Admissions Uncovered - College Admissions and Applications Explained

Today's episode is a special Q and A with students from the Law Magnet - Michael's old high school and where Gonzalez works as an administrator. We take questions from the high school seniors ranging from extracurriculars, to coronavirus, to essays, to how to pay for college. Tune in for some great questions that if you're a high school student, you probably are thinking about as well!

Coronavirus is here and I'm sure everything is crazy. School is virtual, all your extracurriculars are cancelled, and you're stuck at home all the time! That being said, college admissions doesn't stop, so today Sean and I talk about how coronavirus affects your applications. In particular, we focus on how you can continue your extracurricular activities or start new ones.

Extracurricular activities are essential to any compelling college application. In this episode, we talk about 3 different types of students: students who don't have any extracurriculars, students who have too many extracurriculars, and students that got into college on the strengths of their extracurriculars. Then, we talk a little about how schools, administrators, and teachers can do a better job of counseling students.

Early Decision decisions can bring a lot of joy, a lot of despair, or a lot of indecision. If you received a deferral, that can often mean the latter. In this episode, Michael and Sean talk about what a deferral means and some common myths. Then, we talk about the options a deferred applicant has to get into the school during Regular Decision. 

This episode, Sean and Michael are joined by u/Scholargrade, a prominent college admissions counselor active in the r/chanceme and r/ApplyingToCollege subreddit. In Part Two of this session, we talk about 2 more case studies, and talk about whether their college list suits them. We thoroughly review their application qualities and clarify some of the myths that the general populace has when viewing college admissions to US universities.

This episode, Sean and Michael are joined by u/Scholargrade, a prominent college admissions counselor active in the r/chanceme and r/ApplyingToCollege subreddit.  In Part One of this session, we talk about 4 different student case studies, and talk about whether their college list suits them.  We thoroughly review their application qualities and clarify some of the myths that the general populace has when viewing college admissions to US universities.

Michael interviews AdmissionsMom, queen of the Reddit r/applyingtocollege community, capping off a summer of interviews with the community. In this episode, AdmissionsMom and Michael talk about mindful college admissions and how it can help craft a reflective college application and make the process less stressful. Then, we talk about her new book about moderating the subreddit and her new app that helps students be mindful about their college tours.

This week, we discussed a bit about the early college essay writing process with Sean.  As someone going through the process, Sean talks about the struggles and methods of coming up with ideas.  Then, we talk about school-specific essays and how to approach them.  Throughout the episode, we talk about common mistakes and cliche essays that many applicants use.

Test prep tutoring is very expensive and a lot of people don't have those resources. This week, I'm joined by Kathryn Zheng, the founder of Sparky Prep. Sparky Prep is an online peer tutoring program where high school students tutor other high school students on the SAT, ACT, APs, and other academic subjects. I talk about why Kathryn started the organization, how it works, and what she thinks about the value of standardized tests. 

College admissions is a great time to reflect on your future. That means that not everyone is suited for a traditional, 4 year education. On this episode, I'm joined by incoming Stanford freshman Ashley Chen to talk about alternatives to a traditional education from 2 year community colleges to service academies to colleges with just plain wacky admissions processes and educations (anyone up for cow manure and manual labor?). 

Your college isn't just a school; it's also a home. On this episode, I talk to high school senior Carolyn G. on how she's learning more about the soft-side of a school: its community, culture, and friendliness. We talk about what questions to ask, who to ask, and when to ask. Then, we finish up with some final tips on how to make the most out of a college visit. 

Jeffrey Wang is the founder of the r/UTAustinAdmissions subreddit. Today, he joins the podcast to talk about UT has essentially computerized half of the admissions process. UT gives each applicant an Academic Index and a Personal Achievement Index. Jeffrey explains how UT calculates these scores and how it uses them to evaluate applications. Turn out that UT's admissions process isn't so holistic after all. Stay tuned till the end for the wackiest part - applicants are literally given a coordinate pair that is supposed to encompass their entire application and placed on a 2D Cartesian grid. Wack!

 America isn't the only place with great colleges. The United Kingdom has so many wells know schools like Oxford and Cambridge, but it's also a completely different country, culture, and education system. On this episode, Imperial College student Ethan Summers walks us through the UK college admissions process and how college admissions in the UK are much more focused on academics and scores. We talk about some of the key differences between the UK and US education systems. 

I know the stress must be building right now, but know that you are not alone. On this episode, I interview Swathi, a rising high school senior. We talk about how Swathi is trying to juggle all her extracurricular activities, academic commitments, and college applications. Swathi and I give some tips about productivity and scheduling. Then, we transition to talk about the Harvard lawsuit and some of the fairly damning information that's been released about how Harvard treats Asian applicants. 

Today I'm joined by Alexandra Lin, an incoming freshman at Bowdoin College. She grew up in rural Montana. On today's episode, we talk about what it was like to grow up and go to school in a rural area and the importance of geographic diversity in college admissions. Then, we talk about prestige and how it might not be as important as everyone makes it out to be. Stay tuned till the end for some tea about frats at Columbia and a little food fight....

What do avocados and fortunetellers have in common? They were all college essays that our guest Yu-Chia Cheng wrote! Yu-Chia is an incoming freshman at the University of Pennsylvania in its LSM program. She'll be studying both finance and biology. Yu-Chia shares her college admissions journey starting with what she did in the summers, how she wrote her essays, and how she feels attending one of the best programs in the country!

Together, we look back on the college admissions process and think about what we learned about ourselves. We also talk about some problems in the system like inequality, unfair financial aid for international students, and just not enough seats. Finally, we look back on the past year and the last 50 episodes. Some big news on this podcast, so tune in!

 Join us for an interview with a newly admitted member, Vinh Huy, of the Stanford Class of 2023. He'll give us some insight into his successful application and offer some advice on how to make your application the best it can be.

Also, Dominic is the easiest podcast host of our three to schedule recordings with, despite what Michael expresses during this episode.

It's AP season. While you're busy reading your Barron's study guide, get motivated (or not) by listening to this week's podcast about whether what you're doing actually matters. On this episode, we draw out the true value of AP tests. 

Are you interested in what life is like for a homeschool student? Wondering what it would be like for your parent to be your teacher or your sibling to be your classmate? Join us for this week's episode of the Admissions Uncovered podcast featuring our special guest, William. William has been homeschooled for the majority of his academic career. He'll provide us some insight on what the homeschool life is like and how it makes the college application process a little different. If you have any questions for William, please post them as a comment on the post on the website or send us a DM on instagram @admissions.uncovered and we'll make sure to send it his way! 

In the dreaded friend zone with a college? On this episode of the podcast, we talk about the college wait list, share some statistics, and give some strategies for how you can improve your chances. It's hard, but it's possible. Stick till the end and hear another crazy DART story!

Who knew that Monster's University was just like real college? Or is it? This week's episode is a little special. Michael and a friend from college - Mahad - review the movie Monster's University. We talk about Monster's University and how it's similar to our college experience, legacy students, and, of course, a bit of Marx. Just some fun as you make those final decisions. 

By now, most of you will have received multiple college acceptances. Congratulations! You are finally done! Now, you have a little under a month to pick between the college that accepted you. In this episode, we talk about how you can learn more about these schools, take advantage of admitted students weekend, and ultimately make a good decision.  

Ivy Day is here. Listen to an emotional roller coaster of an episode about how Nhi and Dominic are feeling and how they plan to open their decisions. Plus, Michael throws in some grandfatherly advice.

College admissions doesn't define who you are. We are here for you. If you ever need to talk or want to tell us how your college admissions decisions went, just email us at admissions.uncovered@gmail.com or DM us on social media.

And if Ivy Day didn't go away, please give it time and ask for help. Please promise me that you'll ask for help before doing anything that puts yourself in danger. Here are some resources:

Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) 

Hope Network: 1-800-SUICIDE  

Text Line: Text "START" to 741-741

When you are writing your college essays, have you ever felt like a fraud? Like it wasn't really you? Michael has and on this episode, we have an impromptu therapy question. Do our college applications reflect the authentic us? Did we choose extracurricular activities because we were interested in them or because we wanted to get into a good college? 

In this episode of the Admissions Uncovered Podcast, your favorite hosts take a stab at explaining the new admissions scandal. With 50 people charged, hundreds of thousands of dollars being exchanged, and more unfairness exposed in the college application process, there’s a lot to cover, so sit back and enjoy the show. As always, you can join in on the discussion in the comment section on the post through the link below. 

Going into senior year without an idea of how to get ahead of the game over the summer? Well you’re in luck because your favorite podcast hosts at the Admissions Uncovered Podcast have you covered. We discuss everything from internships to testing to essays. Make sure to take this vital step in the college admissions process to use your last summer in high school to the max. 

The SAT doesn't just test your ability to read, write, or do math. It's also about your ability to take tests. In this episode, we give you our top test taking strategies to keep you from making silly mistakes and to help you get the right answer, even when you aren't totally sure.

 Starting the college application process? Building your college list is one of the first and most important steps in the college application marathon. Join us in this episode to learn the correct approach to building a well balanced college list. 

Start your college application by building a narrative of your high school experience. In this episode, Michael guides Dominic, Nhi, and you through a simple 3 step process: listing activities, figuring out what's important, and making connections between what's important in your life. At each step, we share how we came to our narratives. Finally, we talk about how to use the narrative to simplify the college application process.

 Thinking of summer already? Considering an internship, but don't know where to start? Well your favorite podcast hosts have put together the ultimate guide to answer all your internship related questions. Still have questions about internships? Feel free to reach out to us on social media or in the comment section below the post.

 Essays. Done. Common App. Done. Bugging teachers for rec letters. Done. All done. Except for the interview. For many seniors, this is the last mile before decision day. To prepare, tune in to this week's episode. We talk about the most common interview questions and how to answer them. Nhi and Dominic tell some funny public transit stories and give you some advice on how to make your interview interesting with anecdotes. 

 It's been a long road leading up to this point. In this episode, Dominic and Nhi take a moment to reflect on the college admissions process to give advice on what they would do differently and reveal less discusses components of the college admissions process. If you can relate to any of the points mentioned in the episode, be sure to let us know!  Check out the show notes for links to more helpful information - bit.ly/aupod33

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Twitter - @aupodfm
Instagram/Facebook - @admissions.uncovered

 One of the most common supplemental essay prompts colleges ask is the Why College prompt? These are often the most difficult essays to write because you want to be original, but not too original. In this episode, we talk about the importance of this essay, researching reasons to go to a school, structuring this essay in an anecdotal format, released essays from Tufts, and, finally, the worst mistake students make: talking only about the school and not about themselves as well. Michael tries to explain with a dating analogy; let’s see how that goes.