YCBK 277: How to know if a college is really test-optional

In this episode you will hear:   (07:15) Mark and Dave discuss an article, “One state offers lessons in how to cope with the college enrollment crisis”. The article is by Jon Marcus of the Hechinger Report and it was written on 8/28/2022. Mark and Dave discuss all of the steps the University of Maine took to turn around their bleak enrollment situation. Dave and Mark discuss what other colleges can learn from the actions that the University of Maine took.   (35:06) Mark and Lisa discuss 8 signs to look at when trying to determine if a college values test scores, even if they purport to be test-optional. Part 2 of 2     (01:06:35) Mark continues his interview with Milyon Truelove, the  Vice President and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Reed College. Milyon explains why Reed College made the decision to not contribute to the US News and World Report’s college rankings (Part 2 of 2) Preview of Part 2   How much would movement in the rankings impact Reed Does Reed uniquely benefit because they flouted US News Ranking Milyon comments on the new book by former Reed President, Colin Driver, Breaking Ranks: How the Rankings Industry Rules Higher Education and What to Do about It Milyon explains why he likes “test-blind” Milyon talks about whether the rankings are helpful in any way Mark and Milyon discuss the downside of putting too much emphasis on the number of Pell recipients in your recruitment   (01:13:52) Our Recommended Resource is PAYE (Pay as you Earn) video that Melissa Ford of the Damsel of Success YouTube channel produced. The video does an excellent job explaining when it makes sense for a student use the PAYE plan for loan repayment and how it may be able to save you tens of thousands of dollar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5454IKZ49k     Please send in your questions either on Twitter at @YCBKpodcast using the Messages tab (this is our preference) or via email at for the 25 admissions interviews we are doing in the summer and fall. Our interviews are with the following people at the following schools: Confirmed interviews not yet completed Bard-Mackie Siebens Mercer-Kelly Holloway Rice University-Tamara Siler American University-Andrea Felder Pitzer College-Yvonne Berumen Chapman University-Marcela Meija-Martinez Connecticut College-Andy Strickler* Trinity College-Anthony Berry* College of the Atlantic-Heather Albert* Spelman College-Chelsea Holley* Scripps College-Victoria Romero* Saint Louis University-Daniel Wood-(Interview is about transfer admissions, Daniel is a transfer counselor) Colby College-Randi Arsenault* University of Georgia-David Graves* Washington University St Louis-Ronne Turner University of Wisconsin-Andre Phillips University of Illinois-Brian Hodges Purdue University-Mitch Warren University of Minnesota-Keri Risic Cornell University-Jonathon Burdick Oberlin College-Manuel Carballo UW-Madison-Andre Phillips Carleton College-Art Rodriguez Swarthmore-Jim Bok Joy St. Johns-Harvard Duke-Christoph Guttentag Florida State-John Barnhill Southern Methodist University-Elena Hicks Johns Hopkins-Calvin Wise Cornell University-Shawn Felton Haverford College-Jess Lord UAspire-Brendan Williams Yale University-Moira Poe Akil Bello of Akilbello.com Bard College Baylor University Butler University California Institute of Technology Colorado School of Mines Creighton University   To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our free quarterly admissions deep-dive, delivered directly to your email four times a year, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign up on the right side of the page under “the Listen to our podcast icons”   Follow Mark Stucker on Twitter to get breaking college admission news,  and updates about the podcast before they go live. You can ask questions on Twitter that he will answer them on the podcast. Mark will also share additional hot topics in the news and breaking news on this Twitter feed. Twitter message is also the preferred way to ask questions for our podcast:   https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast   To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it Enter whatever word you want to search. I.e. Loans Every word in that episode when the words loans are used, will be highlighted in yellow with a timestamps Click the word highlighted in yellow and the player will play the episode from that starting point You can also download the entire podcast as a transcript   We would be honored if you will pass this podcast episode on to others who you feel will benefit from the content in YCBK.   Please subscribe to our podcast. 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All they ask is that you review their services and pricing on their website before the complimentary session. Their counseling website is: https://schoolmatch4u.com/