Episodes

We’re continuing our Niche College series on the podcast this week. Our host, Shannon Vasconcelos, interviews Karen Kristof, Dean of Admission at Colorado College. She’s here to describe their Block plan; students take one class at a time and each class lasts three and a half weeks, enabling full immersion into that class’s work. In addition, Shannon will be joined by Kyra Tyler, College Coach admissions consultant, to answer questions from our listeners. Remember to submit your own questions! S...

As most people know, the Supreme Court of the United States recently released some controversial and important decisions regarding higher education. In this episode, we explain those decisions and give our perspective on them. First, host Sally Ganga hears from finance expert Michelle Clifton with an update on the status of student loans. Then admissions expert Kyra Tyler joins Sally to discuss the Court’s decision on race-conscious admission in higher education.

Do you know that many large public universities have Honors Colleges for their strongest students? Host Ian Fisher interviews Tim Matthews, Senior Assistant Director of the Honors College at the University of Buffalo. Ian will be continuing the State University of New York (SUNY), theme in his discussion with Ryan Creps, a former Bright Horizons College Coach colleague and doctoral student at Boston College’s Lynch School of Education and Human Development. Finally, Zachery Gries, Bright Horizon...

Host Sally Ganga interviews Sara Boferding, Director of Admissions at Embry-Riddle University, to learn more about aeronautics, aviation, engineering, and business. In addition, we’ll learn about life at a Christian college from, Joy Brown, Senior Director of Admission at George Fox University. Lastly, College Coach finance expert Jan Combs fills parents in on all the paperwork they need to complete when sending their student to college.

Interested in a Bachelor of Science in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering? Host Shannon Vasconcelos interviews Lauren Carballo, Direct of Admissions and Students Affairs at The Webb Institute, where students attend tuition-free! College Coach veteran Kyra Tyler is also present to answer listener questions.

While visiting colleges during the academic year is the ideal, it isn’t always possible. And summer visits are still well worth it! Bright Horizons College Coach admissions consultant Nial Rele and finance expert Alex Gonzalez join host Beth Heaton to discuss what to ask during those visits. We also have the great fortune of chatting with Audrey Wisch, founder and CEO of Curious Cardinals, about how students can use the summer to explore their interests and invest in their own learning.

Parents of students with ADHD or executive function issues will be particularly interested in this episode, when our host, Beth Heaton, talks with Hannah Choi, Executive Function Coach for Beyond Book Smart and host of the podcast, Focus Forward: An Executive Function Podcast. As a coach, she supports college and adult clients in challenges like time management, planning, prioritizing, organization, and metacognition. Beth also hears from Michelle Smoley, College Coach Finance Expert, about what...

Interested in finding out more about Ivy League colleges? While they are part of the same football league, they are not all the same. Matt Alander, Director of Princeton Undergraduate Admissions, and Isabel Bober, Senior Associate Director of Dartmouth Undergraduate Admissions join us for a spirited debate about which college is better! We also talk with Bright Horizons College Coach finance expert Alex Bickford about how to use money saved in a 529 plan.

On this episode, we welcome Bright Horizons College Coach finance expert Stacey MacPhetres and her daughter, a DIII basketball player at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, to discuss their experience with the athletic recruitment process, from both the parent and student perspective. We’ll also answer questions from listeners. If you want to have a question answered on a future podcast episode, be sure to post it to our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter!

Interested in learning more about earning your college degree in Europe? On this episode, our host, Beth Heaton, interviews Ioana Benea (Bocconi University) and Juan Carlos Ruiz (Brussels School of Governance) about the European Universities Consortium (EUC). The EUC is a group of eight universities throughout Europe whose goal is to promote internationalization of higher education and provide educational opportunities in Europe to non-Europeans. Each member university offers programs taught ent...

For students who are career minded, we have another Pathways episode. Are you considering being a teacher? College Coach admissions consultants Kara Courtois (a former elementary and high school teacher) and Brian Swann (former program director for the Center for Excellence in Urban Teaching at Hamline University) join us to talk about the ins and outs of the profession. We also have something for future architects! College Coach admissions consultant Kyra Tyler and her husband, Scott Whitebone,...

It’s Nurses’ Week! So, to honor nurses, we’ll discuss careers in the healthcare field, from physical therapy to, yes, nursing, with a little information about athletic training thrown in. We’ll share information about pathways to those careers as well as financial assistance for nurses in the form of loan forgiveness and scholarships.

What do colleges think of the International Baccalaureate program? Is it a good option for high school students to pursue? Tune in to this week’s show when we talk with Marie Vivas, Senior Development Manager of the International Baccalaureate organization. We’ll also discuss how to get ready to pay for college now that you’ve committed to enroll.

If you’re a high school junior, now is the time to decide which teacher(s) to ask to write your recommendation letter(s). We’ll be discussing what to consider when you make that choice. In addition, we’ll respond to questions from listeners. Anything related to college admissions or paying for college is fair game, so tune in to hear as many answers as we can fit in during our show.

Admission decisions are out! What happened? We talk about this year’s admission landscape, giving high school seniors some of the context of the admit, waitlist, and deny decisions they’ve received from colleges. We’ll also help high school juniors choose colleges for their application list in a balanced and thoughtful way. We’ll also discuss what parents and students need to know when considering using loans to pay for colleges.

This week we’re talking all things community college. We’ll hear about the financial and academic benefits of starting at a two-year college, things to think about if you’re a transfer student, and how dual enrollment programs work. We’ll also talk to a current community college student and a staff member to hear about their experiences on campus.

Even though it still feels like winter, it’s time to start planning for summer! From getting a job or taking a class to pursuing an internship or working on applications, summer offers a unique opportunity to focus on your interests for a few months. And don’t forget about saving any earnings to help pay for college. We’ll discuss all of this and more in today’s show. We’ll also welcome a current student to share how she created her own project while still in high school.

This week’s show is for students with physical or learning differences. Sasha Manus, who has CP and uses a service dog, will join the show to share advice on navigating college with a physical disability. We’ll also offer application and admissions tips for students with learning differences and discuss financial aid for students with physical and learning differences.

Tis the season for financial and merit aid packages, which are landing in students’ emails and mailboxes right now. We’ll be discussing the difference between appealing for more financial aid and negotiating for more merit aid and offering tips on how to go about each. We’re also talking all things standardized testing in today’s show, from the state of testing today to the new digital SAT.

Calling all juniors: it’s time to get started! Too early to think about essay writing? Of course not! Too early to think about how to pay for college? No way! With the heart of the college process right around the corner, we’re sharing advice to help students get started on essays and parents to get started on their financial plans. And in a second essay-related segment, we’ll look at essays centered on a trauma and talk through both when to proceed with what can be a tricky topic and how much t...

College prep does not begin in middle school, but these years offer students a chance to explore their interests and develop some skills that will help them be more successful in high school. We’ll talk through the academic, social, and personal opportunities available to middle school students. We’ll also offer suggestions for helping your middle school students learn more about personal finance topics and to take on some of their own fiscal responsibility.

Does your student want to transfer? We’ll break down the basics of the process. We also have information on education tax breaks just in time for tax season, and we’ll answer your college finance and admissions questions in our listener Q&A.

Financial aid award notifications are coming—are you ready? (Is anyone?) We have insights on how to understand these often confusing documents to determine what exactly you’ll pay, what discounts you’re receiving, and what debt you’ll be expected to take on. In other segments, our own Serena Frisina shares what she loves about visiting colleges, and a veterinarian joins the show to tell us about her journey to her current career.

Twice a year the College Coach team comes together for professional development and team building, and it’s our favorite time of the year! This year we’re bringing the podcast along for the ride, as Beth, Ian, and Sally sit down in the same room to host the podcast. We’ll give you a peak into our conversations and what we’ve learned at our most recent meeting.