June 10, 2025

608: Admission Nutrients (Part 2 of 6: Collaboration): Important Ingredients for a Well-Balanced College Admission Process—And Life with Raissa Diamante

1 hour

In Episode 2 of our series on Admission Nutrients, Ethan is joined by Raissa Diamante, the Director of Admission at Harvey Mudd College, to do a deep dive into collaboration — why is it important to colleges and where does it show up in the application process? Ethan and Raissa get into, among other things:

What does the admission review process look like at Harvey Mudd?
Why is collaboration particularly important (spoiler: it’s one of the main things they look for)?
Tips for the supplemental essay (side note: it’s a prompt they’ve kept some version of over the past 15 years) via a brief analysis of a real essay from a past student
What does Raissa think about students using Chat-GPT / generative AI for their essays?
What do students miss or get wrong about the college admission process?
Can students write about race in their college application essays?
And more!

Raissa Diamante is the Executive Director of Admission at Harvey Mudd College (HMC) in Claremont, CA. She grew up in a mixed immigration status home and is a proud product of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Raissa believes in the power of data in storytelling as a means to operationalizing change. She takes pride in developing and implementing strategies that help make institutions more representative of our society. Prior to HMC, Raissa was the Director of Multicultural Recruitment at Swarthmore College and worked at the Office for Multicultural Affairs at Barnard College. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley and her Master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University. In her spare time, she enjoys playing with her child, working on puzzles, and being an introvert.

We hope you enjoy!

Play-by-Play

2:50 – What are some of Raissa’s roles and identities?
9:02 – What goes on behind-the-scenes in Raissa’s office at Harvey Mudd?
16:50 – Why is collaboration important, from Harvey Mudd’s perspective?
21:24 – Where do collaborative qualities show up in the application?
23:18 – What are some qualities of collaboration that students might not think of?
31:28 – Analyzing a past supplemental essay prompt for Harvey Mudd
41:07 – What does Raissa think about students using Chat-GPT / generative AI for their essays?
48:35 – What do students miss or get wrong about the college admission process?
50:56 – What are some ways that Harvey Mudd is approaching access and equity?
54:32 – Can students write about race in their college application essays?
58:31 – Wrap up and closing thoughts

Resources:

CEG Podcast Episode 605 - Navigating College Applications with AI (Part 1): How High School Teachers and Students Use Tools Like ChatGPT
Navigating College Applications with AI | foundry10
College Essay Guy’s Personal Statement Resources
College Essay Guy’s College Application Hub

...more

View all episodes

By Ethan Sawyer

4.5

217217 ratings