Podcast Episodes

In this week's episode you will hear This week’s question (1:36): Mark and Hillary continue giving tips for college fairs but then they discuss how it lands when a student doesn’t have any service hours. (Length 16 minutes) This week’s interview (17:33): Mark Stucker and Nate Haveman, VP of enrollment of Hope College - Preview [...]

Introduction : Mark gives out awards in 25 different categories to the 11 colleges he visited in Texas in his 3 weeks he spent in Texas in April. Mark interviews John Pollard, Dean of Admissions of Franke Honors College at the University of Arizona, Topic, Understanding the University of Arizona - Preview of Part 1 [...]

In this week's episode you will hear In the News (2:30): Vince Garcia and Mark Stucker discuss observations from admission decisions from this year’s class. Part 3 of 3 (Length 14 minutes) This week’s question (16:55): Mark and Susan answer a question from a listener who wants advice for student who is content getting B’s [...]

Introduction : Mark shares many ways colleges make their admit rates look lower than they are. He shows families a few ways to know if a college is doing this Lisa interviews Jenny Anderson and Rebecca Winthrop, authors of the Disengaged Teen - Preview of Part 4 : Rebecca gives us three different insights when [...]

In this week's episode you will hear In the News (1:55): Vince Garcia and Mark Stucker discuss observations from admission decisions from this year’s class. Part 2 of 3 (Length 17 minutes) This week’s question (18:27): Mark and Hillary answer a question from a listener about how her student can demonstrate interest effectively (Length 21 [...]

Introduction : Mark shares a new survey he will be doing with YCBK listeners; he shares two recommended resources for studendts Mark then shares a project a parents can do to really help their student out a lot with the college process that he isn’t hearing anyone else talking about Lisa interviews Jenny Anderson and [...]

In this week's episode you will hear In the News (2:12): Vince Garcia and Mark Stucker discuss observations from admission decisions from this year’s class. (Length 21 minutes) This week’s question (23:34): Mark and Susan answer a question from an anonymous listener who has a number of questions about selecting an engineering program (Length 33 [...]

Introduction : Mark shares insights from two conversations he had with two admission officers at the SACAC conference Mark then shares how a student can get access to the custom prompts that many colleges require in June or early July, instead of in August when the colleges release their Common Apps Lisa interviews Jenny Anderson [...]

In this week's episode you will hear In the News (2:32): Andy Strickler shares some of the changes admissions offices are making due to financial pressures. Part 3 of 3 (Length 14 minutes) This week’s question (42:05): Interview: Mark Stucker and David Blobaum, The Co-Founder of Summit Test Prep Debate whether selective colleges should make [...]

Introduction : Mark shares how the SAT offering the new September SAT offers up some opportunities in their test prep calendar. This does not mean to imply everyone should take the SAT, but most of our listeners will take the SAT, so here is some advice. Mark shares the importance of having a balanced list, [...]

In this week's episode you will hear In the News (2:05): Andy Strickler shares some of the changes admissions offices are making due to financial pressures. (Length 14 minutes) This week’s question (16:34): Mark and Hillary talk about the things you should not do when attending a college fair. (Length 25 minutes) This week’s interview [...]

Introduction : Mark Stucker shares when a student and parent should complete the portions of the college application process that are the most time consuming. Mark interviews Rob Franek, Editor and Chief of the Princeton Review on the Latest “College Hopes and Worries” Survey - Preview of Part 2: Rob talks about the responses from [...]