On today’s episode, Tom Campbell (CEG’s Community Manager) and Nitzya Cuevas-Macias (Director of College Programs at Downtown College Prep) cover: How do students decide which classes to take—and what questions should they ask when deciding? Key recommendations for selecting English, math, science, social studies, language, and elective courses The most frequently asked questions we get asked about courses and grades Nitzya Cuevas-Macias was a first-gen college student at UC Berkeley where she s...
Jan 24, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 5Ep. 2
Show Notes On today's episode, Ethan sits down with David Hawkins, Chief Education and Policy Officer at National Association of College Admission Counselors (aka NACAC), and they get discuss, among other things: What are the most important factors colleges consider? What significant changes has he seen in the college admission landscape in the past few years? How has the emphasis on college essays (aka the personal statement) shifted? Why has the emphasis in standardized testing changed? What h...
Jan 09, 2024•52 min•Season 5Ep. 1
On today’s episode, Ethan is joined by Amanda Miller, who got her start in financial aid through the College Advising Corps at Davidson College in 2014. A few thousand students, several resources, and dozens of financial aid presentations later, Amanda’s an independent financial aid specialist and college adviser who also serves as the financial aid go-to lady for the Matchlighters program and someone we consider to be a part of the extended College Essay Guy family. Ethan and Amanda discuss: Ho...
Dec 28, 2023•56 min•Season 4Ep. 14
In today’s episode, Tom Campbell (CEG’s Community Manager) and Susan Tree (a college counseling and admissions legend with 40+ years of experience) chat about “intellectual curiosity”: a quality that many colleges actively look for in students, yet is a little more ambiguous and nuanced compared to mapping out a high school course plan. This is part 2 of a series about students’ academic background and interests and how they factor into the admissions process. Part 1 is about all things related ...
Dec 20, 2023•48 min•Season 4Ep. 13
Hey all, today’s episode is a special one. We had one of our rockstar essay coaches, Shira Harris, sit down with two of her former Matchlighter students, Milena Veliz and Sayem Kamal, to discuss their experiences navigating the college application process as First Generation Low Income Students. At the time of the recording, Milena was an incoming sophomore at Macaulay Honors College at John Jay and Sayem was an incoming freshman at Columbia University. They both received full scholarships at th...
Dec 12, 2023•43 min•Season 4Ep. 12
On Season 1 of the podcast, Ethan had a great conversation with Maria Furtado, then Executive Director of the Colleges That Change Lives organization (also known as “CTCL”). It’s a lovely chat and to date one of our most downloaded episodes. On today’s episode Ethan had the pleasure of sitting down with her successor, Ann Marano, and they get into: Where to start when it comes to the college search How to myth bust yourself (a practical exercise) What questions to ask when you’re searching for a...
Dec 05, 2023•56 min•Season 4Ep. 11
On today’s episode, Tom Campbell (CEG’s Community Manager) hosts the first installment of a new series called Regional Spotlights, which will bring on college counseling experts who have deep history or knowledge of the exciting college options from (and cultural nuances of) a particular geographic region. We’re kicking off this series with Colleges in The South. Our Southern specialist and special guest today is CEG’s very own Renee Ferrerio. Renee began her career more than 30 years ago, first...
Nov 21, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Season 4Ep. 10
My guest is Katie Andersen, a former NCAA Division 1 Women’s Soccer player at Duke University, who now advises student-athletes through her organization, College Fit OC . She’s also the co-founder of The Student-Athlete Advisors , which focuses on educating and mentoring educational consultants who advise college-bound student-athletes. Our conversation turned into a veritable crash course in college athletic recruiting. We get into, among other things: How a student can know if they can realist...
Nov 02, 2023•58 min•Season 4Ep. 9
On this episode I had the honor of sitting down with Sam and Shannon Bergeron. Sam is a transgender man who transitioned in high school (in Texas) and who now works in college admissions at his alma mater, Hampshire College. Shannon is Founder of Core College Consulting, where she specializes in using a whole child college counseling™ approach. She’s been a school counselor for more than 20 years, a volunteer with Matchlighters Scholars program, and she’s also Sam’s mom, an ally, and an advocate...
Oct 11, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 4Ep. 8
On today’s episode I got to sit down with Rick Diaz, the Regional Director of Admission for Southern Methodist University (SMU) and someone I’ve known for more than 15 years. We have a pretty wide ranging discussion that covers: A behind-the-scenes look at how SMU reads applications and how they shape a class—and what that even means Then we dive into supplemental essays — in particular the impacts of the Supreme Court’s decision to ban race-conscious admission — and how that decision has led to...
Sep 29, 2023•58 min•Season 4Ep. 7
In this episode I sat down with TED speaker Tina Yong to talk about why students don’t have to write about trauma in a college essay to stand out—and what they can do instead. We discussed, among other things: Tina’s experience as an immigrant/racialized person feeling the pressure to turn her personal story into a personal statement with a linear, digestible plot—and how she realized how damaging this could be damaging to students of color How Tina believes this is more a systemic issue The rec...
Sep 15, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Today is a special episode in that it’s bilingual—the first part is in Spanish, the second part in English. My guest is Lorenzo Gamboa (Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Outreach at Santa Clara University) and we’re discussing some of the things he believes Latinx families should know as they prepare for college. Hoy es un episodio especial porque es bilingüe: la primera parte es en español, la segunda parte en inglés. Dejame terminar la introduccion en ingles y ya regreso en espanol. On this...
Sep 07, 2023•49 min•Season 4Ep. 5
In this episode we’re talking about the Supreme Court’s recent decision to strike down race-conscious admission and what the implications might be for colleges, students applying to those colleges, and the counselors who advise them. And what better person to talk about it with than Jay Rosner, whose entire career has been devoted to the intersection of law and college admissions. This is the first in a series where we’ll be exploring the impacts of the SCOTUS decision from a variety of perspect...
Sep 01, 2023•36 min•Season 4Ep. 4
In today’s episode, Tom Campbell (CEG’s Community Manager) and Susan Tree (a college counseling and admissions legend with 40+ years of experience) chat about all things related to the academic part of a student’s college application— which, at many selective colleges, is seen as the “foot in the door” of their selection process. This is part 1 of a series we’ll be doing around students’ academic background and interests and how they factor into the admissions process. Part 2 is all about “intel...
Aug 03, 2023•51 min•Season 4Ep. 3
If you’re ever wondering, how did Ethan land on those words, “ease, purpose, and joy,” well to be honest — it came from a brainstorming conversation with today's podcast guest, Sage Howard. Sage is a meditation & yoga teacher and wellness coach whom I have known for more than 15 years, and who fully embodies ease, purpose, and joy. On this episode we talk about, among other things: Why mornings are so darn important A little of the science behind our nervous system (including our sympathetic...
Jul 21, 2023•47 min•Season 4Ep. 2
On this episode I chat with Angel Perez to discuss his personal journey with burnout, self-care, and therapy, and I even share some of my own personal journey — and we connect on what it might mean to find more ease, purpose, and joy in our own lives. This is part 1 of a series I’ll be doing on self-care this year. You’ll notice Angel mentions a morning routine — in part 2 you’ll meet wellness coach Sage Simpson, who will get into the practical specifics of how to create a morning routine for yo...
Jul 21, 2023•57 min•Season 4Ep. 1
This episode I'm with with Kati Sweaney, Senior Assistant Dean of Admission at Reed College. It's the first in a series of interviews with current and former college admissions officers where we go behind the scenes to let you know how things work. In this episode we get into: The life of an admission officer, including what their travel season is like Do’s and don’ts for that initial email to an admissions office What is demonstrated interest? Why it matters for colleges to predict who attends ...
Jan 19, 2022•59 min•Season 3Ep. 1
My guest this time is Tom Campbell — who at the time of this recording was Assistant Dean Of Admissions at Pomona College. Tom was formerly the Assistant Director Of Admissions at College of the Holy Cross, his alma mater, and also serves as a Group Leader, Essay Specialist and Faculty Member at the very awesome College Horizons. This is another episode in our series that goes behind the scenes of an admissions office to let you know what happens when you click submit on your application—where d...
Jan 19, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Tom Campbell is back for another episode in our series that goes behind the scenes of an admissions office to let you know what happens when you click submit on your application—where does it go? Who reads it? What are they thinking? How do they make decisions? At the time of this recording, Tom Campbell was Assistant Dean Of Admissions at Pomona College. Tom was formerly the Assistant Director Of Admissions at College of the Holy Cross, his alma mater, and also serves as a Group Leader, Essay S...
Jan 19, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 3
In this episode we cover, among other things: Ways that students of Color can advocate for themselves while in high school How to research Historically Black Colleges and Universities Ways to learn more about fit at colleges that are not minority-serving Where to find more financial aid after you’ve been accepted How parents can get involved to advocate for their students in high school and college How counselors can more fully serve students of Color & First steps that counselors can take t...
Sep 12, 2020•49 min•Season 2Ep. 15
Campus Pride is THE go-to resource for LGBTQ students and their families and my guest on this episode, civil rights champion Shane Windmeyer, is the one to thank for its very existence. On this episode we discuss: How Shane get involved in this work in the first place How is the college search process for LGBTQ+ students? What are some great questions to ask when visiting campuses? Common mistakes students make in the process How can LGBTQ students find scholarships? Should students come out in ...
Oct 07, 2019•32 min
This is the second of two episodes on homeschooling and self-directed learning. My guest is writer, speaker, and fellow podcaster Blake Boles, whose work invites students and families to re-evaluate the traditional schooling model--are the typical high school and college experiences really the best ways to spend your time? On this episode we discuss: Can you (really) quit high school and not totally ruin your life? Why is this the best time ever for self-directed learning? How can we all be more...
Oct 02, 2019•54 min
This is the first of two episodes on homeschooling and self-directed learning, something that as the father of a four year-old I am way into. My guest is Becca Orlowski, a teacher and consultant with more than two decades of experience in the independent homeschooling world. On this episode we talk about: What are some common homeschooling myths? Is it true, for example, that homeschooling is “too much work” for any parent in their right minds? Are colleges biased towards homeschoolers… against…...
Sep 23, 2019•48 min
This is the last episode in a three-part series on paying for college. My guest is Joan Liu, a college counselor who has a giant heart to go with her giant brain. In this episode she draws on her years of experience helping international students who need financial aid in order to attend college in the US. We cover a range of topics that will apply to both students and counselors, including: How is the application process different for students who need full financial aid? For counselors, how is...
Sep 16, 2019•40 min
This is episode two in a three-part series on paying for college. My guest for this episode is Lauren Schandevel, a 4th year Public Policy student at the University of Michigan and creator of the “Being Not-Rich” Guide--more on that shortly. On this episode we discuss: Where did the inspiration for the “Being Not-Rich” Guide come from? In what ways are higher ed institutions unsympathetic to the needs of low-income students, and how can this widen the gap between them and their wealthier peers? ...
Sep 06, 2019•23 min
My guest for this first episode is Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab, Professor of Higher Education Policy & Sociology at Temple University, author of Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream . On this episode we discuss: Why has paying for college become such a problem? Which students are most impacted by needs insecurity and why don’t students tell their stories of struggle? How is the current financial aid system broken, and what are some solutions? How c...
Sep 02, 2019•28 min•Season 2Ep. 9
On this episode, which is part 3 of 3 in my series on access and equity in the college admissions process, I sit down with their Chief Strategy Officer of Strive for College, Matt Rubinoff, who for years has been advocating for first-generation and low-income students. We discuss, among other things: What’s so special about being first anyway? Why first-generation students should take a “What’s in it for me?” approach Resources for first-generation students and their counselors, including (one o...
Aug 26, 2019•24 min
Hi friends! This is the first time on the podcast that I discuss the “what comes next” of the college admissions process--and who better to do it than Harlan Cohen, author of the NY Times bestseller, T he Naked Roommate: And 107 Other Issues You Might Run Into In College --a book I’ve had on my bookshelf for many years. On this podcast Harlan offers so much great advice from: A simple exercise to help set you up for a great freshman year How to find your people on campus Whether or not you shoul...
May 27, 2019•49 min
For this episode, which is Part 2 of 3 on my series on access and equity, I interview Marie Bigham of ACCEPT. Marie and I jam on 30 practical ways that you can increase your participation in equity and justice in the world of college admissions and beyond. Whether you’re a parent, student, counselor, or admissions rep, you’ll find something for you. Marie Bigham is the founder of ACCEPT: Admissions Community Cultivating Equity and Peace Today, a social media-based action group for the admissions...
Feb 11, 2019•41 min
This episode is part one of three on access and equity in the college counseling community. Today we meet Joan Liu, a counselor at a high school in Southeast Asia, who has been working on the front lines of access and equity issues during her career. When over 60 Nepali students suddenly lost their full-tuition scholarships in April of last year, Joan decided to do something about it. That story--and what happened next--is what we discuss on this podcast. This story was picked up by the Washingt...
Dec 10, 2018•22 min
