Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Industry Podcast Amy Seeley & Mike Bergin

An undergraduate education should never be mistaken for a job training program. That said, gainful employment is usually the obvious expectation after graduation. Amy and Mike invited educator Bill Coplin for thoughts on how to guarantee career success after college.
What are five things you will learn in this episode?
Why is coursework alone not enough to explore and get jobs?
Is there academic coursework that would help build skills, experience, and networks?
How should students increase their chances of getting internships and/or part-time jobs?
Are some colleges better than others to help students gain skills through experience and build networks?
What steps are essential for students who don’t know what they want to do after graduation?
MEET OUR GUEST
Based on his experience mentoring 2,000 alumni over the past 50 years, Bill Coplin knows how undergraduates can be ready for the next step after graduating college with or without going to graduate school.  Success is not guaranteed by the brand of the University, the degree program chosen, or the GPA.  Employers want students to demonstrate skills that include taking responsibility, communicating effectively, interacting with people, and developing computer and analytical skills.  To do this, students should see undergraduate programs as a Skills Gymnasium where they practice these skills in the classroom and outside the classroom, while they are building their networks through student activities, jobs, internships, and community service.
Bill can be reached at https://billcoplin.com.
LINKS
Five Steps for Success After Graduating From College
RELATED EPISODES
COLLEGE DECLASSIFIED: WHAT HIGH SCHOOLERS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE NEXT LEVEL
HIGH SCHOOL INTERNSHIPS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL COLLEGE FRESHMAN
MAKING THE MOST OF COLLEGE SUPPORT SYSTEMS
HOW TO PREPARE FOR A COLLEGE ADMISSIONS INTERVIEW
ABOUT THIS PODCAST
Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our episodes on the show page.
ABOUT YOUR HOSTS
Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros. If you’re interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, feel free to get in touch through our contact page.
 

Now that we’re moving back to more of a test-required college admissions paradigm, the pressing question for most students regards which test to take. In some cases, the answer is not as binary as you might expect. Amy and Mike invited counselor Becky Priest to explore who should take the CLT?
What are five things you will learn in this episode?
What is a classical education?
What is the Classic Learning Test?
What schools currently accept the CLT as an admissions test?
What kind of student does well on the CLT?
What are the best ways to prepare for the CLT?
MEET OUR GUEST
Becky Priest is the founding College Counselor at The Cambridge School, a Pre-K-thru 12th grade Christian classical school, in San Diego, California. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, she attended Washington University where her college work study job was in the Financial Aid Office. She was later employed full-time in the FAO, processing financial aid awards for incoming freshmen. Now, as a high school counselor at a classical school, her students were test-takers for the very first public administration of the Classic Learning Test and, over the years, several have earned scholarship money as a result. She has served on the CLT Academic Board of Advisors.
Becky can be reached on LinkedIn.
LINKS
The Classic Learning Test (CLT)
SAT/ACT/CLT Concordance
RELATED EPISODES
WHAT IS THE CLT?
WHY TESTS MATTER: STUDENT PERSPECTIVES
FIVE MYTHS ABOUT ADMISSIONS TESTS
ABOUT THIS PODCAST
Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our episodes on the show page.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS
Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros. If you’re interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, feel free to get in touch through our contact page.
 

For many teachers, tutors, counselors, and coaches, the actual delivery of insight, expertise, and service comes easy. Creating and maintaining business structure and processes, on the other hand, can be an ongoing challenge. Amy and Mike invited educator Danny Pernik to explore tools and tips to build your educational practice.
What are five things you will learn in this episode?
What qualifies as an educational practice in a discussion like this?
What considerations make sense for anyone building an educational practice?
Why are websites so valuable for educational businesses?
What tools or tips would you recommend specifically for teachers and tutors?
Are relationships or results more important in building a strong practice serving students?
MEET OUR GUEST
Danny Pernik is the owner of Open Path Tutoring, which specializes in personalized SAT & ACT prep, and cofounder of CreatorsWeb.Co, which develops elegant custom websites for small businesses. Through prior ventures, he envisioned and helped launch a digital currency minted by social action and sought to simplify the process by which an average person could build a team and bring a new idea to life. This wide variety of experiences and expertise has brought Danny a wealth of insights and resources that he happily shares with students, parents, tutors, and small business owners.
Danny can be reached at https://openpathtutoring.com/.
LINKS
The National Test Prep Association
Workflowy
OnePageCRM
RELATED EPISODES
HOW STANDARDIZATION CAN BENEFIT EDUCATION
GAME-BASED LEARNING
USING AND CREATING EDUCATIONAL WEBSITES
ABOUT THIS PODCAST
Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our episodes on the show page.
ABOUT YOUR HOSTS
Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros. If you’re interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, feel free to get in touch through our contact page.
 

Getting into your best fit school usually feels like the prize at the end of a long and grueling journey, but the next step in the undergraduate adventure has really just begun. Will you emerge victorious, degree in hand? Amy and Mike invited college consultant Beth Howland to share insights into how to persist to college graduation.
What are five things you will learn in this episode?
What is the difference between retention and persistence and how is each related to graduation rates?
What are the most common reasons students leave college?
How should families think about college readiness?
What can families do before a student leaves for college to increase their persistence?
What can families do if their student is talking about leaving college? 
MEET OUR GUEST
Prior to founding College Navigators LLC, Beth A. Howland spent 25 years advising and mentoring undergraduate students at several institutions.  Most recently, Beth worked for 14 years at Cornell University in both direct service and leadership roles in student development within the College of Engineering, the Hotel School, and the Office of Undergraduate Biology.  Beth graduated with honors from Ithaca College and is a two-time NCAA National Champion, Academic All-American, and Hall of Fame inductee in women’s soccer. After earning her undergraduate degree in psychology, she worked for five years as a Family Caseworker for Family and Children’s Service in Ithaca. She then completed an advanced degree in health and human performance with a concentration in sports psychology. 
Over the course of her career, Beth served as a pre-major mentor, major advisor, and faculty advisor at both Duke University and Cornell University; and as a Crisis Manager and Residential House Fellow at Cornell University. She provided advising and support for thousands of students, including those who identify as BIPOC, first-generation, pre-health, under-prepared, and high-achieving, as well as Division I student-athletes and students who were managing a variety of challenges or disruptions throughout their college experience. During her career Beth founded and directed comprehensive academic advising, career development, and community engagement programs for Division-I student-athletes at Cornell University, Tulane University and Duke University. Beth transitioned out of athletics in 2005. Prior to returning to Cornell Beth worked as the inaugural Assistant Director of Student Development for the Robertson Scholars Program, a multi-campus, cohort-based, collaborative leadership development program with Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill.  
Throughout her career in higher ed, Beth prioritized advocating for university policies, procedures and opportunities to be more inclusive, equitable, transparent, and visible. During the pandemic Beth confirmed that she is most energized by coaching individual students as they discover themselves, negotiate life’s ups and downs, and prepare for their careers. Beth’s passion for working intensively one-on-one with students and extensive understanding of and ability to assist students navigate the complexities of institutions within higher ed, led her to start College Navigators LLC and invest full-time in college student success coaching…decision to degree.
Beth previously appeared on this podcast in episode # 455 to discuss What To Do When A Student Struggles In College.
Find Beth at beth@college-navigators.com.
LINKS
Persistence and Retention
How America Completes College
Student Persistence vs. Retention in Higher Education
Student survey gauges importance of a college degree
RELATED EPISODES
THE W-CURVE MODEL AND NEW COLLEGE STUDENTS
COLLEGE READINESS ADVICE FROM A COLLEGE PROFESSOR
THE UNWRITTEN RULES OF COLLEGE SUCCESS
ABOUT THIS PODCAST
Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our episodes on the show page.
ABOUT YOUR HOSTS
Mike Bergin is the presi

The artificial intelligence genie is out of the bottle, and there’s no way to put it back in. All we can do is learn to live with AI as productively as possible. No surprise, today’s youth are leading the charge from middle school to college. Amy and Mike invited ed tech expert Annie Chechitelli to describe how students use generative AI.
What are five things you will learn in this episode?
How are students using generative AI? 
What are positive and productive ways to use generative AI?
What are less-productive ways to use generative AI?
Are current detection tools keeping up with AI-generated work?
How can educators promote positive adoption and use of AI tools?
MEET OUR GUEST
Annie Chechitelli has spent the past two decades innovating with educators to expand access to education, meet the quickly changing needs of learners, and empower students to do their best, original work. As the Chief Product Officer at Turnitin, Annie oversees the Turnitin suite of applications which includes academic integrity, grading and feedback, and assessment capabilities. 
Prior to joining Turnitin, Annie spent over five years at Amazon where she led Kindle Content for School, Work, and Government and launched the AWS EdTech Growth Advisory team, advising education technology companies on how to grow their product and go-to-market strategies with AWS. Annie began her career in EdTech at Wimba where she launched a live collaboration platform for education which was ultimately acquired by Blackboard in 2010. At Blackboard she led platform management, focused on transitioning Blackboard Learn to the cloud. Annie holds a B.S. from Columbia University and an M.B.A. and M.S. from Claremont Graduate University. She resides near Indianapolis, Indiana with her youngest child and husband, with two children attending college on the East Coast.
Annie can be reached at LinkedIn.
LINKS
Resources For AI Writing 
Empowering Students for Tomorrow with AI Writing
Solving The AI Writing Puzzle
RELATED EPISODES
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
COLLEGE ESSAYS IN THE AGE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
HOW CAN TUTORS USE AI?
ABOUT THIS PODCAST
Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our episodes on the show page.
ABOUT YOUR HOSTS
Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros. If you’re interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, feel free to get in touch through our contact page.

The Advanced Placement exams represent some of the most challenging subject-specific standardized tests a high schooler might ever take, and AP Computer Science is no exception. Amy and Mike believe that every test warrants smart, serious preparation, so we invited educator Edward Lee to share valuable strategies, insights, and resources for getting ready for the AP Computer Science A exam.
What are five things you will learn in this episode?
What is tested on the AP Computer Science A exam?
How do AP Computer Science A and AP Computer Science Principles differ?
What are the highest priority topics on the test?
How should students prepare for the AP Computer Science A exam?
What are the best prep materials for AP Computer Science A?
MEET OUR GUEST
Edward Lee is the owner and founder of Lee Tutoring, which he built from the ground up to make online test prep and academic tutoring as engaging and valuable as possible for digital natives. He has nearly a decade of experience in test prep and a bit more than a decade with computer science tutoring. While he originally intended to earn a degree in Computer Science, his love for teaching won out and he earned his degree in Philosophy instead, which he completed alongside a thesis on Samuel Beckett's novels and learning as overcoming "good sense." He's been tutoring full-time ever since!
Edward's life mission is to reconcile his interest in both the cutting-edge field of computer science with his interest in classical education. In 6th grade, his father packed a copy of The Iliad into his backpack for some "light reading," but it hardly fit next to the Arduino project Edward had constructed for his physics class. His commitment to a socratic approach is symbolized by the Ionic column motif in Lee Tutoring's logo and his approach to technology is evident in the source code he writes to keep his business running!
Edward and his team at Lee Tutoring have helped well over a thousand students achieve their goals on the SAT and ACT. Edward has personally helped dozens of students prepare for the AP Computer Science A, AP Computer Science Principles, and AP Calculus AB/BC exams.
Edward can be reached at leetutoring.com.
LINKS
AP Computer Science A
CodingBat
AP CSA Java Course — AP CSAwesome
Albert.io
AP Computer Science A Premium, 2024: 6 Practice Tests + Comprehensive Review + Online Practice (Barron's AP Prep)
RELATED EPISODES
GETTING READY FOR THE AP LANGUAGE EXAM
GETTING READY FOR THE AP US HISTORY EXAM
GETTING READY FOR THE AP STATISTICS EXAM
GETTING READY FOR THE AP PSYCHOLOGY EXAM
GETTING READY FOR THE AP CHEMISTRY EXAM
ABOUT THIS PODCAST
Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our episodes on the show page.
ABOUT YOUR HOSTS
Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros. If you’re interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, feel free to get in touch through our contact page.