As the 2022-23 college admissions cycle draws to a close, Admissions Beat host Lee Coffin is joined by an audience of parents for the recording of the Season 3 finale. Gathered together on the campus of Dartmouth College for an admitted student open house, the parents of current high school seniors share perspectives on this year’s process. They also draw on their first-hand experience to provide advice to the parents of high school juniors as they guide their children into admissions prime time...
May 02, 2023•53 min•Season 3Ep. 15
In this week’s episode of Admissions Beat, Dartmouth Dean of Admissions Lee Coffin speaks directly to those high school seniors who still have a college decision to make. “A big decision,” as he puts it. As the May 1 deadline draws near, Dean Coffin offers students (and parents, too) more than a dozen, gut-check questions that, when taken as a whole, comprise a checklist for the final countdown to enrollment. Some of those questions are pragmatic (To what degree will affordability be the decidin...
Apr 25, 2023•7 min•Season 3Ep. 14
With May 1 looming as the deadline for applicants to make a final decision on where to enroll, three Dartmouth first-year students reflect on their academic transition from high school to college. They provide firsthand perspectives on course selection, time management, and the importance of letting go any lingering belief that the college experience can be perfect. (Spoiler alert: it never is.) Joining Admissions Beat host Lee Coffin are Dartmouth first-years Lexie Gauthier, from Ronan, Montana...
Apr 18, 2023•52 min•Season 3Ep. 13
Whether you’re a high school senior, a high school junior, or a parent seeking to guide them, the question “So what’s your major?” can seem premature. After all, most colleges and universities don’t require a student to declare a major until the sophomore year. But reflecting on that question while still in high school can serve as a helpful exercise for students to contemplate what subjects they might like to study in college, and the extent to which that programming is offered at schools they ...
Apr 11, 2023•45 min•Season 3Ep. 12
For many high school juniors, the college search and application process is deeply intertwined with an interest in playing a particular sport. For some applicants, that focus may be on an NCAA Division 1 program, where there could be opportunities to recruited and to receive a scholarship. Others may have their sights set on being a scholar-athlete playing at an institution designated as Division 2 or Division 3. For still others, it’s having access to intramural sports that is of appeal. In an ...
Apr 04, 2023•40 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Throughout their senior year of high school, but particularly in recent weeks, applicants for the college Class of 2027 have been receiving admissions decisions. Over the next four weeks, the tables will turn, as those students — in consultation with parents, counselors, and others — weigh a series of decisions of their own, based on the choices now in front of them. “In that time, you’re going to make an informed decision about where you see yourself,’’ says Admissions Beat host Lee Coffin, dea...
Mar 28, 2023•49 min•Season 3Ep. 10
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, recently spent a day behind the closed doors of Dartmouth’s undergraduate admissions selection committee. In this week’s episode, he and host Lee Coffin, Dartmouth’s dean of admissions and financial aid, discuss ...
Mar 21, 2023•49 min•Season 3Ep. 9
The thought of pursuing a college or university education in the United States can be particularly daunting to students living in other countries. This week on Admissions Beat, host Lee Coffin interviews three current undergraduates who traveled from Brazil, Sri Lanka, and the United Kingdom to attend Dartmouth. They provide tips on how international students can search for, apply to, and, ultimately, thrive on an American campus. They also describe challenges they’ve overcome, as well as opport...
Mar 14, 2023•54 min•Season 3Ep. 8
As high school juniors and seniors navigate the college admissions process, they might consider that journey to be proceeding on parallel paths. The first encompasses elements like an institution's programming and sense of place. The second: how to pay for that experience. This week on Admissions Beat, in an encore episode drawn from its predecessor podcast series, The Search, host Lee Coffin of Dartmouth and his guests provide an overview of various financial aid forms and policies, as well as ...
Mar 07, 2023•43 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Whether you’re a student in the midst of the college search, or a supportive parent or guardian, feelings of stress and anxiety can be ever-present. At each stage in the application process, and even after arriving on campus, students are faced with tough decisions and lofty expectations. This week on Admissions Beat, host Lee Coffin, dean of admissions and financial aid at Dartmouth, discusses with his guests steps that applicants and their families can take to acknowledge sources of stress and...
Feb 28, 2023•53 min•Season 3Ep. 6
If you’ve not done so already, many Admissions Beat listeners will soon embark on a campus visit, whether by road, rail, or air, or perhaps via a keyboard and screen. To ensure you’re prepared to get the most from that journey, host Lee Coffin, dean of admissions and financial aid at Dartmouth, has recruited two expert tour guides. They are Elena Hicks, assistant vice president and dean of admissions at Southern Methodist University, and the former dean of admissions at Loyola University, and Ma...
Feb 21, 2023•52 min•Season 3Ep. 5
As we continue our focus on supporting high school juniors in the early activities of a college search, Admissions Beat encourages listeners to grab a pen and pad (or open a Google Doc or spreadsheet) to begin drafting a list of colleges to explore. Host Lee Coffin, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Dartmouth, describes that list as a document that will evolve over the coming months and continue to take shape, “place by place, for you to explore, for you to investigate.” His guests this we...
Feb 14, 2023•44 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Mainstream media organizations have long covered the admissions process closely. And when those efforts are combined with observations and commentary across the digital spectrum, the results can feel dizzying and overwhelming to prospective applicants as well as parents. In this episode of Admissions Beat, host Lee Coffin and his guest dean provide context and perspective on the big headlines and related issues in the current admissions news cycle — including rankings, test-optional admissions p...
Feb 07, 2023•39 min•Season 3Ep. 3
How might a high school junior embark on the journey of self-discovery that serves as the bedrock of the college search process? Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Lee Coffin, host of the Admissions Beat, recommends that prospective applicants begin by pointing a virtual camera at themselves and snapping an “existential selfie.” It’s an exercise that can reveal values and priorities, as well as guiding questions. On this week’s podcast, he is joined by four guests, all of them first-year under...
Jan 31, 2023•54 min•Season 3Ep. 2
In the opening episode of the third season of “Admissions Beat,” host Lee Coffin of Dartmouth College turns his attention to high school juniors and those who support them in a college search. And just as the opening bars of an overture herald the beginning of a Broadway musical, Dean Coffin encourages students to start the college search on a note of self discovery. To look within, at what they value and prioritize, before looking outward and assembling a list of colleges that might fit the bil...
Jan 24, 2023•52 min•Season 3Ep. 1
In the second part of our two-part season finale, Admissions Beat lays out the decisions that applicants will soon receive in response to early applications they submitted this fall — admit, decline, or defer — as well as various strategies they might consider employing in response. Whether you are a high school senior who applied under a binding program (such as early decision) or non-binding (early action) — or the parent of someone who did so — host Lee Coffin of Dartmouth runs through a seri...
Nov 29, 2022•30 min•Season 2Ep. 11
With most applicants entering the final weeks of the college application season, Dean Lee Coffin of Dartmouth has assembled a “home stretch" toolkit of advice for high school seniors and their parents. In Part 1 of the two-part Admissions Beat season finale, the action items include: putting the last touches on a balanced college list; assembling the remaining pieces of an application; monitoring deadlines, and being sure that students register, typically via email, for the application portals t...
Nov 22, 2022•48 min•Season 2Ep. 10
How do admissions officers read and interpret high school transcripts, the official academic record of the courses an applicant has taken in high school and the grades received? And what role do “school profiles” play? They are the narrative descriptions that high school counselors prepare for admissions offices, chock full of context on a school's student body as a whole, and the wider community the school serves, among other details critical to assessing an applicant and application. In this e...
Nov 15, 2022•34 min•Season 2Ep. 9
This week on Admissions Beat, host Lee Coffin goes deep in conversation with three Dartmouth students to elicit their perspective on the college admissions process, as well as their advice for current high school seniors in particular. In a frank and wide-ranging conversation, the three undergrads touch on the emotional stress of their admissions process, as well as steps to mitigate it. (Each said they wished they had “chilled out” more.)They provide advice on telling your story with authentici...
Nov 08, 2022•44 min•Season 2Ep. 8
On Oct. 31, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in cases challenging the long-standing use of race as “one factor among many" in the undergraduate admissions processes of Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. While the Justices’ eventual decision is not expected to affect the selection of the Class of 2027, it could have a seismic effect on the processes that admissions offices will use to choose future classes. In this special episode of Admissions Beat, host Le...
Nov 03, 2022•33 min
For many families, the cost of a college education — as well as considering the various options for paying for it, and understanding how to apply for financial aid — is among the most stressful aspects of the college search. This week on Admissions Beat, host Lee Coffin, dean of admissions and financial aid at Dartmouth, is joined by Gordon “Dino” Koff, Dartmouth’s director of financial aid. Together, they break down and explain each step on the path to making a college education affordable. Alo...
Nov 01, 2022•54 min•Season 2Ep. 7
For would-be college applicants, questions about “place” are crucial to the discovery and search process. Place may mean the geographic setting and physical attributes of a campus, and whether students can envision themselves there. But it can also encompass dorms and classrooms, and whether classes are primarily taught by faculty or assistants; the quality of support services, whether academic or social-emotional; and climate, not just the average temperature but also how welcoming and inclusiv...
Oct 25, 2022•34 min•Season 2Ep. 6
As high school seniors seek to narrow the lists of colleges to which they are considering applying, they might size up the potential finalists against a rubric that Dean Lee Coffin of Dartmouth calls “The Four P’s.” They are: program, people, place, and price. But to what extent should a fifth “P" — an institution’s relative prestige, or reputation — factor into the decision-making process? And what about a key driver of reputation — an institution’s standing in the rankings assembled by U.S. Ne...
Oct 18, 2022•48 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Dean Lee Coffin of Dartmouth says that “any application to any college is the union of two things: data and voice.” In this encore episode of Admissions Beat, first aired in July 2020 on its predecessor podcast, The Search, Dean Coffin turns to the storytelling and narrative elements (and opportunities) of an application. Along with guest Meredith Reynolds, a former Tufts admissions officer who is the associate director of college guidance of Roxbury Latin School in Boston, Dean Coffin provides ...
Oct 11, 2022•45 min•Season 2Ep. 4
For high school seniors, the standardized testing landscape is more of a maze than usual these days. In this episode of "Admissions Beat," host Lee Coffin of Dartmouth provides tips on navigating the complex topography of testing. He is joined by two guests: Stu Schmill, Dean of Admissions and Student Financial Services at MIT, and Leigh Weisenburger, Vice President for Enrollment and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Bates College. Together, they explain the various approaches to the ACT a...
Oct 04, 2022•38 min•Season 2Ep. 3
BONUS EPISODE : This week on “The Admissions Beat,” the tables are turned on our host, Dartmouth Dean of Admissions Lee Coffin, as he’s interviewed by high school senior Aidan ElDifrawi and his father, Ash, on the most recent episode of their podcast, “Hold Me Back,” nominated for a People’s Choice Award. Their conversation, which we’re pleased to cross-post on the “Admissions Beat” channel, ranged widely. Over the course of the discussion, Dean Coffin shared questions that every prospective col...
Sep 27, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Season 2Ep. 2
In the Season 2 premiere of the Admissions Beat, host Lee Coffin, Dartmouth College’s dean of admissions and financial aid, provides a detailed overview of this fall’s college search and application process – with a goal of ensuring high school seniors across the U.S. and around the world, and the parents and other adults who are supporting them, are ready for the tasks, decisions and deadlines in the weeks and months ahead. On today’s episode, Dean Coffin is joined by New York Times Best-Sellin...
Sep 20, 2022•43 min•Season 2Ep. 1
It's finally here, the end of this year's admissions cycle (and soon, the beginning of a new one). Applicants are on edge as they wait for the long-awaited email or letter to arrive, letting them know which colleges or universities are inviting them to join the class of 2026. Lee Coffin and producer Charlotte Albright talk candidly and practically about how to process that news, and how to sift through the forthcoming avalanche of media reports touting, in many selective schools, historically lo...
Apr 01, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 17
For high school juniors, March opens the starting gate to a yearlong marathon. It's time to begin the journey toward colleges or universities that offer what they need, what they want, and what they can afford. After a fact-filled news roundup, host Lee Coffin and producer Charlotte Albright devote an entire episode to answering questions that often arise when college admissions officers visit secondary schools. Whether or not you've attended one of these "kickoffs," listen here for advice that ...
Mar 22, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 16
"What are you going to do with that?" It's a question many an English or history major hears from parents who are concerned that they may not find meaningful, gainful employment after graduation. But data show that humanities students are employed at rates comparable to other majors, earn good salaries, and do increasingly well over the course of their careers. Scott Muir, project director for Study the Humanities, an initiative of the National Humanities Alliance Foundation, joins Barbara Will,...
Mar 01, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 15
