
Your College Bound Kid | Admission Tips, Admission Trends & Admission Interviews
YCBK 529: An interview with Jim Bock, Dean and VP at Swarthmore College-3 of 3
Apr 24, 2025
01:38:20
In this episode you will hear: (01:55) In The News Vince Garcia and Mark Stucker discuss observations from admission decisions from this year’s class. Part 2 of 3 (18:27) Question from a listener: Mark and Hillary answer a question from a listener about how her student can demonstrate interest effectively (39:37) Interview: Mark Stucker and David Blobaum, The Co-Founder of Summit Test Prep Debate whether selective colleges should make the SAT or the ACT mandatory-Part 3 of 3 Preview of Part 3 of 3 ² I share a position that one of MIT’s competitors has that I agree with ² I share a reason why I do not believe using first year GPA is a valid way to see how well a non-test submitter is doing in college ² David pushes back a little and shares why there is some validity to looking at first year GPA ² David talks about the “big fish small pond concept” that Malcolm Gladwell uses ² I push back by talking about individual autonomy over your own life decisions ² David shares the most compelling reason why he holds his view ² David and I talk about how test scores can increase your merit scholarship ² David goes on the hotseat ² Mark adds a few comments about things he thought of after the debate was over (01:09:55) College Spotlight-Jim Bok Interview, Understanding Swarthmore College Preview of Part 3 ² I ask Jim to talk about Swarthmore’s wooded arboretum campus ² I ask Jim to share how Swarthmore and Haverford are different ² Jim shares a little about the bi-co and tri-co consortiums ² Jim explains what it means for a college to be a Liberal Arts school ² Jim explains what skillset a Swarthmore liberal arts education inculcates in its graduates ² I ask Jim about several financial challenges colleges are facing and I ask him how these financial challenges are impacting admissions ² I ask Jim if he sees selecting colleges that are not land locked trying to expand their class size as a way of bringing in more revenue. ² Jim goes on the hot seat in our lightning round Speakpipe.com/YCBK is our method if you want to ask a question and we will be prioritizing all questions sent in via Speakpipe. Unfortunately, we will NOT answer questions on the podcast anymore that are emailed in. If you want us to answer a question on the podcast, please use speakpipe.com/YCBK. We feel hearing from our listeners in their own voices adds to the community feel of our podcast. 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. 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. We will include many of the hot topics being discussed on college campuses. Check out our new blog. We write timely and insightful articles on college admissions: 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. Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point 7. You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript We would be honored if you will pass this podcast episode on to others who you feel will benefit from the content in YCBK. Please subscribe to our podcast. It really helps us move up in Apple’s search feature so others can find our podcast. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! If you want to help more people find Your College-Bound Kid, please make sure you follow our podcast. 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 we ask is that you review their services and pricing on their website before the complimentary session; here is link to their services with transparent pricing: https://schoolmatch4u.com/services/compare-packages/
Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts
Save insights instantly, chat with episodes, and build lasting knowledge - all powered by AI.