In this week’s episode you will hear

In the News (30:20) : In this segment of “In the News” Mark and Dave discuss an April 4th, 2022 article by Jim Jump that appeared in “Inside Higher Ed” entitled, “Is it ethical to withhold the data (admit rates)”. Dave does a great summary of the article and Mark points out his five take-aways from the article and then Mark and Dave have a spirited discussion about the article.

https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/views/2022/04/04/how-sincere-are-colleges-dont-release-their-admit-rates-opinion (Length 18 minutes)

This week’s question (48:32) Question from a listener- Mark starts out by sharing another thing he thinks would surprise you if you were to be an admissions officer. It is bonus content week for Mark and he shares 20 things to consider when trying to select who to ask to write your recommendation letters. Mark encourages students to not be anal and create some 20 point check list, but to use these pointers to think through the process.

Mark does not list these in order, but he does mention that the most important ones he listed first. Lisa very effectively pushes back on a few points Mark makes which enhanced the quality of the conversation. (Length 39 minutes)

This week’s interview (1:27:30) Interview-Rod Skinner, the Dean of College Counseling at Milton Academy-Topic “Why is it so much harder to get into a selective college these days”- (Part 1 of 3). Preview-Part 1: (1) Rod shares his backstory, (2) How Mark met Rod, (3) Introduction of our topic, “why have some colleges gotten so hard to get into”, (4) What role has the Common App has played, (5) The role anxiety has played, (6) The role “test-optional” has played, (7) The role International students have played, (8) The role high-yield has played, (9) The role institutional priorities has played, (10) The role increased use of ED has played, (11) The role your declared major plays,

(12) Rod tells us more about Milton Academy, (13) What his answer is to the person who says, colleges are taking students of color with weaker credentials than my kid and it isn’t fair (Length 30 minutes)

Mark’s recommended resource of the week (1:40:25) Our recommended resource for episode 225 are the three episodes the Freakonomics podcast did on college admissions related topics. The episodes are 500, 501 and 502

College Spotlight (1:57:44) : Our College Spotlight is the University of San Diego with college counselor, Sylvia Borgo (Length 22 minutes)

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”.