Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast

Not so long ago, distance learning was mostly seen as a futuristic experiment in education. Then all instruction moved online. Where are we now, and where are we going? Amy and Mike invited ed-tech c…

While American culture celebrates individual differences and promotes diversity, many of our societal systems struggle with anyone who deviates too far from an accepted norm. This can certainly be th…

Nearly 20 years ago, colleges asked for standardized essay sections on admissions tests because applicants arrived on campus with deficient writing skills. Yet today, when very few schools want to se…

U.S students often imagine the opportunity to study abroad as a path to experiencing cultures radically different than their own. Is there a benefit, though, to considering a country with more simila…

Schooling and cheating share a long and sordid history. But what can educators do when the technology to undermine academic integrity advances faster than conventional efforts to protect it. Amy and …

The opportunity to compete athletically on the college level--while winning scholarships for doing so--has always been connected to SAT and ACT scores. What’s changed post-pandemic and what hasn’t? A…

Most students and their families enter the college admissions process fully expecting to take out tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans. Does earning a degree really have to …

The various versions of high school admissions tests may be even more confusing than those for college or graduate school. As part of our series on HS admissions tests, Amy and Mike invited educator …

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Meet Kevin Newton, the founder of An Education Abroad, a company that helps A…

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Meet Aly Beaumont, the founder of Admissions Village, a family focused, affor…

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Meet Steven Mercer, Ed.D., the founder of Mercer Educational Consulting, a pr…

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Immigrating from Korea in her youth, Julie Kim is a graduate of USC and Harva…

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Meet Phil Black, the creator of PrepWell Academy, an unconventional approach …

While nearly all high schoolers arrive at the ACT able to read, their levels of mastery often seem spotty at best. How can test takers determine where their reading skills fall short? Amy and Mike in…

Tutoring at its best entails so much more than a mechanical transfer of information designed to improve a grade or score. An authentic student-teacher relationship depends on a commitment to establis…

Traditional beauty pageants typify the kind of competition where contestants do everything possible to be judged positively by a group of complete strangers. Unfortunately, selective college admissio…

Some challenges in life loom larger than others, fraught with the potential to immeasurably transform our lives for the better if only we can rise to the occasion. Sometimes, that challenge is a real…

While we have no choice but to accept that life isn’t always fair, we can--and should--do much better to make sure education is always equitable. Amy and Mike invited educator and author Michael Marl…

While many teens shudder at the prospect of adding math as an extracurricular activity, others relish the opportunity to engage in quantitative competitions. And they should, because the path of a ma…

In a system where selective colleges benefit from as many applicants as possible even as acceptance becomes rarer than ever, smart applicants need to do more than take public statements at face value…