Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:

• Aviva Legatt’s journey into and through college
• Why she became an Ivy League college admissions officer
• What that job taught her about common application missteps
• How to determine which school is right for you and show them you’re right for it
• Month-by-month application checklist for high school seniors.

Our guest is:

Dr. Aviva Legatt, who has been in the higher education field for over fifteen years. She is a faculty member in Organizational Dynamics at the University of Pennsylvania and at The Wharton School, teaching in-person and online through Coursera. She has a column in Forbes about issues affecting higher education, and is the author of Get Real and Get In: How to Get Into the College of Your Dreams by Being Your Authentic Self (St. Martin's Griffin, 2021).

Our host is:

Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life, who attended college on a writing scholarship. She chose the school for its pet policy, relationship with the natural environment, and faculty-student ratio. She is a historian of women and gender.

Listeners to this episode might be interested in:

• The Enlightened College Applicant: A New Approach to the Search and Admissions Process by Andrew Belasco and Dave Bergman
• Fiske Guide to Colleges
• College Admission Essentials: A Step-by-Step Guide to Showing Colleges Who You Are and What Matters to You by Ethan Sawyer
• How To College :What To Know Before You Go (and When You’re There) by Andrea Malkin Brenner and Laura Hope Schwartz
• Show Them You're Good: A Portrait of Boys in the City of Angels the Year Before College by Jeff Hobbs
• The Merit Myth: How our Colleges Favor the Rich and Divide America by Anthony Carnevale, Peter Schmidt, and Jeff Strohl
• A Discussion of the book How To College: What To Know Before You Go (and When You’re There) 
• A Discussion of the book Show Them You’re Good

You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN.

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