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518: Inside the Application (Part 4): How to Know if You’re “Almost Done” with Your College Application

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Today’s episode is part four of our series Inside the Application. Ethan is joined by Cassidy, a current high school senior who is working on her college applications for the Fall 2025 term.  Cassidy’s application deadlines are coming up, so Ethan and Cassidy check out what she has so far through a process called the “Almost Done” review. They discuss about, among other things:

  • Where do things stand & how’s Cassidy feeling about the application?

  • What values come through in each piece of Cassidy’s writing? 

  • Where do Ethan (and Cassidy) see opportunities for revision to bring more of herself into the application? 

  • And more

Stay tuned, as we’ll continue to check in with Cassidy to find out how her process went and what she ended up hearing back from colleges.

Cassidy is a current high school student going through the college application process. She lives in the Bay Area, loves ballet, knows a lot about Biology, and identifies as a “yapper.” 

We hope you enjoy.


Play-by-Play

2:05 - How’s the writing process going for Cassidy?

  • 2:50 - How much time has Cassidy been putting into her application lately?

  • 4:50 - Does Cassidy consider herself a writer?

  • 5:45 - What is an “Almost Done” review? 

  • 6:39 - What is a Values Scan? 

  • 8:55 - Reviewing Cassidy’s most recent draft of the personal statement 

  • 23:20 - Cassidy shares some of her activities list descriptions

  • 34:35 - Highlights from Cassidy’s additional information section

  • 38:25 - Cassidy’s draft of her “excitement for learning” essay 

  • 48:08 - Cassidy’s draft of her “roommate” essay

  • 53:20 - Cassidy’s draft of her “community” essay

  • 1:03:08 - Cassidy shares her short answer responses (50 words each) 

  • 1:12:55 - Ethan shares closing advice for Cassidy as she prepares to submit 

  • 1:14:20 - Final thoughts

Resources

 

517: Inside the Application (Part 3): Supplemental Essay Deep Dive + Developing the College List w/ Special Guest Renee Ferrerio

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Today’s episode is part three of our series, Inside the Application. Ethan is joined by Cassidy, a current high school senior who is working on her college applications for the Fall 2025 term.  This episode is a deep dive into the supplemental essays — specific essays that many selective colleges and universities require. In particular, Cassidy and Ethan get into: 

  • How to write the “What would you bring to our campus” essay

  • How to write an essay that focuses on “intellectual vitality” 

  • How to write the “roommate” essay

  • Tips on the short answer questions (50 words or less)

  • And more

Finally, we close the episode out with a special guest appearance from Renee Ferrerio to review Cassidy’s college list. Renee has been working in college admission for three decades. She has a Masters in school counseling, has worked as both a public and independent school counselor, and serves on numerous college advisory boards and committees, including the Common Application Outreach Advisory Board, and many others. 

Stay tuned for future episodes where Ethan and Cassidy continue the conversation. We’ll continue to check in with Cassidy to see how things are going, and you’ll find out how it turned out a few months from now.

Cassidy is a current high school student going through the college application process. She lives in the Bay Area, loves ballet, knows a lot about Biology, and identifies as a “yapper”—more on that in our conversation. 

We hope you enjoy! 

Play-by-Play

  • 1:55 - How’s Cassidy doing on her supplemental essays so far?

  • 4:00 - Ethan reads Cassidy’s “what would you bring to our campus” essay draft

  • 8:48 - Ethan’s feedback on the essay

  • 15:38 - Additional supplemental essay prompts + Ethan’s impressions

  • 19:28 - Using the Roles and Identities Exercise to brainstorm ideas

  • 24:48 - Ethan reads & reviews Cassidy’s draft of her “community” essay

  • 35:41 - Ethan reads and reviews Cassidy’s draft of her “roommate” essay

  • 44:42 - Reviewing Cassiday’s “short answer” prompts (and why they’re like an advent calendar)

  • 53:45 - Introducing Renee Ferrerio (CEG college counselor with 25+ years experience)

  • 59:28 - Discussing impacted majors, Colleges That Change Lives, and suggestions for Cassidy’s college list

Resources

 

516: Inside the Application (Part 2): Developing the Personal Statement, Supplemental Essays, and College List with Cassidy, HS Senior

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SHOW NOTES

Today’s episode is part two of our series, Inside the Application. Ethan is joined by Cassidy, a current high school senior who is working on her college applications for the Fall 2025 term. Ethan and Cassidy will be walking step-by-step through the college application process as it unfolds this school year. In episode 2, they get into: 

  • How is Cassidy’s personal statement coming along?

  • What does Cassidy want colleges to know about her?

  • How is Cassidy approaching her supplemental essays?

  • What is Cassidy looking for in a college and how did she develop her list?

  • And more

Stay tuned for future episodes where Ethan and Cassidy continue the conversation! This series is a bit different in that, normally, we share episodes-in-a-series consecutively. For these, we’re releasing them pretty much as we record them, so you’ll notice them interspersed among other topics we’ll be covering. We’ll continue to check in with Cassidy to see how things are going, and you’ll find out how it turned out a few months from now.

Cassidy is a current high school student going through the college application process. She lives in the Bay Area, loves ballet, knows a lot about Biology, and identifies as a “yapper”—more on that in our conversation. 

We hope you enjoy! 

Play-by-Play

  • 1:36 - What has Cassidy been working on since last episode?

  • 3:28 - Cassidy reads draft two of her personal statement 

  • 7:51 - Cassidy shares her thoughts on her draft

  • 9:18 - Ethan gives feedback and shares suggestions for the next draft 

  • 12:57 -  Ethan reviews Cassidy’s "Everything I Want Colleges to Know About Me" list

  • 21:38 - Ethan reviews Cassidy’s CommonApp Activities List and Additional Info sections

  • 26:09 - What is Cassidy looking for in a college and how did she develop her list?

  • 25:00 - Ethan reads the supplemental prompts from Cassidy’s college list tracker 

  • 35:56  - What is a “super topic" and how might it help Cassidy?

  • 50:50 - What is the Roles and Identities exercise?

  • 58:55 - What are Cassidy’s next steps in her drafting process? 

Resources

 

515: Inside the Application Part 1: Brainstorming, Outlining, and Drafting in Real Time with Cassidy, HS Senior

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SHOW NOTES

Today’s episode kicks off a new series, Inside the Application. Ethan is joined by Cassidy, a current high school senior who is working on her college applications for the Fall 2025 term. Ethan and Cassidy will be walking step-by-step through the college application process as it unfolds this school year. In episode 1, they get into: 

  • How did Cassidy approach brainstorming and outlining for her personal statement? 

  • What brainstorming activities helped Cassidy pick her topic?

  • Cassidy’s first draft of her personal statement 

  • Ethan’s suggestions for revision 

  • And more

This series will also be different in that, normally, we share episodes-in-a-series consecutively. For these, we’re releasing them pretty much as we record them, so you’ll notice them interspersed among other topics we’ll be covering. 

Stay tuned for future episodes where Ethan and Cassidy continue the conversation! They’ll revisit her personal statement, talk about supplemental essays, go over how Cassidy developed her college list, and even talk a little bit about the activities list and the additional information section. We’ll continue to check in with Cassidy to see how things are going, and you’ll find out how it turned out a few months from now.

Cassidy is a current high school student going through the college application process. She lives in the Bay Area, loves ballet, knows a lot about Biology, and identifies as a “yapper”—more on that in our conversation. 

We hope you enjoy! 

Play-by-Play

  • 2:57 - Getting to know Cassidy through her brainstorming materials

    • 3:27 - Cassidy’s social identities

    • 4:29 - Cassidy’s values

    • 7:05 - Cassidy’s superpower

    • 8:12 - Cassidy’s islands of personality

  • 8:40 - What were some of the topics Cassidy considered for her essay?

  • 13:51 - Cassidy walks through her essay outline and examples

  • 16:01 - How did outlining make things easier for Cassidy? 

  • 18:48 - Cassidy reads the first draft of her personal statement 

  • 22:42 - Cassidy shares her thoughts on her draft

  • 26:04 - Ethan gives feedback 

  • 39:18 - Ethan shares suggestions for the next draft 

  • 41:52 - Closing thoughts  

Resources

 

508: What Colleges Want (Part 7B): Recommendation Letter Crash Courses for Counselors and Teachers

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Today’s episode is all about writing letters of recommendation for teachers and counselors. Continuing our series on What Colleges Want, Tom Campbell (CEG’s Community Manager) is joined by Hanah Lim (CEG’s Director of Workshops and a former high school English teacher), where they provide their tips, tricks, and hacks to help you write more efficient and effective letters for your students.

Tom and Hanah discuss:

  • How long should letters be and what format works best? 

  • How do letters differ between counselors and teachers? 

  • What details might be helpful to include, and what should be avoided? 

  • How can teachers and counselors efficiently gather more information about their students to include in the letter?

We hope you enjoy the episode!

In case you missed it: Students and families, be sure to check out last week’s episode with Ayesha King to learn about what goes into a letter of recommendation, how they are evaluated by colleges, and who students should consider asking. 

Hanah Lim is the Director of Workshops at College Essay Guy and a former public high school English teacher. She oversees College Essay Guy's essay and application workshop team and organizes speaking events and college application and essay workshops for students at schools and organizations in the US and around the world. She has presented college essay workshops to thousands of students across diverse settings, including community-based organizations, public, international, and independent schools. She also worked as a college consultant for students in Bangkok, Thailand, directed SAT prep centers in Irvine, California and worked with non-profit groups and as an AVID teacher and coordinator to help close the achievement gap. She holds a B.A. in English with an emphasis in Education from California State University of Long Beach.  Hanah finds joy in watching musicals, visiting Disney parks with her husband, and playing with her two cats.

Play-by-play

  • 2:19 - Hanah and Tom share their school contexts for writing their letters of recommendation

  • 5:40 - How much weight do letters of recommendation hold in admission? 

  • 10:25 - What is the best practice for the length of a letter of recommendation for college? 

  • 10:57 - How should it be formatted? 

  • 14:03 - Should a letter be customized for each college?

  • 15:38 - What else is submitted with the student’s application from the high school?

    • 16:19 - What is covered in the school profile? 

    • 19:44 - What is covered in the counselor’s letter?

    • 25:25 - What is covered in the teacher's letter?

  • 30:46 - How does the Supreme Court ruling on race-conscious admission affect letters of recommendation?

  • 36:29 - What generally might be not as helpful to include in the letter?

  • 40:38 - Hanah shares her process for writing letters of recommendation

  • 49:18 - Tom shares his process for writing letters of recommendation

  • 59:01 -  How to incorporate a student’s essay brainstorming work

  • 1:01:37 - How could generative AI be utilized in the recommendation writing process?

  • 1:07:08 - Closing thoughts

ResourceS

  • Continued Learning

 

507: What Colleges Want (Part 7A): Recommendation Letter Crash Course for Students and Families

Listen Here

SHOW NOTES

This week, Tom Campbell (CEG’s Community Manager) is joined by Ayesha King (Director of College Counseling at the International School of Los Angeles) to talk about letters of recommendation. They get into:

  • What goes into a letter of recommendation?

  • How are they evaluated by colleges?

  • Who should students consider asking, and how do they ask?

  • What can students and families do to ensure that their letters are the best they can be?

  • What are FERPA rights and why should you waive them?

Ayesha King (she/her) has over twelve years of experience in admissions at the secondary, undergraduate, and postgraduate levels, developing her values of social justice, equity and access. She is currently the Director of College Counseling at the International School of Los Angeles (LILA), a French International school, where she is stretching her skills working with students considering post-secondary options all over the world. She holds her Bachelors degree from the University of Redlands and her Masters degree from California Lutheran University. Ayesha loves spending time with her two boys and two dogs, visiting Disneyland, and talking about pop culture.

This is the next episode in our series on What Colleges Want. Stay tuned for our upcoming episode about writing letters of recommendation for teachers and counselors. Tom will be joined by Hanah Lim (CEG’s Director of Workshops and a former high school English teacher), where they provide their tips, tricks, and hacks to help you write more efficient and effective letters for your students.

We hope you enjoy the conversation! 

Play-by-play

  • 2:49 - How important are letters of recommendation to admissions officers? 

  • 5:55 - Why might it be called a “Letter of Advocacy” instead?

  • 7:19 - When would a letter of recommendation make a big impact on a student’s application?

  • 13:38 - Should students also share this important context if it’s already in their recommendation letter?

  • 15:35 - How can students determine how many letters to request?

  • 19:49 - What is being said in these letters?

  • 26:38 - Which teachers are typically the best to ask for a recommendation letter?

  • 29:51 - Why should students consider asking a teacher from a class they struggled in?

  • 30:47 - What can students do to help their teachers & counselors write the best letter possible?

  • 36:06 - What information should students share with their recommenders?

  • 39:20 - How should students ask for a letter once they have determined who to ask?

  • 44:41 - Do students ever see their letters of recommendation? 

  • 48:24 - Closing advice for parents & students

ResourceS