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PODCAST

Admissions Beat

Lee Coffin • Vice President and Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid at Dartmouth College

On the Admissions Beat, veteran dean of admissions Lee Coffin from Dartmouth College and a range of guests provide high school students and parents, as well as their counselors and other mentors, with "news you can use" at each step on the pathway to college. With a welcoming, reassuring perspective and an approach intended to build confidence in prospective applicants, Dean Coffin offers credible information, insights, and guidance—from the earliest days of the college search, to applications,

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All Episodes

00:53:38

A Translation Guide for "Ed-Speak” in a College Search

Admissions Beat ·

2026/10/06

Holistic? Full demonstrated need? Optional? Admissions and financial aid officers sometimes speak a particular kind of language...but everyone navigating a college search is not always as fluent in "ed-speak." A dean, a guidance counselor, and a financial aid director offer a translation guide to the essential concepts of a college search.

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00:48:49

Misinformation on the Suburban Social Circuit

Admissions Beat ·

2026/09/29

"Information" floods a college search from many spigots, not all of which are reliable or helpful. Each September, social media feeds erupt with advice and comment from various "expert" sources while parental social gatherings and pick-up lines at school are hot spots for admissions news and commentary. This week, four longtime college counselors from Fairfield County in Connecticut, Fort Lauderdale, Baltimore, and Denver join AB host Lee Coffin for a listener-inspired conversation that redirects

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00:52:36

One App, Many Options

Admissions Beat ·

2026/09/22

In the Season 10 premiere, Common App CEO Jenny Rickard returns to AB for a back-to-school primer on the application used by over 1,100 colleges around the world. Fifty years since it debuted, the Common App has become "the passport for entry" into most selective institutions, and its elements represent the building blocks for a student's personal narrative. "Approach the Common App with clarity and confidence," Dartmouth's dean and AB host advises.

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00:38:54

Odds and Ends

Admissions Beat ·

2026/06/02

In a "listener mailbag" bonus episode, Jen Simons from Bright Horizons College Coach joins AB host Lee Coffin to answer an array of listener questions. The mailbag queries spark riffs on a wide range of admissions topics from applying to college as a twin to the option of a state honors college to interpreting newsfeed posts about 2026 acceptance rates, the "new Ivies," and "over-rated" colleges. And the longtime friends and colleagues touch a few topics no one asked them to discuss!

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00:50:06

The Initial Friendship Market

Admissions Beat ·

2026/05/12

In the season finale, sociologist Janice McCabe offers insights on friendship from her new book Making, Keeping, and Losing Friends, as this fall's entering class makes the transition from home to college. "Belonging is a powerful human need," Professor McCabe notes, and the post-admission period leading up to orientation and the start of classes is what McCabe calls "the initial friendship market." An expert in how people connect in social situations, she advises students to "be intentional about

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00:41:17

The Transition from Home to College

Admissions Beat ·

2026/05/05

Hooray, the college search is over! Now what?! As high school seniors become "pre-matrics" on the campus of their choice, a surprising swirl of checklists and emotions arise for students and their parents or guardians. Carleton's dean of students and a longtime college counselor join AB host Lee Coffin for tips and thoughts on successfully transitioning from home to college in the weeks ahead.

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00:59:45

The Things I Wish I'd Known...

Admissions Beat ·

2026/04/28

A live audience of high school seniors and parents at Dartmouth's accepted student open house ponder the lessons of the search they are about to complete. "What are the things you wish you'd known a year ago?" AB host Lee Coffin and former New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg ask them. In response, they offer tips for a meaningful campus visit; they celebrate the importance of vibe over spreadsheets of data; and they advise rising seniors to filter an admissions-clogged newsfeed with care. The

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00:57:41

Guiding the Voyage of Discovery: The College Finder

Admissions Beat ·

2026/04/21

Guidebooks have been a staple of the college search process since 1982, when The Fiske Guide introduced a new resource to prospective applicants and parents. Today, over 300 titles assess and describe campuses and their offerings as prospective applicants explore and compare options. The co-authors of The College Finder—a voluminous list-based guidebook now in its fifth edition—join AB to reflect on "the voyage of discovery" a guidebook supports. "You are really a fit guide!", Dartmouth's Lee Coffin

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00:46:09

Once a High School Principal, Now an Admissions Officer

Admissions Beat ·

2026/04/14

In an uncommon career pivot, former high school principal and English teacher Robin Appleby segued from her school-based tenures in the U.S. and internationally to a late-career stint as a college admission officer at Dartmouth. She joins AB host Lee Coffin for a reflection on the lessons drawn from both sides of her academic desk.

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00:50:59

AP or Honors, Which Looks Better for Colleges?

Admissions Beat ·

2026/04/07

The quality of an applicant's senior year program—and the grades achieved in that course of study—are foundational to the academic assessment of any application to a selective college. In an encore episode from Season 5, college counselor Eric Monheim from St Mark’s School in Massachusetts joins SMU’s Elena Hicks and AB host Lee Coffin from Dartmouth to ponder the perennial question: “AP or Honors, which one looks better?" as high school juniors select their senior year curriculum.

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00:34:34

Navigating April

Admissions Beat ·

2026/03/31

For one month each year, two admission cycles overlap as high school seniors and juniors share center stage. As seniors wrap up their searches over the next four weeks and juniors shift into active mode, college counselor Darryl Tiggle from Friends School of Baltimore joins AB host Lee Coffin to map a plan for a purposeful April for both classes.

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00:48:14

State You

Admissions Beat ·

2026/03/24

A "state option" is often recommended as families wrestle with the affordability of college. But focusing on "affordability" of public institutions alone undersells the opportunity and value of a state university as a campus to explore. AB host Lee Coffin welcomes senior admissions leaders from UMass-Amherst and UT-Austin for a comprehensive primer on the state option, and AB producer Charlotte Albright joins the conversation to add her classroom-based perspective as a former journalism professor at

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00:40:43

March Madness Part 2: "How Do You Decide?"

Admissions Beat ·

2026/03/17

"How do you decide?" is one of the most probing questions associated with selective admissions. With so many qualified candidates competing for limited spots, decisions are often presumed to be random for those on the outside of the process. In the second conversation of AB's "March Madness" two-pack, New York Times journalist and best-selling author Jacques Steinberg interviews AB host and Dartmouth Dean Lee Coffin to unpack and illuminate the deliberations that unfold in a selective admissions

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00:47:36

March Madness Part 1: Reading Season

Admissions Beat ·

2026/03/10

In the first of a two-part episode, AB peeks behind the opaque curtain of a selective admissions office in March. Four Dartmouth admission officers join their dean for an introspective conversation about reading applications, which is "the fundamental task we have as admission officers at a college," AB host Lee Coffin notes. As one veteran reader says, "It's my favorite [part of the admissions cycle] because we get to meet people from all around the world...and put ourselves in the life of another

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00:46:27

Follow Me!

Admissions Beat ·

2026/03/03

Do Instagram or Reddit rival a guidance counselor as a source of admissions information and advice? Can YouTube match or beat an on-campus tour as a measure of vibe and place? Conventional wisdom says Gen Z prefers social media over in-person activities, but a trio of undergrad admissions bloggers at Dartmouth suggests a more cautious role for social media in a college search. The first-year students ponder the plusses and pitfalls of digital platforms as opportunities for discovery and as rabbit

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00:54:54

Crunching Numbers

Admissions Beat ·

2026/02/24

The college admissions process spits out lots of stats. Some numbers are straightforward, or they seem to be, while many data points require a nuanced interpretation from an inside source. Always, an ounce of context goes a long way towards appreciating what a number really means. The admissions deans from Colorado College and Dartmouth offer curious consumers of admissions data a cheat sheet on admissions numerology and how to "crunch" the stats that count. "Fair warning," they agree, "there is no

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00:50:43

"Let's Just See What Happens..."

Admissions Beat ·

2026/02/17

By definition, a guidance or college counselor offers counsel as a search takes shape and progresses. But sometimes that advice is resisted by parents and students. A "reach" or a "likely" designation can spark debate as aspirations meet the truth of a competitive forecast of admissibility. "Let's just see what happens..." or "you never know..." are common reactions of resistance. “I know," a veteran counselor replies. “I am not trying to insult you—I am trying to steer you towards good

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00:45:31

Everything Counts!

Admissions Beat ·

2026/02/10

"What counts?!" is the perennial question asked by parents and students as they wonder what makes a strong application. The answer, it turns out, is complicated. In a re-broadcast of a popular episode from Season 7, the admissions deans at Dartmouth and Brown ponder the nuanced question at hand as they share insights on what admissions officers are—and are not—considering as they build their college communities. Juniors, this conversation will help you discover which colleges match your interests

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00:54:06

Discovery Starts With Program

Admissions Beat ·

2026/02/03

An effective college search starts with discovery. “Start your discovery with the fundamental thing about college,” AB host and Dartmouth Dean Lee Coffin advises. “You are going to college to study, and four ‘Ps’ should guide the first phase of the search. Focus on program, place, people, and price as the building blocks of discovery for each campus." Senior admission officers from Brandeis, Cornell, and Saint John’s of Annapolis join Coffin with tips on how to explore academic programs, classroom

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00:49:46

Junior Kickoff!

Admissions Beat ·

2026/01/27

It's time for the high school class of 2027 to step into the college search spotlight. As juniors kick off their college search, AB resets its narrative spotlight to the discovery phase. In the ninth season premiere, Dartmouth's Lee Coffin welcomes recurring co-host Jacques Steinberg, a former higher ed reporter at the New York Times and the best-selling author of The Gatekeepers and The College Conversation, and Kate Boyle Ramsdell, director of college counseling at Noble and Greenough School in

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