Shows
2025-10-141h 00
Tests and the Rest: College Admissions PodcastWHICH COLLEGE RANKINGS CAN YOU TRUST?Generations of applicants have turned to the same metrics and authorities time and again to compare institutions of higher education. Should they? Amy and Mike invited professor Jed Macosko to explore which college rankings you can trust. What are five things you will learn in this episode? Why are college rankings so influential? What do traditional college rankings purport to tell us? What do the traditional rankings often tell us instead? Should applicants trust college rankings? How should applicants use rankings to evaluate schools? MEET OUR GUEST Jed Macosko is a Professor of...
2022-10-2825 min
The Higher Ed MarketerThe Problem With University RankingsUniversity rankings play a big part in where a prospective student chooses to go to school, but most rankings focus on prestige and what other peers of institutions think of each other rather than the influence the university is making on the students and alumni.
Dr. Jed Macosko is the President and Research Director at Academicinfluence.com and a professor of Physics at Wake Forest University. At Academic influence, they use a ranking engine that assesses influence in the academic world by ingesting, analyzing, and evaluating huge amounts of data. Because of this, the data is less pr...
2022-10-0428 min
Prof2Parent PodcastToward better (tongue-in-cheek) college rankingsStuart proposes two better college ranking systems. The first one involves getting 1000 people to decide on different weighting values for all of the information that goes into a typical ranking like the US News & World Report ranking (graduation rate, teacher:student ratio, etc.) Once everybody choses their weighting, the average weightings would be computed. Stuart thinks that these averages would reflect what is really most important in choosing a college. The second kind of ranking that Stuart proposes is a quiz bowl between professors. Of course, this is just as tongue-in-cheek as the first proposal since neither one is...
2022-09-2137 min
Prof2Parent PodcastShould you send your kid to an Ivy League college?Stuart rails on people whose life goal is to buy a home in the Hamptons. As usual, Jed plays the devil's advocate. Along the way, they try to answer the question, "Should someone who can afford it send their child to a top-100 university, or are there reasons for encouraging one's child to attend a cheaper school?" Listen as the conversation between Jed and Stuart gets pretty energetic on these topics!
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2022-09-1431 min
Prof2Parent PodcastShould you send your kid to an Ivy League college? (trailer)Stuart rails on people whose life goal is to buy a home in the Hamptons. As usual, Jed plays the devil's advocate. Along the way, they try to answer the question, "Should someone who can afford it send their child to a top-100 university, or are there reasons for encouraging one's child to attend a cheaper school?" Listen as the conversation between Jed and Stuart gets pretty energetic on these topics!
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2022-09-1401 min
Prof2Parent PodcastAre college rankings useful?Stuart is back! And he thinks US News rankings aren't worth a hoot. Jed tries to play the Devil's advocate, but in the end, they both conclude that no one should pick one school over another school based on any college ranking scheme, except if it is just a quick-and-easy substitute for another metric. One example is how the US News college ranking is a decent substitute for figuring out how much schools have in their endowments. Choosing a school with a bigger endowment is always better, according to Stuart, since it means the school with the bigger endowment...
2022-09-0734 min
Prof2Parent PodcastAre college rankings useful for anything? (trailer)Stuart is back! And he thinks US News rankings aren't worth a hoot. Jed tries to play the Devil's advocate, but in the end, they both conclude that no one should pick one school over another school based on any college ranking scheme, except if it is just a quick-and-easy substitute for another metric. One example is how the US News college ranking is a decent substitute for figuring out how much schools have in their endowments. Choosing a school with a bigger endowment is always better, according to Stuart, since it means the school with the bigger endowment...
2022-09-0601 min
Prof2Parent PodcastShould the US News rankings be kicked to the curb?With Stuart away for one more week, Jed interviews Washington Monthly Editor-in-Chief and former Bill Clinton speechwriter, Paul Glastris. Glastris, a one-time US News and World Report employee, developed a new ranking system at the Washington Monthly that is nearly the antithesis of what US News says. But should we throw out the US News rankings altogether? Listen as Glastris give us his expert opinion.
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2022-08-3131 min
Prof2Parent PodcastShould the government pay for college?While Stuart is away, Jed takes the opportunity to interview his old friend and former university president, Mike Nietzel. Mike talks about a book he just finished by author and economics professor Phillip Levine (A Problem of Fit). Mike gives his own thoughts about whether the government should pay for people to go to college (yes, they should double Pell grant payouts, but no, they shouldn't forgive student loans in a way that disproportionally benefits more wealthy graduates). Listen in to a man who has seen many aspects of higher education!
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2022-08-2442 min
Prof2Parent PodcastHow should college students manage their time?Stuart and Jed discuss time management. Stuart suggests that most students know that academics require a portion of their time (on average, 15 hours) but don't realize that self-discovery also takes time. Social interactions take time, too, but many students naturally take time to socialize. Yet Stuart encourages students to do their socializing in a more mindful, purposeful way.
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2022-08-1731 min
Prof2Parent PodcastHow should college students manage their time? (Trailer)Stuart and Jed discuss time management. Stuart suggests that most students know that academics require a portion of their time (on average, 15 hours) but don't realize that self-discovery also takes time. Social interactions take time, too, but many students naturally take time to socialize. Yet Stuart encourages students to do their socializing in a more mindful, purposeful way.
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2022-08-1701 min
Prof2Parent PodcastIs a college tour worth it? Are prestigious schools worth it? And how to write a college essayStuart and Jed start by examining the value of the popular "parent-child college road trip" and come up with good recommendations on how to make that trip a success. Then, they discuss prestigious universities and conclude they are important if you want to go to a top law or MBA program. Finally they give some great advice for writing your college essay.
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2022-08-1032 min
Prof2Parent PodcastIs a college tour worth it? Are prestigious schools worth it? And how to write a college essay (trailer)In this trailer, Stuart and Jed only discuss the last item: what you should put in your college admission essays. But you can watch the full episode to find out about college tours and prestigious colleges.
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2022-08-0901 min
Prof2Parent PodcastHow can you, or your child, get into that "dream college"Stuart and Jed answer that pressing question, "How do I get into my dream school?" And for parents, the question is, "How can I help my child get into the school they've always wanted to attend and that will be best for them?" You may not like the answer, but it's the only answer that is true. And, it is comforting to know the truth!
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2022-08-0333 min
Prof2Parent PodcastHow can you, or your child, get into that "dream college" (narrow vertical-format video trailer)Rojstaczer and Macosko are not common names. Listen here to learn the trick to pronouncing them! Also, having a child (or grandchild, niece, etc.) is stressful. Listen to Stuart giving his advice on how to de-stress. As a bonus, this podcast is actually a video so that you can see how these two profs look. This video is formatted to display on your phone.
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2022-08-0200 min
Prof2Parent PodcastStuart and Jed pronounce their last names and give parents advice (video trailer)Rojstaczer and Macosko are not common names. Listen here to learn the trick to pronouncing them! Also, having a child (or grandchild, niece, etc.) is stressful. Listen to Stuart giving his advice on how to de-stress. As a bonus, this podcast is actually a video so that you can see how these two profs look!
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2022-08-0202 min
Prof2Parent PodcastJed interviews entrepreneur George Kao: "looking back is the only way to find your calling"Jed hadn't spoken with his old roommate, George Kao, for twenty years. But in this episode, they catch up and listen to each other share wisdom about how to find one's calling, how to be productive, how to hold on to what is truly important, and many other topics. It is particularly encouraging for college-bound students and their parents as they try to imagine what the future holds.
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2022-07-2827 min
Prof2Parent PodcastStuart and Jed discuss contract cheating (part II) and the health of higher educationIn honor of Jed's colleague at AcademicInfluence.com publishing a book about contract cheating, Stuart and Jed finish their discussion on this topic and then look at the overall health of higher education. If you are wondering what will happen to American universities, listen to this enlightening conversation.
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2022-07-2753 min
Prof2Parent PodcastJed interviews contract-cheater-turned-legitimate-authorJed's colleague at AcademicInfluence.com Dave Tomar, a.k.a. Ed Dante, a.k.a. the Shadow Scholar, comes clean about his past life and his new book.
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2022-07-2042 min
Prof2Parent PodcastStuart and Jed discuss contract cheating (part I)In honor of Jed's colleague at AcademicInfluence.com publishing an entire book about contract cheating, Stuart and Jed get started on talking about cheating at all levels of education, starting with Stuart's own experience in third grade!
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2022-07-1334 min
EdUp Insights13. Influenced-Based Ranking of Higher Ed InstitutionsIn this episode Bill talks with Jed Macosko, Wake Forest University Professor & Chief Public Liaison of AcademicInfluence.com, about a new data-driven approach to ranking institutions.
EdUp Insights with Bill Pepicello is part of the EdUp Experience Podcast Network!
2022-06-0640 min
Quantum LeapFinding the Right College – Mission Impossible? with Jed Macosko, Professor of Physics at Wake Forest University and Research Director at Academic InfluenceOriginally from Minneapolis, Professor Jed Macosko has lived in Minsk, Princeton, Belfast, Tashkent, Chicago, Copenhagen, Moscow, Albuquerque, and Strasbourg. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science from MIT and earned his doctorate at UC Berkeley. After a postdoctoral research stint with Howard Hughes Medical Investigator Carlos J. Bustamante, he worked with Nobel laureate Kary Mullis at a start-up in Irvine, California than with Professor David Keller at the University of New Mexico. Currently, Jed is a professor of Physics at Wake Forest University. He continues his two decades of research on the mechanics of cells and molecular motors while...
2022-06-0544 min
The Holy PostEpisode 3: Lady Gaga and Guest Jed Macosko
In Episode 3 of The Phil Vischer Podcast, the crew discusses pop culture and Lady Gaga before interviewing Wake Forest biophysicist Jed Macosko. Listen here or download from iTunes. Jed Macosko is a leading physicist at Wake Forest University whose dedication to making science more appealing to middle-schoolers and masters’ candidates alike has been celebrated by other scholars and the White House. With research interests spanning biophysics, thermodynamics and drug discovery, Macosko helped develop a video game that teaches middle school students advanced cellular science, and more importantly, how to love it.
2012-06-1253 min