YCBK 283: Want to get into Penn? Show a little gratitude—on an essay prompt

In this episode you will hear:   (24:43)Mark and Vince discuss two articles. The first one is a Forbes article by Brennan Barnard entitled, “College Admissions: Thanks in Advance” The second article appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on October 1, 2022 by Susan Snyder and the article is entitled, “Want to get into Penn? Show a little gratitude—on an essay prompt.   (38:09) Mark and Lisa answer a question from Gina from Raleigh, NC: I understand what need-aware admissions is but how does it work?   (01:01:03) Mark starts a brand-new interview with Wendy Beckemeyer, the VP of enrollment at Cornell College. Over the next three Thursdays, Wendy will help us to understand what makes Cornell College special. Preview of Part 1   Wendy gives her backstory and her husband’s background. Wendy discusses the six different schools she has done admissions at Wendy shares what distinguishes Cornell College from other colleges Wendy explains what “Block breaks” and “Block friends” are Wendy discusses “One course at a time” and ADD and ADHD Wendy talks about each of the four core values that Cornell College emphasizes Wendy talks about how Cornell has a distinction as a campus that only two colleges in the country share Wendy shares the three things she consistently hears that students and parents are looking for Wendy talks about the upgrades Cornell made to their facilities with the 100 million they have invested in their campus recently. Wendy talks about some of the strongest majors on campus   (01:10:40) The recommended resource is The HBO film “My So-Called High School Rank” It follows three high school drama departments performing a musical that depicts a dystopian society where students’ class rank determines every part of their future.   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 but if you are not comfortable with this, we will also receive your questions either on Twitter at @YCBKpodcast using the Messages tab or via email at 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* Washington University St Louis-Ronne Turner University of Wisconsin-Andre Phillips University of Illinois-Brian Hodges Purdue University-Mitch Warren University of Minnesota-Keri Risic Cornell University-Jonathon Burdick Oberlin College-Manuel Carballo UW-Madison-Andre Phillips 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 Colorado School of Mines Creighton University   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 them 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   To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. 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