Shows
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 177: Why the College’s Cost MattersWell, we are just about done. We are on Step 14, the final step in researching colleges on your son or daughter’s LLCO (that is, one last time, the Long List of College Options). And, one last reminder: Feel free to rush online and get our workbook How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students (available at Amazon). It’s a steal at $9.95! Step 14 is, to many people, the most important step and even the only step. I find it ironic that we would end our podcast--for now--on this note and that we would...2018-08-3111 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 176: Why the College’s Admissions Practices Matter--ObviouslyWell, this is where it gets serious. Researching Step 13 will give you and your son or daughter an idea about how likely it is that he or she will be accepted by a college. Of course, no one can say for sure whether your kid’s grades or admission test scores or extracurricular and community service activities or letters of recommendation will be appealing enough to get him or her admitted to a particular college. But several academic hurdles might turn out to be what stands between your kid and one or more colleges on his or her LLCO (th...2018-08-2420 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 175: Why the College’s Activities and Sports MatterWell, listeners, the end is in sight. Today is Step 12 out of the 14 steps we want your son or daughter to take this summer to make his or her search for colleges more effective. Just to repeat, these steps are based on our workbook How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students (there is one with your name on it waiting at Amazon). Step 12 asks your son or daughter to investigate what the colleges on his or her LLCO (that’s his or her Long List of College Options) have to offer outside of...2018-08-1714 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 174: Why the College’s Security Measures MatterToday is Step 11 out of the 14 steps we want your son or daughter to take this summer to make his or her search for colleges more effective. As you know by now, these steps are based on our workbook How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students (get one at Amazon ASAP). Step 11 brings us to the safety of students on campus and the security measures that a college takes to keep its students safe. Parents: Getting information about security measures on campus is one way to help alleviate your concerns about letting...2018-08-1009 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 173: Why the College’s Housing MattersWell, we are up to Step 10 out of the 14 steps of your kid’s summer homework. So far, so good. Keep checking our workbook How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students for further detail and more examples (it’s still available at Amazon). Step 10 calls for your son or daughter to investigate on-campus housing options, which could make some difference in where to apply and where to enroll if you are planning for him or her to live in college housing. Some students, of course, will be commuting to campus, so these ques...2018-08-0314 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 172: Why the College’s Schedule MattersToday’s episode is about Step 9 of your kid’s summer homework. All 14 steps are being explained in our series of episodes this summer and have been explained, with more examples and details, in our workbook How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students. Workbooks are still available from Amazon if you want one for your son or daughter. Step 9 looks at the components that make up the college schedule. For many colleges, these questions will produce a rather traditional response, something like this: a fall semester and a spring semester, each running abou...2018-07-2710 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 171: Why the College’s Academics Matter--ObviouslyToday’s episode is about Step 8 of your kid’s summer homework. That’s 8 out of 14 steps, all of which are explained in our series of episodes this summer and also, with more examples and details, in our workbook How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students. Workbooks are still available from Amazon if you want one for your son or daughter. Step 8 is about the topic that most people think is most critical to choosing a college--that is, academics. Most people would say that it is what college is all about--or, at least...2018-07-2026 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 170: Why the College’s Class Size MattersWell, we are up to Step 7 of your kid’s summer homework, and we are officially halfway there. All 14 steps (7 down, 7 more to go) are explained in our episodes this summer and also at greater length with more examples and details in our workbook How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students. Remember to order a workbook from Amazon for your son or daughter if you want more explanation and the actual worksheets. Step 7 asks your son or daughter to consider class size as one indication of what his or her academic experience wo...2018-07-1312 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 169: Why the College’s Enrollment MattersToday we are going to talk about Step 6 of your kid’s summer homework, as explained in our episodes throughout the summer and also more elaborately in our workbook How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students. So, order a workbook from Amazon for your son or daughter if you want the longer version and the actual worksheets. We are up to Questions 8 through 16 on the College Profile Worksheet this week as your kid answers nine questions about student enrollment at each college on his or her Long List of College Options (or LLC...2018-07-0631 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 168: Why the College’s Community Location MattersToday we are going to talk about Step 5 of your kid’s summer homework. If you have forgotten, this summer homework is based on our workbook How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students. Get one from Amazon for your son or daughter before they are all gone! In the last episode, we asked your kid to do some research about the history and mission of each college on his or her Long List of College Options (or LLCO, for short) and to answer the first four questions on our College Profile Worksheet. Well...2018-06-2913 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 167: Why the College’s History and Mission MatterToday we are going to talk about the Step 4 of your kid’s summer homework. Regular listeners know that this summer homework is based on our workbook How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students. It’s not too late to get one from Amazon for your son or daughter. In the last two episodes, you and your kid have been getting ready to start the real work. You have hopefully completed Step 1 by creating the all-important Long List of College Options (or LLCO, as we like to call it). And you have hope...2018-06-2220 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 166: Getting and Organizing College InformationToday we are going to talk about Steps 2 and 3 of your kid’s summer homework. If you haven’t gotten our workbook for your son or daughter, How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students, then you haven’t done your summer homework. So, get one from Amazon, or listen very carefully to this episode and the next 11 like it. In the last episode, you and your kid hopefully completed Step 1 of your summer homework by creating the all-important Long List of College Options (or LLCO, as we like to call it). And it sho...2018-06-1515 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 165: Your Kid’s Long List of College OptionsToday we are going to talk about the first step of your kid’s summer homework. As we said last week, we know that summer vacation is still a couple of weeks away for some of you, but I have to believe that no real work is still being done in most high schools, especially not for seniors. So, let’s get busy! If you haven’t gotten our workbook for your son or daughter, How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students, there is still time. 1. What You Are About To Do Wrong2018-06-0815 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 164: The Most Important Step in College AdmissionsBefore we start today’s episode about the most important step in the college application and admissions process, we want to let you know that we are headed into our final season of USACollegeChat. Well, I wouldn’t rule out coming back on Netflix or something by popular demand from our listening audience, but we are at least going to need to go on hiatus for a while. Maybe we will be like Game of Thrones (which I have never seen) where there can be a year between seasons. I am headed out to Phoenix and leaving my beloved New Yor...2018-06-0115 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 163: What High Schools Do Colleges Visit?Welcome back to our new series entitled Looking to Next Year. Today, we want to look at a well-known college recruitment practice and its ramifications. That practice is the visiting of high schools by college admissions staff. Maybe our discussion today won’t come as a surprise to you; but, whether it does or doesn’t, it’s a sad commentary on the U.S. in 2018. 1. A New Study Just a few episodes ago, we quoted from an article in Inside Higher Ed by Scott Jaschik, and today we find ourselves doing that again. This article is fo...2018-05-1817 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 162: The High School Courses That Colleges RequireWe are starting a new series today because we think that the college ship has sailed for almost all of our listening families with seniors. Of course, some of you are still looking at a few options; some of you have even put down deposits at more than one college, or so we hear; and, some of you might be frantically searching for a new choice that offers rolling admissions or very late deadlines in the next couple of months. As always, if any of you are in the still-undecided group, give me a call if you want some pe...2018-05-1122 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 161: College Wait ListsAs we said last week, most of you have made a decision about what college your kid is going to by now. You all have compared and contrasted the colleges that accepted your son or daughter and made the best decision you thought you could. However, there might be one or two of you still holding out some hope for coming off the wait list of your kid’s favorite college choice. I know that some of you have even put a deposit down on a sure thing while not entirely giving up hope on the long shot that is th...2018-05-0417 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 160: The Best Advice About Choosing a CollegeWell, most of you have made a decision about what college your kid is going to by now. You all have sifted through the acceptances (hopefully, there was more than one), weighing all manner of things while making the decision. However, I know there are still a few of you out there who have not quite decided yet. I know because I talked to a mother just a few days ago who was in the throes of helping her daughter make her decision. Our meeting was quite accidental; she was the physician’s assistant in the surgeon’s office where my...2018-04-2723 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 159: Going to College in California?This is the third episode in our series, Decision Time Again, because, of course, it is actually decision time for lots of parents and kids out there. Although USACollegeChat is headquartered on the East Coast, we have some loyal listeners in California, and California colleges, including its public universities, are increasingly popular among students back here in the East. So, with that in mind, we have today’s episode. It is designed to make some of you feel better if your senior applied to a California college or two and did not get in. It is also design...2018-04-2021 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 158: Does the College Matter?This is the second episode in our new series, Decision Time Again. It’s “again” for us because, as we said last week, we always do some episodes about college decision making in April, for obvious reasons. 1. Isn’t This Counterintuitive? Every year at this time, pundits and educators write articles and op-ed pieces about how it doesn’t matter if your kid didn’t get into an Ivy League school, how admissions at top schools is an insane process that turns down thousands of perfectly qualified students, and how, in the end, he or she will still t...2018-04-1314 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 157: Thinking Through College AcceptancesThis is the first episode in our new series, fondly entitled Decision Time Again. It’s “again” for us because we always do some episodes about college decision making at this time of year, and it seems that the decisions just keep get harder and harder each year for all of you parents and your kids. Of course, we know that it might be your first decision time, and we are wishing you the best of luck! 1. A Case from the Real World So, here is something that happened last week: It is a case from the re...2018-04-0619 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 156: They Teach Happiness at YaleThis is the fourth episode in our new series of things we didn’t know about certain colleges--or about higher education generally. Today, we are taking a look inside the ivy-covered walls of Yale University, but I think you will be very surprised about why we are taking that look. I know that many of you parents listening today have kids who have their hearts set on attending Yale or one of the other Ivy League universities or one of the other highly selective universities next fall. And I know that many of them won’t get to do that...2018-03-2316 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 155: Foreign Languages and College AdmissionsThis is the third episode in our new series of things we didn’t know about certain colleges--or about higher education generally. But today, we are actually going to talk about some new data out about high schools because those data have implications for college-going, I believe. To be fair, I already knew a lot about today’s topic, but I did not know the data we are going to share with you now--and I think the situation is really very troubling. 1. A Look Back at Foreign Languages Last August, we took a look at this...2018-03-1615 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisoe 154: Instant College Admission DecisionsThis is the second in our new series of things we didn’t know about certain colleges--or about higher education generally. I think this is a case of the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know. Even though we have worked with colleges for a living for decades, we have learned a lot doing our 150-plus episodes, and we hope you have, too. Today’s episode focuses on something that I did not know existed: instant college admission decisions, which sound like a great stress-reliever to me. Because who wants to apply to a college...2018-03-0918 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 153: Outstanding New Documentary on HBCUsIt is officially March, and I feel that we have done all we can for the Class of 2022. Before we head into advice for the Class of 2023, we are going to do a few episodes on things we didn’t know about certain colleges--or about higher education generally. As we have always said, we learn something every time we do an episode, even though this is our business and we have been doing it a very long time. Today’s episode focuses on a favorite topic of ours here at USACollegeChat--that is, our nation’s historically black colleges...2018-03-0223 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 152: Choosing a College Because of a MajorI come to our topic today with mixed feelings. We have talked about it on numerous occasions and written about it in our books. It’s a topic that lends itself to some data-based analysis, but I have to say that it also causes me to think about my own philosophy about academics and what is important and what isn’t. So, this is a big topic, and it is college majors. As I have been working with students during this round of college applications, I listen to them talk about choosing colleges to apply to because those c...2018-02-2321 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 151: What About a College’s Grading Practices?Today we are going to talk about a topic that I bet you and your high school senior have not given any thought to. And yet, it’s a topic that you and your high school senior have done nothing but think about for the past year or so, just from a different perspective. That topic is grades. Or more precisely, today’s topic is grading practices, which is not exactly the same as your kid’s grades. Probably the most you have thought about your kid’s high school’s grading practices is whether the school uses a weighte...2018-02-1621 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 150: College Acceptance for the Spring Semester?Today’s topic is something I have never thought much about at all. And that’s true even though my oldest child was in this situation, and no one seemed to think much about it when he was accepted to Berklee College of Music a dozen years ago. When Jimmy applied to Berklee (the college we like to say that offers the best contemporary music education in the world), he was admitted for the following spring semester rather than for the fall. I looked at that as a great opportunity for him to study abroad for a semester. I found a...2018-02-1125 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 149: Colleges with Late Application Deadlines!Last year about this time, we did an episode on colleges with late application deadlines. We would like to do that again today, realizing that some colleges have changed their deadlines, of course, since our episode last January. It is amazing to me--still--that so many colleges have deadlines well past early January, even as we seem to focus our high school seniors every year on meeting a January 1 deadline for their college applications. Apart from those colleges that have mid-January or late January deadlines, there are many colleges still accepting applications for next fall’s freshman class. So, let’s take a...2018-02-0222 min
USACollegeChat PodcastUSACC 148: College Deferment and a Letter of AppealHello, again! When we signed off in mid-December to take an end-of-year break, we thought that we would be back with you the first week of January. But, you know what they say about the best-laid plans…. So what happened? The flu, the snow, and the unexpected week-long extension of a business trip I was on in Alaska on the shores of the Arctic Ocean! I am taking full responsibility for our absence, and let me say that these few weeks are the longest we have been off the air since we started our podcast over three years ago. So...2018-01-2630 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 147: It’s a New College World, Or Is It?It’s the middle of December, and those of you with teenagers who are facing application deadlines in the first week of January either see that the end is in sight or are pulling out your hair. Whichever it is, I am not sure how much more we can do for you. I will make our standard offer, nonetheless: If you are wrestling with a question about a college application or trying to figure out another college or two to add to your list--yes, it’s not too late--then, give us a call. Quick, free advice is available for the next...2017-12-1521 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 146: The Biggest College Application Mistake You Are About To MakeAs you head into December and draw near to the looming college application deadlines that follow in the first two weeks of January, we are sure you have a lot on your minds, parents. Almost all of you are worried about how you are going to pay for whatever college your teenager eventually enrolls in. Most of you are worried about whether your teenager is going to get into his or her first choice. Many of you are worried about whether your teenager will get into any of his or her top several choices. Some of you are worried abo...2017-12-0824 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 145: Supplemental College Application Essays—The SequelFirst, Happy Thanksgiving to all our listeners! We hope you will have a lovely day, filled with family and food, and that you will have a relaxing long weekend. Oh, except for the fact that some of your teenagers will be finishing up college application supplemental essays--or worse still, just starting them--so your weekend is not likely to be all that relaxing. Those of you who listened last week heard our discussion of the number of supplemental essays that various colleges require, the range of topics those essays can cover, the applicant’s choice of prompts for those...2017-11-2228 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 144: Supplemental College Application Essays—Oh, My!I really was not going to do this episode. I resisted doing our last two--one episode about The Common Application main essay (that 650-word statement that all seniors’ parents and teachers have come to loathe at this time of year) and one episode about the sad fact that our high school seniors in the U.S. cannot write. I was glad when last week was over, and I thought that I could move on to other topics of importance in the college applications season. And yet, I am drawn back into the quagmire of college application essays. It gets...2017-11-1735 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 143: High School Students Can’t WriteLast week when we talked about college application essays for what seems to be the millionth time in our three years together, we suggested that you go back and listen to Episodes 98, 99, 106, and 110 if you have a senior at home with college application essays due now and over the next few weeks. As I said last week, I have been spending some time in one of New York City’s most exclusive high schools to help two classes of seniors with their essays. As a result, I have been thinking hard about the sorry state of the writing skills disp...2017-11-1024 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 142: What’s Wrong with Your Kid’s College Application Essay?Well, it’s officially November. Some Early Decision and Early Action deadlines have just passed, and many others are fast approaching on November 15. There is very little time left for those of you interested in submitting early applications. As we said at length in Episode 138 and as we have repeated in the past few episodes, we think that all of you should be applying Early Action to all of the schools on your list that have an Early Action option and that some of you should be applying to your first choice under the Early Decision option. So, think about...2017-11-0317 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 141: The Role of Parents in College ApplicationsWe are in the last days of October, and Early Decision and Early Action deadlines are just a handful of days or a couple of weeks away. There is still time, but not much for those of you interested in early applications (and we think that should be almost all of you, for Early Action at least). So, what is the role of parents at this critical time? Today’s episode is short and sweet, and it will hopefully affirm what you are already doing, parents, if you have been listening to USACollegeChat. 1. A New Survey I...2017-10-2716 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 140: The Scandal of Transferring College CreditsIn our last episode, we talked about narrowing down your teenager’s long list of college options (or LLCO, as we call it in our new book How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students), and we discussed several questions to ask yourselves about those colleges as you narrowed down the list. We recommended ending up with perhaps 15 colleges (give or take 5) on your teenager’s “short list.” One thing we did not talk about was whether you should put a public two-year community college on the list. We have talked about community colleges...2017-10-2028 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 139: Narrowing Your Teenager’s List of College OptionsLast year, we spent the month of September suggesting some steps to take in order to narrow down your teenager’s long list of college options (or LLCO, as we call it in our new book How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students). We talked about a number of filters you might use to narrow down that list, which we hope was really quite long at the beginning. Why do we hope that? Because a long list shows that you and your teenager thought about a wide variety of colleges that might be appealing, pe...2017-10-1322 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 138: It’s Early Decision/Early Action Time AgainLet’s open today with an acknowledgment of a reasonably impressive milestone. We have just passed the third anniversary of our podcast. That’s three whole years of trying to put the college applications and college admissions process into perspective and within the grasp of the all-too-many parents and teenagers who have been left out of the conversation. When we started the podcast, we thought that it would be most helpful to parents who had not been to college themselves and to their first-generation-to-college kids. But we have found that parents of all educational backgrounds have learned from the epis...2017-10-0636 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 137: College Support Services: More Important Than You ThinkThis is an unusual episode in our series Researching College Options and for USACollegeChat as well. It looks at a critical issue today--one that can have terribly serious consequences for students and their families. The issue was raised in an insightful late August article by Alina Tugend in The Hechinger Report (the article also appeared in U.S. News & World Report). The issue is mental health support services on college campuses and the students--especially nonwhite students--who evidently all too often do not use them when they need to. This is going to be a relatively short episode for us...2017-09-2917 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 136: Too Few Male Students at College?Today’s episode in our series Researching College Options focuses on a trend in college enrollment that you might have missed entirely. But if you have a son at home, it might be of particular interest to you--especially if your son is in the early days of high school (or even younger!). 1. A Quick Historical Look at Men in College Let’s look back for a moment at the history of male students in U.S. colleges. We wrote about this back in our first book, How To Find the Right College: A Workbook for Paren...2017-09-2220 min
USACollegeChat PodcastUSACC 135: Another Look at Community CollegesToday’s episode in our series Researching College Options looks at a big option--an option that we have talked about in quite a few USACollegeChat episodes and in our first book, How To Find the Right College: A Workbook for Parents of High School Students. Most recently, we took a careful look at this option about five months ago in Episode 113. However, I have to admit that I am considering it again, based on a new opinion piece by LaGuardia Community College President Gail O. Mellow in late August in The New York Times. The option is community college. As...2017-09-1523 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 134: The College/Career Value of InternshipsWelcome back from the Labor Day holiday and welcome back to school for those of you living in the Northeast, where the very last kids to start back reside. And welcome back to our series, Researching College Options, where we have spent the last three episodes talking about the academic hurdles that kids will meet in trying to get into a college. Those hurdles are, first, SAT and ACT scores of competing applicants; second, average high school grade point average (GPA) of competing applicants; and third, courses that all applicants are expected to have taken in high school, usually...2017-09-0825 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 133: What High School Courses Will Get You into College?We are in the fifth week of our new series, Researching College Options, and we have spent the last two episodes talking about the two most likely academic hurdles that kids will meet in trying to get into a college: that is, first, the SAT and ACT scores of newly admitted and/or enrolled freshmen at the college and, second, the average high school grade point average (GPA) of those students. I think we made it clear that both of these matter at most of the nation’s most selective four-year colleges and that high school GPAs matter, in fa...2017-08-2521 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 132: High School Grade Inflation and College AdmissionsWe are in the fourth week of our new series, Researching College Options, and we spent time in our last episode talking about the SAT and ACT and their almost-unavoidable continuing role in college applications and admissions. Yes, we said that there are plenty of test-optional and test-flexible colleges, but the SAT and ACT are not dead and buried yet and won’t be any time soon, if ever. That topic was just about as inevitable as college applications season gets into full swing as this week’s topic, which is the super-important high school grade point average (GPA). 2017-08-1820 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 131: College Admission Testing, One More TimeWe are in the third week of our new series, Researching College Options, and we are going to talk today about a topic that is unavoidable. It is a topic that we have talked about on several episodes of USACollegeChat and one that we have written about in both of our books for high school students and their parents. The topic is college admission testing--that is, the SAT and the ACT. Parents, if you have a smart kid who is applying to top-tier colleges, then this episode is especially important for you. But, as it turns out...2017-08-1131 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 130: Opening Your Eyes About College OptionsWe are in the second week of our new series, Researching College Options. Now that it’s August and high school students in some parts of the country will actually be returning to school this month for their senior year, it’s time to get to work. So, for this new series, we are going to be talking directly to you, parents of high school seniors. Hang on because it can be a bumpy ride. In this episode, we are going to read you some excerpts from what we call Step 1 in our new book, How To Expl...2017-08-0426 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 129: What You Don’t Know About CollegesIt’s getting serious now. It’s almost August, and kids who are headed off to their senior year in high school are realizing that it is time to get moving on investigating college options more thoroughly. There are a hundred things we would like to tell you and your senior about that and just as many pieces of advice we would like to give you two. In fact, we will do a lot of that in this new series that we are starting today and that we like to call Researching College Options. But in this episode we are...2017-07-2827 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 128: College Enrollment in Decline?Today’s episode is going to be the final one of our Colleges in the Spotlight series because next week we are really getting down to the serious work of getting our rising high school seniors ready to apply to colleges. So, as we leave Colleges in the Spotlight, we want to take a look at a news story that might just be bringing good news to some of you. The story, which ran in The Hechinger Report and in The Washington Post at the end of June, was entitled “Universities and colleges struggle to stem big drops in enro...2017-07-2119 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 127: Private Colleges for Low-Income Students?Welcome back from the Fourth of July break! This episode is going to be the next-to-last one in our Colleges in the Spotlight series because very soon we have to get down to the serious work of where our new crop of high school seniors should be applying to college. So, today we want to take a look at a population that we don’t focus on as much as we might--that is, low-income students who live in rural areas. Although we are based in New York City, we do try hard to look at colleges and students across th...2017-07-1422 min
USACollegeChat PodcastUSACC 126: Colleges That Are Successful at Delivering Needed Career SkillsToday’s episode of our Colleges in the Spotlight series takes what our regular listeners will recognize as a surprising turn. You all may recall the many times we have championed the liberal arts as a great way for undergraduates to spend at least two--if not four--years. We have quoted many dignitaries from college presidents to elected Congressional leaders about the merits of liberal arts study. Let me be the first to say that I am not backing down on that. On the other hand, let me also offer a somewhat alternative view and to let you know what so...2017-06-3021 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 125: Colleges Serving First-Generation-to-College StudentsWelcome back to our Colleges in the Spotlight series. Last week, we focused on Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs)--where the campus student population must be at least 25 percent Latino, with more than half financially needy--and the good work that they have been doing to smooth the way for Latino/Latina students, many of whom are the first generation in their families to attend college. Kudos again to UC Irvine for its excellent programs and services for Latino/Latina students! Today’s episode picks up from where last week’s left off. This episode will look at a...2017-06-2317 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 124: An Exemplary Hispanic Serving Institution for New College StudentsFor the past two weeks in our Colleges in the Spotlight series, we have looked at colleges outside the U.S. and at the pluses (and almost no minuses) of attending college full time outside the U.S. In Episode 122, we spotlighted Richmond, the American International University in London, a unique and appealing university dually accredited in the U.S. and the U.K. In Episode 123, we stayed just a little closer to home and looked at an array of outstanding universities in Canada—specifically, the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, McGill University, the French-speaking University of...2017-06-1626 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 123: A New Look at Colleges North of the BorderLast week in our Colleges in the Spotlight series, we took you to the U.K. to consider what it might be like to attend college full time outside the U.S. We looked specifically at Richmond, the American International University in London, a unique university dually accredited in the U.S. and the U.K. We hoped that taking a close look at Richmond--and, more generally, at the value of full-time study at universities abroad--might persuade some of you to leave your geographic comfort zone. But, in case a trip across the Atlantic (or the Pacific) s...2017-06-0919 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 122: A Truly American International UniversityBefore we start today’s episode, which will take us abroad, let us remind you to rush out right now and get our new book if you have a junior at home (and even if you have a freshman or sophomore). That’s “rush out right now” figuratively speaking, because the book is available at amazon.com, so there is no need to leave home to get it. But why now? Because using the book is a perfect way for your teenager to spend some time this summer--that is, researching colleges of interest to him or her and/or colleges...2017-06-0223 min
USACollegeChat PodcastUSACC 121: No Harvard for You!Today in our current series, Colleges in the Spotlight, we want to look at a great article published in The New York Times by an award-winning journalist writing a very personal piece. Although the title of our episode is “No Harvard for You,” it is really about many colleges a lot like Harvard--highly selective, prestigious, private colleges, which have disappointed a lot of kids this March and April. This is an unusual perspective and a memorable one. Special thanks to my friend, Regina Rule, school board member in Manhasset, New York, who posted this article on Facebook. I probably neve...2017-05-1917 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 120: Lots of College Options in Our New WorkbookToday, we have figured out a way to talk both about our new book--How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students--and to make good on the title of our current series, Colleges in the Spotlight. As we were writing the book, we realized that we could use a lot of college examples, drawn from our earlier podcast episodes, to illuminate the points we were trying to make. I thought it would be interesting to see just how many colleges were mentioned in the book--and by “mentioned,” I mean that they were used to illustrate the answ...2017-05-1212 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 119: Explore College Options with a New WorkbookWe are going to take a tiny detour from our new series, Colleges in the Spotlight, to talk a bit about our brand new book, which we have called How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students. First, let us give a shout-out to high school students at Brooklyn Tech for their help in choosing the title for the book. We tried out a few titles on them, and they chose one quite close to the one we are using. For those of you who don’t know Brooklyn Tech, it’s a selective high scho...2017-05-0519 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 118: It’s the Colleges’ Turn To Beg!Since Decision Day is almost upon us, we are going to refrain from giving any more general advice. If you want specific advice for your teenager, call us. That’s free advice available to parents with seniors until April 30 at 11:59 p.m. New York City time So, we are in our new series, which we are calling Colleges in the Spotlight. Last week, we shone our spotlight on Spelman College and its fellow HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities). Today, we are headed to the West Coast to take a look at the University of California, Los An...2017-04-2819 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 117: The Best Case for Historically Black Colleges and Universities?We know that some of you are still discussing which college your teenager should attend next fall, and we are sure that, by now, you are tired of re-listening to Episodes 69, 70, 71, and 114 of USACollegeChat—all of which we hoped would guide you through these difficult days. So, we thought we would let someone else do the talking today. Not us, but rather a college student--one we found to be remarkably insightful. This episode will also start a new series, which we are calling Colleges in the Spotlight. Now, to be honest, I am not sure that we ca...2017-04-2117 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 116: Getting a Remarkable College Recommendation LetterFor those of you still debating which college your teenager should attend next fall, let us remind you, one more time, to take a look at Episodes 69, 70, 71, and 114—all of which aim to help you sort through some of the issues you might be facing in choosing the best college for your teenager. We wish you the best during this often stressful time--and, if you need an outside perspective, don’t hesitate to give us a call. Seriously. Well, we thought about taking this week off to enjoy everyone else’s spring break. But last week, I read a...2017-04-1413 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 115: What About a Gap Year Before College?While today’s topic might not be an issue in higher education generally, it could well be an issue in your own teenager’s higher education--and it’s an issue that you might want to think about quickly right now if you have a high school senior. It is the notion of having your teenager take a gap year between finishing high school this spring and starting college this fall. For those of you who have high school juniors at home, it’s not too early for you to be thinking about this option, too. For those of you w...2017-04-0735 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 114: It’s College Decision Time!Well, it is almost April 1, the date by which a lot of colleges will make high school seniors happy or sad. In fact, many colleges have already done that in the past two weeks, with some doing so today and tomorrow. We are sure it is a tense time for lots of families--whether it leads to great joy or considerable disappointment. There is hardly a bigger issue in higher education, of course, than the admissions game, its fairness and unfairness, and its results for thousands and thousands of kids. Whatever the case may be, many of you are now...2017-03-3123 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 113: The Community College ChallengeToday’s episode focuses on a higher education issue that we have talked about before at USACollegeChat, though not recently--that is, the pros and cons of attending a community college, which is a marvelous institution in theory, but a somewhat more disappointing institution in reality. At least, that has been our position in the past. When I read a recent article about where community colleges find themselves these days, I thought we might look at them one more time. If you are the parent of a senior, we will offer some recent facts that might affect your de...2017-03-2429 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 112: Speeding Up College GraduationOne of the biggest practical issues in higher education today is the rising and insanely high cost of a college education--obviously. The cost of going to college is not something we talk about a lot here at USACollegeChat, partly because there are so many other people talking about it all the time. But sky-high cost is the reason behind the topic we are going to discuss in this episode: speeding up college graduation--that is, graduating in fewer than the traditional four years. Of course, given that so many students these days are taking longer than the traditional...2017-03-1727 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 111: The College Major DilemmaWe believe that today’s topic is an issue in higher education not only because the ins and outs of it are talked about often by professors and college administrators, but also because it is something that you as parents will undoubtedly be talking about to your kids once they get to college--if you haven’t started already. It is an issue that comes up in college applications—far too often, from my own point of view. It is the issue of what kids should major in when they go to college. “Why is that even an issue fo...2017-03-1028 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 110: The New Common App College Essay PromptsWe are not sure that the topic of today’s episode qualifies as an “issue” in higher education, which is the name of our current series, but it is certainly something that will soak up a lot of the time of high school students who will be applying to college next fall and likely of their parents as well. The topic is The Common Application essay prompts. Now, I feel as though we just finished discussing college application essays a few weeks ago back in Episode 106, “The Nightmare of the Supplemental College Application Essays.” And today we are back to...2017-03-0320 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 109: Early Decision and Early Action Anxiety in College Admissions--Part IIThis is the third in our series of episodes discussing issues in higher education, and it’s the second part of a two-parter that looks at the Early Decision and Early Action options for high school students who will be applying to colleges next fall. I mentioned last week that I was infuriated by this issue. I meant that I was infuriated on behalf of the kids and families who are trying to figure out how to play this college admissions game, which is hard enough without having to calculate the advantages and disadvantages of various Early Decision and Ea...2017-02-2426 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 108: Early Decision and Early Action Anxiety in College Admissions--Part IWelcome back to Series 10, Issues in Higher Education. This is the second in our series of episodes discussing a variety of issues in higher education, and it’s a two-parter. Today’s and next week’s issue is one that, to put it bluntly, I find infuriating. This infuriation has likely been felt by anyone who has tried to navigate the world of Early Decision and Early Action admission to colleges in these past five or six months. So, let’s get started sorting it all out. We will talk about Early Decision today; next week, we will loo...2017-02-1729 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 107: What’s All This I Hear About Online College Courses?Welcome to Series 10, Issues in Higher Education. We want to spend at least the next handful of episodes discussing a variety of what we believe are issues in higher education--not necessarily about college access or college applications or college admissions, which is where we spend most of our time with you. Yet, we believe that these issues could have long-term implications that are important for your family. When casting about for a good definition of what we mean by an issue, we came across the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary and its definition of issue: “a subject or pr...2017-02-0330 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 106: The Nightmare of the Supplemental College Application EssaysWe are still in Series 9, The Last Minute. That’s because we told you in our last episode that many colleges, including some top-ranked public and private ones, were still accepting applications--and will be doing so right through January and February, with some into March and April, and a few even beyond that. So, if you have a high school senior at home and he or she intends to take advantage of that fact, this episode is for you. And perhaps equally important, but less urgent: If you have a high school junior at home, this episode is for yo...2017-01-1329 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 105: Colleges Still Accepting Applications!Well, we thought we would be starting a new series for the new year, but it turns out there are one or two things we would like to say to the seniors who are looking at their college prospects now--albeit a bit late--with newly serious eyes. I was talking to one of my best friends recently. He has twin girls, who were just finishing up their applications when we chatted on December 27. He said that one of the girls was feeling a bit blue as she looked over the list of colleges she had applied to and worried that non...2017-01-0619 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 104: Public Universities--One More TimeThis is our final episode before the holiday break and before those of you with seniors are facing what is likely D-Day--Deadline-for-college-applications Day--at least, for many, many colleges anyway. We struggled to think of something hopeful to say, and we settled on one last look at a group of colleges your teenager and you might not have considered sufficiently, and that is public universities. They have long been a favorite topic of ours, as evidenced by our detailed coverage of them during our virtual nationwide college tour (Episodes 27 through 53) and our oft-repeated description of public flagship universities as the...2016-12-2319 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 103: Can You Find a College Like Georgia State?We are going to Georgia--well, not literally--in today’s episode to talk about a college that we did not include in our virtual nationwide college tour (Episodes 27 through 53), but I now wish we had. I have to admit that I did not know virtually anything about the college we are going to talk about, and that’s why Marie and I say all the time that we learn something every day while navigating the ever-changing world of college. I think this episode will be eye-opening to many of you. 1. What’s in a Headline? It all st...2016-12-1622 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 102: Using Technology To Communicate with CollegesToday’s episode takes us into the world of technology, so that means I’m already in trouble, but fortunately not Marie. We want to highlight four ways colleges find out things about applicants, now that we live in a world of super-connectedness--which can be good and can be not so good. 1. Email Address So, let’s start with the most obvious: an applicant’s email address. Virtually all kids have email addresses these days; indeed, kids are called on to provide them as part of the Common App—under Profile, then under Contact Details. So, tell y...2016-12-0923 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 101: College Application Fees--Oh, My!Welcome back after our Thanksgiving break. We hope your holiday was not ruined by college application hysteria. With about a month to go until many application deadlines hit, we would like to take up a practical topic that might affect how many applications your teenager is thinking about submitting in a few weeks. That topic is application fees. 1. The Cost For some of you, the cost of submitting an application--which is likely to be somewhere between $35 and $75 per application--is not a big deal. Even if your teenager applies to 10 or 15 schools with fees on the...2016-12-0220 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 100: Historically Black College and University Freshman Enrollment on the RiseWell, it is the 100th episode of our podcast, which started out as NYCollegeChat and then rapidly became USACollegeChat when we realized that everything we had to say was useful to families all over the USA and not just in our home state of New York. In the television business, having 100 episodes is a big deal because it means that the show lasted long enough and with sufficient quality to be syndicated (actually, it’s really only 88 episodes, or what used to be four full 22-episode seasons--not that anyone can figure out how many episodes are in television seasons an...2016-11-1821 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 99: College Application Essays—One More Time (Part II)As I said last week, I am still mired in the swamp of college application essays, which I am reviewing and editing for 50-plus kids. As you might recall, my comments last week and this week are based on the essays of kids who attend top-ranked public high schools. Let me just say that all of the kids are smart and that all of them take honors and Advanced Placement courses. Last week, we talked about the content of their application essays, and this week we are going to talk about the mechanics of those essays--that is...2016-11-1119 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 98: College Application Essays—One More Time (Part I)In November and December, we will be doing a mercifully short series entitled “The Last Minute.” Because that’s what it is--the last minute for finishing up most college applications and getting them submitted. Of course, some colleges have Regular Decision deadlines beyond the first of the year (especially some large public universities), and some colleges have rolling admissions (meaning that they take in and decide about applications virtually year-round). And some teenagers have just brushed off their hands and submitted Early Action or Early Decision applications--but that doesn’t mean they don’t need to be ready with some back...2016-11-0434 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 97: An Overview of Your Teenager’s List of College OptionsIn our last four episodes, we have been suggesting some steps to take in order to narrow down your teenager’s long summer list of college options. But let us be the first to say that we are okay if your list is still long--say, 15 colleges or so. Let us say again that we know many “experts” will complain about a longish list, including guidance counselors or college counselors, who understandably see long lists from seniors as a lot of extra work. But we really don’t want your teenager to lose out on a good option next spring because...2016-10-2816 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 96: Narrowing Down Your Teenager’s College List--Step 4In our last three episodes, we have been suggesting some steps to take in order to narrow down your teenager’s long summer list of college options in case it is too long. However, as we have begun to say--and frankly, I am a bit surprised by this--perhaps your list is not really too long. Let’s say you still have about 15 colleges on the list. Even though we said in our book (How To Find the Right College: A Workbook for Parents of High School Students, available at amazon.com) that applying to 8 to 12 colleges seemed like a reas...2016-10-2116 min
USACollegeChat PodcastUSACC095: Narrowing Down Your Teenager’s College List--Step 3In our last two episodes, we have been talking with you about how to narrow down your teenager’s long summer list of college options in case it is too long. As that list begins to get shorter, I am beginning to feel as though we should have let you keep it long. Well, not crazy long--but 15 colleges or so is still reasonable to me, at this point in the process. As we have said before, there are quite a few colleges out there that would likely be a good match for your teenager. Don’t feel that you need...2016-10-1716 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 94: Narrowing Down Your Teenager’s College List--Step 2In our last episode, we started narrowing down your teenager’s long summer list of college options. It made me sad to do it, but I had to admit that fall was here and it was time. But we hope that you have plenty of colleges left on that list--at least 15 for now. And we know that many of them would be a great choice for your teenager, because, as we said last week, there is not just one perfect choice for him or her. First, let us remind you that you can now complete the Free Applic...2016-10-0726 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 93: Narrowing Down Your Teenager’s College List--Step 1We have put off narrowing down your teenager’s long summer list of college options as long as we can. I hate to start the narrowing because it always seems to me as though the colleges taken off your list might be opportunities missed. But we all have to remember that there is not just one college that is a good choice for your teenager. There are likely quite a few colleges that would be not just good, but excellent, choices for your teenager. So, in that spirit, let’s see where we stand here at the end of Sept...2016-09-3022 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 92: Don’t Use These Two Filters for Your Teenager’s College List!Well, it is time to start narrowing your teenager’s long summer list of college options--that is, if he or she made such a list by using our 10 assignments this summer. Of course, if your teenager did not make such a list, there is still time to do so, but get moving. I would recommend taking his or her top 20 college choices and running through the 10 assignments at breakneck speed, because the time to narrow down that list is fast approaching. 1. The Numbers Game We have promised you some ways to filter your teenager’s long...2016-09-2319 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 91: Think Harder About Community ServiceHopefully, you have finished your 10 summer assignments designed to expand and then investigate seriously the colleges on your teenager’s long summer list of college options. So, let’s review what those 10 assignments were: First, you expanded your teenager’s long summer list of college options. Next, you checked out four key admission standards for the colleges on that list--namely, average high school GPA, high school class rank, SAT or ACT scores of admitted and/or enrolled freshmen, and both required and recommended courses to be completed in high school. After that, you looked at each college’s undergra...2016-09-1633 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 90: Assignment #10—It’s Never Too Late To Add One More CollegeThis is an episode we like to call “It’s Never Too Late To Add One More College.” Now, if your teenager and you have done your nine assignments this summer to expand and then investigate seriously the colleges on your teenager’s long summer list of college options, you are probably wondering what we mean by “adding one more.” But, first, let’s review the nine assignments you have already done—and it’s an impressive group: First, you expanded your teenager’s long summer list of college options. Next, you checked out four key admission standards for the colleges on...2016-09-0227 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 89: Assignment #9--Looking at College SchedulesAssignment #9 is going to give your teenager and you a chance to see some of the most innovative ideas some colleges have, in my opinion. And it’s such a simple topic: that is, how is the academic year scheduled into terms--semesters, trimester, quarters, or whatever. But, first, let’s review what you have already done (and that’s a lot with eight assignments completed, we hope): You have expanded your teenager’s long summer list of college options. You have checked out four key admission standards for the colleges on that list--namely, average high school GPA, high school c...2016-08-2616 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 88: Assignment #8--Looking at College Housing and SafetyAssignment #8 should be another of the more enjoyable and less academic assignments. Its premise is that, if a student is not living at home during college, then the kinds of residence halls or other campus housing available at a college makes a difference in the life of that student--at least for the freshman year and often for much longer. We feel as though you all are getting a well-rounded view of the colleges on your teenager’s long summer list of college options so far. Here’s what you have already done: You have expanded your teenager’s long s...2016-08-1931 min
USACollegeChat PodcastUSACC087: Assignment #7--Looking at Core CurriculaWell, this is Assignment #7, which means that your teenager and perhaps you have done a lot of work so far. Take a look back and look at all you have accomplished this summer: You have expanded your teenager’s long summer list of college options. You have checked out four key admission standards for the colleges on that list--namely, average high school GPA, high school class rank, SAT or ACT scores of admitted and/or enrolled freshmen, and both required and recommended courses to be completed in high school. You have looked at each college’s undergraduate enrollment, brok...2016-08-1237 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 86: Assignment #6--Looking at College Location, Not DistanceYour teenager and you should be learning a lot about colleges if you have been keeping up with your assignments. Yes, we know it’s summer, but you will thank us in September. Let’s review what you have done so far (we hope): You have expanded your teenager’s long summer list of college options. You have checked out four key admission standards for the colleges on that list--namely, average high school GPA, high school class rank, SAT or ACT scores of admitted and/or enrolled freshmen, and both required and recommended courses to be completed in high s...2016-08-0517 min
USACollegeChat PodcastUSACC085: Assignment #5--Looking at College SizeFour assignments down and several yet to go in this summer college search process that we hope you are undertaking with us. We hope that your teenager and you are learning a lot about colleges in general and a lot about the colleges that are on your teenager’s long summer list of college options. We hope that your teenager’s list is still long--because there is plenty of time to shorten it after September comes. To recap, in your first four assignments, you have expanded your teenager’s long summer list of college options--for now, anyway. You hav...2016-07-2921 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 84: Assignment #4—Looking at College Enrollment BreakdownsWe hope that all of you parents and/or high schoolers have finished the first three assignments we gave you for starting or continuing your college search process. We have a handful more ahead. There’s nothing like having homework all summer. However, if these assignments can make your autumn a little better, you will be glad you spent the time now. When everyone else is running around looking up information about colleges, you can be relaxing. Sort of. In your first three assignments, as you will recall, you have expanded your teenager’s long summer list of c...2016-07-2229 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 83: Assignment #3—Looking at One More College Admission StandardSo, parents of juniors (and parents of freshmen and sophomores who are thinking ahead) you have had your first two assignments in the college search process. We hope we are keeping you busy, but—more importantly—interested in what can be a fascinating and actually enjoyable process. So far, we have had you expanding your teenager’s long summer list of college options so that you are truly ready to narrow it in the fall. And we have had you check out key admission standards for the colleges on that list—namely, average high school GPA, high school c...2016-07-1517 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 82: Assignment #2—Looking at College Admission StandardsSo, parents of juniors (and parents of freshmen and sophomores who are thinking ahead) you had your first assignment in the college search process last week. It was a pretty big assignment and one that parents of freshmen and sophomores could easily start now so that they can do it at a calmer pace. The point of the assignment was to do the exact opposite of what many experts might be telling you this summer. Our advice was to start expanding your teenager’s list of college options so that you are truly ready to narrow it in...2016-07-0824 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 81: Assignment #1--Expanding, Not Narrowing, the College SearchThis series is entitled The Search Begins and, as we have said, it is aimed directly at those of you who are parents of juniors, and it is designed to help you all navigate summer tasks related to college applications in the fall. (Of course, it never hurts parents of freshmen and sophomores to get a head start on the college admissions game. So, stick with us during these summer episodes.) Today’s topic focuses on something that you are just about to do totally wrong. Furthermore, our advice on this topic probably runs counter to what ma...2016-07-0131 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 80: Is It Time for the College Essay?As the college search for many of you begins in earnest this summer, here’s one way to ruin your summertime: Start talking to your child about completing the college application essay. Now, as you all know, some colleges require more than one essay and usually the second and third supplementary essays for those colleges, for example, are shorter and more geared to a specific question related to the college itself than the main essay, like the one in the Common Application. We gave one perspective on college essays way back in Episode 22 and another in Episode 49 when we re...2016-06-2428 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 79: What To Do This SummerWelcome back to our summer series, entitled The Search Begins. Again, this series is dedicated to those of you—primarily the parents of juniors—who are starting a focused college hunt now. However, today’s episode is going to be useful to all high school parents as kids gear up—or wind down—for the summer. A note to families with younger high schoolers: It might be time to get a jump on preparing for college applications. Long ago in Episodes 15 and 16, we talked about extracurricular activities, internships, volunteer service, and part-time jobs that students might undertake after scho...2016-06-1636 min
USACollegeChat PodcastEpisode 78: Are You Looking at Colleges or Party Venues?Last week, we began our new summer series, entitled The Search Begins. This series is dedicated to those of you—primarily the parents of juniors—who are starting the serious college hunt now. In Episode 77, we talked about the number of college applications your teenager would ideally be making in the fall. While a bit dependent on what your teenager is interested in studying and on how broad a range of college options you all want to consider, we recommended between 8 and 12 applications—after carefully thinking through and winnowing down the options. Recently, I read an interesting perspe...2016-06-1023 min