Your College Bound Kid | Admission Tips, Admission Trends & Admission Interviews Mark Stucker

In this episode you will hear:   o   Mark gives a preview of his 63 minute interview with Jed Applerouth, founder of Applerouth.com   Preview Preview ² Jed gives his background, and he tells us a little bit about Applerouth ² Jed talks about the work Applerouth does for students with executive functioning. ² Jed and I talk about public flagship colleges and their insane out of state selectivity. ² Jed gives us the history of the ACT and he tells us what is going on with the ACT. ² Jed makes a case for why the Digital Test is so much better than the paper test. ² Jed talks why to quote Jed, the SAT is eating the ACT’s lunch ² Jed explains what adaptive testing is and he shares why he is a believer in adaptive testing. ² Jed talks about whether he sees the ACT going adaptive. ² Jed and Mark discuss why students like the Digital SAT ² Jed talks about why some students still do better and prefer the ACT ² Jed talks about the controversy around the first Digital SAT being so much harder and the rumor that students scored lower on the March test. ² Does Jed recommend a student not take the ACT or SAT until they have one semester of Algebra 2? ² What type of score gains should a student expect if they do test prep? ² Is one on one superior to group testing? ² What does the research show about the best way to improve your test scores? ² How many hours of test prep does the average student need? ² What is the role of practice tests in improving your test scores? ² What does the research show whether a student should take one test or two tests or three tests?     Sign up for our Q & A session with Karen Kristof  (Dean of Admissions of Colorado College) on Tuesday, May 7th, 8:30 EST, 7:30 CST, 6:30 MST and 5:30 PST by going to     You can also send in questions for our interviews by using speakpipe.com/YCBK. Our interviews are confirmed for 2024 with the following leaders at the following schools:     To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under “the Listen to our podcast icons”   Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live. You can ask questions on Twitter that he will answer on the podcast. Mark will also share additional hot topics in the news and breaking news on this Twitter feed. Twitter message is also the preferred way to ask questions for our podcast:   https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast   1. To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ 2. Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link 3. Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it 4. Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans 5. Every word in that episode when the words loans are used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps 6. Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point 7. You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript   We would be honored if you will pass this podcast episode on to others who you feel will benefit from the content in YCBK.   Please subscribe to our podcast. It really helps us move up in Apple’s search feature so others can find our podcast.   Don't forget to send your recommended resources and articles by recording your message at speakpipe.com/YCBK   If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful!   If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you follow our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live.   Check out the college admissions boo

In this episode you will hear:   (03:30) Mark and Vince discuss an article on how students are being coached to brand themselves in their applications. This is an article that appeared in the NY Times by a Guest Essayist, entitled, “Elite college admissions have turned students into brands”      (33:30) Question from a listener Lee from Northern California has three questions about how colleges admit students when there is so much grade inflation. (49:22) Interview Jeremy Lowe, the Assistant Vice Provost of Undergraduate Admissions at American University discusses Direct Admissions with Lisa Rouff (01:14:45) Interview 2 Chris Cage, the VP of enrollment at Belmont University answers the question, “Why go to college”     No College Spotlight this week, but next week we will have two Spotlights, American University and Belmont University   (01:01:48) Recommended Resource: Collegeessayguy.com, a great resource for information on applying to college       Speakpipe.com/YCBK is our method if you want to ask a question and we will be prioritizing all questions sent in via Speakpipe.   You can also use this for many other purposes: 1) Send us constructive criticism about how we can improve our podcast 2) Share an encouraging word about something you like about an episode or the podcast in general 3) Share a topic or an article you would like us to address 4) Share a speaker you want us to interview 5) Leave positive feedback for one of our interviewees. We will send your verbal feedback directly to them and I can almost assure you, your positive feedback will make their day. If you have a question for one of our upcoming interviews with admissions professionals, here is a list of admissions professionals who we will interview in 2023 or 2024.   To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our new monthly admissions newsletter, delivered directly to your email once a month, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign-up popup.   Check out our new blog. We write timely and insightful articles on college admissions:   Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live. You can ask questions on Twitter that he will answer on the podcast. Mark will also share additional hot topics in the news and breaking news on this Twitter feed. Twitter message is also the preferred way to ask questions for our podcast:   https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast   1. To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ 2. Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link 3. Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it 4. Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans 5. Every word in that episode when the words loans are used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps 6. Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point 7. You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript   We would be honored if you will pass this podcast episode on to others who you feel will benefit from the content in YCBK.   Please subscribe to our podcast. It really helps us move up in Apple’s search feature so others can find our podcast.   If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful!   If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you follow our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live.   Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends:   Check out the college websites Mark recommends:   If you want to have some input about what you like and what you recommend, we change about our podcast, please complete our Podcast survey; here is the link:     If you

In this episode you will hear:   o   Mark gives a preview of some up and coming episodes o   Lisa gives advice about selecting a college from a psychological and practical standpoint. o   Lynda interviews Marjorie Betley, the Senior Associate Director of Admission at the University of Chicago, and the Executive Director of Admissions at the STARS College Network, and they discuss the STARS College Network STARS is an acronym for Small Towns and Rural Student-Part 3 of 3     Marjorie Betley-The STARS Network Preview-Part 3 §  Marjorie talks about her own adjustment from a rural school to the University of Chicago §  Majorie talks about the mentorship and peer to peer support that is available for students once they get to campus §  Marjorie talks about the very creative “Bridging the Divide program” that is run through the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago §  Marjorie and Lynda talk about the skepticism rural students, increasingly have about the value of college §  Marjorie talks about an outstanding program Northwestern is offering for rural students §  Marjorie gives her advice for rural students, rural parents and college counselors working with rural students §  Marjorie, shares where can students learn more about The STARS Network §  Marjorie, goes on the hotseat in our lightning round     Sign up for our Q & A session with Andy Strickler  (Dean of Admissions of Connecticut College) on Thursday, April 3rd, 8:30 EST, 7:30 CST, 6:30 MST and 5:30 PST by going to     You can also send in questions for our interviews by using speakpipe.com/YCBK. Our interviews are confirmed for 2024 with the following leaders at the following schools:     To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under “the Listen to our podcast icons”   Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live. You can ask questions on Twitter that he will answer on the podcast. Mark will also share additional hot topics in the news and breaking news on this Twitter feed. Twitter message is also the preferred way to ask questions for our podcast:   https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast   1. To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ 2. Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link 3. Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it 4. Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans 5. Every word in that episode when the words loans are used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps 6. Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point 7. You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript   We would be honored if you will pass this podcast episode on to others who you feel will benefit from the content in YCBK.   Please subscribe to our podcast. It really helps us move up in Apple’s search feature so others can find our podcast.   Don't forget to send your recommended resources and articles by recording your message at speakpipe.com/YCBK   If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful!   If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you follow our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live.   Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends:   Check out the college websites Mark recommends:   If you want to have some input about what you like and what you recommend we change about our podcast, please complete our Podcast survey; here is the link:  

In this episode you will hear:   (01:50) Mark and Vince will eventually discuss an article on how students are being coached to brand themselves in their applications. This is an article that appeared in the NY Times by a Guest Essayist, entitled, “Elite college admissions have turned students into brands” but they get into that article in Part 2, on Episode 421, that will air on April 11th, but this week, Vince and Mark discuss their observations from this year in college admissions; they also share some admission tips, an admission vernacular and a big number; the big number really inspired Mark     (49:50) Question from a listener Jennifer from Texas wants to know what they should do when they learn about some serious racial incidents that occurred at a college her student was considering applying to (01:05:40) Interview Lydia Dagenais, a former admission officer at Haverford College and Swarthmore College is joined by Julia Esquivel, a co-host for YCBK but also a former Haverford College admission officer to discuss how Law School admissions works-Part 2 of 2 Preview of Part 2 of 2 ²  Lydia lets us know if students can get access to LSAC ²  What role does writing ability and critical thinking play in the admission process? ²  Lydia talks about the content of the first year in law school ²  Lydia talks about whether you need to go to a top tier law school to get the plum jobs after graduation ²  Lydia answers the question, are there too many lawyers out there, is the field oversaturated? ²  Lydia tells us what the character and fitness questions are and she tells us why they are so important ²  Lydia goes on the hot seat     (01:36:08) College Spotlight Kevin Newton joins us to talk about the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Part 2 of 2   (01:26:35) Recommended Resource: A new podcast about going to college in another country, An Education Abroad is the new podcast by Kevin Newton, founder of , An Education Abroad. Kevin is a frequent guest on YCBK, including in today’s episode when he helps us to understand, the University of Edinboro         Speakpipe.com/YCBK is our method if you want to ask a question and we will be prioritizing all questions sent in via Speakpipe.   You can also use this for many other purposes: 1) Send us constructive criticism about how we can improve our podcast 2) Share an encouraging word about something you like about an episode or the podcast in general 3) Share a topic or an article you would like us to address 4) Share a speaker you want us to interview 5) Leave positive feedback for one of our interviewees. We will send your verbal feedback directly to them and I can almost assure you, your positive feedback will make their day. If you have a question for one of our upcoming interviews with admissions professionals, here is a list of admissions professionals who we will interview in 2023 or 2024.   To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our new monthly admissions newsletter, delivered directly to your email once a month, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign-up popup.   Check out our new blog. We write timely and insightful articles on college admissions:   Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live. You can ask questions on Twitter that he will answer on the podcast. Mark will also share additional hot topics in the news and breaking news on this Twitter feed. Twitter message is also the preferred way to ask questions for our podcast:   https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast   1. To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ 2. Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link 3. Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it 4. Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans 5. Every wor

    o   Mark gives a recap of some of his key takeaways from the SACAC conference o   Mark shares some key takeaways from college visits and from conversation with reps o   Mark looks at what may look like perplexing admissions decisions for about a dozen students School Match 4U counselors worked with and he discusses the reasons why this surprising decisions happen o   Lynda interviews Marjorie Betley, the Senior Associate Director of Admission at the University of Chicago, and the Executive Director of Admissions at the STARS College Network, and they discuss the STARS College Network for the next three Mondays. STARS is an acronym for Small Towns and Rural Student-Part 2 of 3     Marjorie Betley-The STARS Network Preview-Part 2 §  Marjorie gets into the nuts and bolts of what STARS actually does to recruit students and she shares a lot of very creative ways that the 16 colleges in the STARS network are using §  Marjorie talks about how important School Profiles are to assist admission officers in accurately reading admission files from their schools §  Marjorie talks ways in which the STARS Network tries to educate rural students about what the opportunities are for their students §  Marjorie explains how Khan Academy and School House can help rural students       Sign up for our Q & A session with Andy Strickler  (Dean of Admissions of Connecticut College) on Thursday, April 3rd, 8:30 EST, 7:30 CST, 6:30 MST and 5:30 PST by going to     Here is a link to the ScholarMatch volunteer form:     You can also send in questions for our interviews by using speakpipe.com/YCBK. Our interviews are confirmed for 2024 with the following leaders at the following schools:     To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under “the Listen to our podcast icons”   Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live. You can ask questions on Twitter that he will answer on the podcast. Mark will also share additional hot topics in the news and breaking news on this Twitter feed. Twitter message is also the preferred way to ask questions for our podcast:   https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast   1. To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ 2. Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link 3. Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it 4. Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans 5. Every word in that episode when the words loans are used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps 6. Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point 7. You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript   We would be honored if you will pass this podcast episode on to others who you feel will benefit from the content in YCBK.   Please subscribe to our podcast. It really helps us move up in Apple’s search feature so others can find our podcast.   Don't forget to send your recommended resources and articles by recording your message at speakpipe.com/YCBK   If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful!   If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you follow our podcast. You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live.   Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends:   Check out the college websites Mark recommends:   If you want to have some input about what you like and what you recommend we change about our podcast, please complete our Podcast survey; here is the link:

In this episode you will hear:   (06:30) Julia and Mark discuss an article by “Dean of Admissions Claudia Marroquin on the decline of male applicants to Bowdoin” but Julia and Mark know this is a national crisis, so they discuss the article in the context of the national challenge. Part 3 of 3     Mark shares a moving email that came in this week about why college is turning off many families.   (45:10) Question from a listener Clare from VA asks about a special program offered at her school. She wants to know how colleges read transcripts from students who take these special programs (01:05:50) Interview Lydia Dagenais, a former admission officer at Haverford College and Swarthmore College is joined by Julia Esquivel, a co-host for YCBK but also a former Haverford College admission officer to discuss how Law School admissions works Preview of Part 1 of 2 ²  How does Law school admissions work? ²  Lydia tells us what LSAC is and she talks about the central role of LSAC in law school admissions ²  Lydia talks about the requirements for the law school application ²  Lydia talks about the role of the American Bar association ²  Lydia talks about how the role of testing differs for law schools vs undergrad ²  Lydia tells us what JD Next is ²  Lydia shares what a student can do now to prepare for law school? ²  Lydia gives some great advice on who to ask for your recommendations for law school? ²  I ask Lydia to go in more depth about how LSAC helps the law school file reading process. ²  Lydia talks about the role predictive modeling plays in law schools admissions       (01:38:47) College Spotlight Kevin Newton joins us to talk about the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Part 1 of 2   (01:22:48) Recommended Resource:  Episode Dr. Lisa Damour interview         Speakpipe.com/YCBK is our method if you want to ask a question and we will be prioritizing all questions sent in via Speakpipe.   You can also use this for many other purposes: 1) Send us constructive criticism about how we can improve our podcast 2) Share an encouraging word about something you like about an episode or the podcast in general 3) Share a topic or an article you would like us to address 4) Share a speaker you want us to interview 5) Leave positive feedback for one of our interviewees. We will send your verbal feedback directly to them and I can almost assure you, your positive feedback will make their day. If you have a question for one of our upcoming interviews with admissions professionals, here is a list of admissions professionals who we will interview in 2023 or 2024.   To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our new monthly admissions newsletter, delivered directly to your email once a month, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign-up popup.   Check out our new blog. We write timely and insightful articles on college admissions:   Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live. You can ask questions on Twitter that he will answer on the podcast. Mark will also share additional hot topics in the news and breaking news on this Twitter feed. Twitter message is also the preferred way to ask questions for our podcast:   https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast   1. To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ 2. Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link 3. Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it 4. Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans 5. Every word in that episode when the words loans are used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps 6. Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point 7. You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript   We would be honored