Which episodes of “Your College Bound Kid”

[Anonymous]

I like the college spotlights that YCBK does internally (just Mark and another YCBK member). The college spotlights that are more of an interview with a school administrator are often less insightful. There are exceptions though: His interview with WashU's Dean of Admissions was great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t listen to the first few years with not great cohost. So you can eliminate 1-200 probably

I agree with this (also because those episodes are mostly pre-Covid and less relevant.)

I like the episodes that include his friend David (Williams, I think?) - he's very insightful. The ones with the woman from Milton Academy.

The titles and show notes are helpful, so you can always jump around. I tend to prefer the Thursday episodes.

^^^ ALSO The ones with the woman from Milton Academy.

Sure, if you want to listen to a guy that went to Princeton and Harvard 30+ years ago and a woman who's experience is in a boarding school. Totally relatable.

Agree, the pre-covid-era episodes are not as helpful.

her experience is a lot more expansive than that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like the college spotlights that YCBK does internally (just Mark and another YCBK member). The college spotlights that are more of an interview with a school administrator are often less insightful. There are exceptions though: His interview with WashU's Dean of Admissions was great.

+1 They used to do more short spotlights, which I found more useful to cover a wide breadth of schools. Now they more often do them as interviews that span 3-4 episodes and that's generally more than I need and they cover fewer schools that way.

This "College Admissions Process Podcast" does a good job of profiling a lot of schools, although I don't like the host's voice.
https://www.collegeadmissionstalk.com/episodes/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like the college spotlights that YCBK does internally (just Mark and another YCBK member). The college spotlights that are more of an interview with a school administrator are often less insightful. There are exceptions though: His interview with WashU's Dean of Admissions was great.

+1 They used to do more short spotlights, which I found more useful to cover a wide breadth of schools. Now they more often do them as interviews that span 3-4 episodes and that's generally more than I need and they cover fewer schools that way.

This "College Admissions Process Podcast" does a good job of profiling a lot of schools, although I don't like the host's voice.
https://www.collegeadmissionstalk.com/episodes/

I really like the "College Admissions Process Podcast." I'd say it's formulaic but effective. The formulaic nature means it's easier to compare schools since the same questions are asked for each school. Whereas, YCBK's spotlights vary wildly in their depth of treatment and general approach.

[Anonymous]

YCBK's recent series on Haverford and Swarthmore was deeply underwhelming. But I like the podcast generally.

[Anonymous]

+1 for "College Admissions Process Podcast" and while it may be formulaic he covers a range of schools and I don't have to listen to updates on his weight loss. I already know the top 50 schools are great. Tell me something I don't know.

The YCBK interviews with schools are like a school brochure, all of the good and none of the maybe not so good about a school.

Has YCBK jumped the shark?

[Anonymous]

I liked the run down Mark and Vince did recently about trends. Hearing college counselors talk among themselves is interesting - I feel I get more of the nitty gritty that I'm interested in. But the 4 parters about schools I dont care about or about behavioral stuff .. eh, dont' care.

I do care about international schools, but really dislike the guy they brought in for that.

[Anonymous]

Oh, I like the international guy. Vince is insightful and appreciate his view on CA schools. I'd be pissed if I were a Milton parent the way Julia talks about those students. I guess she brings expertise about top-20 schools. Mark should let them talk more.

[Anonymous]

I don’t like that show. They always take way too long to get to the point. Many episodes are rambling discussions of many different topics, rather than focusing on one thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t like that show. They always take way too long to get to the point. Many episodes are rambling discussions of many different topics, rather than focusing on one thing.

^^^THIS^^^

[Anonymous]

The shows are long and tend to ramble sometimes, but I have gotten so much useful information from them over the years. Don't they say something about it being a "deep dive" into the world of college admissions in the intro? It's definitely a deep dive! I also think Mark is great. He is so enthusiastic about the college admin process; he does all of this for free—zero advertising!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The shows are long and tend to ramble sometimes, but I have gotten so much useful information from them over the years. Don't they say something about it being a "deep dive" into the world of college admissions in the intro? It's definitely a deep dive! I also think Mark is great. He is so enthusiastic about the college admin process; he does all of this for free—zero advertising!

+1 it's not the place to go for a concise overview of the process. For that, read Who Gets In and Why + The Price You Pay For College. But this podcast is good at delving into the nuances, the trends. I do wish they had more episodes dedicated to listener questions and more, shorter college spotlights like they used to.

Their recommended resources are also usually helpful and a full list is on the website.

Another podcast I like for a more concise discussion of key parts of the process is The Truth About College Admissions.

[Anonymous]

This is a good one for nuance but wish it didn't come with his rambling. As much as they talk about fit they keep discussing the same colleges. And too much boarding school talk. Boarding school students already get good counseling, I'd like to hear something more relevant for the 99% of everyone else.

Would like to hear more spotlights on colleges that are under the radar.

[Anonymous]

I really like mark and don’t mind the ramblings.

But I only care about 10% of the content. I like the overview of trends that a group of college counselors can provide.

Those “hot seat” questions etc - immediate skip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really like mark and don’t mind the ramblings.

But I only care about 10% of the content. I like the overview of trends that a group of college counselors can provide.

Those “hot seat” questions etc - immediate skip.

I really appreciate that if you go to the show notes they have timestamps so you can just jump to what you are interested in.