Your College Bound Kid | Admission Tips, Admission Trends & Admission Interviews

In this episode you will hear:   (07:36) In this week’s “In the news segment, an October 25th, 2021 article by Scott Jaschik of “Inside Higher Ed”, “Do applicants lie about their race?” The website intelligent asked 1250 white adults whether they lied about their race when they applied to college. Mark and Dave discuss the results of the survey. Dave and Mark also give their opinion on the content and substance of the article.       (29:46) Dr. Lisa Rouff takes the lead in her discussion with Mark about the pitfalls of perfectionism and how it impacts students. Part 2 of 2     (46:51) Mark interviews Matt McGann, the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Amherst College. Matt helps us to understand, “Amherst College” This is part 2 of 2:   Preview of Part 2   Matt tells us what the 5 College Consortium is and he gives a very brief overview of each of the 5 colleges in the consortium Matt shares the benefits of being at a school that gives you access to the 5 College Consortium Matt tells us what Amherst admissions officers are looking for beyond the three basic things every college wants: Is this a good student, is this a good citizen and will this student plug in and contribute. You don’t want to miss his insightful answer I put Matt on the hot seat and you will learn about a  side of Matt that didn’t come out in the formal part of the interview   Matt’s discussion of Amherst will serve as our College Spotlight.   (54:46) Our recommended resource for episode 201 is Ron Lieber’s book, “The Price You Pay for College: An Entirely New Roadmap for the Biggest Financial Decision Your Family Will Ever Make”   The book does a pretty good job at removing the shroud of secrecy about how decisions about what you will be asked to pay actually works,  so you and your child are not blindsided by an unaffordable offer from a college.     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! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends:   Check out the college websites Mark recommends:   If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on their website first. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear:   (12:32) In this week’s “In the news segment, an October 4th, 2021 article by Scott Jaschik of “Inside Higher Ed”, “Can young alumni get colleges to drop legacy admissions” Dave and Mark and a very special first time guest join them for this discussion. To celebrate episode 200 this special guest also joins Mark and Dave for a second article by Melissa Korn of the Wall Street Journal entitled: “Amherst Drops admissions advantage for children of alumni”       We previously discussed legacy admissions on episodes 121 and 180. Here is the article I referenced in the podcast that appeared in the Atlantic by the President of Johns Hopkins:     (40:00) Dr. Lisa Rouff takes the lead in her discussion with Mark about the pitfalls of perfectionism and how it impacts students. Part 1 of 2     (58:03) Mark interviews Matt McGann, the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Amherst College. Matt helps us to understand, “Amherst College” This is part 1 of 2:   Part 1-Preview Preview of Part 1   Matt gives us an overview of Amherst college Matt explains what the Liberal Arts actually are and he explains why the term, “Liberal Arts” is such poor marketing Matt tells us what he thinks Amherst does very well compared to other schools that students look at, and of course, Amherst has done research on this and he shares that research with us. Matt highlights two things in particular that Amherst does very well, based on their research Matt talks about the percentage of students on campus at Amherst Matt shares the things that Amherst needs to do to be an even better college.   Matt’s discussion of Amherst will serve as our College Spotlight.   (01:05:50) Our recommended resource is the podcast, “Motley Fool Answers”. The podcast does one or two episodes a year on college money but the monthly Mailbag episodes are chalked full of great financial advice to help every family with their finances.   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! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends:   Check out the college websites Mark recommends:     If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on their website first. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear:   (07:52) In this week’s “In the news segment, an October 4th, 2021 article by Allison Tate of “USA Today”, “How important is it to take AP Classes for College Admissions” Dave and Mark answer several questions including: 1) What are AP classes? 2) How important are AP test scores? 3) How many AP courses should a student take? 4) Are all AP classes equal? 5) Do colleges see AP courses and dual enrollment courses as being equal? Plus more     (31:36) Mark and Lisa  answer the following three questions from listeners:   Question 1)  Why does the Common App ask what is the occupation of the parents?  If my husband has an executive management position are colleges going to discriminate against our son? (Kim from Illinois)   Question 2)   I see a lot of colleges we are looking at talk about the QuestBridge college application, what is the QuestBridge college application? Anonymous   Question 3) What is the maximum amount of loan debt a student should take out for an undergraduate degree?   (01:12:15) Mark interviews Matt McGann, the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Amherst College. Matt will be discussing How to get a research opportunity with a college professor. This is part 2 of 2:   Part 2-Preview   Matt talks about some other people besides the professors themselves who are great people to reach out to if you want to do research Matt goes into more depth on the difference between doing research at undergraduate only college versus doing research at a place that has doctoral degrees. Matt talks about how the approach, who your mentor is and how the feel will be different Matt ends our interview by giving advice to a high student, what they can do to get an opportunity to start doing research while in high school with a college professor   (01:23:02) Our recommended resource is The American Council of Higher Education (ACE) website. We particularly want to draw attention to their top stories in Higher Education. This is a great way to stay current on the hot topics in the news beyond the one that Mark and Dave discuss every week on the podcast. https://www.acenet.edu/News-Room/Pages/Todays-Top-Higher-Education-News.aspx   (01:28:46) Our College Spotlight for episode 198 is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, better known as “RPI”. This 36 minute college spotlight will be split over episode 198 and 199. This is Part 2/2   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! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends:   Check out the college websites Mark recommends:     If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on his website first. His website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear:     (09:54) In this week’s “In the news segment, a  September 20th article by Patrick O’Connor of the Counselors’ Corner blog, “The media is not a college applicant's best friend” This blog article looks at how what stories the media focuses on out of touch with where most college applicants are at. Mark and Dave discuss why the media focuses on the wrong stories and how their fixation is not in the best interest of college applicants.     (26:09) Mark and Lisa  answer the following two questions from listeners:   Question 1)  My son has lost interest in a specific college because he thinks the acceptance rate is too high; what can you tell him? Ann from Illinois   Question 2)  If the school meets a full financial need, how can they prevent having too many "needy" students accepted in a given class and still remain need-blind? Tazin from California   (56:06) Mark interviews Matt McGann, the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Amherst College. Matt will be our interview for the next four weeks. The first two weeks he discusses, how to get a research opportunity with a college professor. The following two weeks he will help us to understand Amherst College. Here is an outline of the interview:   Part 1-Preview   Matt gives his backstory including his admission experience Matt tells us what he majored in when in college, and how he applied his major in the real world Matt tells us what research actually is, and you will love his definition of research! Matt tells us about his own research that he has done Matt lets us know how doing research at an undergraduate college differs from doing research at a university that offers doctoral degrees Matt tells us where a student should start when they want to do undergraduate research     (01:04:03) Our recommended resource is to look at the college career centers for any school on your student’s list. We feature RPI’s Center for Career and Professional Development as an example of this treasure trove of a resource that you want to check out for the college’s on our student’s list:   (01:18:30) Our College Spotlight for episode 198 is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, better known as “RPI”. This 36 minute college spotlight will be split over episode 198 and 199.   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! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends:   Check out the college websites Mark recommends:     If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on his website first. His website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear:   (07:50) In this week’s “In the news segment, a  September 20th article by Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed, “Admissions Survey in a Wild Year” This article looks at the results of a survey that over 200 colleges completed that looks at how covid impacted admissions in 2020. Dave shares some of the key findings from the survey and then Mark and Dave discuss two very interesting takeaways from the survey     (27:32) Mark and Lisa and Sylvia answer three questions that listeners who completed our questionnaire wrote on the questionnaire:   Question 1)  You talk about all the great resources like college reviews and course catalogs to help students learn about schools. What if your student refuses to engage with any of those resources or won't do the things they need to do to complete their applications?   Question 2)  What is the right balance of parent involvement vs student ownership in this process?   Question 3) What to do if your kid doesn’t do a lot of activities?   (01:09:26) Mark interviews Kevin Newton who founded, “An Education Abroad”. Mark knows Kevin because if someone comes to Mark and asks, can you help me go to college at a place other than Canada or the US, Mark turns that family over to Kevin to work with. Kevin talks about going overseas for college (beyond one year of study abroad) in this interview. Here is an outline of Part 2 of 2:   Kevin Newton of “An Education Abroad” discusses the University of Edinburgh in Scotland; he explains how their admissions process works Kevin explains how Americans are perceived in the UK and other International schools Kevin explains whether your extracurricular activities matter for International schools Kevin shares more reasons why students go to university in another country   No college spotlight this week   (01:16:43) We have two recommended books by Dennis Stemmle this week that help college students with time management and procrastination:    Procrastination Solutions For College Students: The Underground Playbook For Overcoming Procrastination And Achieving Peak Performance Time Management Secrets for College Students: The Underground Playbook for Managing School, Work, and Fun   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! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends:   Check out the college websites Mark recommends:     If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on his website first. His website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear:   (06:23) In this week’s “In the news segment, an  October 10th article by Jon Marcus of the Hechinger Report, “Most college students don’t graduate in 4 years so the government counts 6 as success”     (23:56) Mark and Lisa talked to 12-15 students at the following three campuses on September 13th and 14th, 2021: Meredith, NC State and Duke. In this segment, they talk about the following:   Where do they find these students? What questions do they ask? How often do they get the cold shoulder? What responses do they get from students? Why are they excited about this practice? Do they believe this is something most students can do?   (39:51) Mark interviews Kevin Newton who founded, “An Education Abroad”. Mark knows Kevin because if someone comes to Mark and asks, can you help me go to college at a place other than Canada or the US, Mark turns that family over to Kevin to work with. Kevin talks about going overseas for college (beyond one year of study abroad) in this interview. Here is an outline:   Kevin gives his backstory and man is it interesting Kevin tells us what his company, “An Education Abroad” does to help students find undergraduate and graduate universities in countries other than the United States Kevin explains the reasons why students choose to go abroad Kevin talks about how you apply to Oxford or Cambridge University     (50:21) Our Recommended resources this week is: Friends, please trust me and check out this absolutely unbelievable reservoir of data in every area imaginable. The website uses colorful graphs and charts. Some MIT students developed this and it is my favorite website for college data and it uses IPEDS data.   (01:02:38) Mark and Lisa talk about the flagship university for the state of Iowa: The University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa:    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! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends:   Check out the college websites Mark recommends:     If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on his website first. His website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear:     (16:25) In this week’s “In the news segment, an  August 11th article by Rick Clark, (Director of Undergraduate admissions at Georgia Tech) from the Georgia Tech admissions blog entitled,  “How the Olympics explains college admissions”. This is Part 1 of 2 on this topic.     (32:53) A listener named Kendra from Maryland asked our hosts to please address teenage suicide given the rash of suicides on college campuses. We wanted to take advantage of Dr. Lisa Rouff’s expertise, so she takes the lead and looks at the causes of teenage suicide, gender differences in suicide, and how covid has impacted mental health. Lisa looks at the state of mental health in our country and on college campuses. She gives us some cues and clues of what to look for, and she tells us what to do if you have reason to believe a teen may be suicidal. Mark shares one service that most campuses have that he feels can be a helpful resource.   (01:02:14) Mark interviews Michael Fong, the founder of “The Student Manager podcast”. Michael is a lifelong California native. This is Part 2 of 2 Michael tells us how a student or parent can search through the episodes that Michael has to see which colleges he is featuring on each episode, so they can listen to a podcast about a specific college or university that is of interest to them. Michael talks about how he routinely asks students where are the best restaurants to eat if students go to your college or university Michael shares insights from the over 100 college campuses that he has visited Michael goes on the hot seat and he is entertaining   Recommended resources this week:   (01:11:34) Lisa shares a great recommended resource for us for this week. It is NAMI is an acronym for the National Alliance on Mental Health. Lisa tells us how to use the helpline to get help for any student in danger of suicide or any other serious mental health problems.   (01:22:55) Mark and Lisa spent the afternoon on the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh on Sept 14th and that is our College Spotlight for the week. Mark’s daughter is also a grad student there in their Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. They talk about life on all three campuses and they share insights from their visits: (https://www.ncsu.edu/)     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! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends:   Check out the college websites Mark recommends:     If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on his website first. His website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear:   (10:35) In this week’s “In the news segment, a September 26, 2019 Washington Post article by Valerie Strauss article entitled, “The truth about college admissions — from college admissions deans. In this article, Strauss assembles a group of quotes that Brennan Barnard (another Washington Post contributor) assembled from Admission Deans. These quotes represent the dean's best doses of wisdom for students. Mark and Dave discuss one quote from Brennan and three quotes from the Dean in this episode. Mark and Dave plan on returning to this article to discuss more of their quotes in future episodes.     (38:56) Dr. Lisa Rouff has a certificate in understanding ADD. Helping adults and adolescents with ADD is part of her professional clinical counseling practice. She takes the lead in answering  a question from Christina:   My very bright son with inattentive ADD declared in 9th grade that he was going to be a B student. Anything higher wasn't worth the extra effort to him. He has high intellectual curiosity, is very bright, and the structure of the school isn't his jam. It seems to me he puts more energy into managing to a B than he would simply doing the work and getting an A (which would be easy for him). Where do kids like that end up? This is the final part of a two part answer that began on episode #193.   (01:05:30) Mark interviews Michael Fong, the founder of “The Student Manager podcast”. Michael is a lifelong California native. Michael Fong gives his backstory, including the creative approach he took to win a scholarship to college Michael tells us about the format of his, “The Student Manager podcast Michael talks about what type of students he chooses to interview on his podcast Michael answers the question, how does he prevent a student who comes on his podcast from giving a biased perspective that would be unfair to the schools he is featuring.   (01:18:40)Recommended resources this week: https://www.mefa.org/   (01:30:40) Sylvia Borgo, our newest team member shares her backstory, and then she takes the lead on our College Spotlight. College Spotlight-University of California San Diego (UCSD), La Jolla, California   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! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: Check out the college websites Mark recommends:     If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on his website first. His website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear:     (11:25) In this week’s “In the news segment, an August 6, 2021  Washington Post article by Susan Paterno entitled, “College rankings have fueled an arms race that has pushed higher education astray”. The article looks at the history of the US News and World rankings. It looks at how the rankings have become so powerful that they now control the decisions that educators are making about how to run their colleges and universities. The article shares examples of a few universities that invested hundreds of millions of dollars into studying the rankings and making changes to climb the rankings. Some equate rankings with excellence, but this article exposes how that is often not the case. Mark and Dave discuss the article and some of the more salient points that Paterno makes in the article. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/08/06/college-rankings-have-fueled-an-arms-race-that-has-pushed-higher-education-astray/   (35:50) Dr. Lisa Rouff has a certificate in understanding ADD. Helping adults and adolescents with ADD is part of her professional clinical counseling practice.   She takes the lead in answering  a question from Christina:   My very bright son with inattentive ADD declared in 9th grade that he was going to be a B student. Anything higher wasn't worth the extra effort to him. He has high intellectual curiosity, is very bright, and the structure of the school isn't his jam. It seems to me he puts more energy into managing to a B than he would simply be doing the work and getting an A (which would be easy for him). Where do kids like that end up? Part 1 of 2   (56:10) Mark interviews Lisa Keegan, the VP of Enrollment at Bucknell University. The topic of the interview is: Understanding Bucknell. Our interview will also serve as our College Spotlight because Lisa gives us a great overview of Bucknell University   Lisa kicks off our interview by giving us a 3 to 5 minute overview of who Bucknell is and what makes Bucknell special Lisa talks about what she regards as their most distinctive programs, both those that are well-known as well as those that fall under the radar Lisa discusses a range of offerings Bucknell provides, including their primate labs and their three colleges. Lisa describes double majoring at Bucknell Mark asks Lisa to discuss Bucknell’s reputation, where is it stellar and where can it be improved? Schools have personalities, and Lisa describes what Bucknell’s personality is? Lisa tells us who Bucknell’s cross-apps are, these are the schools they also apply to when they apply to Bucknell Lisa tells us how demonstrated interest is factored in to admissions decisions Lisa addresses the question, Are students admitted into specific colleges or into Bucknell as a whole? Lisa answers the question, how is Bucknell different than Elon, a school where Lisa spent two decades at. Lisa and Mark discuss, “need-aware” admissions: how does the ability to pay factors into admission decisions at Bucknell? Lisa talks about some of the rich traditions that Bucknell has.     (01:15:23) Two Recommended resources this week: 1) The place to go to get what Mark believes is the best step by step FAFSA Walkthrough video:   2) The College Admission Insider podcast. This is one of Mark’s favorite College Admission podcasts. It is produced by the admission officers at Bucknell University:   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! Check out the college admissions books Mark recommends: Check out the college websites Mark recommends:     If you want a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on his website first. His website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/

In this episode you will hear:   (10:26) In this week’s “In the news segment, an August 11, 2021  Wall Street Journal article by Douglas Belkin, “The case for a college exit exam”. The article looks at the pros and the cons of having such an exam. It features the main person pushing for this exam. Mark and Dave debate the pros and cons of having such an exam.     (23:45) Mark and Lisa tackle three questions this week. Look for Mark and Lisa to do this more often as they are trying to get caught up when there are at least 30 questions that have been submitted that they have yet to answer.   Question 1 is from Elizabeth from California: Now that most schools are test-optional or test blind for admissions, is there ANY advantage to having your student take the ACT or SAT for the purposes of trying to get merit money?  I wouldn’t want to tell my daughter that she doesn’t have to take the ACT and then end up losing out on merit scholarships because they require them for consideration.  On the other hand, if they are not using them to determine merit scholarships, then I would wonder what is the point of taking them?  What are your thoughts on this? Thank you!   Question 2 is from Ryan from Arizona: In episode 62 you comment on the % of how many students pick each essay prompt. Where did you get this data? I ask so I can look it up in several years when my child is filling out the common app.   Question 3 is from Bobbi from Ohio: I looked at an online cost calculator for a prestigious (but not unattainable) private liberal arts university. One of the questions they asked in their quick calculator was “Are you working with a CBO?”     What does it say about my kid if we are (or, are not) using a CBO in the eyes of an admissions department and/or financial aid office?  How (and WHY) would that change how much we are going to have to pay?   (46:04) Mark interviews Lisa Keegan, the VP of Enrollment at Bucknell University. The topic of the interview is: The priority of fit when building a college list. This is part 2  of a two-part interview.   Preview for Part 2 Lisa is very candid with the pressure administrators feel from trustees about the college’s ranking, so Lisa and Mark have a candid conversation about rankings and how flawed they are as a way of selecting a college. Lisa answers the question, how does a student know whether they will feel a sense of belonging at a campus? Lisa shares some great ideas of what to do on a college visit that go beyond the traditional information session and tour Mark asks Lisa if “fit” can change from when you start the process to when you are finishing up?   (53:50) Recommended resource: The place to go to get a FSA ID. At least one parent and the student will need to get their own FSA ID to access Federal grants, loans or the Federal Work study program.   (01:02:04) College Spotlight:  Meredith College https://www.meredith.edu/   Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news,  and updates about the podcast before they go 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 a college consultation with Mark or Lisa, just text Mark at 404-664-4340. All he asks is that you review the services on his website first. His website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/