The College Prep Podcast Megan Dorsey & Erin Wilson

Megan’s resource for the week is a book that was very influential to her early in her career: The Gatekeepers by Jacques Steinberg. This non-fiction work reads like a story and follows admissions officer Ralph Figaroa through a season of work at a highly selective university. While the information is almost 25 years old by now, this book is helpful in understanding the process. Just remember that the numbers given will be outdated.

We’ve made it to June! Hang in there if you have a few more weeks of school.







We typically do shorter episodes in the summer and this year, Megan and Erin will take turns sharing different resources to help you improve your study skills, college planning, and grades. Today Erin shares to books that offer insight into how we think and learn:









* Learning Outside the Lines by two Ivy League graduates with learning differences, Jonathan Mooney and David Cole.







* Outsmart Your Brain by Daniel Willingham helps teachers and students understand why learning is hard and how you can make it easy.

Megan and Erin did some reading and have a book report on The Price You Pay for College: An Entirely New Road Map for the Biggest Financial Decision Your Family Will Ever Make by Ron Lieber. What does this book cover? Should you pick it up for yourself? Or maybe you don’t want to read it and just want to listen to them talk about it instead. With such an important topic and saturation of information, does this book help add to the scholarship around financial aid.

Students are told that dropping a class will ruin their future prospects–the dreaded W on the transcript is the scarlet letter. Erin argues that sometimes dropping a class is the best and most strategic choice. She also discusses what other options there might beand when it is time to call it and time to stick it out.

Why does this college application question elicit blank stares from students? How do we help students to figure out what they might bring to the college experience or what sets them apart from other applicants? Megan and Erin discuss how this question being used with younger students could help them shift from passive to active participants in their learning.

Megan is back from a whirlwind tour of college visits and is sharing her notes and secret tips. When should you go? Is it worth it to time your visit to coincide with their “special” day? Lots of tips like what to wear, what to ask, how many schools you should see, and how to keep them all straight in your head.