YCBK 73: What Applicants with Disabilities Should Know

In this episode you will hear: (5:30) In this week’s news, an Atlantic article “How to Rank College Ranking Sites” by Will Dix. Dix does an outstanding job of highlighting the fact that there is a huge market for college rankings and he goes on to list and describe 13 ranking sites that families use amongst the various rankings that are available. Dix says he personally believes that all college rankings are inaccurate because you can’t quantity the imponderable, but he knows people are using them so he describes how the various rankings emphasize different things. (34:29) We are in Chapter 73 of 171 Answers and Mark shares his advice for students with disabilities. We talk about the kind of questions that students with disabilities need to ask when evaluating whether a college can properly serve them. We share where a student and parent should go on a college campus visit if the student has a disability. We also share a list of various disabilities and you will see how many different disabilities exist. A sizable portion of the population have a disability and this discussion is for you, but it is for all of us to better understand what a student with a disability should know. (45:23) For our question segment – we are responding to the breaking news around the College Board rolling out what they are calling the Environmental Context Dashboard. You may have heard this referred to as an “adversity score” or an “adversity index”; this is the label the media has put on this. This is the 4th and final part on the ECD and Mark is addressing the questions that remain unanswered and the controversies that will continue to loom. Mark shares a dozen different topics related to the ECD that are worth watching over the next few years. (62:35) Mark wraps up his interview with Dr. Josie Uribistondo in Preparation for the Personal Statement, Part 3. Josie and Mark have a great conversation as we compare notes as we talk about the most common errors we each see in our student’s essays. Josie talks about the importance of communicating values and how to show your emotional intelligence in your writing Josie exhorts the listeners to start early on their personal essays Dr. Josie shares various ways to conclude your essay Then Mark puts Josie on the hot seat and I think you will find it interesting and even entertaining. (74:22) Mark’s recommended resource of the week is the Twitter account @InsidehigherEd. If you want to follow the the latest breaking news, opinion, jobs, & resources for all of higher ed, this is a good a source as you will find. 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.