YCBK 211: Interview with UCLA admission dean

(13:06) In this week’s “In the news” segment, we discuss two articles on the same topic, that both came out on January 10th, 2022. The first is by Melissa Korn in the Wall Street Journal entitled, “Yale, Georgetown, other Top Schools illegally collude to limit Student Financial Aid Lawsuit Alleges. The second article is by Ivana Saric of Axios and it is entitled, “Lawsuit alleges top colleges illegally collude to limit student financial aid”   Dave and Mark discuss what the lawsuit alleges and Mark explains why he thinks one part of the lawsuit Is bogus but another could pose a serious threat to these college’s assertion that they are need-blind.           (31:44) Two Questions from our listeners   Living in the Northern VA area, many parents feel when their child is applying to VA highly selective schools (W&M, UVA), there is a bias against NOVA high schools. I’ve heard from several parents there is a “quota” system and they only let a tiny number in from each high school, even if they are well above the middle 50% of applicants. Have you found this to be true?  Jennifer from Virginia   How do I select a college? Student from New Jersey   (50:17) Mark interviews Gary Clark, the Dean of undergraduate admissions at UCLA and Gary helps us to understand UCLA.  Preview (Part 1/2) Gary gives what I call the elevator speech, a high level overview of who UCLA is The approach we take is similar to the approach I just took with Courtney Hatch-Blauvelt and Michael Ireland, 90% of the questions are ones that you sent in, and I ask Gary your questions Gary explains how the comprehensive review process works for applications to UCLA Gary shares a few unique things that UCLA does that some of the otther UC’s don’t do when they are evaluating an applicant Gary tells us what ELC is and he explains how it works in the UCLA admissions process. Gary discusses whether grade inflation at a particular high school is something they look at, or is an A and A no matter what high school the student is coming from.   (01:01:18) Our recommended resource for episode 211 is the website This website has a wealth of information about the colleges you are visiting and it is very user friendly for accessing by phone. It is great to use in the car when you are visiting colleges.   (01:13:52) Mark and Lisa have our 3rd and final debate about whether Connecticut College acted inappropriately by telling a student that they will admit the student if the student will withdraw their test score and apply as a test-optional applicant.   To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under “the Listen to our podcast icons”   Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news,  and updates about the podcast before they go live:     To access our transcripts, click: 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. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans is used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript   Feel free to pass this podcast on to others who you feel will benefit, even if they are not a YCBK listener.   Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: . 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 subscribe to 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, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All they ask is that you review the services on their website before the complimentary session. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/