Lee Academy pilot school in Boston. His research spans moral development, loneliness, young adult mental health, and how adults can help young people build caring relationships. Trisha Ross Anderson is Senior Director of Higher Education and College Admission Initiatives at Making Caring Common. She has served in leadership at MCC since it was founded in 2013. A former classroom teacher with an Ed.M. from HGSE, she has helped research and write many of MCC's reports, including the Turning the Tide series. With Rick, she piloted the Common App checklist that lets students report family responsibilities, like caring for a sibling or working a paid job, so those commitments count in admissions. She previously joined the podcast for episode 503, "What Colleges Want (Part 3)." We hope you enjoy. Play-by-Play: 02:07 – What's something meaningful in Trisha and Rick's lives right now, outside of work? 04:50 – What does Rick mean by a "moral freefall," and when did he first sense it? 06:02 – What is Making Caring Common, and how did a project about raising kind kids end up shaping college admissions? 07:39 – What's changed (and what hasn't) in the ten years since the first Turning the Tide report? 9:46 – What's behind the striking numbers on teens and young adults lacking purpose? 13:27 – Why has MCC focused specifically on college admissions? 15:38 – What are the six capacities at the heart of the new report? 18:01 – What does caring across differences actually look like for a teenager? 19:36 – How do we keep values like humility and curiosity from becoming one more thing to game? 22:15 – Where does AI help, and where does it get in the way, in the essay and admissions process? 24:15 – Why shouldn't teens be expected to have one single passion? 28:06 – What can parents say instead of "find the one thing"? 31:01 – What's the difference between healthy striving and achievement pressure? 35:04 – How can parents help kids hold onto self-worth, wherever they land? 38:56 – What's the story behind the Common App's new question crediting students who care for siblings or family? 40:38 – After ten years, what has actually turned, and what hasn't? 43:37 – What's next for Making Caring Common? 45:45 – What do Rick and Trisha hope counselors and educators take away? 46:30 – Closing thoughts Resources: Turning the Tide in 2026: Preparing Students for Lives of Caring and Purpose Making Caring Common Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg 503: What Colleges Want (Part 3): "Positive Character Attributes": What Are They, and How Do You Show Them in Your College Application? College Essay Guy's Personal Statement Resources College Essay Guy's College Application Hub
