#166 Admissions Insider Q&A with John Durante: Your College Questions Answered Transcript

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

Lisa Marker Robbins  00:49

In February. John Durante hosts the college admissions process podcast and author of straight from the admissions office, he and I, well, we hosted a live event to help families struggling to navigate the rapidly changing college admissions landscape. After John shared insights gained from interviewing over 250 admissions representatives at colleges ranging from state flagships to the Ivies, we opened the floor for a live Q and A addressing parents questions that might just be the same ones that you have today in this special episode of College and Career Clarity, we’re featuring that Q and A portion where John and I tackled real questions from parents about crafting college list, writing compelling essays, preparing for interviews, navigating financial aid, choosing the right college major and much, much more. We hope this answers questions you might have and reminds you that you’re not alone on this journey. Other families are navigating the same challenges, and experts like John and I are here to help as a repeat guest from episodes 141 and 156 I’m thrilled to welcome John back to the show. I’m Lisa Marker Robbins, and this is College and Career Clarity a flourish, coaching production. Okay, in some of these, John, I think we both can answer most of them. I have been a college major and career coach. For those of you that are new to my world, because we got some new registrants for the webinar for the last well now going on like 16 years, and I worked as an IEC since 1999 so this is why all of this is super interesting to me, too. So questions that were submitted in advance get to go first first one can a college admission officer help me regarding financial aid? Can they guide me in terms of the college’s policies and terms, John, I think I’ll let you take that one. You You ask a lot about paying for college scholarships financial aid?

 

Dr. John Durante  03:00

Yeah, absolutely. So they could give you So typically, what happens is that they could certainly give you general information. In many cases, they’ll refer you to their financial aid office. So there’s something called the net price calculator, which I recommend that everybody use. So the net price calculator is something that they don’t see. You fill it out. And what I suggest is fill it out honestly with your family. And so, the way it was explained to me, you could search, for example, I don’t know, Fairfield University net price calculator. And so you fill it out, and what it does, it basically looks at past students that or current students that have a similar profile, to give you a general idea of what the actual ticket price will be if, in fact, you’re lucky enough to be admitted to whatever school that you’re applying to. So the admissions reps will definitely give you general information. Typically, they will refer you to their admission financial aid offices. But what I want to add to that, which I didn’t mention there on the podcast episode, is the importance of using that net price calculator.

 

Lisa Marker Robbins  04:06

Yeah, good advice, and it can be frustrating to fill those out. But here’s the deal, the ones the colleges that you can fill them out like in a quick second, you don’t get a good, inaccurate result, the ones that are a little bit more of a pain in the rear end to fill out, you’re actually getting a better result that will be more accurate as far as what your family might ultimately end up paying for that school. Okay, next question, I’m going to take this one because it is about my favorite topic, which is college, majors and careers. So this was the first question that was submitted via our form, is pre med or pre law a major? How does my schedule look for me if I were to take one of those pathways, will my classes align with medicine and law? What is the main difference of someone taking a major with a. And without pre med pre law. So those are not majors. There are prerequisites for medical school, and I have a previous episode on my podcast when John’s answering a question, I’ll put it over into the chat, where I’ve been putting all of the resources that we’ve been mentioning today. But pre med has prerequisites that a student must take an undergrad to be eligible to be admitted to medical school. So you want to make sure that you’re meeting the prerequisites, but you can major in anything. And quite frankly, what we’ve seen is a shift away from when I was in college in the 1980s scary to say that to today, where they wanted science majors, historically now they really are wanting people that students that are more well rounded. And so you see communications majors getting in. You see music majors getting in any major goes for either one of these career pathways, and so make sure that there are no prerequisites for law school other than most schools are going to have you take the LSAT and do well on that and have good grades, but you can major in anything for either one of these pathways. You know, I always advise that we should be curating experiences. We should be vetting the careers. Be more focused on the careers than the name of the major, right? There are often multiple majors that lead to a career? Yes, there are, like nursing and teaching. John and I both started out as teachers in our early careers. Yes, you have to have an exact major, but for more careers you do not. So love that question. I

 

Dr. John Durante  06:55

just add something, yeah, because your answer was amazing, but it reminded me of an episode I did. I actually did two episodes with Michael lucino. Michael is out of Temple University, so Michael came back on the second episode. He actually brought a nursing student. He wanted to come back to highlight one of his programs. And you know, I know we’re talking pre med and pre law, but I just, you know, for people that are interested in those competitive fields such as nursing, it became clear, you know, in the case of Temple University, they only have 112 nursing spots, and that’s because of, basically the internships, the partnership with the local hospital. So because of that, that’s, that’s it. It’s 112 so the nursing student that actually came on, she talked about how, in high school, she volunteered. She was actually, she had a connection, I guess. She actually worked at a hospital. She worked at a nursing home where her grandmother was and what Michael explained to me was that, because a kid like that, you never shoo in, by the way, there’s no guarantees. But he explained that in a competitive field of nursing where they only accept 112 kids, he said, when we see a kid that tried it, that has internship experience, real world experience, it really adds to the overall application. Because here’s a kid that tried it and still wants it, is still pursuing it, as opposed to someone who has, you know, straight A pluses, but has never, ever, you know, felt what it’s like to be a nurse, and so you might give you might give yourself an advantage again. There’s never any guarantees. But you know, being that we’re talking about competitive fields like pre med, pre law nursing, I just wanted to share that piece of information with the listeners. Yeah,

 

Lisa Marker Robbins  08:36

I actually, I had John Rice from the University of San Francisco on the podcast early on. You guys can just google it, but he worked at the time. He has a different role now. He was in nursing admissions and at the University of San Francisco, and this is not uncommon for nursing. Since you brought up nursing that you have to apply to that major in the 12th grade, they will not allow anybody to switch into that major ever once they’re on campus. That is not uncommon for competitive majors. So Okay, next book is for Alyssa, a, l, y, s, s, a, your email address starts with e, n, d, e, and I’m gonna leave it at that. Send us an email, we’re gonna be happy to get you a book. Okay, next question, John, I think this one’s perfect for you with what brought you to the podcast and the book and your world. Is there anything I should avoid as a student. So this came in from a student. Is there anything I should avoid as a student when approaching a college admissions officer,

 

Dr. John Durante  09:49

I think the best advice that I can give you is, when you approach them, first of all, approach them with confidence. Give some eye contact. Don’t be don’t be afraid they are. Admissions officer. If they could truly admit everybody, believe me, they would want to, you know, they’re good people. You know they want to help, which is why I’m fortunate enough to have so many of them on the podcast. But my advice would be, when you’re approaching them, show that you did your research. You know, if you approach them and ask them a question that is so easily found on the front page of their admissions website. It’s really not going to give a great impression, right? You want to be thoughtful. You want to be mindful of whatever the question is. And I think that, you know, you have to approach it anytime you’re looking at it, talking to an admissions rep, it’s like a job interview, right? Whether or not, by the way, they’re going to use that conversation as part of, you know the overall application, you know we talk about demonstrating your interests and whether or not schools use it or not. The bottom line is that you want to show that you did a little bit of homework, and you want to ask questions that are not just so easily found by looking at their website. Absolutely

 

Lisa Marker Robbins  10:56

Okay. Next question. This is the last one that was put in ahead of time. And then we’re going to move on to the questions that came in tonight. How should I present myself in the personal statement? How do I talk about me but also be appealing to the readers? And I know we talked about some of this, what is a wow factor admissions are looking for in college essays. And I, I do want to say we, we put some resources of excellent essays over in the chat, John, I went over and grabbed the Johns Hopkins and the Hamilton resources and put them in the chat for you guys, from my standpoint as a college major career coach. But one of the biggest mistakes I see made is that students use their personal statement to talk about their college major choice or their career aspirations. When John, you did a great job describing it, they’re really just getting wanting to get to know you right the colleges that want to know about who admit directly to majors or majors really pay. Are paying playing a role. They have supplemental questions. You know, why our school, why that major? And that’s really where that should be discussed. So I think you know, the wow factor is authenticity. No. John, anything to add? Yeah,

 

Dr. John Durante  12:24

definitely. So, you know, I think we covered a lot of what we should or shouldn’t include in the personal statement. So I don’t want to repeat what’s there, but if you’re struggling with it, you know, one piece of advice that I can give is ask your two or three best friends, to be honest, and just describe what comes to mind when they think of you, and even if it’s something that’s not, you know, the most positive thing, just jot down, what do people say about you? You know, I could share that, like, for example, with me. You know, I happen to be of Italian descent. I have a wood burning pizza oven in my backyard, so not that I’m applying to college, but I’ll tell you what. I’d probably use that as a topic to really give insight in terms of my personality. Now, I’m sure that probably doesn’t fit whoever’s asking the questions personality, but I think asking people that are near and dear to you how they perceive you and just look for common themes and come up with, you know, something that is really important to you, and use that topic to, you know, don’t focus so the topic is important, but what’s more important is how you use the topic to give insights in terms of who You are. You know, is there something that’s near and dear to you? Why? Again, what are the questions that you ask yourself? Did something happen and you needed to pivot? What was your reflection? You want to give insight in terms of who you are as a person, that’s where your personality has to shine through. So I like the idea of, yes, you could go to a family member too, but perhaps start with some of your best friends. You know, what do they say about you, and see if a theme comes about that maybe you could use in your essay, in your personal statement.

 

Lisa Marker Robbins  14:11

Love that. Okay, first question that came in, and I’ve got, I

 

Dr. John Durante  14:16

just hit the rep for a second. Yeah, I’m gonna go to the last slide. Oh yeah, I’ll stay on for as long as possible. I just wanted to show that this QR code a quick thing for everyone who and I hope everyone is still on. It’s very important for me to continue refining this presentation. So this QR code is to a Google form. It is completely anonymous, and it will take you no more than three minutes to complete. If you could just give me honest feedback. If I was awful, no problem. Tell me that I was awful. If something that resonated or didn’t resonate, something that I could do better, I really want the honest feedback, because I have a lot of these conversations set up moving forward. And you know. Yeah, I really want to do the best that I can, so please scan that QR code and please take the three minutes to fill it out. You know, when you can hopefully. And John,

 

Lisa Marker Robbins  15:09

I’ll I will send me that link when we finish, and I will put that in our follow up email tomorrow. All right, thank you. Yeah, happy to do so. Okay, next question, what is the best way to start making your college list to ensure you’re picking schools that are the right fit for you? What kinds of factors should you take into consideration? IE, if a student thinks they want to stay close to home, should they automatically roll out schools that are further away. So the first thing I’m going to give you guys a little resource. So I have a college list building tutorial. I’m going to it’s free. I’m going to drop it in the chat, and I am, what I’m doing here is, I’m giving you questions, worksheets, conversation starters, so that you as a family can be talking to get on the same page. And that’s conversations are where you start. So that’s the first thing that you need to do as a mama. I’m going to tell you guys, I did not want my kids to fall in love with the school that was out of budget for me. I don’t have a money tree in my backyard like most of you probably don’t either, and I share that to say, like my my first born, it’ll be 27 in April, when we were going through this, he was a very strong test taker. So, you know, 99th percentile. So you can imagine, and this was back in 2015 the amount of literature that was being mailed to our home. And when something from the University of Chicago would come in, I would go over, and I would drop it into the trash can, and he caught me doing this, and he’s just like, Mom, it’s so offended. You know, that’s a federal offense. That’s my mail. Ha, ha, ha, Trent, and he probably would still say that. And I said, here’s the deal that is out of my budget, and it, even if you loved it, it’s not realistic for our family. And so I don’t want kids to there’s two things I want to avoid before they get on a campus and they fall in love with the campus and a social life, because that tends to be the kids first go to is number one, a school that we can’t afford as parents, John gave you great advice on net price calculators as a starting point. Number two, for me, as a career coach, I don’t want a kiddo to fall in love with a school, a campus, but that campus doesn’t have their major that they need, or any of the majors that could potentially lead to their career. So if they do want one of those fields, if they’re a good fit for architecture or engineering or education or nursing job careers that require a very specific degree and license and credentials that and you’re they’re in love with a school that doesn’t have it. They might have to transfer later or so. I think it’s a worthwhile endeavor. We’re not making forever decisions on careers here, but we’re making an informed first decision, and I think it’s important to do that work starting as early as 10th grade. So that’s what I would say on the college list, start by talking. I wouldn’t force a kid to go look far away. I always say start close to home. I’m lucky Cincinnati, Ohio, where I love you all. We have a dozen schools within 45 minutes to an hour, right or more, so we can see a large variety close to home, and then we can start to move outward from there. John, what do you want to add? Well, first

 

Dr. John Durante  19:08

of all, I thought that was a comprehensive answer, and thank you for that. And I guess what I’ll add is, you know, the old cliche, being true to yourself, but I want to expand upon that a little bit so we you know, I love what Rick Clark said once. He said, you know, a student that applies to Dartmouth and UPenn, they didn’t do their homework, right? They’re just applying to any school. Because he said, those two schools cannot be more different. So I think if students understand to take a break from where mom and dad went. Forgive me, Mom and Dad, I’m sorry, where your friends are applying, to really reflect and use the experience to be true to yourself. Do you want to be close to home, far from home, suburban, urban environment? Do you want a big school, small school, medium sized school, and stop worrying about the rankings? If a school is in the top 20 consistently for the last 50 years, but that school is an airplane right away, and it’s in a rural area, for example, and you want to be like my daughter, no more than a two hour car right away, and in a suburban area, for example, then that school is not for you. So you have to really be mindful of stop looking at where your friend is going, or, you know, someone telling you you must go to this school if it’s not the right fit for you. And you know, one thing that we don’t talk much about is the anatomy of the transfer, right? So many students end up transferring, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Guess what? Yeah, I transfer okay after my first year, but that’s a whole other story. My point being is that I’m willing to bet that students that end up transferring, they probably didn’t take the time to think about things that when you’re in high school, maybe it doesn’t seem that important to you, but it really is, you know, because a lot of people are excited about going away, and it is, it’s very exciting. But you know, do you want to be in a warm climate? A cold climate is, you know, again, the distance you have to be honest to with yourself, and then work with your family to find schools that fit within the financial fit to, you know, hopefully make it a successful journey through college. I

 

Lisa Marker Robbins  21:18

love that you brought up transfers. I did do a podcast. It’s episode 140 I’m going to put it in the chat with Jamie Smith, and it’s called avoiding the pitfalls of college transfers. It was excellent, and she does address in there planned transfers, because there is such a thing as planned transfers for some families, and it can be good for you to consider that that’s usually got a financial reason behind it, but that’s a great listen, and Jamie was a great guest. Okay, let’s see next question. Oh, actually I did our next book, Jessica. Jessica Caven, so your email address told me your last name, Jessica. So Jessica, email me tomorrow and we’ll work on getting that book out to you. Okay, next question, when searching for social fit, when are college tours recommended, John, I’m going to let you start that one.

 

Dr. John Durante  22:25

Yes, I think it’s important, if it’s at all possible, to go when school is in session. You know, if you go to a college campus, frankly, on a Saturday morning, early, it’s going to be a ghost town. And on Sunday mornings, it’s even bigger a ghost town. Because the truth of the matter is, you know, if it’s a commuter campus, you know, a lot of kids sometimes go home on weekends at certain schools, which is a good question to ask, by the way, you know, what’s you know, is this a commuter school? What’s the percentage of students that stay on campus? But, you know, going back to the example of what I explained with my daughter, you know, we were fortunate. Penn State started very late August. But my daughter and I, you know, was still on vacation from my work as a high school principal, and at the time, she was obviously a high school student, so we were able to go in late August, when they were in session that particular year. And it really gave us a lot of insight into what it feels like, you know, on a on a typical day on campus. And so I know it’s hard, you know, but if you can do that, you should now, if you can’t do it before applying, I could understand. And by the way, you know when, when we talk about visiting campus, you know, a lot of times it’s because of money. It costs money, especially if you have to do a hotel, say, or if you’re taking a flight, but it’s also, you know, very difficult to coordinate everybody’s schedule, right? So I always say, if you can’t visit before applying, you definitely owe it to yourself to visit at least once before matriculating, because you don’t want to come to the campus for the first time where you’re actually a student, right? Because if all of a sudden you hit some culture shock, you know that that’s not a good way to start. So again, if you could visit while they’re in session, I highly recommend that.

 

Lisa Marker Robbins  24:13

I’m going to add to it, when my kids were doing college visits, I would put feelers out, and I even campuses where I didn’t know another student who was attending there. And I would say to my network, hey, does anybody have a know of a student that goes to University of Alabama? And I would take out. I mean, what college student doesn’t want a free meal, right? And so with my kiddo, my own child, and I would take this other student out, and I would say, hey, we would love to take you out. We just want to pick your brain about the school. And that is a another fantastic way that’s really super authentic to learn about the campus from a student. And all college kids like free food. Okay, next question, should you try to visit colleges prior to making your list and or applying safety target reach? So we sort of answered this a little bit earlier. Do you need to visit some in each category? I will say this. I’m going to before I finish answering or reading the question, your reach schools are you’re usually going to be full pay. A lot of those schools don’t offer merit, and so I think there’s a financial consideration there. So you might not want to go on a reach campus if you’re not going to be able to afford to be full pay. And by the way, as some schools these days, full pay means 80 to $100,000 a year. And then how important is visiting the school? And then session, we just answered that. And do you recommend anything? In addition to the tour, I like the meal, I also like so they’ve got the general campus tour and information session, but many schools also have what they call like college or major close ups. So try to go, if your kid’s interested in engineering, try to go on a day when the engineering school is doing what we call a close up. That’s my term for it. I don’t some colleges call it that because, generally speaking, like the engineering school is not going to offer that every single day, or that health sciences school or the education school, so that you’re able to explore careers and talk to them about outcomes and different majors. So I would add that if you are able to do that. John, anything you’d add to that,

 

Dr. John Durante  26:43

you know, you COVID it. But what I would add to that is that it’s also good to start local, regardless of whether you intend to go to the local schools, you know. And you mentioned where you live, Lisa, that there’s, you know, whatever you said, six to a dozen schools within an hour, or whatever. Yeah, start locally, and even if you don’t intend to go to those schools, because I think you start to get a feel of what campuses look like, and you’ll get a feel of what is important to you, and what I did with my family. I loved it. You know, when the girls were in high school early, we would take, you know, long weekend trips, you know, we would drive down the coast, wherever we would go, and we would make it our business to just go seek some campuses as part of it, right? So, start local. Be mindful of perhaps incorporating it in family trips slowly, just to get a taste. And then you’ll develop, you’ll start to develop a feel of what it is that you’re looking for. I did it with my family, and we enjoyed it, you know, we really did. You know, the part that we didn’t enjoy was, you know, again, when my little one didn’t have, you know, the great grades that so many students do, that’s when we felt the stress. But in terms of researching schools as a family, you know, we did whatever we can to try to bring us together, and we disagreed on so many things. You know, my wife wanted our daughters basically to stay home. I was okay with going away and, you know, but enjoy it. Just try to enjoy it. Yeah,

 

Lisa Marker Robbins  28:15

it can be fun. Okay, here’s a college major career question. If you have a potential major slash career in mind, and your coursework and activities support that, bravo, because that’s a huge piece of that. Should you focus your search on colleges that have strong programs in that major, specifically that you’re speaking to international relations? Yes, not all majors are not all colleges that offer a major are strong for that major. When John answers, when he takes it away to answer the next question, I’ve got a resource where I show you how to use the college navigator website to see how many students are graduating before you even visit. And you can email admissions and ask them this as well, but you can quickly look up how many students graduated in that major, and then calculate what percentage of that cohorts, class, that classes, graduating class was made up of that major, if you go on this resource that I’m going to give you, college, navigator.gov, and you find that, well, there were only, you know, there was one student or two students, that college is not sinking money into wooing great professors to come to their School. They’re not putting their money behind that major. So just because a college offers a major does not mean that that’s where you necessarily want to go for that major. Yes, you want to go where they’re strong because they’re going to probably have better job opportunities or grad school opportunities. So it’s going to impact the outcome. Them afterwards, I would, I would add that, John, do you have anything to add to that one?

 

Dr. John Durante  30:03

No, with the I thought you gave a great answer. Lisa, I think we’re good with that one.

 

Lisa Marker Robbins  30:08

Okay, and I will put that resource in in just a second. Um, okay, I have an upcoming podcast episode in April on this topic. So I and John, I know you have I’ve heard you ask this. I wonder if you ask it every single week, because sometimes I don’t get to every episode with the onset of significant AI use, how do college? How do colleges disambiguate essays from students versus mostly AI written. I’m sure you’re having conversations around this, aren’t you? Yeah, no,

 

Dr. John Durante  30:44

we definitely are, and colleges are definitely trying to figure out different ways to assess students. But at the end of the day, you know, AI is a great tool to help you with many things, but AI does not replace the essence of who you are. So the only person that can really describe in detail you, in terms of your thought process, in terms of your reflections, it’s got to be authentic. It’s got to be your voice. And you know, you have to imagine that when you’re an admissions rep reading 40 essays a day in the heart of the admissions review process, they become really strong at being able to decipher what’s AI generated and what is, frankly, the voice of a 17 year old. So in addition to that, just you know, you have to understand that these people have really experienced that reading essays, you know, the tools that help detect whether something is AI generated or not, although they’re not perfect, you know, in terms of detecting it, they’re getting a lot better, a lot better. So, you know, I would absolutely advise you do not want to use AI to write your essay. I’ve had reps share that, if they, you know, see that it’s an AI generated essay game over you know, you just, you just missed out on being accepted there. So it’s something that we’re all dealing with, you know, even at the high school level, at every level, and it’s a great tool, by the way, but when used appropriately, right? We don’t want to plagiarize, we don’t want to steal information, so don’t do it. That’s your advice. I know some

 

Lisa Marker Robbins  32:28

colleges are starting to come up with a policy and what is acceptable use of AI, so check before for each of the colleges that you’ll be applying to interestingly, like, I love Grammarly, because it used to just catch your like, you know, TW, O versus to when you’re typing quickly. The problem now is, and I do have premium so I’m not sure about the free version, but now it’s starting to suggest how to improve your writing and and and that’s where it can get picked up. Another quick tip on AI is students write your essays in a Google Doc. We all know that you can go up to the the little clock at the top, and you can see the history of the document. And last year, I heard it wasn’t one of my students that I worked with, but I heard a story in one of our independent Educational Consultants groups about a student who actually was accused of using AI had claimed that they hadn’t, and it was the history of their edits in the Google Doc that actually proved that the student had written that actual essay. So I thought that was fantastic. You know, crowdsourcing of, how do we get around this? So I think that’s a good idea to try. I also so the next question, do all schools accept or request supplemental essays? So not all schools do. I threw in the chat earlier a resource I have that has been on my website for a long time that teaches you how you can go into the common app, which is just over 1000 schools use it. So it’s a lot, it’s a lot of the most popular common schools, and locate even ahead of time as a sophomore, a junior, what as supplemental essays are they asking? So I’ve got a video on how to locate them, but they a lot of them do, and a lot some of them, really competitive ones do. And they have a lot of them because they really want you to have to put in a lot of work if you’re going to be a serious applicant. I just got in a conversation with somebody from Wow writing workshops that’s actually going to be my guest on AI. And she said, I said, What do you think the most popular supplemental essays are? And she said, it’s why us followed by. Why this major? Why am I applying to this major? Other common ones are, you know, what’s the community that you belong in and that you serve that would be a common one? What’s an intellectual curiosity you have? Things like that. John, do you guys talk a lot about supplemental essays.

 

Dr. John Durante  35:18

We do, you know. And like I said, during the presentation, we really talk about the one. Then you’re right. There’s definitely, there are schools that ask for four supplementals, right? But the one that we talk most about is, you know, why? NYU, for example, New York University, and that’s what I was talking about earlier, where, with something like that, it’s important to demonstrate your understanding of that institution. I again, advise read the mission, the philosophy statement, see if there’s something there that really gives you insight in terms of what that school is about. You know, to go back to what Ian shakner Cornell rep said, don’t just add something there that is a Google search. We don’t want that. We want to see something deep. And so again, demonstrating your understanding, what did you do in high school that resonates, that shows that you’re in line with their values, and talk about what you plan on doing moving forward, and why that specific school. If you could put all of that in the in the supplemental, you know, again, like I said earlier, there’s no guarantee, but it’s really important to be mindful again, of the different parts and how they have to compliment each other. What is each part intended to do, and so when you have that that falls under the umbrella of what you control, again, no guarantee that you’re going to get into whatever school, but understanding those nuances, I think, is very important.

 

Lisa Marker Robbins  36:41

I know John. We’ve both been guests on Dave Peterson scholarship GPS podcast, and he’s been on my podcast a couple times, actually today, I think he was on I, you know, we record these so far in advance. I’m like, I don’t know what day they’re coming out. I’m pretty sure it came out today. And he even said for private scholarships, you know, it’s the same thing, like they’re looking for an alignment of values that you know who they are and you fit with what they want to be supporting with their money or with the seat at their university. So okay, what is the difference between John, I’ll let you start with it, deferred versus wait listed?

 

Dr. John Durante  37:23

Yeah, so deferred usually happens when you know you are, for example, applying ed. So early decision is a binding agreement, and so they review your application and you’re qualified but, but Whatever their reasons are, they’re going to defer you, which means that they put you in the general application pool. So, for example, their regular decision rounds, wait listed usually happens when you apply regular decision, for example, or early action, excuse me, and again, you’re qualified. The problem is because of all those institutional priorities and the data that we shared earlier, even though you’re qualified, they’re not quite ready to give you a seat just yet, so they put you on the wait list. So those are the things that you know the students dread, you know, the dreaded wait list and even being deferred. But the good thing about them is that it’s not a no, you know. It’s a, you know, we have to keep considering. And it’s a, it’s a maybe and perhaps a yes later on, you know,

 

Lisa Marker Robbins  38:28

yep, um, I’m going to do another book, because we’ve got, we still have two books to give away, and we’ve got one more question that came in. Next book is for number 17. Number 17 was Linda. Linda Bergson, again, your email address told me your last name, so send us an email and with your address, and we’ll be happy to get that out to you. Okay, last question that came in, and if you’ve got one now, say it now or forever, hold your peace. My friends, when it comes to internships or college programs, should we avoid the ones that cost money, like those over $1,000 I’ve heard that paid programs aren’t as valuable as the ones you will apply to and get accepted into for free. There are differing opinions on this. John, I don’t know where we’re going to land together. Do you want to start? And I’m sure we’re both going to have stuff to add on this one.

 

Dr. John Durante  39:32

Yeah, I mean, the first episode, the first conversation that comes to mind when you ask that question. Again, I point to Ian shackner, who was phenomenal, by the way, and it doesn’t matter whether you’re applying to Cornell University or not, you know, you really should hear Ian. He was just so thoughtful in his responses. He was amazing. And what he talked about, you know, for his institution, and he, you know, he talked, in general about many institutions, is that they see it as, look, it’s an equity issue, right? Just because. Because you do a summer program, you know, at a particular school, they see it as an equity issue. You know, look, there are some families that could afford it, right, and there are others that can’t quite afford it, right? Maybe because they’re saving their money to pay for the tuition bills. Should they get in? And so, you know, he, he didn’t recommend it. So I don’t think it’s necessary, right? I don’t That’s my opinion. I think that there’s a lot of things that you can do with your summer to show that, you know, to show the type of community member that you’re going to be. So I don’t know that it’s necessary to pay, you know, for these different programs out there. That’s my opinion. Lisa, yeah,

 

Lisa Marker Robbins  40:38

I don’t think it’s necessary at all. I think you can DIY it. I never paid for my kids to go to high price programs like that, and I don’t think that they’re bad Well, in internships. So first of all, you should never be paying for an internship. I will say that. But like the high school summer college programs. They’re not bad. I mean, they you got to remember, it’s a business, so these campuses are empty in large part over the summer, and a lot of times, sometimes it’s the university that offers the summer college program, but sometimes it’s an outside agency who’s just paying the university to use their campus now, it can be a great way to get a taste for what are, what’s storm life like, What do I like this campus, these programs, a lot of times, they are very specific to certain careers and majors. It could help you get a little bit more clarity on your path. That’s so that’s great. It’s not necessary, but it is absolutely fantastic experience, and it will not give you an advantage of getting into that school. So, you know, one time, one time, one of the students I was working with looked at a specific program at Duke. It did align with his career exploration that we were working on and his career development, but he also wanted to go to Duke, and he and his parents thought that it was 1000s of dollars to do this program that he wanted to do. This was a while ago, he thought maybe it would crack open the door a little bit wider for him. And I’m like, Absolutely not. I mean, it absolutely does not impact you getting into that school, so don’t do it for that reason, would be my advice. Like, just consider your Why? Why? Why are you going to do it? Could you do something that that money might be better spent elsewhere? So, you know, begin with, why we hear that all the time, right? Looks like we got one more that just came in in the chat. Is there a good number of schools to visit sweets is IE, sweet spot 15 to 20. What is it? I’ll let you start that one. John, wow,

 

Dr. John Durante  43:07

that’s a great question. And I, you know, I guess it’s going to be a little bit of a cop out, but it’s true, in my opinion. It’s really situational. It depends. You know, there are students that know that, you know, these are my top three schools that I want you know, and so they don’t need to visit 20. I think 20 is a little, a little much, in my opinion. I agree, but I think it’s, I think it’s really reflecting on what’s important to you, you know, is it a major that you’re looking for? Is it a particular geographic area that you’re looking for? And then, you know, work on your list and start the process of visiting schools. But I, you know, it’s hard to say a number, because it’s going to differ from student to

 

Lisa Marker Robbins  43:50

school. I agree. I think that you’re going to start to get a feel for, if you need to, you know, if you start out and you it’s kind of like my, my, well, I’ve got two daughters that are engaged right now, so, oh, by the way, parents, just when you start paying for college, then you can start paying for weddings and grandchildren my friends. So I still have not officially gotten the pay raise since I quit paying for college a little over a year ago. But that is life. But you know, it’s interesting, like my daughter who so I’ve got two step kids and my three kids, so I’ll talk about my daughter. She had in mind a certain type of wedding gown that she thinks she wants. We haven’t gone shopping yet, but of course, she’s like on Pinterest and Instagram and saving all the things. And her sister is getting married this may 30 on our 10 year anniversary, hijacking our date and we and so my daughter was getting her bridesmaids dress, and she ended up with a bridesmaid. Made dress that she has now fallen in love with, and because of how it fits and how it looks on her, she’s totally rethinking what she wants for her own wedding gown. And I share that story to say, you know, it’s like I bought a new car at the end of December. Um, they pulled me in with their end of year. But, you know, I’d been eight years, so it was time, and I test drove stuff, and I found what I liked, right? So these are test drives. And if you start out test driving campuses that you ultimately find, you know, kind of like John, you talking about your daughter going to Penn State, like, what the world? No, I need a I need a smaller school. She had no idea until she tried it on. So then you ultimately are going to probably have to go visit some additional campuses. But if you suspect that you know something might work, and you get on and you’re like, oh, yeah, I like this. You know, I think you’re going to learn as you go. And that’s why, again, I got that college list building tutorial. It’s not to build your list. Is to tutor you on how to have the conversations so that you know what the parameters are that you’re looking for. So you hopefully do fewer lists or fewer visits and apply to fewer colleges. I think 20s overkill. Myself, agree. Okay, last book winner, actually somebody from our college major and career coaching course. Melissa, oh, call. So that’s our last book. So you are our last lucky winner. This has been so much fun, John, we got to do this again.

 

Dr. John Durante  46:43

I would love to this has been amazing. You know, I hope we added value. I think we did, but I hope

 

Speaker 1  46:49

the chat would say that we did great. I’m glad to hear that

 

Lisa Marker Robbins  46:55

we both, you know, I’m always looking for like, what you guys want to hear on my podcast. I mean, John’s always going to be talking to the colleges. I truly, you know, I want to just cast a wide net for the topics that are resonating with my audience. So, oh, Stacey, lucky as he said, it’s only 6pm where I am. Well, yes, she recognizes John that you and I are on Eastern time. Yes, yes, it’s after nine. So thank you, my friends, this has been wonderful. We will be in touch tomorrow, and I’m gonna go ahead and I will get John will give me the the website so that he can get your feedback. So take care everybody. Thank you all. Thank you on our podcasts.

 

47:47

Take care all. Thank you. Bye.

 

Lisa Marker Robbins  47:56

Thank you for joining us for this special Q and A episode with John Durante. I hope you found the guidance John and I provided valuable for your family’s college journey. If you enjoyed this conversation and you want a bit more, you can watch the complete event, including John’s full presentation with even more insider strategies. Visit, flourish coaching, co forward slash inside you’ll get access to the entire webinar with additional tips that just couldn’t fit into today’s episode, remember, the college admissions process doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With the right information and support, you can confidently help your team navigate this journey. If you found this episode helpful, please share it with other parents who might benefit, and don’t forget to subscribe to College and Career Clarity wherever you listen to podcasts, until next time, I’m Lisa Marker Robbins reminding you that your team can find clarity about their college and career path with the right guidance. You.