In this week’s episode you will hear

In the News (4:52): Matt Bonser, the Director of Admissions at Colorado College and a Gap year expert answers 20 questions about Gap Years in this 75-minute discussion. (Part 3 of 3)

• Should a student reapply to the selective school they didn’t get in the next year, after taking a Gap year? Matt tells us when this can work.
• Matt gives his thoughts of a student who takes a gap year in high school
• Matt talks about Verto, a third-party provider of study abroad experiences and he tells us what he likes about Verto, and why CC is now a partner with Verto
• I ask Matt to give his feedback on two concerns that I frequently hear from parents about Gap Years.
• Matt shares what he learned about the college process by going through it as a parent this year (Length 21 minutes)

This week’s question (25:48): Mark answers a Speakpipe question from Laura from DC where he shares tips for college fairs. (Length 21 minutes)

This week’s interview (46:25): Mark interviews Nora and Hannah, two college coaches with ScholarMatch, the CBO that matches college coaches with First Gen, under-resourced students. They explain who ScholarMatch is and how YCBK listeners can become a volunteer college coach with ScholarMatch, even if they do not have any college counseling experience. Part 3 of 3

• Hannah discusses how a coach builds rapport with a student virtually.
• Hannah lets us know if there is any specialized training to help coaches understand the unique challenges First-Gen and under-resourced families face.
• Hannah and Nora go into more depth about the demographics of the ScholarMatch students from a racial, ethnic and geographic background
• Nora and Hannah talk about whether college coaches get training on the University of California application.
• Hannah shares what are the frustrating parts of the coaching work
• Nora talks about what ScholarMatch recommends when a student is non-responsive to outreach from the college coach
• Nora talks about where an interested potential coach can go to get more information if this interview didn’t answer all of their questions.
• Nora shares, when will someone who applies to be a coach, will find out they are accepted as a college coach
• I make a personal commitment to ScholarMatch
• Nora and Hannah go on the hotseat in the lightning round (Length 15 minutes)

Mark’s recommended resource of the week (1:01:15): The New York Times Replica Edition (pressreader.com) Do it yourself college rankings and ScholarMatch and here are the dates for ScholarMatch information sessions:

• March 14, 4-5:00 p.m. (PST)
• March 26, 10-11:00 a.m. (PST)

Here is a link to the ScholarMatch volunteer form: Volunteer Contact Form (airtable.com)

6 areas to think through when you have quality college options but you do not know which college to enroll in

Brennan Barnard article about Susan Tree: giving tree, forbes brennan Barnard – Search (bing.com)

College Spotlight (1:15:20): College Spotlight, Saint Andrews University, Scotland, with International Specialist, Kevin Newton Part 2/2

If you have a question for one of our upcoming interviews with admissions professionals, here is a list of admissions professionals who we will interview in 2023 or 2024.

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