#141 Lessons Learned from 200+ Colleges with John Durante Transcript

THIS IS AN AUTOMATED TRANSCRIPT… PLEASE FORGIVE THE TYPOS & GRAMMAR! xo-Lisa.

Lisa Marker Robbins 01:03

In today’s episode, we’re delving into the world of college admissions with insights from over 200 college admissions representatives. I’m thrilled to be joined by John durante, principal of Syosset High School on Long Island, a parent of two college age daughters and host of the college admissions process podcast. His podcast was born out of navigating the college bound journey with his daughters, and he brings a wealth of knowledge to share on John’s podcast, he’s interviewed over 200 college admissions officers, and he has no plans to stop anytime soon. Through those interviews, he’s gained valuable insights into the college application process and what colleges really want, emphasizing that each component of the application serves a very specific purpose and builds on the others. We’ll explore how admissions officers evaluate applicants in the context of their high school’s offerings, whether test optional policies are genuine, and the impact of institutional priorities on admissions decisions. John also encourages families to enjoy the process, highlighting the abundance of great college options available, whether you’re just starting the college admissions journey or looking for strategies to improve your teen’s application. This episode is packed with essential insights and practical advice. I’m Lisa Marco Robbins, and I want to welcome you to College and Career Clarity a flourish, coaching production. Let’s dive right in to a great conversation. You

Lisa Marker Robbins 02:45

John, welcome to the show. It is an honor to have you on Lisa,

John Durante 02:51

thank you so much for having me, and the first thing that I want to say is congratulations to you and your team on College and Career Clarity. I listened to some of your episodes, and they’re fantastic. So it’s an honor and pleasure for me to be here with you today.

Lisa Marker Robbins 03:03

Well, thank you so much. You are definitely a trailblazer. You are ahead of me in our podcasting journey, and I have been an avid listener of yours for years. So right back at you. Thank you. I love it was interesting when I you know first was listening, and I’m thinking, Oh, John’s a principal, so that’s what this is. You know, born out of this podcast, but we’re both parents of young adult children. And what I loved hearing that like, really your podcast, we should tell everybody the college admissions process podcast, where they can listen in all the places, and everybody should subscribe and listen, but that, that was born out of the heart of a father, right when not with your principal hat on. And first of all, I love that part of it. And so, as you told me that, and, you know? And I started thinking about like, Okay, we’ve got the the hat of a principal, the heart of a dad, and you have spoken to over 200 college admissions professionals of various roles at different schools. And I thought, okay, let’s summarize the insights, because this is the guy that’s getting inside scoop. And so let’s talk about it like. I’m gonna start with, I bet you is you’re having these conversations. You’re thinking, oh yes, and I as a dad, and the parents in my school are thinking the opposite. So what are those common things that you’ve learned that you’re like, Okay, first of all, parents, you don’t have this one, right? What can you project for us?

John Durante 04:48

Well, there was so many things at first, I do want to just say that, yes, even though I’m the principal of Syosset high school here on Long Island in New York, I did decide to bring the podcast. About after helping my two daughters, particularly my youngest one, who had an IEP, an Individualized Education Plan, and the college process was not simple for us. She was not your typical student that performed well academically and everything was hunky dory. You know, she definitely struggled. I mean, a plus for being social, no question about it, but academically she you know, her best years were not in high school, and so I was that parent that tried to help her, and I felt for the first time the real stress that parents feel. And ultimately, my daughter did go where she wanted to be. She’s about to enter her senior year. She’s doing extremely well. Last year, she told me that it was her best year academically ever, which, you know, to me, felt so good. But we came about the idea of the podcast because of the work that I did with her and the admissions reps was so amazing to me. And I would literally call and ask them, look, here’s her profile, should she even apply? And they were great, each and every one of them. And ultimately, there was a school that she applied early decision. And again, she’s going to be a senior there. So because of how awesome the reps were, I decided to, you know, bring this podcast idea about where each episode would be, me interviewing an admissions rep to talk about their schools, everything that they have to offer in the classrooms and beyond, but also to give insight into their application review process. You know, a typical question is, you say your test optional? Can you share the percentage of students, not only that applied, but the percentage of students that were actually admitted, that did not submit test scores, and then ultimately, every conversation ends with, what are your top three pieces of advice for students and their parents? So what have I learned after interviewing over 200 admissions reps and counting? You know, I’m having so much fun leads to that I’m not stopping anytime soon. Also because I’m getting so many people reaching out from throughout the country and even beyond, believe it or not, with just advice and questions, many people reach out saying, Hey, you haven’t done XYZ College. Can you reach out to them and get them on the podcast and and anytime I get an email like that, I certainly send an invite. But one of the things that you know, I learned, I guess, are the controllables, the things that are truly in your control and those things that are not so in terms of what’s in your control, it’s very important to look at the application as a marketing package. There are many pieces to it, and it’s important to understand what it is that the admissions reps are looking for in each piece. So for example, the first thing that colleges want to know is that you can handle the work once you’re on their campus. So to look at your transcript to really be a great indicator in terms of the work that you did, a typical question that parents ask is the school down the block, they offer 20 AP courses. My school only offers five. How is my child going to be compared to that school down the block, where the kids have up to 20 AP courses to choose from. And the truth of the matter is, the admissions reps look at your transcript in the context of your high school, meaning what is offered to you. How did you challenge yourself? What are the ramps that you’ve built over four years? And yes, how did you perform. And so that’s the transcript, right? Obviously, that’s the academic piece. And I mentioned also the context of your high school, because there’s something called the school profile. And so an admissions rep that has a particular territory for the last 20 years, they know the high schools and their territory extremely well, but new admissions reps and even the old ones, they look at something called the school profile, which each school submits to the colleges, which is an overview of the types of courses that are available. AP, IB, are there any restrictions? They share grade distributions. They share average scores on for example, AP tests, average sa t scores, a CT scores, and so much more. So if you’re not familiar with your school’s profile, I advise students to reach out to your counseling office or try to do a Google search. Oftentimes it’s right on the high school website, and be familiar with it, because that’s what the admissions reps know about your school, and they’re going to evaluate your application based on the context of your school. So in addition, I want to make sure, wanting to make sure that you’re able to perform well and you’re going to be successful academically once you’re on their campus. And again, the main piece that they look for is that transcript to determine that they also want to know the kind of community member you’re going to be, the kind of classmate you’re going to be, the kind of roommate that you’re going to be. How are you going to contribute to their great community that’s already there, right? So they look at your activity sheet. The activity sheet tells them what it is that you chose to do after school, whether it was a. Club. Maybe it’s a job, maybe it’s taking care of an elderly relative. And oftentimes they talk about the fact that if you hold a job, or you have the responsibility of taking care of an elderly relative, that’s something that’s very important that you indicate, because that might be the reason why, unlike a friend who doesn’t have you know a job that might be the reason why you’re not in five clubs. So anything that you don’t include in your application, you’re leaving it up to the admissions representatives to speculate as to why. So it’s very important to be mindful of that and to present yourself in each part the best that you can.

Lisa Marker Robbins 10:37

Well, I I love that you brought up like the work piece, because I have a lot of families asking, you know, some think it’s going to be bad if my teen hasn’t had a job. Others are going to think it’s going to be bad if they have had a job and not done other things. And that is probably one of the most common extracurricular questions that I get, and so, you know, we talked about, in context of your school, what they offer, it sounds like it’s also they’re really going to give, you know, they’re really going to take into consideration, within context of your Home and the importance of that, right? Yes,

John Durante 11:20

absolutely. So what I’ve learned is that there’s really no bad or good. The fact that you have a job, it’s not bad or good, but it’s important that you indicate it so that they understand that that’s that’s what you need to do. Maybe it’s to help the family. Maybe you have an elderly relative that doesn’t speak English, you have to help them when they go to the doctor, so that you could translate for that relative whatever it is. You need to let the admissions reps know so that, to your point, they’re evaluating you based on the context of whatever it is that your family situation is. And by the way, when you have a job as a 16 year old, you’re learning responsibility. You’re learning to, you know, be there, show up, deal with a supervisor. So there’s a lot of leadership skills that are learned. You know, being part of that first job so well,

Lisa Marker Robbins 12:10

it really goes back to, you know, as you’re saying that it’s not just what are you doing, but it’s within the context of the why? You know, Simon Sinek got that great book, of course, with why. And so this is like, what is the why? What does it say about yourself? And, you know, as we’re talking about things like work, I think I’ve seen some students make the mistake that when they go into the common app and they’re in that activity section putting their, you know, 10 extra up to 10 extracurriculars that they can put in. They start thinking only in context of like what they’re doing at school. So what teams are they on? What clubs are they on? But this brings up the fact that it’s anything that you’re doing outside of the school, hours, outside of the days that you’re sitting in academic classes at school, those are your activities. And so it doesn’t have to be a school based club or things like that, right?

John Durante 13:08

Absolutely. And it’s come up in multiple episodes. The two main examples, again, are, if a student has a job, it’s very important that they include that. Or, again, if you have to take care of a younger sibling, perhaps. You know both parents work, you have your younger siblings, and you have to be home at three o’clock to get your siblings off the bus or pick them up from school, or whatever it is. Again, anything that you don’t share with the admissions reps, you’re leaving it up to them to speculate, which is a mistake, because if they understand, and I love the way you put it, by the way, Lisa, because we talk about they evaluate the transcript in the context of your high school. They do evaluate your activity sheet in the context of who you are, whatever your family situation may be. Right again, if you have to help, help with a sibling, if you have to hold a job, what have you, it’s important to indicate that so it gives them the context of why you’re not in 456, clubs, right? But you’re showing the leadership again. Your first job, you have to show up, you have to deal with a supervisor, and frankly, so much more. There’s so much that you learn. You

Lisa Marker Robbins 14:14

know, as you were sharing about your second daughter was a little more complicated, and so you were reaching out more. First of all, I want everybody to say like, that’s not only inspirational, but aspirational, because I feel like one of the common misconceptions I hear parents say is, you know that they’re at the mercy. I think families are feeling like, I know they are feeling like they’re at the mercies of the schools and that they have you talked about what you can control and not control, and the parents are often feeling like the control is completely within the hands of the college, and that that’s not a very balanced scale. Yeah. And I preach on the podcast in my Q and A’s for my launch Career Clarity. Course, anytime that I’m on somebody else’s podcast, like be a wise consumer. You know, as parents John, you and you and me, I’m finished. I just finished paying for college for my youngest. Got a bit of a pay raise there, and you’re still You’re almost finished, and so it’s a huge investment and expense. And so I preach all the time like be a wise consumer. And I think what’s really a great example that you provided is, and I would say it’s not just for the kid who’s not an an easy one to figure out, but a myth is that these colleges are completely in control, and they’re inaccessible to us when we’re going through the decision process, the application process. So reach out. They are there. These people are not against teenagers. They are for teenagers and their families, and they actually are accessible, but you have to be the wise consumer and reach out, whether that’s email or making a phone call or having your supporting your teen and doing it. We talk a lot about having the team take the initiative and supporting them and how to do that, but just the fact that you’ve been able to get over 200 colleges to come on your show and talk, I think, is another demonstration of how accessible they’re willing to be when it feels like and that’s a misconception that they’re inaccessible. Would you agree? I

John Durante 16:35

totally agree, and that’s again, why I decided to create the podcast, because I do have the benefit of being a principal in a highly academic place. I love my community. I’ve been here. I just completed, actually, 30 years, only 14 years as the principal, but I’ve been here. Thank you. But I’ve been here my entire career, and I recognize that, you know, I actually work in a community where people are highly educated, middle class and above for the most part, and you know, they’re pro education, but there are a lot of people that have that feel that you just said in terms of admissions reps being inaccessible, I experienced the total opposite as a parent, and it was very stressful for me and my daughter, which is Why I again, came up with the podcast idea, and so many of them, just about all of them mentioned, reach out. Reach out. Reach out. Now, if you’re going to reach out, don’t reach out to ask a question, like, what’s your mid 50% right? Don’t reach out to ask anything that’s easily accessible on their website. You want to be mindful of reaching out with a question, where you’re showing them that you put a little bit of thought into it, that you, you know, researched their website, perhaps you went on a tour and you have a follow up question, because they always say, we are admissions representatives. We want to admit you. We want to help you. We don’t want to reject you. So that is the truth, and that’s something that’s come up a lot in the podcast. So it goes back what I was saying in the beginning in terms of what you control and what you don’t control. So just to give you an example in terms of controllables the transcript, hopefully you’re starting early, you know, basically at the beginning of high school, to understand that it represents the big piece of your academic portion of the application. Obviously, the activity sheet represents what you do outside of school. It’s going to give them insight in terms of the community member that you’re going to be. Another piece is the essay. Many times students, they basically repeat what’s on the transcript or what’s on the activity sheet in their essay, I love soccer, my activity sheet was full of soccer accolades. Okay? If my essay is basically only talking about the fact that I love soccer and I played throughout high school, it is a true missed opportunity. It’s not adding anything new, right? So the transcript, academics, activity sheet, all of the activities leadership, perhaps there were some awards. That’s the activity sheet. The essay really needs to be, you know? And there are some schools that give an interview, but you got to look at it as it’s an interview, right? Even though you’re writing it, it’s your voice, describing who you are. And they always say, by the way, it doesn’t really matter what the topic is. People lose so much time trying to develop the topic. The reality is, I’ve heard topics about donuts, about, I mean, anything and everything, okay, but what they want is whatever topic you choose, whatever happened, explain what happened, and maybe that should be no more than 10% of it. What was your reflection? What were the questions that you asked? How did you pivot? How did it improve who you are as a person, while giving insight in just that, who you are as a person and how you continue to. Strive to be better and how you’re going to contribute once they’re on there, once you’re on whatever campus is fortunate enough to accept you. Am I making myself clear? Lisa, you’re

Lisa Marker Robbins 20:08

making yourself clear. I well, I love it. And you know what you would you were just describing that like, kind of the chunks of the essay that the rubric that needs to be in there. You really just gave us a rubric for writing a great essay, which is fantastic. But, you know, I’ve done this trick in the past. When I was I used to assist students with essays. I don’t anymore, and I would give them really, like an excellent essay, but a really old one, right? So you’ve got, like Johns Hopkins, who every year publishes their favorite essays, right? Which is a great, great,

20:42

great website,

Lisa Marker Robbins 20:43

fantastic website.

John Durante 20:45

Hamilton College does the same thing. Yep. Great website. They will

Lisa Marker Robbins 20:49

in the show notes link to both of those. Here’s our favorite essays this year. And so it makes it a little more transparent, and it is very fitting with that rubric, like, I think they could read it and do and apply that rubric you just gave us, but at the same time, one of the things that like with the students as they’re thinking about this, I’ll take a really old essay, and then I’ll say, okay, read it, and then I’ll give them the current and not they haven’t changed for Several years now, obviously, but I’ll give them, like, current, Common App prompts, and I’ll say, Okay, you read this essay, and what they don’t know is it’s from, like, 2014 and I’ll say, which one of these prompts Do you think it was? And the students will say to me, oh, oh, I think it’s number two, because there’s seven of them right now. So they’ll say, I think it’s number two, but you know, it could also be number five. And, well, you know, sevens write about anything you want to. And so I’ll say, well, guess what? This was written in 2014 and these were not the essay prompts back in 2014 so to further reinforce what the great advice that you just gave John, it’s like, write about anything they just want to get to know you, and it will fit one of the prompts. And by the way, number seven is basically write whatever you want to write about, right? Absolutely.

John Durante 22:13

And I love that one, because if the first six you’re not sure number seven is, Hey, make one up whatever prompt you want to talk about whatever topic you want to talk about. And by the way, I love that you mentioned the prompts, because another thing that comes up a lot is whichever prompt you select, make sure that at the end of the essay you actually answer the prompt. Because another thing that comes up a lot of times is that students don’t answer the prompt, not only in the personal essay, but many times in a supplemental essay, which we could, you know, elaborate on, you know, a little later, and if I may, so we talked a little bit about the controllables. And there’s a lot of things that are not in our control. So one question that a lot of people you know need to understand are the myths and realities of the college admissions process. And I had the great pleasure of meeting Jeff selingo, who, you know, he’s a an author, a journalist, you know, well written. He wrote the book, who gets in and why? So I met him at a national conference down in Baltimore last year, and I had the great pleasure of having him on my podcast. And I love what Jeff said in terms of just that, you know, what are the myths, and he talked about controllables and the non controllables. And the fact is, is that, he said everyone thinks that the college admissions process is about the kids, and to a certain extent, it is. But he said what people really need to realize is that it’s absolutely about the institutions. At the end of the day, they have their institutional priorities, and so, for example, institutional priority number one is, what is the freshman class? What is the number of the freshman class that they’re looking to admit? I just recently interviewed a school that is on the smaller side. They receive 29,000 applications. This is a very competitive school, by the way, 29,000 applications and their institutional priority is to accept a freshman class of 2600 and if you look at those numbers proportionately, you know any school could fit into that. You know there are schools like, you know, NYU that receives well over 100,000 applications. But proportionately speaking, it’s the same thing, you know, these schools are receiving far more applications than ever again because of the test optional nature of the application process, the fact that the Common Application has really streamlined the process in terms of, you know, it’s so easy, Lisa, as you know, to apply to 10 schools, 12 schools, with one application, as opposed to, you know, frankly, when you and I were in college, where we were bubbling in with pencil, you know, the the circles and the kids right now saying, What? What are you talking about? But, you know, it’s definitely a lot more streamlined.

Lisa Marker Robbins 24:52

Well, as you were saying that I, I had Andy Borst when he was at he’s at Georgia now in enrollment. But. He when He was direct, I interviewed Andy. He’s been on my podcast. Yes, he’s awesome, so generous and so transparent, like he was great. He amazes me. But to your point of giving those numbers, he was we, we were talking about admission by major, which UIUC is a direct admit to major. And we’ve done a deep dive study on the 50 state flagships on this particular topic. But he was saying, you know, for for impacted majors, which are those majors that are the most popular or in demand, whether that’s universally or by particular campus. You know, he shared that at for computer science, which for them is only us. At UI, UC was only a 6% admit rate, where the university overall was closer to 50% he made the point of, there’s so many good kids we could fill with kids who could be successful in that major. We could fill many freshmen classes over and over and over and over and so that just fits into the like that is not something that you can influence or control. There’s many great kids getting rejected. It’s not personal, but it’s still going to feel personal. It definitely

John Durante 26:15

is going to still feel personal. And that’s another question that comes up often. It’s about the first let’s say 20% of the students that get rejected, right? If you could ever determine who those kids are, how different would their profiles be compared to the students that were actually admitted? And the answer is not very different at all. You know, there are schools where I remember, years ago at a faculty meeting, a representative from Yale University actually spoke to my faculty about writing a college recommendation letter, speaking to, you know, high school teachers, and what he said was a plus average, perfect SAT score, captain of the soccer team, president of the senior class. He said, in general, for a school like Yale University, that’s pretty much the profile of everyone that we get. And so what we look for is, what he said, is, we need to know from you teachers when you write about them. You know, if this is a kid that when they enter the room, they light it up, we need to know about it. If this is a kid that when you plan your lessons, you have to consider your questioning and your follow up questions, because you know that Lisa in your class is going to challenge you. We need to know that in the letter, right? And it goes back to what I was saying earlier about each piece has to build upon the next, including, by the way, teachers letter of recommendations, because if a teacher writes a letter again, just regurgitating what’s on the transcript or the activity sheet, missed opportunity, big missed opportunity. But getting back to your point, it’s true that many of the reps reported that, yes, if you could determine who that first 30% that got rejected, in many cases, their profiles are very similar to the students that got accepted. Yeah,

Lisa Marker Robbins 27:59

well, and I think too, we had a previous whole entire episode around institutional priorities. What are they? How do you determine what they are? So I’m going to link to it in the show notes, because it’s a complicated topic. But if you really are making this time and the space to do your homework, you can figure out what a school’s, you know, top institutional priorities are. And it could just be that I remember a long time ago, this is way before covid, somebody from Oregon reached out to me, you know, here I am in Cincinnati, Ohio, right? And they said, we have, and they didn’t use the word institutional priorities, but they just said, we’re making an initiative to get more students from your state, and as I’m doing my research and back then, you know, you and I both were not podcasting back this was so long ago, we probably weren’t even thinking about it yet, but I had a blog, and this is with a previous company that I own that did academic support and test prep and IEC work. And she said, every time I’m like googling stuff, you know, Ohio, Cincinnati. She said, your name keeps coming up, blogs that you’ve written. And she said, Do you know of any local college fairs that you could connect me with? So that was an institutional priority. So there could be some kid from Oregon who was equal to the kid from Ohio, and they’re going to take the kid from Ohio or whatever state, just because they wanted. I don’t know if it was Midwest or Ohio specifically, because we’re barely in the Midwest, but they they had an institutional priority. So you know that that makes sense. I have a question for you, because this is you. You referenced test optional earlier, and I think this is one of the topics where the parents and the students, and even at the high school level, so you’re leading a high school, they have a really hard time feeling. Feeling like test optional is genuine, and I’ve seen some data from some schools where I go, Yeah, for that school, I don’t believe that that is a heartfelt word, test optional. I think they’re reluctantly test optional because their peer institutions, perhaps are. You know, I was talking to, I’m not going to name the school, but emailed with a school today and asked a question about test optional. And they said, Oh, you know, we haven’t renewed test optional beyond 2025, but I don’t, I don’t see us, you know, concluding that policy, I think it’ll continue. And then she failed to mention, and I already knew, like, nursing is not even test optional at this school, but like, their admission rep isn’t sharing that, so some of the colleges are saying and doing some of the things that then causes families to doubt at about every college. So how do you interpret test optional these days?

John Durante 30:53

So a couple of things on that. First of all, you always have to check the college’s website for the latest information, but you also need to know what to look for. So to your point, there are many schools that are test optional. However, if you’re applying to a more rigorous major, such as you mentioned, nursing engineering, you might have to apply with tests for the specific major. I believe it was Syracuse University when I interviewed them. That’s one example where it came up in that conversation. So if a school report saying that they’re test optional, they are, in fact, test optional. A typical question that I asked my reps when I interviewed them is, so you say you’re test optional, can you share not only the percentage of students that supplied an application without test, but that were actually admitted that that did not submit their test scores, and I will say for the vast majority of the schools that I interviewed that are, in fact, test optional, it’s a 5050, split. Now, couple of things about that I absolutely would always recommend. Take a practice, s, a T, take a practice, a CT. Prepare for the test. If you can afford a tutor, fantastic. If you could, you know, take a course. Fantastic. Prepare. Do the best that you can. Look at the mid 50% if your test score represents who you are, as a test taker, represents helps your overall application in terms of who you are, academically submit that score. If it doesn’t, and the school says it’s test optional, then it’s fine. Now I’m not talking about the dartmouths of the world, right? That went back to requiring it, and that’s fine, you know? And they have their reasons. They basically fear that. Look, it levels the playing field. We’re getting applications from people all over the world, including, you know, in the United States and beyond. So that’s a standardized test that helps us kind of level the playing field and see, you know the differences between applicants academically, that’s fine, you know, but if a school says that they’re test optional, you have to believe them. And by the way, it’s not taboo to ask the question, could you share what’s the percentage of students that were admitted that didn’t submit their test score. And I think that that’s part of the problem, that people are afraid. They think, Oh, my God, if I ask that question, you know, my child is not going to be admitted. Not true. If that were true, I wouldn’t have over 200 podcast episodes with admissions reps and so many more, you know, on the on the schedule ready to be recorded. The other thing I want to talk about is the mid 50% nowadays is obviously skewed, meaning that if you look at the mid 50% from, let’s say, 10 years ago, where not too many schools were test optional, those numbers are probably lower than what they are today. And that’s because people just need to be mindful of the fact that the only people that are submitting test scores are obviously people that are performing extremely well. So if there’s a particular school that you’re looking at that says they’re test optional, and they report that it’s a 5050, split in terms of the percentage that are in test optional or not, you have to believe it, and you have to be mindful of the fact that the numbers are skewed, because, again, only the high scorers are submitting, which represents what that 50% is. So I think that if you understand all of this, and yes, you have to trust Yes, you have to understand that there are things that you control in the process, and absolutely, there are those institutional priorities that you don’t control, as you indicated they might want certain people from certain states. I just looked at the the website for Emory University, which I had Tim feel some Emory on the podcast, actually, Episode, yeah, he he’s awesome. I love Tim. I saw him at the conference recently, and he’s just amazing. I absolutely, you know, he’s not only a mentor, a teacher to me, but we’ve actually become friends. But if you look at the Emory website, there’s actually a map of the United States, and it gives you the percentages from each corner of the country, if you will, in terms of the representative freshman class. And it’s pretty evenly distributed. And so that’s an indication that you’re right. They look at having a freshman class. That is diverse in terms of where they come from, you know, maybe, you know, they just were given money in a particular major, and so they’re looking for, you know, more students in that particular major. Maybe, to be honest with you, they’re looking for more students that could pay the full bill. Maybe they’re looking for a lacrosse goalie. These are all examples of what an institutional priority can be, and they do change from year to year. And one of the frustrating parts of the college process is that we don’t necessarily know school to school what those priorities are. You know, we have a good idea in terms of what their incoming freshman class what the goal is, but that’s really about it, right, from year to year. So I think that having conversations like this, and, you know, just opening, shining, shedding a light on all of it, will hopefully help people. It doesn’t mean that it’s going to be easy, but we’re here to help

Lisa Marker Robbins 35:52

Absolutely. So as we’re wrapping up, you’ve done this as a dad for two daughters now, you are leading a high school for the last 14 years. So what parting words of advice do you have for families to lessen the stress? What would you leave them with after you’ve had all that experience and all these conversations with those that work at the colleges?

John Durante 36:19

I think that’s a great question, and I think I want to say that there are over 4000 colleges and universities in the United States alone. Our country is rich with opportunities in terms of post secondary education. There are many schools that are the right fit for every single student, but not every school is the right fit for you. So a couple of things on that. If there’s a school that’s consistently in the top 10 every year for the last four decades, but that school happens to be in a rural area, and you want to be in a suburban area or an urban area, and you want to be within two hours of driving distance from your home, and that particular school happens to be a five hour plane ride from your home. That’s not the right school for you. So you know the rankings are great at selling magazines and and things like that, but you really have to be mindful of what is the right fit for you, not where a family member went, not where your best friend is going. What’s the right fit for you? And I also want to say that if you’re going to limit your list and apply to schools where, for example, their admissions rate is, let’s say 15% or less, right? And we know which schools they are, and I’m not saying not to apply to those schools. Those are great schools where you get great education. But if you’re going to limit the schools that you’re applying to to where it’s only 15% admit rate. It doesn’t matter if you have a perfect GPA, if you have a perfect SAT or a CT score. Doesn’t matter if you’re the president varsity soccer captain. Those schools are reach schools for everybody, for everybody, because to your point earlier, and you know what we talked about, the first 30% at schools like that, in particular that get rejected, their profiles are no different than the students that were admitted. I know of a student recently who got accepted to two amazing Ivy League schools, two of them, which so many people would, you know? Wow, what an honor. But there was one school in particular that that person wanted, and for whatever reason, she didn’t get into that one, but the other two, she did, and she’s doing fine, right? But the point being is, again, control what you can control, understanding that the application is a marketing package. Each piece has a point, very specific, and each of the pieces have to build on the next. And also be mindful of 4000 4000 colleges and universities in our country alone. So try to enjoy it. Try to enjoy

Lisa Marker Robbins 39:00

it. I didn’t for everyone there

John Durante 39:02

is there’s definitely something for everyone and enjoy it. I remember visiting colleges with my daughters. It was fun. You know, we went on tours. I remember certain schools that my first daughter thought, oh for sure, she wanted this school, and then she showed up there and it was not really what she wanted. So, you know, visiting is important. If you can’t visit before applying, maybe it’s because of finances, maybe it’s because of scheduling. You know, a lot of times it’s hard to get a family schedule together, particularly if you want to visit colleges while they’re in session. I think you owe it to yourself to try to visit at least once, if before matriculating. So yeah, in terms of stress, start early. Have the conversations about finances early with the family. And don’t only apply to those schools where it’s 15% or less. Make sure you have your reach schools, your target schools, your likely schools. Have a balanced list. And enjoy it. Enjoy it. It’s fun. You. Well,

Lisa Marker Robbins 40:00

I’m gonna recommend that everybody listens to your podcast, because, to your point, they’re busy families. It costs money to do college visits. My 20 now, 26 year old, he ended up attending someplace that we didn’t apply until after he was accepted. But I agree with you until you’re and that was just because we were busy and it was far away, so but you got to get your feet on campus before you make that final decision. You know, I talked about that in an earlier podcast this year about how to make that final decision, and that was one of the pieces of advice. But start with John’s podcast. Learn about the colleges, see if he’s covered your college. You told me earlier, you’re always open to hearing like we want to hear from send him a message. He’s responsive, and it’s been a gift. And thank you, John, I so appreciate it. It’s

John Durante 40:55

my pleasure, and congratulations to you, Lisa, honestly, you’re doing such great work. Feel so blessed to be here today. Could not thank you enough. You’re awesome.

41:03

Thank you.

Lisa Marker Robbins 41:10

Thank you to John durante for sharing his incredible insights from interviewing over 200 college admissions representatives. I hope our discussion has provided you with a deeper understanding of college admissions process and how to approach it with confidence. As we wrap up, I encourage you to listen as a family to at least one episode from John’s podcast, college admissions process, featuring a college of interest to your team. I’ve linked to his show in the show notes, take notes and have a family discussion about what you learn. Then use what you learn to guide your college bound journey and the questions you’ll ask during college visits. This will help you gain valuable insights and make informed decisions about the colleges on your teens list. If today’s episode was helpful to you, please share it with a friend who might benefit from it too, and don’t forget to rate review and follow the podcast to help each one of our podcasts reach more families with valuable insights and support. Thank you for listening. You.