Admissions Beat

With most applicants entering the final weeks of the college application season, Dean Lee Coffin of Dartmouth has assembled a “home stretch" toolkit of advice for high school seniors and their parents. In Part 1 of the two-part Admissions Beat season finale, the action items include: putting the last touches on a balanced college list; assembling the remaining pieces of an application; monitoring deadlines, and being sure that students register, typically via email, for the application portals that colleges use to request and convey time-sensitive information. But the most timely advice may be for those applicants who find themselves cornered  at their Thanksgiving tables by well-intentioned relatives seeking to pepper them (as opposed to the mashed potatoes) with rapid-fire questions about their college admissions process. Joining Dean Coffin are two seasoned counselors with experience on both the high school and college sides of the admissions equation: Sherri Geller, the co-director of college counseling at Gann Academy in Waltham, Mass., and a former admissions officer at Brandeis and Northeastern, and Ronnie McKnight, associate director of college counseling at Paideia School in Atlanta, and a former admissions officer at Emory and Presbyterian College in South Carolina.

How do admissions officers read and interpret high school transcripts, the official academic record of the courses an applicant has taken in high school and the grades received? And what role do “school profiles” play? They are the narrative descriptions that high school counselors prepare for admissions offices, chock full of context on a school's student body as a whole, and the wider community the school serves, among other details critical to assessing an applicant and application. In this encore episode of Admissions Beat, from November 2021, host Lee Coffin of Dartmouth explains that transcripts are so much more than “numbers,” and that those primary source documents reveal not only how an applicant has performed in the classroom thus far, but their potential to soar in a university setting. Dean Coffin is joined by Calvin Wise, director of recruitment at Johns Hopkins University, along with two experienced college counselors: Darryl Tiggle of the Friends School of Baltimore, a Quaker school, and Candice Mackey of the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, a large public high school.

This week on Admissions Beat, host Lee Coffin goes deep in conversation with three Dartmouth students to elicit their  perspective on the college admissions process, as well as their advice for current high school seniors in particular. In a frank and wide-ranging conversation, the three undergrads touch on the emotional stress of their admissions process, as well as steps to mitigate it. (Each said they wished they had “chilled out” more.)They provide advice on telling your story with authenticity (and without straining to imagine what an admissions officer might want to hear). They share ways to research and consider options for financial aid at various institutions. And they emphasize the importance of being open to self-discovery and exploration. They also reflect on those aspects of the admissions process that are within an applicant’s control, including the unique attributes that each student brings to it. Or, as one of the panelists says: if the admissions process is a puzzle, “you are your own individual puzzle piece.” Dean Coffin’s guests are: Emma Johnson, a junior from Omaha, Nebraska, majoring in quantitative social sciences with an emphasis on theater as a double major; Gavin Fry, a sophomore from Hornersville, Missouri, currently studying earth science, and Daniel Hernandez, a first-year student from Los Angeles interested in studying government and Mandarin language.

On Oct. 31, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in cases challenging the long-standing use of race as “one factor among many" in the undergraduate admissions processes of Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. While the Justices’ eventual decision is not expected to affect the selection of the Class of 2027, it could have a seismic effect on the processes that admissions offices will use to choose future classes. In this special episode of Admissions Beat, host Lee Coffin, the dean of admissions at Dartmouth College, is joined by James Washington Jr., Dartmouth’s director of admissions for strategic initiatives and the former director of admissions at the University of New Hampshire. Together, they explain how, for a half-century, admissions offices have been legally permitted to consider an applicant’s race and ethnicity as one component in an application — along with grades, teacher recommendations, essays, academic interests, and activities, among other elements — as well as the many reasons why. The two veteran admissions officers also take a few moments to gaze into the future, especially if, as is widely expected, the Court rules that the use of race as one factor among many is unconstitutional.

For many families, the cost of a college education — as well as considering the various options for paying for it, and understanding how to apply for financial aid — is among the most stressful aspects of the college search. This week on  Admissions Beat, host Lee Coffin, dean of admissions and financial aid at Dartmouth, is joined by Gordon “Dino” Koff, Dartmouth’s director of financial aid. Together, they break down and explain each step on the path to making a college education affordable. Along the way, they provide definitions of key terms and a checklist of questions about financial aid that applicants and their parents can use to assess the affordability of each institution on their list. This week’s discussion is moderated by former New York Times journalist Jacques Steinberg, co-author of The College Conversation: A Practical Companion for Parents to Guide Their Children Along the Path to Higher Education.

For would-be college applicants, questions about “place” are crucial to the discovery and search process. Place may mean the geographic setting and physical attributes of a campus, and whether students can envision themselves there. But it can also encompass dorms and classrooms, and whether classes are primarily taught by faculty or assistants; the quality of support services, whether academic or social-emotional; and climate, not just the average temperature but also how welcoming and inclusive a college community is. This week on the Admissions Beat, in an encore episode of its predecessor broadcast, The Search, from April 2021, host Lee Coffin of Dartmouth walks students through the many dimensions and definitions of place, and ways they can take the measure of itas they finalize their application plans as the deadlines approach.  He's joined by two guests, both from Duke University: Mary Pat McMahon, vice provost and vice president of student affairs, and Gary Bennett, a professor of psychology and neuroscience who is vice provost for undergraduate education.

As high school seniors seek to narrow the lists of colleges to which they are considering applying, they might size up the potential finalists against a rubric that Dean Lee Coffin of Dartmouth calls “The Four P’s.” They are: program, people, place, and price. But to what extent should a fifth “P" — an institution’s relative prestige, or reputation — factor into the decision-making process? And what about a key driver of reputation — an institution’s standing in the rankings assembled by U.S. News and other entities? In this episode of Admissions Beat, Dean Coffin and his guests explain — and provide perspective on — each of these elements of the college search process, and others, too. He does so in conversation with three veteran college counselors: Kate Ramsdale of the Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, Mass.; Steve Soud of the Isador Newman School in New Orleans; and Geanine Thompson of a Los Angeles-based firm called the College Guru, which provides independent college advising services to families. Dean Coffin and his guests also acknowledge and address the role of emotions in the assembly of a college list — those of students, as well as of their parents and the other adults providing them guidance.

Dean Lee Coffin of Dartmouth says that “any application to any college is the union of two things: data and voice.” In this encore episode of Admissions Beat, first aired in July 2020 on its predecessor podcast, The Search, Dean Coffin turns to the storytelling and narrative elements (and opportunities) of an application. Along with guest Meredith Reynolds, a former Tufts admissions officer who is the associate director of college guidance of Roxbury Latin School in Boston, Dean Coffin provides practical advice and perspective on the two main writing sections of most college applications: the personal statement, as well as the short, supplemental questions that are specific to particular colleges. They are also joined by two college applicants — Rashad Brown Mitchell and Maya Newell — who read excerpts from their college application essays, with Ms. Reynolds and Dean Coffin providing analysis in real-time. As Ms. Reynolds puts it: “Admissions officers are just humans who love a good story.”

For high school seniors, the standardized testing landscape is more of a maze than usual these days. In this episode of "Admissions Beat," host Lee Coffin of Dartmouth provides tips on navigating the complex topography of testing. He is joined by two guests: Stu Schmill, Dean of Admissions and Student Financial Services at MIT, and Leigh Weisenburger, Vice President for Enrollment and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Bates College. Together, they explain the various approaches to the ACT and SAT in the admissions offices of the nation’s more than 2,000 four-year colleges and universities, including those that are test-optional, test-blind, test-flexible, or test-required. Dean Coffin and his guests also provide advice on whether applicants should choose to take such tests when not required to do so, and, if so, how they might decide whether to submit their scores as an element of an application. The deans then take listeners into their respective offices, as they describe how they and their colleagues use SAT and ACT scores as one component among many in the broader admissions process (spoiler alert: context, including as drawn from an applicant’s background, matters).

BONUS EPISODE: This week on “The Admissions Beat,” the tables are turned on our host, Dartmouth Dean of Admissions Lee Coffin, as he’s interviewed by high school senior Aidan ElDifrawi and his father, Ash, on the most recent episode of their podcast, “Hold Me Back,” nominated for a People’s Choice Award.  Their conversation, which we’re pleased to cross-post on the “Admissions Beat” channel, ranged widely. Over the course of the discussion, Dean Coffin shared questions that every prospective college applicant should ask themselves. (What is it that makes you happy? Why did this particular institution land on your list?) He provided reminders of the urgency of this moment on the admissions calendar. (The Common App is live. It is time to start typing.)   And he underscored the need to keep the college admissions process in perspective, including for those who aspire to attend the nation’s most highly selective institutions. (Give yourself space to enjoy your senior year. Make room for joy.)