Episodes

This week in the Summer Program series: internships. These can be a great way to investigate a variety of careers, and we’ll talk through how to find them! We’ll also answer your college finance and admissions questions.

If you’re trying to decide between saving for college in a 529 plan or a prepaid tuition plan, this is the show for you. We’ll look at the differences between them and offer suggestions for deciding which is the right one for you. We’ll also take you inside the admissions office at Fordham University to explore how their process works and learn more about what might resonate in an applicant. The latest in the Summer Program series will investigate formal programs and ideas for spending a summer ...

Introducing a new Getting In series: Summer Programs! We’re kicking off the inaugural episode with a focus on summer programs for students interested in STEM. Tune in to learn more about what to look for and how to find math, science, and engineering summer opportunities. We also have the latest apps and resources to help college students better manage their money. Office Hours is covering all bases for seniors—tips on what to do if you’ve submitted all your applications or haven’t even started ...

Early action results are coming in, and we have some insight into the trends we seeing at places like Stanford, Harvard, and other highly selective schools, as well as some of the publics like Michigan. Wondering what is in a financial aid award letter, or even what that is? We’ll tell you all about it. Finally, we’re discussing the New Year’s Resolutions we’d like to make—or see you make—for the coming year.

Students who are turned down by their first choice college sometimes hatch a plan to take a gap year and reapply in the hopes of a different decision. We’ll discuss the pros and cons of this approach. In Office Hours, we’ll be answering your college finance and admissions questions.

You were deferred. Wondering what to do next? We’ve got you covered in this week’s Office Hours, when we discuss next steps for deferred students. We’ll also be talking about summer programs to consider, and how you can actually use good on-campus advising as a method to help control your college costs.

If you have aspirations of earning an MBA, you know that leadership is important. But do you know what constitutes good leadership experience from a business school admissions perspective? A former Wharton graduation admissions officer will join us to share her thoughts. Most saving for college segments focus on what parents should be doing when their kids are young, but we have some advice for parents of high school students who haven’t yet started to save. And in Office Hours we’ll talk throug...

If there was a group of colleges focused on a personalized, student-focused college experience, would you be interested? Well Colleges That Change Lives is that group, and executive director Maria Furtado joins us to share more about their mission. We’ll also go inside the St. Olaf financial aid office and help students and families prep for early round results in Office Hours.

Regular decision deadlines are approaching. This next set of deadlines is important for both students getting a later start—it’s certainly not too late!—and for students who submitted one or more applications in the early round. Tune in to get tips for thinking through the regular decision college list. In Office Hours, we’ll be answering your college finance and admissions questions.

Net price calculators are an important part of figuring out if a college is a good fit—it doesn’t make sense to consider a school if you can’t afford it without going into debt. We’ll help you understand how net price calculators work so that you can best use this important tool. Wondering if senior year grades matter as part of the college process? Wonder no more—we have the answer! And we’ll look at the University of Southern California’s supplemental essay questions in Office Hours.

Curious about what happens to your FAFSA and/or CSS Profile once you press submit? We’ll take you behind the scenes in this week’s show and offer some insight into what goes on once your application has been received. We’ll also talk about honors colleges, including what they are, what to expect as a student, and who should plan to apply. Office Hours will take on the supplemental essays for the University of Virginia.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been going through the different ways in which students can stand out in competitive college applicant pools. In our latest installment of the Standing Out series, we cover the impact of college major choice. While not as widely known as the FAFSA, the CSS Profile is an important financial aid document required by some colleges and universities. We’ll discuss how to fill it out in this week’s show. And finally, we’ll go over the supplemental essays for Lehigh and L...

Our latest in the Standing Out series looks at how the choice of where to apply to college can be a big factor in helping students stand out in the applicant pool. We’re relying on you for this week’s Office Hours—it’s all about listener college finance and admissions questions.

You’re working on the FAFSA and you have questions. You’re in luck, because we have answers! Tune in to this week’s show for information on completing the FAFSA. In the second in our Standing Out series, we’ll tackle extracurricular activities and how they can help students stand out. Finally, in Office Hours we’ll discuss how to know when you’re ready to press send on your college applications.

One of the most common listener questions we receive is, “How can my son/daughter stand out in the application process?” This week, we’re introducing the Standing Out series to try to get at some answers to this elusive question. The FAFSA became available to families a few weeks ago on October 1. If you’re wondering whether or not to complete it as part of your child’s applications, tune in to this segment for our thoughts. Finally, we’ll discuss standardized tests and college applications in O...

The University of California system has its own application that takes a slightly different approach than the Common Application. Instead of one primary essay, the UC app offers eight prompts for students to choose from when writing the four shorter required essays. In this week’s Office Hours, we’ll go through all eight prompts and talk through suggestions for approaching each of them. The general rule of thumb with scholarship searches is to start early! For those of you who didn’t take that a...

Working on an essay and wondering if your idea is a good one? Take a listen to an all-new segment on terrible college essay ideas that we’ve encountered in our years of reading tens of thousands of these. We’ll answer your college finance questions in our Q&A segment and offer advice for tackling Princeton’s supplemental essays in Office Hours.

Struggling with your Apply Texas application essays? Look no further—we’ve got tips and suggestions for approaching these in this week’s Office Hours segment. We’ll also go inside the Harvard admissions office with a College Coach expert who used to be an admissions officer there, and we’ll discuss the things you need to know about financing a health professions degree.

There are few phrases more common in college admissions than, “I heard that…”Most of what follows will be half-truths, innuendo, or information that is flat out wrong. In this week’s show, we’ll talk through the myths and realities of as many of those phrases as possible. We’ll also go inside BU’s financial aid office with a current College Coach finance expert who used to work there, and discuss which supporting documents will be required as part of the college admissions process and who is res...

The Why This College Essay is one of the most important elements of any application that requires it. Tune in for tips on how to craft the best version possible. Paying for college is almost always as important as getting in, and it’s important to do your research on whether or not you can afford it before you even apply. We’ll offer suggestions on the best tools to use for that. Finally, in part two of our segments on the challenges of first generation students, we’ll take a look at the obstacl...

In this week’s Office Hours segment, we’ll be exploring the University of California application. In another installment of Inside the Admissions Office, we’ll look at how admissions are done at American University. Finally, we’ll be answering your college finance questions.

We often focus on the cost of college, but rarely do we think about the costs associated with applying to college. This week’s episode takes listeners through what to expect and budget for as they prepare to submit applications. We’ll also take a close look at the Apply Texas application, a common application accepted by many Texas-based colleges, and offer tips for getting started on applications in Office Hours.

The new Common Application was released on August 1, and we’ve got information you need to know about this new version. While we’re sure you’ve spent lots of time focusing on the big spends related to college, like tuition and room and board, you may not have thought to budget for all the incidental expenses likely to come up. We’ll give you details on what other charges you should anticipate and build into your master spreadsheet. In Office Hours, we will talk you through activity resumes—inclu...

Students about to start senior year will want to catch this week’s Office Hours, in which we discuss getting started on the college essay. We know it’s weighing on your mind, so stop thinking about it and start writing it! In other segments, we’ll take you behind the scenes of the admissions process at both Swarthmore College and Drexel University in the latest in this series. Finally, we’ll talk through the things you need to know if your grandparents are going to help pay for college.