August 05, 2025

612: Admission Nutrients (Part 6 of 6: Intellectual Curiosity): Important Ingredients for a Well-Balanced College Admission Process—And Life with Hillary Dickman

1 hour 27 minutes

Welcome back to the podcast! This is our sixth and final chapter of our series on admission nutrients — qualities that can make for a healthier, more meaningful college admission process… and life.

In case you missed it, we started with collaboration, with Raissa Diamante (Director of admission from Harvey-Mudd College), then I sat down with Deanna Dixon, (Dean of Admission at Smith College) to talk about leadership, then Tom met with Dysean Alexander (Assistant Director for West Coast Admission at Lafayette College) to talk about consistent engagement and Nathan Faust (Loyola Marymount University) to talk about service to others.

Today we conclude the series by talking about intellectual curiosity with Hillary Dickman from Colorado College. In our conversation, Hillary and I cover a lot of ground, including:

What is intellectual curiosity in the context of the college admission process?
Where does intellectual curiosity show up in a student’s application?
Why is it important in the admissions process at Colorado College and how does their approach to identifying intellectual curiosity differs from other liberal arts colleges?
What is Colorado College’s latest supplemental essay prompt?
Advice for both students and parents as they navigate this process
And more!

Hillary Dickman is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area and holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Speech Communication from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She began her career in higher education teaching public speaking, interpersonal communication, and intercultural communication at the University of Cincinnati and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Since 2021, she’s been part of the admission team at Colorado College, where she’s worked on scholarship programs, the counselor advisory board, and now focuses on print and email marketing. She’s also navigated the college admission process as a parent — her older child is a recent graduate of Wellesley College, and her younger one is a student at Colorado College.

I hope you enjoy this conversation. I certainly did.

Play-by-Play:

3:09 – What do college admission counselors do during the summer?
4:55 – What are some of the roles that Hillary plays at Colorado College?
8:56 – What makes Colorado College a unique school?
10:39 – What is intellectual curiosity in the context of the college admission process?
17:43 – Where does intellectual curiosity show up in a student’s application?
22:29 – What are some examples of intellectual curiosity from over the years?
32:29 – What do students or parents misunderstand about intellectual curiosity?
40:01 – Why is intellectual curiosity important at Colorado College?
48:22 – What is Colorado College’s latest supplemental essay prompt?
57:10 – What if the thing I’m curious about has nothing to do with my major?
1:00:18 – What advice does Hillary give to students for writing their personal statement?
1:04:03 – How long does Hillary spend reading an essay and the application as a whole?
1:09:54 – How does Hillary recommend students get started with the writing process?
1:13:58 – What are Hillary’s thoughts on using ChatGPT in the application process?
1:18:16 – What is demonstrated interest and why is it important to Colorado College?
1:24:00 – What does Hillary hope that students and parents will keep in mind throughout this process?

Resources:

College Partnerships with CEG
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow, the secret to happiness (TED)
CEG Podcast Episode 506: Demonstrated Interest: What Is it, Why Is it Important, and How Do You Show it? with Dean of Enrollment Christine Bowman
What is Demonstrated Interest? A Practical How-To Guide
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