The College Prep Podcast

College rankings have been in the news again. Columbia University fell from #2 to #18 after lying about student data. Rankings are flawed and rarely reflect families’ college priorities, but they captivate audiences and continue to drive admission decisions at colleges and universities. What’s more important is the effect rankings have on students. Megan and Gretchen discuss how rankings hurt students. They consider a variety of factors: * Rankings mislead families by presenting as fact a calculation of “quality”. This creates impression that there is a “best” (and worst).* Rankings lead colleges to act in ways that protect their rank at the expense of students.* Rankings have encouraged some colleges to act in unethical ways. * Ranking often influence students’ and parents’ college lists. The result is often poorly though out choices that are on the list “because they are good schools.”* Rankings promote “lottery” thinking. * Rankings perpetuate elitism at the cost of education.* Rankings fail to adequately account for the key factors and actual value of the education each school provides.

The month of November is deceptively calm for some students, but there are still college planning and academic tasks to complete. Tune in to find out how students can work this month to make the end of the semester much easier.

Many students struggle with procrastination–sometimes for surprising reasons. Erin Wilson of Seattle Success Coaching shares the 5 primary reasons students procrastinate and multiple strategies to get past your desire to put off tasks. There might also be times when procrastination isn’t bad and could be helpful.

This episode originally aired in September 2017. Most admission disappointment start now, with families who don’t take time to create the right college list. Listen in as Megan walks you through the 6 kinds of schools you should definitely apply to, to make sure that you get into a college that is right for you. She shares: * The top mistakes families make when compiling their own college list.* The six kinds of schools that should be on your list including: 1. the most affordable option, 2. the assured admission option, 3. good match schools, 4. the highly competitive option, 5. scholarship potential, and 6. and in-state option.* What order you should apply to those schools so that you don’t burn out. Megan also shared a resource for how to google a school to find out if it’s an “assured admission” or “highly competitive” option.

Essays can be a key factor in successful college applications. Guest co-host Erin Wilson asks some of the most frequent questions she’s hear from students. * Which topics are overdone? * Should you disclose a disability? * Should the essay focus on your future or your past? * How many people should help you edit? Megan discusses the answers to these questions and adds some of her strategies for writing successful college admissions essays.

Hopefully you’ve settled into this semester! October is a good time to identify academic weaknesses and make plans for improvement. Gretchen offers strategies for families and teachers to assess progress and work on better habits and grades while there is still plenty of time left in the semester. October is also the month that high school seniors should be working on college applications and submitting the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) which can be done at studentaid.gov . Juniors (and maybe sophomores and freshman, depending on the plans at your school) will take the PSAT this month. Juniors can use the PSAT to qualify for National Merit Scholarships; everyone else can use the test to identify strengths and weaknesses before taking the SAT or ACT. Megan and Gretchen share some tips for academic success and what students should be doing for college planning in the month of October.

College orientation is not usually a factor students and parents consider when choosing what colleges to apply to, but it should be! Megan walks us through what makes for a good orientation, the power of meaningful connections as soon as you hit campus, how to find out if your prospective colleges have a solid orientation, and how to DIY it if you need to take matters into your own hands. This episode also provides a great checklist for academic coaches to use as they help their clients transition to college.

We are draining our brains of much needed energy and attention, thanks to social media and the way new communication technologies work. Tune in to discuss a single act that all families can do to help preserve parents’ and students’ ability take control of their attention, have more energy, and likely be happier too. This episode originally aired as #180 on October 2, 2017.

What should students focus on first this semester, to get things started off right? Megan gets some personal coaching from Gretchen about how to help her son get into better gear this year, and we also discuss how to help students track their habits, and what kinds of classroom routines teachers can provide to help students plan. We also touch on how to build study skills into classroom routines, and Gretchen provides a short refresher of her celebrated Study Cycle model.

What can families and educators be considering as we slide into September? Megan and Gretchen share a short checklist of important tasks to consider related to college admissions, academic skill development and classroom routines, as we all try to build momentum for our best school year ever.

We love student questions! Yvonne wrote in concerned that she doesn’t have enough rigor in her high school schedule, and wanted to know what to do about it. Megan walks us through how to think about “rigor” in high school, and gives some recommendations to Yvonne for what to do next. Here’s her exact question: My name is Yvonne and I love your podcast. I truly find it very educational, insightful, and most importantly, entertaining. I really appreciate your efforts.  As I’ve researched  and learned more about the college admissions process, a subject that’s not talked about a lot in your podcast and that’s vague in many college admissions websites is course rigor. I know AP/IB and honors classes are considered rigorous, but how many of these rigorous classes should I take to be competitive in the top 100 schools?  I’m planning to apply EA to many schools in order to meet priority deadline for their most prestigious merit scholarships, so when I get my applications in, my transcript will only show the 3 AP and 2 Honors classes over I’ve taken over my high school career, not including the 3 AP classes I’m taking senior year. As I understand, this is on the lower side for competitive universities. My school offers a lot APs in various subjects and Honors classes in math, but I’ve chosen not to take a lot of APs my sophomore and junior year to make room for foreign language and choir. I didn’t take the honors math classes because I plan to major in something related to humanities.  I’m worried my rigor will be seen as uncompetitive and be counted against me in the admissions process. After all, I haven’t taken the most rigorous classes available to me at my school as most highly selective universities and merit scholarship committees prefer their applicants to have done.  What can I do to make up for this low rigor? Can great extracurriculars make up for it?  Thank you very much, your friendly neighborhood stressed high school student 

Gretchen’s former client Tatiana had a bumpy transition into college and quickly dropped out. Tune in to hear her tell her own story and learn how she went from despair to elation, eventually transferring to her dream university. This episode first aired on September 30, 2019 as episode # 284.

Megan and Gretchen catch up, sharing stories about their epic adventures this summer– including international travel, new experiences, and family updates. They also look ahead to what exciting things are coming for the fall. Gretchen has big plans for the next couple years in her business. Megan is getting ready to start another season of SAT and ACT preparation with students.

August means back to school for many students. Even if you don’t return to school until September, there are some planning issues you may want to work through now. Gretchen shares what she considers key issues for academic planning in the month of August. On the college admission side of things, August signifies the start of application season. High school seniors can begin submitting applications this month. Juniors should take time to plan for standardized admissions tests like the SAT / ACT / PSAT.

Over the years, Megan has tried a lot of approaches to helping students choose careers and college majors, but she still doesn’t feel there is an ideal approach. In this summer episode, she and Gretchen outline what they do know about how to help students reflect about future careers, and where they still feel off.