Do Not Focus on Aspirational Schools When There Are Hundreds of Schools

In this episode you will hear:   (14:50) Dave and Mark discuss an article by Kevin Carey of Vox entitled, The Incredible Shrinking Future of College. The article was written on 11/21   (54:55) Lisa and Mark start a new four part series of bonus content. Mark shares seven categories of students who often feel disillusioned with the college process, like it was unfair to them. Our goal is not to deflate but to help people to avoid the pitfalls involved in having unrealistic expectations.    (01:17:50) We continue with our interview with Alison Merzel, a former admission officer and a current independent college counselor in Ohio and a specialist and working with Jewish students. Alison will be helping us to understand the challenges Jewish students face on college campuses, how to know if a college is a safe space for Jewish Students and how to support Jewish students. This is Part 3 of 3   (01:23:58) Mark shares one of his favorite college admissions podcasts, Dartmouth University Lee Coffin’s podcast, “Admissions Beat” and he really encourages listeners to listen to the episode, “Inside the Admissions Selection Committee” that aired on March 21st   (01:37:40) Lisa shares her enthusiasm for the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW) for the College Spotlight. This in-depth Spotlight will air over two episodes, Part 2 of 2     We now have set up audio recordings in your own voice for any question you send in for our “question from a listener” segment. In order to send us an audio message, just go to speakpipe.com/YCBK. You can also use this for many other purposes: 1) Send us constructive criticism about how we can improve our podcast 2) Share an encouraging word about something you like about an episode or the podcast in general 3) Share a topic or an article you would like us to address 4) Share a speaker you want us to interview 5) Leave positive feedback for one of our interviewees. We will send your verbal feedback directly to them and I can almost assure you, your positive feedback will make their day. Speakpipe.com/YCBK is our preferred method for you to ask a question and we will be prioritizing all questions sent in via Speakpipe. 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 Confirmed interviews not yet completed Bard-Mackie Siebens Rice University-Tamara Siler American University-Andrea Felder Pitzer College-Yvonne Berumen Chapman University-Marcela Meija-Martinez Connecticut College-Andy Strickler* Trinity College-Anthony Berry* College of the Atlantic-Heather Albert* Spelman College-Chelsea Holley* Scripps College-Victoria Romero* Saint Louis University-Daniel Wood-(Interview is about transfer admissions, Daniel is a transfer counselor) Colby College-Randi Arsenault* University of Georgia-David Graves* University of Minnesota-Keri Risic Cornell University-Jonathon Burdick Oberlin College-Manuel Carballo Carleton College-Art Rodriguez Swarthmore-Jim Bok Joy St. Johns-Harvard Duke-Christoph Guttentag Florida State-John Barnhill Southern Methodist University-Elena Hicks Johns Hopkins-Calvin Wise Cornell University-Shawn Felton Haverford College-Jess Lord UAspire-Brendan Williams Yale University-Moira Poe Akil Bello of Akilbello.com Bard College Baylor University Butler University California Institute of Technology-Ashley Pallie Colorado School of Mines Creighton University University of Puget Sound- Robin Aijian   To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our new monthly admissions newsletter, delivered directly to your email once a month, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign-up popup.   Check out our new blog. We write timely and insightful articles on college admissions: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/blog/ Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news, and updates about the podcast before they go live. You can ask questions on Twitter that he will answer on the podcast. Mark will also share additional hot topics in the news and breaking news on this Twitter feed. Twitter message is also the preferred way to ask questions for our podcast:   https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast   1. To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ 2. Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link 3. Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it 4. Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans 5. Every word in that episode when the words loans are used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps 6. 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You will also get instant notifications as soon as each episode goes live.   Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends:   Check out the college websites Mark recommends:   If you want to have some input about what you like and what you recommend, we change about our podcast, please complete our Podcast survey; here is the link:     If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa or Lynda, just text Mark at 404-664-4340 or email Lisa at or Lynda at Lynda@schoolmatch4u.com. All they ask is that you review their services and pricing on their website before the complimentary session. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/