I sent my high school senior off to his first day of school this morning. We spent time working through his college list last night — he has a color-coded spreadsheet of where he’s applying and how he views his odds and the like.
So the college admissions process is definitely on my mind!
In today’s episode of BOBW, Sarah and I open with a discussion of our memories of applying to college many, many years ago (there may have been typewriters involved). Then I interview Alice Chen, owner of BrightStory, a college admissions counseling service. I wanted to talk to her about the topic because one of her angles is that the admissions process is a great chance for teens to develop real life skills — learning how to present yourself, crafting a narrative about your achievements (and how any given school is the next obvious step), project management, etc. I feel like that mindset makes the whole process feel more purposeful.
We then end with a Q&A about paying for college. Please give the episode a listen! And please consider joining our Patreon community. We have 3-4 discussion threads going each week with helpful advice from other folks managing careers and family. We also have monthly meet-ups via Zoom. Membership is $9/month.
Thank you Laura for attempting to direct this conversation away from admissions at elite schools. This type of consultant is really targeted at a very small segment of the population and feeds the angst around college admissions. The truth is there are many colleges where GPA and test scores and the primary measurement and some who have rolling admissions where you get a decision pretty quickly. I hope to hear more about the typical college admission process on future episodes.
Hi there, thank you for listening and I appreciate the feedback! I completely agree that there are a lot of colleges out there, and many options for everyone. Yes, I do support a certain population of teens, because those are the families who are referred to me by their friends. Personally, I hope to alleviate the stress around college admissions. For my own children, and the teens I serve, I try to focus on what we can control (building life skills / process) rather than end results. And yes, I think it would be great for Laura to have another episode on typical college admissions. Best wishes to you and your family! ~ Warmly, Alice
I’ve explained in my comment in the “Back to school, 2024 edition” that I’ll directly message you, Ms. Laura Vanderkam. I’ve sent an email to you already. I hope that you have received it.
I did not really anticipate that you and Dr. Sarah Hart-Unger would share a little bit of your experience of applying to post-secondary institutions, Ms. Laura Vanderkam. The key thing that prevents me from listening to this episode is that I think I have done a lot of things wrong in my application to post-secondary institutions, and this episode will once again remind me of those things that I did wrong, and then I’ll need to discuss with you back and forth what to do with that, etc.
I’m glad that we have figured out that wherever one goes for post-second institution is not the sole thing that determines one’s life. I have also studied at more than one post-secondary institution. If someone would like to know which post-secondary institution I’ve gone to, one can go to my LinkedIn profile to check it out. I have listed only 1 post-secondary institution in my profile, though. And no, it is not the post-secondary institution that I went to right after high school. If someone would like to know the list of all of the post-secondary institutions that I’ve gone to, he/she needs to connect with me on LinkedIn.
If that’s what you have to do to get into a great college I’d rather my children didn’t go. That is ridiculous. What happened to childhood and adolescence as a time to experiment and learn about yourself? Most of your guests have at least some advice I think will be helpful in some way, but I just could not listen to this all at once as it made me just want to challenge everything this woman was saying. The cynic in me thinks people like this are just trying to build fear to drive business! You did a great job pushing back though.
I agree! I think Laura asked great questions, but something about the interview (not due to Laura!) (and maybe the whole current college admission process) rubbed me the wrong way. What is the point of getting into a really selective school if your child has to jump through all of these hoops that are not even related to grades or test scores, and because of the sheer # of students applying even fantastic applicants who check all the boxes (grades, scores, impressive activities) don’t get in? And don’t get me started on the emphasis on activities – how many teenagers really create useful apps or are curing cancer? It frankly seems like a lot of B.S. And I say this as someone who applied to selective colleges and cared very much about the process back when I was applying.
Also, frankly, after working 20 years in a competitive industry in NYC it is very clear to me that the “prestige” of college or grad school really doesn’t matter in terms of earning potential – what is important is personality and work ethic.
Hi there, thanks for sharing your thoughts about the episode! I completely agree — the college admissions process is very opaque and stressful these days. Just as you’ve observed, I agree that EQ is hugely important for career and life success. I regularly tell my students to have fun, meet up with their friends, build relationships, etc. Thank you again for taking the time to write and I wish you and your loved ones the best. ~ Warmly, Alice
Hi Jennie, Thanks for sharing about how you felt about the episode! I’m sorry the episode caused fear – that was the exact opposite of my intent. I completely agree with you — college admissions is very stressful these days. That’s why I am teaching my own children, and my students, that they don’t need top schools to succeed. Families who come to me tend to want to aim for these schools so I support them, but I am constantly telling my students they will succeed wherever they end up. I definitely want to preserve the mental health and exploratory period of my students, which is why I don’t typically accept students until 11th grade. I wish you and your family the best! ~Warmly, Alice