In this week’s episode you will hear

In the News: In this week’s news segment (7:10)

an article from Wall Street Journal, “For Sale: SAT-Takers’ Names. Colleges Buy Student Data and Boost Exclusivity”, by Douglas Belkin. In 2017, the College Board recorded $100 million in revenue using the SAT to sell student test taker information to universities. The accusation is that these schools are buying names of students who don’t have a great chance of getting accepted. Belkin goes after schools for trying to beef up their application numbers that will allow them to reject more students to lower acceptance rates. Mark shares his thoughts on this article and his perspective will likely surprise you. (Length 26:43)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-sale-sat-takers-names-colleges-buy-student-data-and-boost-exclusivity-11572976621

Chapter 96 of 171 Answers (33:53): We are in Chapter 96 of 171 Answers and we’re describing the qualifications for student federal aid. We discuss five or six of the main qualifications that must be met in order to receive financial aid. We also define what financial aid is.

One of the things we discuss is Satisfactory Academy Progress (SAP) and how this is a requirement for receiving financial aid. If you are interested in a detailed conversation about what SAP is and how it is measured, we discussed this for 16 minutes on episode 54 in the question section and we did a part 2 to this discussion on episode 55 in the question section (Length 13:11)

This week’s question (47:04) is from a mom who asked Mark to outline his process when working with students. Mark explains that the process is going to be very different for a family that is looking for financial aid, grants and scholarships and the family that is not looking for financial assistance. Mark explains that the process will differ based on when a family starts and which services they hire me to do. Mark divides his process up into four different components 1) Confirming a major/career 2) Building a college list 3) Strategies to increase your chances of getting in 4) Strategies to get a great financial aid offer. I ask Mark several questions throughout the process. Mark was very reluctant to answer this question from a mom.

He regards the podcast as his community service and he tries to keep it separate from his school counseling or his private college counseling, but after some reflection Mark hopes to help our college counselors who listen. He also hopes our families will be able to apply some of the approaches he uses to their own search.(Length 18:16)

This week’s interview (1:05:20) Mark concludes his interview with author and college admissions expert Steven Antonoff in the final part of: Myths about College Admissions

Myths about College Admissions

Mark’s recommended resource of the week (1:25:32) is The Chronicle of Higher Education; their website is chronicle.com

College Spotlight (1:15:39) Denison U, OH

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

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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”.