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Interview 146: Elliot Felix on "How to get the most out of College"
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Experience College Life Firsthand: A Guide to College Fly-In Programs
Experience College Life Firsthand: A Guide to College Fly-In ProgramsInterview 147: Irena Smith on “The Golden Ticket: A Life in College Admission Essays”
- Irena talks about her path from being an English major to a PHD in Comparative literature to brief stint as a Humanities lecturer in the Structural Liberal Education program at Stanford to an being admission reader at Stanford for four years in the late 90’s
- Irena tells us about the book she wrote about College Essays, creative non-fiction and she talks about the Palo Alto culture when it comes to college admissions and the pressure that is on students from a very young age
- Irena talks about the mental health toil this pressure cooker culture takes on students
- Dr. Irena Smith continues talking about the toil being obsessed about getting into a place like Stanford takes on so many students that have this aspiration.
- Lisa and Irena have a great conversation about why our society is so fixated on going to an elite college and not on their 3rd or 5th job or more of a long range view
- Irena shares about how as much as she tried to resist the Palo Alto pressure culture, it ended up seeping into the pressure her son felt at times
- Dr. Smith gives her advice to students and to parents
- Irena talks about the idiocy of college rankings
- Irena talks about how location is an underrated part of findng a college match
- Lisa puts Irena on the hotseat
