YCBK 58: Demonstrated Interest and Why It’s Important

In this episode you will hear: (3:35) In this week’s news, a NY Times article “They’re not fact checking. How lies in college admissions can slip through the net”, by Anemona Hartocollis. The pressure on prospective students to lie or embellish in their college applications has intensified, admissions officers say, and colleges are doing little in the way of fact-checking. Mark and Anika discuss what colleges are doing and what they are not doing. We also debate whether college’s are partially at fault for making students feel as if they need to embellish their applications. (20:15) We are in chapter 58of 171 Answers and we’re talking through what students need to know about demonstrated interest. We define demonstrated interest and we talk about why it is important. We talk about how what an AO means when they refer to demonstrated interest is different than what Mark thinks demonstrated interest is. We explain why demonstrated interest is something that it is all but impossible for an AO to be completely candid about when they are talking with students. (42:01) This week’s question asks about supplemental essay prompts used by private institutions. The question asks, do these questions change every year or do they stay the same. We answer that question but we take it a step further by asking, should a student start working on their supplemental essays before they are officially released? We also explain several other terms that are used for these supplemental essays. (55:00) This week’s interview is the final part of “So you want to be a doctor or a nurse, what you need to know”, with Dr. David Williams. This is by far our most casual interview with Dave. Dave starts out by talking about what opportunities exist for Physician Assistants. After this, our interview gets very casual. Because I have known Dave all my life, I ask him to share some stories from his life that I believe our listeners will find interesting and even entertaining. (67:06) Mark’s recommended resource of the week is the US Department of Education’s website: https://www.ed.gov Don’t forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to   Every episode of Your College-Bound Kid will align with a chapter from the book 171 Answers to the Most-Asked College Admission Questions. To get a copy visit  and if you want to see what future episodes will cover just click the red button “See exactly what 171 Answers covers.