The College Metropolis Podcast: College Admissions Talk for High School Students and Parents

#119 – On this episode, we begin a series of episodes about the steps to follow as you make your list of schools to which you will apply. Be begin by presenting academics, social, and affordability, as the 3 areas in which the schools that make you list should provide you a good match. We continue by highlighting the importance of the experience that you will enjoy in a school, as being central to your education. In essence, your college education will be more than the collection of classes you take, and will include all other extracurricular activities carefully drafted by the schools themselves. Jankel and I present the 5 steps that we will present in the following episodes, starting with Step # 1: Uncovering Your Personal Preferences. On this step, we begin by discussing the importance of choosing schools in locations appropriate to you. We describe the differences between urban, suburban, and rural campuses, and the experiences students will enjoy at each. We also present New York University, Villanova University, and Pacific Union College as examples of each. You will find the show notes for this episode at https://www.collegemetropolis.com. You can help our podcast greatly by giving us a 5-star rating and leaving us a positive review on the podcast platform you used to download this episode. That kind gesture will go a long way in helping us reach out to more students and parents. Thank you!

#118 – On this episode we continue our conversation about the different types of colleges and universities you will encounter as you prepare to make a list of colleges and universities to which you will apply. Jankel and I begin by discussing the very important issue of affordability. We proceed to uncover different types of colleges, including those that are considered to be elite institutions, liberal arts colleges, women’s colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Roman Catholic institutions, and what students will find at conservative or liberal colleges and universities You can access the show notes for this episode at https://www.collegemetropolis.com. Please help us reach a wider audience by giving us a 5-star rating and leaving us a positive review. That is the best way you can help our efforts. We truly appreciate it! Thank you!

#117 – There will be a time in the life of the college-bound high school student when making a list of colleges and universities will be a priority. The schools in the list will be the ones to which he or she will be sending an application for admission. On this episode, we begin a series of episodes that explores the different types of colleges and universities available to students. Not all colleges are the same. We begin by uncovering the differences between each different type and give you an understanding of what students in those institutions may experience. In truth, there is no institution that is perfect for every student. While some institutions offer a great fit to some students, for other students with different needs and wants, those same institutions may not be ideal. This is an important point to consider because, for some students, attending an institution that is not ideal may prove to be an obstacle to learning. After listening to this episode, you will be able to discern the differences between the different schools, and begin to identify the types of schools that offer you or your kid a better fit. You can access the show notes for this episode at https://www.collegemetropolis.com. Please help our podcast by giving us a 5-star rating and leaving us a positive review on the podcast platform you used to download this episode. That kind gesture will go a long way in helping us reach out to more students and parents. Thank you!

#116 – Today, we talk about a difficult reality that that many high school students and families experience each year, receiving rejections from colleges that those students aspired to attend. Although rejections (a word I do not like to use in college admissions) are a normal part of the application process, they are never easy to deal with.

For the majority of students, applying to college usually comes after hard work and years of dedication throughout high school. By the time they turn in their applications, those students would have gotten to know, and even love, some of the schools to which they apply.

Rejections from those institutions comes as a hard blow to those students, and to their parents, who suddenly find themselves witnessing what seems to be the dreams of their kids being crushed. On this episode, Jankel and I share valuable gems from the Forbes magazine article titled, “Parenting the Disappointed College Applicant,” by Brennan Barnard. 

We go over some of the most important points in the article, and present them along with our personal and professional insights and observations. And it is those insights and observations that we present as the “7 Points to Help Your Family Take the Right Steps and Come Out Ahead.”

As the article mentions, the college admission process is not fair, nor was it meant to be. Rejections are possible and, in some cases, should be expected. However, there are ways to prepare for them, and when they present themselves, there are steps to take to ensure the applicant remains in the right frame of mind and forges ahead.

You can access the show notes for this episode at https://www.collegemetropolis.com. Please help us reach other high school students and parents by giving us a 5-star rating, and leaving us a positive review. That will truly help us be found more easily in the different podcasting platforms. 

Thank you!

#115 – On this episode, Jankel and I give you six steps to take and points to consider if you are “waitlisted” by a college or university that you absolutely want to attend. We begin the episode by explaining how a wait list works and how students get selected by from a wait list. Throughout the episode, we uncover the chances you will have to be admitted from a wait list, the steps that can be taken to help yourself if you are ever placed in one, and the ways in which accepting admission from a wait list could end up costing you financially. We end the episode by sharing three actions to take to minimize some of those possible financial costs. You can access the show notes for this episode at https://www.collegemetropolis.com. Please help us increase our reach by giving us a 5-star rating, and leaving us a positive review. We will truly appreciate it. Thank you!

#114 – There will be a time, usually a few weeks after you turn in your college applications, when you will begin to receive responses from the colleges and universities to which you applied. The responses may say you have been given admission, placed on a waitlist, or denied admission. On this episode we walk you through the steps you should take for the schools that give you admission. These steps will help you narrow down your choice to the one school, from among the schools that accepted you, that you absolutely feel is the best one for you. Additionally, we talk about the Financial Aid Award Letter that you will receive from each school that gives you admission, and highlight important areas of it that will help you understand how affordable each school will be. We will give you several pieces of practical advice to help you make wise choices. You can access the show notes for this episode at https://www.collegemetropolis.com. We invite you to please give us a 5-star rating and to leave us a positive review on your podcasting platform of choice. In doing so, you would be helping us grow our community. Thank you!

#113 – The reasons why highly selective schools give admission to some students, while rejecting others students who may appear to be better qualified baffles the minds of a great many families each year. On this episode, we present you with the behind-the-scenes activities and processes that highly selective schools follow as they sort through the many applications they receive, and decide on which students will be admitted. We highlight the reasons why there is no possible foolproof formula to gain admission into highly selective school. Jankel and I uncover the term, “Institutional Priorities,” and use it to explain why colleges and universities may look for a slightly different type of students to admit each year. Throughout the episode we make several general statements about what to expect when applying to a highly selective institution. These statements are not meant to dissuade you or persuade you to apply to one. Rather, we make those statements to give information that will help you find the right frame of mind. For example, we state and give the reasons why no student should count of admission to any highly selective school as a “sure thing”, regardless of academic and non-academic preparation. Towards the end of the episode we encourage you to spend the time and energy that is necessary to make a list of colleges that is well balanced, with a number of schools to which you will have a very good chance of admission based on your qualifications, a number of schools to which admission is likely but not sure (50-50), and a number of schools to which admission is a stretch (highly selective schools). We also remind you of the importance of applying to schools that offer “you” a good fit. You can access the show notes for this episode at https://www.collegemetropolis.com. Please help our efforts by giving us a 5-star rating, and leaving us a positive review. We thank you in advance!

#112 - On this episode, we present advice given by the California Institute of Technology for students seeking admission into selective colleges and universities. We focus on what Caltech says students should do, especially when standardized tests are not part of the admission requirements. We begin by describing what is mean by having great academic preparation, the importance of math and humanities courses for research institutions, and what to do to ensure that your application stands out. This episode is a continuation from the previous episode in which Caltech presented advice on how to prepare during the summer breaks. You can access the show notes for this episode at https://www.collegemetropolis.com. Please help us by giving us a 5-star rating, and leaving us a positive review. That will go a long way in helping us other parents and students who will also find this information useful. Thank you!

#111 - On this episode, we provide helpful information for all of you who are interested in applying to highly-selective colleges and universities. Rather than sharing information out of our knowledge and experience, we decided to let Caltech do all the talking. Caltech has a wealth of advice to give high school students on how to best prepare to present yourselves as competitive applicants. Although this advice is being presented by Caltech, they make it available to you so you could prepare for other schools that also have small admission rates. This information is also very helpful in helping you prepare for schools that have selective admission criteria that may not be as strict as that of highly-selective schools. Jankel and I present Caltech’s advice on what students should do in their high school summers. That is to say, not just what to do during the summer immediately before applying to college, but during all summers. Additionally, this episode will give you a deeper understanding of what admission officers at schools of the caliber of Caltech will expect to see in each application. You can access the show notes for this episode at https://www.collegemetropolis.com. Please help our efforts by giving us a 5-star rating, and leaving us a positive review. That kind gesture will go a long way in helping us other parents and students who will also find this information useful. Thank you!

#110 – Today, Jankel and I continue presenting the factors students should condering when selecting the colleges and universities that should make it to their final list of schools. That is the list of schools to which admission applications will be submitted. Additionally, we go over the typical ways in which students select colleges and analyze the pros and cons of each. You can access the show notes for this episode at https://www.collegemetropolis.com. Please help our efforts by giving us a 5-star rating, and leaving us a positive review. That kind gesture will help us reach many other high school students and parents around the world. Thank you!