YCBK - case studies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just remember, YCBK is a college counseling service, it has a very powerful incentive to dismiss the idea that a kid can apply to college without using a counselor. YCBK is all about selling their college counseling service and naturally promotes the idea that you are doomed unless you hire a college counselor.

100% this. I think the podcast is long-winded, self-important and tries to drive a climate of fear. The tips are basic at best. I wish i hadn't wasted so many hours listening. In contrast, I have attended an actual case-studies college fair last year in-person and found it more helpful and insightful than this one on the YCBK podcast.

What I've realized is that it is only helpful to listen to AOs review fictitious case files and comment IF they are the actual AOs from schools your student is interested in applying to. So if Colorado College is high on your kid's list, listen to YCBK, but for schools like UPenn or WashU it's not that helpful.

The case studies college fair I attended in person last year (not virtual or on a pod) had the AO of UChicago and AO, AO of U Michigan and AO of Amherst and that was more helpful.

The YCBK is an overhyped podcast stoking too much fear that college admissions is some kind of expertise that requires to listen to their long-winded multi-hour podcasts or hire very average college counselors like the host Mark.

What were the helpful/novel takeaways from that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've recently run into Your College Bound Kid podcast.
.........
My children go to MCPS public schools and from what I can, I'm already planning to not expect any help except for access to and using the Naviance platform.

Depends on the high school. Some are more equipped and provide lotta resources.

[Anonymous]

Agree completely. You may or may not like the podcast, but unlike some others it’s not just an infomercial for their services, which almost never get mentioned. after listening to YCBK, we terminated our $10k annual admissions consultant. More value from the podcast.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just remember, YCBK is a college counseling service, it has a very powerful incentive to dismiss the idea that a kid can apply to college without using a counselor. YCBK is all about selling their college counseling service and naturally promotes the idea that you are doomed unless you hire a college counselor.

You either don't listen to the podcast or you are purposefully misrepresenting the content. In the introduction, the host mentions he is a counselor and of course there are anecdotal references to his experience counseling, but it's hardly a hard sell. The whole point of the podcast is to educate parents and students. There are tons of interviews with AOs, higher ed industry folks, college deans, etc. There are highlights of various colleges, guidance on appying internationally, discussions on news. The latest interview from a professor/researcher about making the most of a college experience has been great. It's all free. Noone has to hire any of them.

One may not like the content which is fine. To each their own. But it's a disservice to misrepresent what could be a useful resource to other parents that may not have come across the podcast. I personally find it helpful, interesting, and have learned quite a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree completely. You may or may not like the podcast, but unlike some others it’s not just an infomercial for their services, which almost never get mentioned. after listening to YCBK, we terminated our $10k annual admissions consultant. More value from the podcast.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just remember, YCBK is a college counseling service, it has a very powerful incentive to dismiss the idea that a kid can apply to college without using a counselor. YCBK is all about selling their college counseling service and naturally promotes the idea that you are doomed unless you hire a college counselor.

You either don't listen to the podcast or you are purposefully misrepresenting the content. In the introduction, the host mentions he is a counselor and of course there are anecdotal references to his experience counseling, but it's hardly a hard sell. The whole point of the podcast is to educate parents and students. There are tons of interviews with AOs, higher ed industry folks, college deans, etc. There are highlights of various colleges, guidance on appying internationally, discussions on news. The latest interview from a professor/researcher about making the most of a college experience has been great. It's all free. Noone has to hire any of them.

One may not like the content which is fine. To each their own. But it's a disservice to misrepresent what could be a useful resource to other parents that may not have come across the podcast. I personally find it helpful, interesting, and have learned quite a bit.

any recommended episodes? I'm not eager to go through 500+ past episodes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree completely. You may or may not like the podcast, but unlike some others it’s not just an infomercial for their services, which almost never get mentioned. after listening to YCBK, we terminated our $10k annual admissions consultant. More value from the podcast.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just remember, YCBK is a college counseling service, it has a very powerful incentive to dismiss the idea that a kid can apply to college without using a counselor. YCBK is all about selling their college counseling service and naturally promotes the idea that you are doomed unless you hire a college counselor.

You either don't listen to the podcast or you are purposefully misrepresenting the content. In the introduction, the host mentions he is a counselor and of course there are anecdotal references to his experience counseling, but it's hardly a hard sell. The whole point of the podcast is to educate parents and students. There are tons of interviews with AOs, higher ed industry folks, college deans, etc. There are highlights of various colleges, guidance on appying internationally, discussions on news. The latest interview from a professor/researcher about making the most of a college experience has been great. It's all free. Noone has to hire any of them.

One may not like the content which is fine. To each their own. But it's a disservice to misrepresent what could be a useful resource to other parents that may not have come across the podcast. I personally find it helpful, interesting, and have learned quite a bit.

any recommended episodes? I'm not eager to go through 500+ past episodes

The ones where Ross & Rachel are on a break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree completely. You may or may not like the podcast, but unlike some others it’s not just an infomercial for their services, which almost never get mentioned. after listening to YCBK, we terminated our $10k annual admissions consultant. More value from the podcast.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just remember, YCBK is a college counseling service, it has a very powerful incentive to dismiss the idea that a kid can apply to college without using a counselor. YCBK is all about selling their college counseling service and naturally promotes the idea that you are doomed unless you hire a college counselor.

You either don't listen to the podcast or you are purposefully misrepresenting the content. In the introduction, the host mentions he is a counselor and of course there are anecdotal references to his experience counseling, but it's hardly a hard sell. The whole point of the podcast is to educate parents and students. There are tons of interviews with AOs, higher ed industry folks, college deans, etc. There are highlights of various colleges, guidance on appying internationally, discussions on news. The latest interview from a professor/researcher about making the most of a college experience has been great. It's all free. Noone has to hire any of them.

One may not like the content which is fine. To each their own. But it's a disservice to misrepresent what could be a useful resource to other parents that may not have come across the podcast. I personally find it helpful, interesting, and have learned quite a bit.

any recommended episodes? I'm not eager to go through 500+ past episodes

The ones where Ross & Rachel are on a break.

😂

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's a YCBK?

Either a Korean boy band or a brand of yogurt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just listened. Not that helpful as the only AOs who walked through their decision process were based in mountain states - Colorado College (small CO LAC), CU Boulder (big state safety school), and Grinnell (small Iowa LAC).

Wish there were some coastal representation: NE, SE, NW/SW.

Also seems like a lot of biases from AO readers based on how they grew up. The AOs were all female and seemed to come from less privileged families and more down to earth, and had a bias towards economically disadvantaged applicants who suffered. While they are underdogs, these aren't always the candidates who will thrive most in college!

Serious question. What would have been more helpful, from your perspective? I saw the exercise as mocking up how different people bring different perspectives to a review in light of what a college's mission is in selecting a student. So I viewed it as generic overview of holistic admissions. What would coastal representation bring that you feel was missing?

Curious if there is additional perspective/insight that was missing that is helpful to know.

Yes, it was pretty generic overview of holistic and I guess it wasn't that helpful to me. Our DC is trying to understand the admissions profile for more selective, urban schools. The only state U was a large non-selective school in a mountain state (CU Boulder CO). Everyone gets in at our HS so her insights weren't super helpful to get insights from a safety school AO that has an 80+% acceptance rate. Also, the other AOs and institutions chosen were similar: small, predominantly white institutions in Colorado again or Iowa. Plus they compared cases or files from very different schools that would never be reviewed against each other irl. They should have compared 3 files from the same school to show how the elements are different within the context of one school (competitive public, rigorous private or magnet school). They shouldn't do one of each - like comparing apples to oranges. Most files are read within context of one school (if they send many applicants) or in region or type (homeschools, by what % they send to college, how much tey offer, etc.).

The reality is those schools have very few spots for unhooked candidates. Someone posted a great link here on institutional priorities and what percentage of the pie they get. A high stats kid is left with less than 10% of the available spots. It would be really disappointing to all of you to see

But ingenius prep Did something like that a few years ago with the review of a TJ kid. They also just had one that I saw that had a public school kid go up against a private school kid. Both with top stats.

Someone mentioned in another thread about a TJ applicant being reviewed by Yale. Do you have the link to share by any chance? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree completely. You may or may not like the podcast, but unlike some others it’s not just an infomercial for their services, which almost never get mentioned. after listening to YCBK, we terminated our $10k annual admissions consultant. More value from the podcast.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just remember, YCBK is a college counseling service, it has a very powerful incentive to dismiss the idea that a kid can apply to college without using a counselor. YCBK is all about selling their college counseling service and naturally promotes the idea that you are doomed unless you hire a college counselor.

You either don't listen to the podcast or you are purposefully misrepresenting the content. In the introduction, the host mentions he is a counselor and of course there are anecdotal references to his experience counseling, but it's hardly a hard sell. The whole point of the podcast is to educate parents and students. There are tons of interviews with AOs, higher ed industry folks, college deans, etc. There are highlights of various colleges, guidance on appying internationally, discussions on news. The latest interview from a professor/researcher about making the most of a college experience has been great. It's all free. Noone has to hire any of them.

One may not like the content which is fine. To each their own. But it's a disservice to misrepresent what could be a useful resource to other parents that may not have come across the podcast. I personally find it helpful, interesting, and have learned quite a bit.

any recommended episodes? I'm not eager to go through 500+ past episodes

It will depens on what interests you. A place to start would be the website:

https://yourcollegeboundkid.com

He tends to break up interviews with guest across multiple podcasts, but you can listen to all of them at once via the website. He also has 'College Spotlights' and podcast episodes with titles so you can see if it might cover something of interest.

[Anonymous]

I have listened to a couple of episodes - though not ones about case studies- and have found it helpful. At least from the episodes I have listened to, it is not about helping you prep your kid for Harvard but more about understanding the higher ed admission landscape generally - eg admissions process generally, financial aid, merit aid, what the student should consider when starting a college search, how changes in the federal government are impacting admissions etc. And the theme of the podcast is more along the lines of the importance of finding good fits for the student (just listened to an episode on school values) and how to do so, rather than about gunning for a top school. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree completely. You may or may not like the podcast, but unlike some others it’s not just an infomercial for their services, which almost never get mentioned. after listening to YCBK, we terminated our $10k annual admissions consultant. More value from the podcast.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just remember, YCBK is a college counseling service, it has a very powerful incentive to dismiss the idea that a kid can apply to college without using a counselor. YCBK is all about selling their college counseling service and naturally promotes the idea that you are doomed unless you hire a college counselor.

You either don't listen to the podcast or you are purposefully misrepresenting the content. In the introduction, the host mentions he is a counselor and of course there are anecdotal references to his experience counseling, but it's hardly a hard sell. The whole point of the podcast is to educate parents and students. There are tons of interviews with AOs, higher ed industry folks, college deans, etc. There are highlights of various colleges, guidance on appying internationally, discussions on news. The latest interview from a professor/researcher about making the most of a college experience has been great. It's all free. Noone has to hire any of them.

One may not like the content which is fine. To each their own. But it's a disservice to misrepresent what could be a useful resource to other parents that may not have come across the podcast. I personally find it helpful, interesting, and have learned quite a bit.

any recommended episodes? I'm not eager to go through 500+ past episodes

I'm a big YCBK fan, but I made my kid listen to one he did with Vince (a guy in LA) about trends they saw at the end of an admissions seasons. I just looked and I think episode 419 and maybe it's a two parter - with a second one in another episode.

It's one that just shows how trends can really make decisions vary - schools get hotter, admissions team at schools change over, whatever. And kids need to be aware that, say, Duke is has hard as Princeton coming out of some HSs. My own kid is not immune to trends so it was helpful. Not a bad idea to add some schools that aren't the "it" schools this season.

[Anonymous]

also - the first 250 episodes or so not nearly as good. he's gotten better co-hosts, better insights into what people want to hear, better audio equipment, lots on covid impact. just old news. I wouldn't bother listening to anything that's more than a couple years old.