Getting In: A College Coach Conversation

Ever wonder how you or your child can stand out in the ultra-competitive Ivy League admissions process? The answer is developing a distinguishing excellence. In a continuation of a discussion begun in our last episode of Getting In, we will be answering your questions about what a distinguishing excellence is, and how students can both identify and work towards developing one. For those students aspiring to a professional field of study such as veterinary medicine, pharmacy, or physical therapy, former Cornell senior admissions officer Marj Southworth will be sharing her advice on high school curriculum and extracurricular activity choices. Finally, Kathy Ruby is back to discuss the important question of whether or not a student should work while in college

Do you or your child aspire to the Ivy League or similarly highly selective colleges? Don't miss this episode of Getting In, when former Yale admissions officer Amy Alexander will join us to discuss the basics of admission to the Ivies, including curriculum choices, extracurricular activities, standardized test scores, and more. We'll also welcome Lisa Albro to the show to go over the importance of demonstrated interest in the admissions process and how to most effectively, well, demonstrate interest! Finally, Jeanne Mahan will share her thoughts on assessing the value of a particular college, something top of mind of most parents and students looking at college costs in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Worried about the college admissions essay? Unclear about how to use the prompts provided on the Common App? Wondering what changed about the Common App prompts this year? We've got answers! Elyse Krantz, former senior admissions officer and Common App expert, will share information about the new prompts and how to best use them in the essay process. If you're concerned about college loans, you won't want to miss college finance expert Beth Feinberg Keenan's tips on how much debt parents and students should consider taking on. If early decision, priority admissions, restricted early action, and all the other early options make your head spin, Tova Tolman will be here to help you make sense of your choices. Send us your questions to gettingin.voiceamerica@gmail.com and join us this Thursday!

College decisions are in, and with them, financial aid packages have arrived as well. Wondering how to fully understand the financial implications of those awards for your family? Former senior financial aid officer Laurie Peltier will be here to walk you through tips for evaluating those packages and avoiding award traps. Speaking of those decisions, we'll be talking about them all--admit, deny, waitlist, whether or not you can appeal a deny and how to go about the process of choosing your final school with former Georgetown admissions officer Karen Spencer. And while manyare in the final stages of the application process, some of you are just getting started. With that in mind, Former MIT and Caltech admissions officer Zaragoza Guerra will stop by to discuss what to do when, whether you or your child is a freshman, sophomore, or junior. We'll also be answering your questions live on air, so give us a call at 866-472-5788.

Wondering what it means to be waitlisted and, more importantly, what the likelihood is that your application will actually get switched from waitlist to admit? We'll get some answers from former Swarthmore senior admissions officer Kennon Dick, who will also discuss what students can do to improve--or decrease--those odds. Greg Grauman, assistant vice provost of undergraduate admissions at American University, will join us to share what test optional really means at the institutions that practice it. College finance expert Jeanne Mahan offers tips for reducing college costs once you are enrolled, including some tax breaks you may not know about. In our final segment, we'll take your questions, so send them to us at gettingin.voiceamerica@gmail.com. Even better--call us during the show at 866-472-5788.

What happens when the modern family--divorced, remarried, stepparents, stepchildren and all--applies for financial aid? What do you do if your ex doesn't want to be involved? Will your new spouse be expected to pay tuition for your child from a previous marriage? Join us for the March 19 episode of Getting In, when we'll discuss these issues and more with financial aid expert Beth Feinberg Keenan. We'll also talk through the potential impact of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media outlets on students' college applications with admissions expert Ian Brook Fisher. And if acceptances are starting to roll in and you're wondering about all of those invites to admitted student receptions, admissions expert Becky Leichtling will stop by to talk about whether or not to attend and how to get the most out of your time there if you do. Finally, we'll be answering your questions on air at the end of the show, so send them to us at gettingin.voiceamerica@gmail.com.

Visiting colleges can be time consuming and expensive. On this episode, we'll welcome college visit expert Bill Ruben to talk about getting the most out of those visits, from when to go to what to see and do while you're there. We'll also dig into searching for private scholarships with Stacey MacPhetres, former financial aid offices at Emerson College and Elms College. Got a budding athlete in your house?Alex Santiago, a college athlete and former senior admissions officer at the University of Pennsylvania, will join us to discuss starting the athletic recruitment process. As always, we'll finish up by answering your questions on air, so send them to us at gettingin.voiceamerica@gmail.com.

Can you really reposition family assets to create more financial aid eligibility? Are there ways to hide assets and lower your expected family contribution? Is it possible to get colleges to consider your child financially independent of you? Former Tufts and Boston University senior financial aid officer Shannon Vasconcelos will stop by to address college finance myths and offer real, ethical tips that everyone can use to maximize financial aid eligibility. Kathy Ventura, who heads up the guidance department for Wallington High School in NJ, will join us to discuss how to get the most out of your relationship with your or your child's guidance counselor. Former Tufts University senior admissions officer Becky Leichtling and I will also talk through how the high school that students attend impacts their college applications. Don't forget to send us your admissions and college finance questions at gettingin.voiceamerica@gmail.com. We'll answer as many as we can in our final segment.

Standardized tests are a key component of most college applications. But when should students start taking the SAT or ACT, and how far in advance should they begin to prepare for the tests? We'll talk through these questions with Jake Neuberg, CEO of Revolution Prep. We'll also welcome College Coach finance expert Kathy Ruby to discuss putting together a college list that factors finances and the ability to pay into the equation. For those students and parents who are starting to think about the college essay, College Coach admissions expert Ian Fisher will join us to talk through the first big step: choosing an appropriate topic. As always, we'll wrap up the episode by answering your admissions and finance questions.

Ever wondered what activities colleges most want to see on a student's application? Curious about whether or not community service or sports are required or if a job counts? Former Georgetown admissions officer Karen Spencer will join me to talk about whether or not there are right or wrong things for students to get involved in. In our second segment, Kyra Tyler, former admissions officer at Brandeis, will offer some great suggestions about the nuts and bolts of researching colleges and putting together a list. College finance expert Shannon Vasconcelos will provide her insight on negotiating a better financial aid award. Finally, we'll wrap up the episode by answering your admissions and college finance questions.