Admissions Beat

The conversations, debates and diverse voices that animate a college campus are essential elements of an undergraduate experience. As seniors visit campuses for accepted student open houses and as juniors follow tour guides for introductory visits, AB host Lee Coffin shares an essay he wrote on the importance of assessing campus dialogue as part of those visits.

“’How will this look for colleges…?’ is the most common question I get from juniors as they select senior year courses,” reports longtime college counselor Eric Monheim. For sure, the quality of an applicant’s senior year program—and the grades achieved in that course of study—is a foundational element of the academic assessment of every application to a selective college. This week, AB host Lee Coffin answers the question: “Does 12th grade count?” as high school juniors select their senior year curriculum.  Guests Elena Hicks, SMU’s assistant vice provost and dean of admissions, and Monheim, the director of college counseling at St. Mark’s School in Massachusetts, give a resounding “Yes!” to that simple question. Senior year counts, so pick your courses wisely.

For centuries, the liberal arts have been foundational to the mission of higher education. But trying to explain the concept of this course of study — and the multifaceted roadmap a liberal arts degree provides for one’s life and work in the 2020s and beyond—can be challenging. And so AB host Lee Coffin called in a specialist: Cecilia Gaposchkin, a Dartmouth history professor whose courses range from the fall of Rome to the Crusades to the medieval kings of France. She was also the College’s longtime dean for pre-major advising.  But the subject matter of the liberal arts—chemistry or history, philosophy or French—is often less important than the skills a student learns: how to think critically, pose tough questions, write clearly and persuasively, and be a productive citizen. “A liberal arts degree is a degree in thinking,” Professor Gaposchkin advises high school seniors and juniors as they consider their options.

Admissions Beat host Lee Coffin considers April the “13th month” of the college admissions calendar. For many high school seniors, April brings a sense of closure, as they move from receiving their admissions decisions to weighing (and deciding) where to enroll. For many high school juniors, April represents a beginning – the official start of their college search. This week, Dean Coffin presents a grab bag of tips and other advice for both audiences, as well as parents and counselors. He’s joined by AB producer Charlotte Albright and Jacques Steinberg, co-author of “The College Conversation,” an admissions guidebook for parents.

What constitutes a strong SAT or ACT score? What do admissions officers mean when they say they consider scores in context? If a college is test-optional, should you submit your scores, or if it requires testing, are your scores strong enough to apply? The answers may surprise you. To talk through these and other questions, AB host and Dartmouth Dean of Admissions Lee Coffin is joined by Dartmouth professors Bruce Sacerdote and Michelle Tine, whose research helped inform Dartmouth’s recent decision to reinstate admissions testing requirements, and Jacques Steinberg, co-author of “The College Conversation,” an admissions guide for parents.

What’s it like to read applications at a highly selective college or university for the first time? Not so long after their own college graduations, Dartmouth admissions officers Clarissa Hyde, Will Kieger, Laura Rivera-Martinez, and Jackie Pageau have spent the last few months reading and evaluating hundreds of applications. This week on AB, they join their boss, Dean of Admissions Lee Coffin, to discuss all that they’ve learned during their rookie “reading season.”

Ever wonder how admissions officers decide which applicants to invite to join the incoming class? Jacques Steinberg, who wrote a New York Times best-seller, "The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College," based on a year of reporting at Wesleyan two decades ago, spent a day behind the closed doors of Dartmouth's undergraduate admissions selection committee. In this encore episode from 2023, he and host Lee Coffin, Dartmouth's dean of admissions and financial aid, discuss what Steinberg saw and heard, as Coffin and colleagues considered, debated, and voted on the applications of dozens of candidates for the Class of 2027. Among the factors the admissions officers weighed: the narratives, personal as well as academic, that emerged from the various components of the students' applications.

Public opinion polls reveal a surprising shift in American views on higher education: roughly half of the parents surveyed imagine a four-year college degree as the educational goal for their child, down from near-universal support for that same goal when that question was posed a decade ago. While “college” has been a central component of the storied “American Dream” for decades, that ideal seems to be fading. This week, AB host Lee Coffin ponders the value of “college” with Jamie Merisotis, President and CEO of the Lumina Foundation, and Anthony Carnevale, research professor and director of Georgetown’s Center on Education and the Workplace. The two thought leaders share insights on what is afoot, including: What is the enduring value of an undergraduate degree? What majors (if any) bring a career dividend despite the rising cost of obtaining it? And does“the duality of a good job and a good life” still matter? (Yes.)

What would it be like to be a former admissions officer guiding your own child through a college search? While they know a lot more than most parents, the emotions they experience as parents—paired with the lessons they learned from inside an admissions committee—are likely relatable (and instructive) for any parent. Listen in as Lee Coffin of Dartmouth interviews three former colleagues who are now “admissions moms”: Ronnie Bernier Burnett, former assistant director of admissions at Connecticut College; Kathy Cho Seldow, former assistant director of admissions at Tufts; and Courtney Minden, former vice president of enrollment management at Babson.

This week, Admissions Beat wades into the topic of college affordability. For high school seniors, we provide up-to-the-minute insight and tips on navigating the rollout of the new FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which is causing delays in award calculations. For high school juniors, we introduce the topic of affordability as a “non-negotiable” factor as you and your families work toward assembling a college list. Joining host Lee Coffin, Dartmouth’s dean of admissions and financial aid, are G. Dino Koff, director of financial aid at Dartmouth, and journalist Charlotte Albright.

How might a high school junior begin the journey of self-discovery that is the bedrock of the college search? In an encore episode of Admissions Beat, host Lee Coffin of Dartmouth recommends that prospective applicants point a virtual camera at themselves and snap an "existential selfie." It's an exercise that can reveal values, priorities, and guiding questions. His guests, all undergraduates at Dartmouth, provide counsel on the early steps in the college search, including advice they would give their 16- or 17-year-old selves. They are: Andrea Agola '26 of Burke, VA; Garrett Crouch '26 of Edmond, OK; Olivia Koo '26 of Los Alamos, NM; and Batuhan Saridede '26 of Izmit, Turkey.

 Throughout this winter, 11th graders will find themselves seated across from a college counselor in their high school, perhaps for the first time. The topic: kicking off a process of search and discovery intended to yield a college list by the start of senior year. But where and how to begin? To answer that question, Admissions Beat host Lee Coffin of Dartmouth is joined by two former university admissions officers and longtime “friends of the pod”: Sherri Geller, co-director of college counseling at Gann Academy in Waltham, Massachusetts, and Ronnie McKnight, associate director of college counseling at the Paideia School in Atlanta.

For our Season 5 premiere, Admissions Beat turns its attention to high school juniors. Host Lee Coffin, dean of admissions at Dartmouth, previews what prospective applicants can expect in the months ahead. He encourages them to start with an “existential selfie” to understand what they’re seeking in a college experience. He and his guests also provide tips on building a college list and assessing a campus’s community and culture. Joining Dean Coffin are Thyra Briggs, vice president for admissions and financial aid at Harvey Mudd College, and Jacques Steinberg, co-author of “The College Conversation: A Practical Companion for Parents to Guide Their Children Along the Path to Higher Education.”

In the Season 4 finale, Admissions Beat host Lee Coffin reaches into his holiday grab bag for a handful of end-of-year topics. First up, a visit to the Admissions Beat newsroom with journalist Charlotte Albright and Darryl Tiggle, director of college counseling at the Friends School of Baltimore, for answers to the questions students pose in various online forums as the application deadlines draw near. Then Mark Anderson, owner of MWA Fitness in Boston, has tips on stress management for applicants and admissions officers alike. Finally, Dean Coffin closes with a holiday message you won’t want to miss.

Admissions Beat host Lee Coffin encourages applicants to periodically snap an “existential selfie,” an exercise to zoom in on their values and priorities. This week, he and his guests train that metaphorical lens on high school students from rural backgrounds. For many, that upbringing can be a powerful theme in the stories they tell in their college applications. Joining Coffin are Kim Jackson, Director of Advising and Scholar Support at Lenfest Scholars Foundation, which serves college applicants from rural Pennsylvania, and Jacques Steinberg, a Lenfest board member and co-author of “The College Conversation: A Practical Companion for Parents to Guide Their Children Along the Path to Higher Education.”

Sometimes it's required, sometimes it's recommended, sometimes it's optional. Sometimes it's conducted on campus by an admissions officer or college senior, while at others it’s at a library or Starbucks with an alumnus. It’s an admissions interview. It’s also an opportunity to build life skills. This week on Admissions Beat, host Lee Coffin of Dartmouth conducts a mock interview with a high school senior from Los Angeles. They are then joined by Erica Rosales of College Match, a nonprofit, to share feedback and tips, including ways to make an interview feel more like a conversation and less like a dental appointment.

If anyone could lay claim to the title of “chief admissions counselor” for the nation’s millions of college-bound students, it would probably be Angel B. Pérez. A first-generation college student from the South Bronx and longtime admissions dean, Perez currently serves as CEO of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, or NACAC, a membership organization of more than 25,000 admissions officers, high school counselors, and other access professionals. In a one-on-one conversation with Dartmouth’s Lee Coffin, Perez offers context, perspective, and analysis of the major forces currently upending the process of applying to college and paying for it, as well as tips for navigating that landscape.

If you’re a high school senior in the United States, you may be seated around a Thanksgiving table where the turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce is accompanied by a heavy dollop of questions served up by relatives curious about your college admissions process. Fear not: this week on Admissions Beat, host Lee Coffin of Dartmouth and his guests lay out a holiday buffet with an array of talking points and other strategies to help students respond (or not) to the range of probing questions coming, however heartfelt and well-meaning. These include: How’s your search going? Where are you applying? What’s your first choice? Did you apply early? Pulling up a virtual dining room chair for this week’s conversation: friends of the pod Jennifer Simons of Bright Horizons College Coach and Matthew Hyde of Trinity College return for a fun reflection on navigating tricky holiday conversations about a college search.

To commemorate the 50th episode of Admissions Beat, a milestone we reached earlier this season, host Lee Coffin and producer Charlotte Albright revisit some of the podcast’s most practical and enduring advice for students, families, and counselors. Their tour guide for this auditory look back is Luke Grayson, a Dartmouth junior from Seaham, England, who highlights conversations that resonated with him—and ones he believes speak to today’s high school seniors and juniors. Among those greatest hits are tips on: sizing up a campus; building a focused and balanced list; being skeptical about the word “best”; keeping testing in perspective; and enjoying 12th grade.

Wellesley economist Phil Levine and Dino Koff, Dartmouth’s director of financial aid, join host Lee Coffin for insights on college affordability and the net price calculators that often guide families through that complicated but essential question. Levine advises families to ignore the sticker price: “What will this college cost me?” is a more useful framing of this essential question. The aid experts also offer guidance on navigating the sometimes-fuzzy vocabulary of financial aid, completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (aka, FAFSA), and the role of debt in financing higher education.