In this week’s episode you will hear

In the News (3:35): a NY Times article “They’re not fact checking. How lies in college admissions can slip through the net”, by Anemona Hartocollis.

The pressure on prospective students to lie or embellish in their college applications has intensified, admissions officers say, and colleges are doing little in the way of fact-checking. Anika and I discuss what colleges are doing and what they are not doing. We also debate whether college’s are partially at fault for making students feel as if they need to embellish their applications. (Length 16:40)

We discuss chapter 58 of the book, “171 Answers” (20:15): Anika and I are talking through what students need to know about demonstrated interest.

We define demonstrated interest and we talk about why it is important. We talk about how what an AO (Admissions Officer) means when they refer to demonstrated interest is different than what I think demonstrated interest is. We explain why demonstrated interest is something that it is all but impossible for an AO to be completely candid about when they are talking with students. (Length 21:46)

This week’s question (42:01) asks about supplemental essay prompts used by private institutions.

The question asks, do these questions change every year or do they stay the same. We answer that question but we take it a step further by asking, should a student start working on their supplemental essays before they are officially released? We also explain several other terms that are used for these supplemental essays. (13:59)

This week’s interview (55:00) is the final part of “So you want to be a doctor or a nurse, what you need to know”, with Dr. David Williams.

This is by far our most casual interview with Dave. Dave starts out by talking about what opportunities exist for Physician Assistants. After this, our interview gets very casual. Because I have known Dave all my life, I ask Dave to share some stories from his life that I believe our listeners will find interesting and even entertaining. (Length 19 minutes)

Mark’s recommended resource of the week (67:06) is the US Department of Education’s website: https://www.ed.gov

Don’t forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: questions@yourcollegeboundkid.com

Every episode of Your College-Bound Kid will align with a chapter from the book 171 Answers to the Most-Asked College Admission Questions. To get a copy visit 171answers.com and if you want to see what future episodes will cover just click the red button “See exactly what 171 Answers covers”.