Admissions Beat
Admissions Beat, hosted by Lee Coffin, Dean of Admissions at Dartmouth College, offers guidance for high school students and parents navigating the college admissions process. The podcast provides credible information and insights from over 30 years of experience. It covers topics from the college search to application decision-making and arrival on campus in a reassuring tone.
Episodes
Here We Go Again
With a nod to Dolly Parton's iconic song, two parents ponder their second run through the college admissions process. Is the second time a charm? Are there lessons gleaned from the first search? Can an admissions veteran stay calm as she switches into mom-mode?
A Translation Guide for "Ed-Speak” in a College Search
Holistic? Full demonstrated need? Optional? Admissions and financial aid officers sometimes speak a particular kind of language...but everyone navigating a college search is not always as fluent in "ed-speak." A dean, a guidance counselor, and a financial aid director offer a translation guide to the essential concepts of a college search.
Misinformation on the Suburban Social Circuit
"Information" floods a college search from many spigots, not all of which are reliable or helpful. Each September, social media feeds erupt with advice and comment from various "expert" sources while parental social gatherings and pick-up lines at school are hot spots for admissions news and commentary. This week, four longtime college counselors from Fairfield County in Connecticut, Fort Lauderda
One App, Many Options
In the Season 10 premiere, Common App CEO Jenny Rickard returns to AB for a back-to-school primer on the application used by over 1,100 colleges around the world. Fifty years since it debuted, the Common App has become "the passport for entry" into most selective institutions, and its elements represent the building blocks for a student's personal narrative. "Approach the Common App with clarity a
Odds and Ends
In a "listener mailbag" bonus episode, Jen Simons from Bright Horizons College Coach joins AB host Lee Coffin to answer an array of listener questions. The mailbag queries spark riffs on a wide range of admissions topics from applying to college as a twin to the option of a state honors college to interpreting newsfeed posts about 2026 acceptance rates, the "new Ivies," and "over-rated" colleges.
The Initial Friendship Market
In the season finale, sociologist Janice McCabe offers insights on friendship from her new book Making, Keeping, and Losing Friends, as this fall's entering class makes the transition from home to college. "Belonging is a powerful human need," Professor McCabe notes, and the post-admission period leading up to orientation and the start of classes is what McCabe calls "the initial friendship market
The Transition from Home to College
Hooray, the college search is over! Now what?! As high school seniors become "pre-matrics" on the campus of their choice, a surprising swirl of checklists and emotions arise for students and their parents or guardians. Carleton's dean of students and a longtime college counselor join AB host Lee Coffin for tips and thoughts on successfully transitioning from home to college in the weeks ahead.
The Things I Wish I'd Known...
A live audience of high school seniors and parents at Dartmouth's accepted student open house ponder the lessons of the search they are about to complete. "What are the things you wish you'd known a year ago?" AB host Lee Coffin and former New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg ask them. In response, they offer tips for a meaningful campus visit; they celebrate the importance of vibe over sprea
Guiding the Voyage of Discovery: The College Finder
Guidebooks have been a staple of the college search process since 1982, when The Fiske Guide introduced a new resource to prospective applicants and parents. Today, over 300 titles assess and describe campuses and their offerings as prospective applicants explore and compare options. The co-authors of The College Finder—a voluminous list-based guidebook now in its fifth edition—join AB to reflect
Once a High School Principal, Now an Admissions Officer
In an uncommon career pivot, former high school principal and English teacher Robin Appleby segued from her school-based tenures in the U.S. and internationally to a late-career stint as a college admission officer at Dartmouth. She joins AB host Lee Coffin for a reflection on the lessons drawn from both sides of her academic desk.
AP or Honors, Which Looks Better for Colleges?
The quality of an applicant's senior year program—and the grades achieved in that course of study—are foundational to the academic assessment of any application to a selective college. In an encore episode from Season 5, college counselor Eric Monheim from St Mark’s School in Massachusetts joins SMU’s Elena Hicks and AB host Lee Coffin from Dartmouth to ponder the perennial question: “AP or Honors
Navigating April
For one month each year, two admission cycles overlap as high school seniors and juniors share center stage. As seniors wrap up their searches over the next four weeks and juniors shift into active mode, college counselor Darryl Tiggle from Friends School of Baltimore joins AB host Lee Coffin to map a plan for a purposeful April for both classes.
State You
A "state option" is often recommended as families wrestle with the affordability of college. But focusing on "affordability" of public institutions alone undersells the opportunity and value of a state university as a campus to explore. AB host Lee Coffin welcomes senior admissions leaders from UMass-Amherst and UT-Austin for a comprehensive primer on the state option, and AB producer Charlotte Al
March Madness Part 2: "How Do You Decide?"
"How do you decide?" is one of the most probing questions associated with selective admissions. With so many qualified candidates competing for limited spots, decisions are often presumed to be random for those on the outside of the process. In the second conversation of AB's "March Madness" two-pack, New York Times journalist and best-selling author Jacques Steinberg interviews AB host and Dartmo
March Madness Part 1: Reading Season
In the first of a two-part episode, AB peeks behind the opaque curtain of a selective admissions office in March. Four Dartmouth admission officers join their dean for an introspective conversation about reading applications, which is "the fundamental task we have as admission officers at a college," AB host Lee Coffin notes. As one veteran reader says, "It's my favorite [part of the admissions cy
Follow Me!
Do Instagram or Reddit rival a guidance counselor as a source of admissions information and advice? Can YouTube match or beat an on-campus tour as a measure of vibe and place? Conventional wisdom says Gen Z prefers social media over in-person activities, but a trio of undergrad admissions bloggers at Dartmouth suggests a more cautious role for social media in a college search. The first-year stude
Crunching Numbers
The college admissions process spits out lots of stats. Some numbers are straightforward, or they seem to be, while many data points require a nuanced interpretation from an inside source. Always, an ounce of context goes a long way towards appreciating what a number really means. The admissions deans from Colorado College and Dartmouth offer curious consumers of admissions data a cheat sheet on a
"Let's Just See What Happens..."
By definition, a guidance or college counselor offers counsel as a search takes shape and progresses. But sometimes that advice is resisted by parents and students. A "reach" or a "likely" designation can spark debate as aspirations meet the truth of a competitive forecast of admissibility. "Let's just see what happens..." or "you never know..." are common reactions of resistance. “I know," a vete
Everything Counts!
"What counts?!" is the perennial question asked by parents and students as they wonder what makes a strong application. The answer, it turns out, is complicated. In a re-broadcast of a popular episode from Season 7, the admissions deans at Dartmouth and Brown ponder the nuanced question at hand as they share insights on what admissions officers are—and are not—considering as they build their colle
Discovery Starts With Program
An effective college search starts with discovery. “Start your discovery with the fundamental thing about college,” AB host and Dartmouth Dean Lee Coffin advises. “You are going to college to study, and four ‘Ps’ should guide the first phase of the search. Focus on program, place, people, and price as the building blocks of discovery for each campus." Senior admission officers from Brandeis, Corne
Junior Kickoff!
It's time for the high school class of 2027 to step into the college search spotlight. As juniors kick off their college search, AB resets its narrative spotlight to the discovery phase. In the ninth season premiere, Dartmouth's Lee Coffin welcomes recurring co-host Jacques Steinberg, a former higher ed reporter at the New York Times and the best-selling author of The Gatekeepers and The College C
A Primer on Financial Aid
In a preseason bonus episode, Admissions Beat cross-shares a YouTube conversation about financial aid from the parenting website Grown & Flown featuring AB host and Dartmouth Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid Lee Coffin and AB contributor Jacques Steinberg, former New York Times higher education journalist and bestselling author of The College Conversation. As G&F notes on its YouTube channel: "I
After Early
For the high school Class of ’26, the first college admissions milestone is at hand as early decisions—some binding, some not—land. In AB's season finale, a trio of deans and a college counselor unpack those decisions, offering guidance on the etiquette of an early acceptance as well as reassurance for those with an early outcome that extends a search into regular decision.
Channel Your Main Character Energy
From Grey's Anatomy to Bridgerton, Shonda Rhimes is television's storyteller extraordinaire. The Emmy winner visits AB for a lesson on how to channel main-character energy in an essay or interview. "What would you say to a teenager staring at a blank page, afraid their first draft won’t be good enough?," Dartmouth's Lee Coffin asks her. "Don't overthink your story," Shonda advises. "Just be you."
Strategies for the Road Ahead
"Getting in" is the clear goal for almost every applicant, but a college search also yields valuable lessons for the road beyond the admissions process itself. Angel Perez, CEO of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, returns to Admissions Beat for a Thanksgiving week conversation with Dartmouth Dean Lee Coffin that plumbs the lessons of his career in admissions as strategies
College Is Opportunity
For many students around the world, college presents a rare opportunity to change the arc of a life, to pursue the fabled “American Dream,” where anything can happen for anyone. But for those who are first in their families to attend and graduate from college—a cohort known as “first gen”—the promise of upward mobility means navigating what, for some, can be a mystifying admissions process. “I did
An Admissions Newsfeeding Frenzy
The media's admissions beat is a very active feed each fall as application deadlines approach. Headlines invite clicks, shares, chatter...and often anxiety as students and parents consume newsfeeds that brim with content. But every admissions-themed article is not "news you can use," and some advice columns need a dose of interpretation. This week, AB host Lee Coffin and producer Charlotte Albrigh
Admissions Quiz Bowl
Like most professions, college admissions has its own internal language, and that distinctive style of communicating is especially true as an application is read and summarized. In a special "quiz bowl" episode that fuses NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me with Jeopardy!, four veteran college counselors—all former admission officers who've read thousands of applications themselves—match wits to decode
Can I Afford It?!
Sticker shock is real. Perceptions of college affordability represent one of the biggest concerns that most families navigate as a college search unfolds, with a 2024 survey of US voters revealing that 77% of Americans see college as “unaffordable.” This week, the pod tackles that (mis)perception as Admissions Beat becomes “Financial Aid Beat.” Justin Draeger, SVP for Affordability at Strada Educa
Lessons from the Search: Parent POV
Like so many things, a college search often looks—and feels—better in hindsight. Parents are important eyewitnesses to a search as it unfolds and concludes, and they have plenty of stories to tell. Two parents from suburban communities full of high-achieving, ambitious students share thoughts and lessons from their children's respective searches a year ago. From the parental POV, they reflect on m
Data Dive into the Transcript and Testing
A college application generates a lot of data. "The transcript is the heart of the application," Emily Roper-Doten of Brandeis notes, "and there's a story in that transcript." And while that story seems straightforward, admissions data is easily misunderstood, as a grade point average, SAT score, and class rank (when available) dance with the rigor of a student's curriculum, the teacher recommenda
Let Your Life Speak in 650 Words or Fewer
Let your life speak. That venerable Quaker saying is great advice for any well-constructed college essay, but so many seniors wrestle with writer's block as the "perfect" essay eludes them. In a rebroadcast of a popular episode from Season 4, two veteran college counselors and AB host Lee Coffin from Dartmouth offer timely tips on composing an effective college essay in 650 words or fewer. “The es
Shaping Community, Finding Your Fit
From the annual conference of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling in Columbus, Ohio, an all-star cast of 12 deans and college counselors joins AB host Lee Coffin and recurring co-host Jacques Steinberg as they ponder the role of community in a college search and the ways an admissions committee "shapes" its campus vibe from the applicants it considers. "An applicant must sus
The Enduring Value of 'Uni' in the U.S.
For decades, coming to America for university (or "uni," as it's known in the UK) has been the shared goal of students around the world. Today, that plan is less certain as geopolitical issues raise questions about the wisdom—and even the possibility—of coming to America for undergraduate studies. College advisors from the UK and India join AB host Lee Coffin to ponder the enduring value of an int
Headline Headaches? Don't Let Them Derail Your Search
The national admissions beat is abuzz with fast-breaking stories as the next admissions cycle gets underway. “The fundamentals are the fundamentals,” AB host and Dartmouth Dean Lee Coffin tells recurring co-host and former New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg. “But some policies are in motion.” The AB duo is joined by Matt DeGreef, longtime college counselor at Middlesex School in Massachuset
Seniors, It’s Time to Pivot from Discovery to Applying!
In the eighth season premiere, AB host Lee Coffin and his guests map the shift from discovering college options to applying to those choices. As high school seniors embrace the next phase of their college search, the Dartmouth dean is joined by a guidance counselor from Connecticut and the deans from Colorado College and Princeton as they offer tips about refining a college list, pondering whether
Reflections from a Rookie Dean
In the season seven finale, Dartmouth's Kathryn Bezella discusses lessons gleaned from her first year as an admissions dean with Lee Coffin, who just completed his 30th year in such a role. In a candid conversation about what they each bring to the conference table where decisions are made, the Dartmouth duo muse about the "roller coaster dynamic" of leading a very selective admissions process, ma
Now What?
For many high school seniors, the college search is an all-consuming process with three clear goals: apply to college, get into college, pick a college. Then, in May, it comes to a hard stop. Now what? Mary Pat McMahon, vice president and vice provost for student affairs at Duke University and AB host Lee Coffin from Dartmouth map out in both practical and philosophical terms the transition from s
The Story of Luis: How One International Applicant Found His Own Route to College
Meet Luis Aguero, a first-generation college-bound student from San Bernardino, Paraguay. Self-taught in English as well as the unfamiliar ways of the college admissions process in the United States, Luis navigated his admissions process entirely on his own: "I didn't have any information at all, I had to go out of my way to learn about the colleges, to learn about admissions and how it works..."
The Mindy Project: Admissions Edition
Mindy Kaling joins AB for its 100th episode as the multi-talented Hollywood star and Dartmouth alumna remembers her own college admissions process in which "I wasn't thinking about the correct things." A high-achieving "comedy nerd" who had been weaned on "mountains of flashcards,” Mindy ponders her journey from home to college as she battled procrastination and a lack of confidence and faced her
"Trust Yourself": Advice from Applicants and Parents Who've Been Where You are Going
AB's third annual open-ended conversation with applicants and parents at Dartmouth's admitted student open house offers insights and tips from those who have just navigated a successful college search. AB host and Dartmouth Dean Lee Coffin and recurring cohost Jacques Steinberg field wide-ranging comments and questions about admissions-induced procrastination, the value of authenticity in storytel
Lessons from the Stage
Extracurricular activities, which are essential ingredients of any college application, yield lessons and skillsets that animate a student's story. Reflecting on his own experience in the drama club at Shelton High School in Connecticut, AB host and Dartmouth Dean Lee Coffin welcomes Gary and Fran Scarpa, the longtime directors of Shelton's drama program, for an unusually personal conversation abo
How Not to Get into the College of Your Choice
Veteran college counselor Doug Burdett, from Brunswick School in Connecticut, joins his longtime colleague and AB host Lee Coffin as they ponder the lessons from their 30-year careers on both sides of the admissions counseling desk. Drawing from those innumerable interactions with students and parents, they muse about the unintended pitfalls that can misdirect a college search just as it gets star
Children Will Listen
Marcia Hunt, past president of the National Association for College Admission Counseling and the longtime dean of college advising at Florida's Pine Crest School, joins AB host Lee Coffin as he recreates his "Advice to Parents" presentation from Pine Crest's junior kickoff in January. As he shares his tips for successful admissions parenting, Hunt offers context for what he advises as she channels
Good News/Bad News
College admission decisions for the high school class of 2025 have landed, and now it's time for seniors and their parents to assess those outcomes and move towards an enrollment decision by the National Candidate's Reply Date on May 1. Chris Gruber from Davidson College in North Carolina and college counselor Kate Ramsdell from Noble & Greenough School in Massachusetts join AB host Lee Coffin to
Inside the Admissions Committee: The "Gatekeepers" in Action
Twenty-five years after New York Times education reporter Jacques Steinberg, author of The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College, spent a year observing at close range the selection process at Wesleyan University, Steinberg joined admission officers at Dartmouth for a day inside its selection committee. After his "fly on the wall" day in Hanover, he quizzes Admissions Bea
Reading an Application: The Work of the Work
For any college admissions officer, reading and evaluating an application is the work of the work. It is the heart of the admissions process itself, its most essential task. Reading season is the moment when recruitment yields to selection, when assessing merit and potential becomes a blend of reflection and decision as each application is evaluated and a class is shaped. The Dartmouth-based cast
What Counts?
Many people ask, "What counts?" as they ponder the elements of "merit" in a college application. This week, two Ivy deans tackle this perennial query as Brown's Logan Powell joins AB host Lee Coffin from Dartmouth for a wide-ranging conversation about assessing merit and where it is discovered. They consider the numbers and the narrative--the quantitative as well as the qualitative information--th
Junior Kickoff: It's Time to Discover!
Discovery is act one of every successful college search, and it should reveal as much about the searcher as about the places being explored. AB host and Dartmouth Dean Lee Coffin leads a “junior kickoff” deans panel that includes Elena Hicks from SMU and Karen Kristoff from Colorado College as well as college counselor Darryl Tiggle of Friends School of Baltimore. The quartet of admissions vetera
Getting Started: Plan Your Work, Work Your Plan
Season 7 of Admissions Beat gets underway at just the right time to give this year's high school juniors a preview of what's to come, as they look closely at themselves, survey the college landscape, and weigh options in higher education. Host Lee Coffin, Dartmouth’s dean of admissions and financial aid, and recurring co-host Jacques Steinberg, author of The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Pro
Admissions Dean as Admissions Dad
In the Season Six finale, Trinity College's Matthew Hyde returns to AB to reflect on his own son’s college search this year. As a veteran admissions dean and a first-time admissions parent, Matt shares advice for his fellow parents on the lessons he has absorbed as his parenting collided with his day job in a very real—and sometimes emotional—way. Following host Lee Coffin’s conversation with Matt
Life in a Suburban Town
Suburban public high schools in America are home to a significant pool of applicants to most selective colleges. The admissions chatter in those classrooms, counseling offices, hallways, and social media channels can hum at a high frequency as guidance counselors do their best to advise students and parents alike. This week, a quartet of these school counselors from suburban Connecticut join AB ho
“Please Pass the Potatoes…” and Other Thanksgiving Advice
Holidays bring people together, and Thanksgiving in the U.S. comes at a particularly challenging moment for high school seniors as they apply to college. Well-meaning friends and relatives might inquire about the status of a college search, or opine about those options, or render a forecast about someone’s chances of admissions. Any and all of it can lead to some Thanksgiving indigestion, so this
The Language of Financial Aid
The language of financial aid brings new—and sometimes confusing—vocabulary for many families. Gail Holt, Amherst’s dean of financial aid, and Dino Koff, director of financial aid at Dartmouth, join AB host Lee Coffin for a lesson in how to interpret and translate this new language. “Let’s demystify the financial process,” Koff offers.
History Lesson
Ever wondered how the elements of a college application came to be the elements of the college application? Today, essays, testing, recommendations, and interviews are fundamental ingredients of most selective admissions processes, but they were not always part of a college application as it evolved over the last 125 years. Dartmouth’s admissions dean Lee Coffin and Maria Morales-Kent, a former ad
“I’ve Never Heard of It…”
“I’ve never of it is…” is a frequent reaction from students and parents as college options are introduced, but there is real opportunity when a student is open to options that aren't fully “known.” AB host Lee Coffin welcomes Clark University’s Emily Roper-Doten, Ben Baum from Saint John’s College in Annapolis and Sante Fe, and college counselor Kate Boyle Ramsdell from Noble and Greenough School
Globe Trotting: College Options Outside Your Country
For students around the world, going to college in America has been a goal of many for decades. AB host LeeCoffin and his guest Robin Appleby—who led schools in London, The Hague and Dubai—ponder the opportunities of American higher education for an international audience of prospective applicants.Appleby encourages students to explore the “why?” of applying to schools abroad and to ask questions
Frosh Perspectives
AB host Lee Coffin probes the lessons learned by students and a parent from last year’s admissions process. He is joined by four first-year college students who reflect on their own admissions processes—and the lessons learned. Ashley Kim of Chandler, Arizona, Isabel Carleton of Columbus, Ohio, Romello McRae of Los Angeles, California, and Witold Ambroziak of Warsaw, Poland ponder misconceptions a
“What’s Your Deal?”
In Part 2 of AB’s “advising all-stars” roundtable discussion from the annual meeting of the National Association for College Admission Counseling in Los Angeles, host Lee Coffin and recurring co-host Jacques Steinberg ponder the role (if any) of a student’s social media presence in the college admissions process. They also lead a lively discussion about “being in the essay space” as applications
All-Star College Advising Team, Part I
What happens when 20 admissions folks gather in a meeting room at their annual conference in Los Angeles? They have lots to say! AB host Lee Coffin and his recurring co-host Jacques Steinberg convene an all-star cast of previous AB guests (and a few new voices) for a wide-ranging, two-part conversation about all things admissions. This week, they ponder the steadiness of admissions fundamentals am
The Essay: The Fine Art of Telling Your Story
As high school seniors take a deep breath, open a blank document, and begin to craft their college essays, Admission Beat host Lee Coffin empowers them to ask this question: “Who do I want the admission officer to meet?” Coffin and his guests offer words of advice on contemplating audience, the art of brevity, and framing “lived experiences” as addressed in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision o
Start Your Engines: Accelerating from Discovery to Application
With October on the near horizon, Admissions Beat host Lee Coffin encourages seniors to get in gear and begin thinking about the nuts and bolts of their applications. His guests, Jennifer Simons, Director of Bright Horizons College Coach, and Darryl Tiggle, Director of College Counseling at the Friends School of Baltimore, offer guidance on tackling “the deliverables” of the admissions process—ess
Keep Calm and Carry On: A Prologue to the New Admissions Season
Kicking off Season Six of the Admissions Beat, host Lee Coffin of Dartmouth welcomes listeners back to school as another admissions cycle commences. Raising the curtain on the admissions process for high school juniors and seniors, as well as their parents and counselors, Coffin and his guests offer a sampler of “news you can use,” with tips on everything from managing the stress of the search and
Finishing Strong: Year-End Thoughts and Summer Homework for Rising (and Graduating) Seniors
As the school year ends, Admissions Beat host Lee Coffin holds his final “office hours” with listeners for this podcast season. For graduating seniors, he advises them to “finish strong” and check their inboxes as pre-matriculation communications arrive from their chosen college. For parents preparing to say goodbye as seniors head to college in the fall, he offers practical and philosophical advi
“I’m good at math…”
What if math was a fundamental skill you could develop, rather than something you were simply good or bad at? Engineering programs are designed to blend theory with practice—analysis with practical problem solving. But engineering also spans organically across disciplines into the humanities and social sciences. This week on AB, host Lee Coffin dives into the undergraduate realm of engineering pro
Admissions Beat Live: Parents and Seniors Take the Mic
What advice do this year’s high school seniors and their parents have for those who will follow in future college application cycles? AB host Lee Coffin and Jacques Steinberg, co-author of “The College Conversation,” recently put that question to an audience gathered on the Dartmouth campus for admitted students’ programming. We also asked them what they learned, what they wished they had done dif
Dialogue
The conversations, debates and diverse voices that animate a college campus are essential elements of an undergraduate experience. As seniors visit campuses for accepted student open houses and as juniors follow tour guides for introductory visits, AB host Lee Coffin shares an essay he wrote on the importance of assessing campus dialogue as part of those visits.
Choosing Your Senior Year Courses and Why That Matters
“’How will this look for colleges…?’ is the most common question I get from juniors as they select senior year courses,” reports longtime college counselor Eric Monheim. For sure, the quality of an applicant’s senior year program—and the grades achieved in that course of study—is a foundational element of the academic assessment of every application to a selective college. This week, AB host Lee C
A Degree In Thinking
For centuries, the liberal arts have been foundational to the mission of higher education. But trying to explain the concept of this course of study — and the multifaceted roadmap a liberal arts degree provides for one’s life and work in the 2020s and beyond—can be challenging. And so AB host Lee Coffin called in a specialist: Cecilia Gaposchkin, a Dartmouth history professor whose courses range f
Navigating April: Thoughts for Seniors and Juniors
Admissions Beat host Lee Coffin considers April the “13th month” of the college admissions calendar. For many high school seniors, April brings a sense of closure, as they move from receiving their admissions decisions to weighing (and deciding) where to enroll. For many high school juniors, April represents a beginning – the official start of their college search. This week, Dean Coffin presents
Interpreting Testing: Your Scores May Be Stronger Than You Think
What constitutes a strong SAT or ACT score? What do admissions officers mean when they say they consider scores in context? If a college is test-optional, should you submit your scores, or if it requires testing, are your scores strong enough to apply? The answers may surprise you. To talk through these and other questions, AB host and Dartmouth Dean of Admissions Lee Coffin is joined by Dartmouth
Learning to Read
What’s it like to read applications at a highly selective college or university for the first time? Not so long after their own college graduations, Dartmouth admissions officers Clarissa Hyde, Will Kieger, Laura Rivera-Martinez, and Jackie Pageau have spent the last few months reading and evaluating hundreds of applications. This week on AB, they join their boss, Dean of Admissions Lee Coffin, to
Inside the Admissions Selection Committee
Ever wonder how admissions officers decide which applicants to invite to join the incoming class? Jacques Steinberg, who wrote a New York Times best-seller, "The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College," based on a year of reporting at Wesleyan two decades ago, spent a day behind the closed doors of Dartmouth's undergraduate admissions selection committee. In this encore ep
Is College Worth It?
Public opinion polls reveal a surprising shift in American views on higher education: roughly half of the parents surveyed imagine a four-year college degree as the educational goal for their child, down from near-universal support for that same goal when that question was posed a decade ago. While “college” has been a central component of the storied “American Dream” for decades, that ideal seems
Admissions Moms Who Know Too Much?
What would it be like to be a former admissions officer guiding your own child through a college search? While they know a lot more than most parents, the emotions they experience as parents—paired with the lessons they learned from inside an admissions committee—are likely relatable (and instructive) for any parent. Listen in as Lee Coffin of Dartmouth interviews three former colleagues who are n
Keep Calm and Carry On: Navigating the FAFSA Rollout
This week, Admissions Beat wades into the topic of college affordability. For high school seniors, we provide up-to-the-minute insight and tips on navigating the rollout of the new FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which is causing delays in award calculations. For high school juniors, we introduce the topic of affordability as a “non-negotiable” factor as you and your families
Take an 'Existential Selfie'
How might a high school junior begin the journey of self-discovery that is the bedrock of the college search? In an encore episode of Admissions Beat, host Lee Coffin of Dartmouth recommends that prospective applicants point a virtual camera at themselves and snap an "existential selfie." It's an exercise that can reveal values, priorities, and guiding questions. His guests, all undergraduates at
Searching
Throughout this winter, 11th graders will find themselves seated across from a college counselor in their high school, perhaps for the first time. The topic: kicking off a process of search and discovery intended to yield a college list by the start of senior year. But where and how to begin? To answer that question, Admissions Beat host Lee Coffin of Dartmouth is joined by two former university
High School Juniors: Your College Search Begins
For our Season 5 premiere, Admissions Beat turns its attention to high school juniors. Host Lee Coffin, dean of admissions at Dartmouth, previews what prospective applicants can expect in the months ahead. He encourages them to start with an “existential selfie” to understand what they’re seeking in a college experience. He and his guests also provide tips on building a college list and assessing
Season 4 Finale: ‘Twas Two Weeks Til the Deadline
In the Season 4 finale, Admissions Beat host Lee Coffin reaches into his holiday grab bag for a handful of end-of-year topics. First up, a visit to the Admissions Beat newsroom with journalist Charlotte Albright and Darryl Tiggle, director of college counseling at the Friends School of Baltimore, for answers to the questions students pose in various online forums as the application deadlines draw
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