In this week’s episode you will hear

In the News (1:55): Vince Garcia and Mark Stucker discuss observations from admission decisions from this year’s class. Part 2 of 3 (Length 17 minutes)

This week’s question (18:27): Mark and Hillary answer a question from a listener about how her student can demonstrate interest effectively (Length 21 minutes)

This week’s interview (39:37): Interview: Mark Stucker and David Blobaum, The Co-Founder of Summit Test Prep Debate whether selective colleges should make the SAT or the ACT mandatory-Part 3 of 3. Preview of Part 3 of 3

• I share a position that one of MIT’s competitors has that I agree with
• I share a reason why I do not believe using first year GPA is a valid way to see how well a non-test submitter is doing in college
• David pushes back a little and shares why there is some validity to looking at first year GPA
• David talks about the “big fish small pond concept” that Malcolm Gladwell uses
• I push back by talking about individual autonomy over your own life decisions
• David shares the most compelling reason why he holds his view
• David and I talk about how test scores can increase your merit scholarship
• David goes on the hotseat
• Mark adds a few comments about things he thought of after the debate was over (Length 30 minutes)

Mark’s recommended resource of the week : N/A

College Spotlight (1:09:55): Jim Bok Interview, Understanding Swarthmore College. Preview of Part 3

• I ask Jim to talk about Swarthmore’s wooded arboretum campus
• I ask Jim to share how Swarthmore and Haverford are different
• Jim shares a little about the bi-co and tri-co consortiums
• Jim explains what it means for a college to be a Liberal Arts school
• Jim explains what skillset a Swarthmore liberal arts education inculcates in its graduates
• I ask Jim about several financial challenges colleges are facing and I ask him how these financial challenges are impacting admissions
• I ask Jim if he sees selecting colleges that are not land locked trying to expand their class size as a way of bringing in more revenue.
• Jim goes on the hot seat in our lightning round

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