Today we highlight Brennan Barnard's visit to the Office Hours podcast where him and host Will Geiger talk about the myth of the "dream school" and how to frame the college search process before diving into the AI transformation happening in the college admissions world.

LINKS:

Truth About College Admissions Newsletter

Office Hours Podcast

Office Hours Host: Will Geiger

Office Hours Guest: Brennan Barnard

TACA Host: Rick Clark

TACA Production: Jack Purdy

Today, we divert off the beaten path for The Truth About Admission Podcast as we highlight Rick Clark's appearance on the Something Personal podcast, where he goes into his lessons learned from multiple decades of working in college admissions, how to pay for college, and his advise on keeping perspective during the college search process.

LINKS:

Truth About College Admission Newsletter

Something Personal Podcast Feed

Something Personal host: Amy Laburda

Something Personal guest: Rick Clark

TACA Production: Jack Purdy

Rick and Brennan are joined by Emily Roper Doten, Dean of Admissions at Brandeis University, to talk about her experiences in helping develop liberal arts programs for the current job economy and how her career leading up to Brandeis has influenced her ability to be a leader in her space.

LINKS:

Truth About College Admissions Newsletter

"Brandeis Pours $25M Into Careers-Focused Liberal Arts" - Inside Higher Ed

Hosts: Brennan Barnard, Rick Clark

Guest: Emily Roper Doten

Production: Jack Purdy

Rick and Brennan are joined by Jed Applerouth, founder of Applerouth Education, to talk about the origins of Applerouth, the differences and simlarities between the SAT and ACT, how to decide when is enough test prep, why the science section is leaving the ACT, and how to best approach standardized testing.

LINKS

The Truth About College Admission Newsletter

Jed Applerouth Bio

Applerouth

Hosts: Brennan Barnard, Rick Clark

Guest: Jed Applerouth

Production: Jack Purdy

Rick and Brennan are joined by Ken Anselment, Vice President for Enrollment Management at RHB, to talk about his journey in higher ed, learnings at RHB, how schools approach early decision, and how high schoolers now can approach the pace they attack the admissions process.

LINKS

Truth About College Admission Newsletter

Ken Anselment Bio

The Admissions Leadership Podcast

Rick Clark on The Admissions Leadership Podcast

Climbing The Admissions Leadership Peak - Anselment

"Why Did I Say "Yes" to Speak Here?" - Gladwell

"Early Decision Applicants: The College Admission VIPs" - The Application Trail

Hosts: Brennan Barnard, Rick Clark

Guest: Ken Anselment

Production: Jack Purdy

To kick off the season, Brennan and Rick are joined by returning champion, Juan Espinoza (Vice Provost for Enrollment Management at Virginia Tech), to dive into how Virginia Tech has adopted artificial intelligence to help with the essay reading process, how that has affected their timeline, and his advice to students approaching the essay writing process this fall.

LINKS

The Truth About College Admission Newsletter 

Juan Espinoza

Humans And AI Collaborate To Review College Admission Essays - Forbes

Hosts: Brennan Barnard, Rick Clark

Guest: Juan Espinoza

Production: Jack Purdy

Rick and Brennan are back from summer vacation and ready for the FOURTH(!) season of The Truth About College Admission Podcast. Today, the pair recap their summers, preview a format update to the episodes this season, and reflect on a word they're thinking about for the upcoming admissions cycle.

LINKS

Brennan's Substack: The Application Trail

The Truth About College Admission Newsletter

Hosts: Brennan Barnard, Rick Clark

Production: Jack Purdy

In our Season 3 bonus episode, Rick and Brennan visit the College Parent Central podcast with Elizabeth Hamblet and Vicki Nelson to talk about communication during the college search, realistic expectations, how schools evaluate prospective students, how college is an opportunity, and focusing on long term relationships with family.

See the video version here

Hosts: Elizabeth Hamblet, Vicki Nelson

Guests: Brennan Barnard, Rick Clark

Production (TACA cut): Jack Purdy

In the Season 3 finale of The Truth About College Admission, Rick and Brennan go over their favorite episodes from the season, what news items in higher education have caught their eyes lately, and what this summer they will be keeping tabs on as we head into the 2025-2026 college admission cycle.

Links:

Loper

Scoir

The Truth About College Admission Newsletter

June Essay webinar with Shereem Herndon-Brown and Allison Slater Tate

The Truth About Navigating the Admission Process - Dr. Ramon Blakley

The Truth About Value - Dan Porterfield

The Truth About International Admission - Sara Riggs and Karen Bartlett

"International Students By The Numbers" - Inside Higher Ed

"A Call for College Application Innovation" - Inside Higher Ed

Hosts: Brennan Barnard, Rick Clark

Production: Jack Purdy

Brennan and Rick are joined by returning guests Diane Campbell and Allison Slater Tate to run through their impressions of the last academic year and what the summer should look like for rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors.

LINKS

The Truth About Artificial Intelligence and Applying to College

Diane Campbell Bio

The Truth About Admission at the Holidays

Allison Slater Tate

The Truth About Mindful Communication Between Families and Their Students

Georgia Tech Admission Blog on summer

Loper App

The Truth About College Admission Newsletter

Hosts: Brennan Barnard, Rick Clark

Guests: Diane Campbell, Allison Slater Tate

Production: Jack Purdy