In this episode you will hear:   (25:34) Mark and Julia discuss an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal April 28th, 2002 by Alex Janin. The article is entitled, “seeking college admissions edge-more students take a gap year”   They take a look at the growing trend for students to take a gap year in order to pursue a more selective college. Julia and Mark share thoughts on whether this is smart strategy.     (45:32) For our question from a listener, it is bonus content time and Mark recaps a presentation he recently attended entitled, “What is it that is keeping senior admissions people up at night”. As families come to understand the pressure admissions officers are under, it will help explain why so many colleges are so creative and so aggressive in how they recruit students.    (01:12:41) Our interview is with Sue Corner, the Dean of Admissions at Willamette University and someone who started as a student at Willamette in the 80’s. The interview will also serve as our Spotlight as Sue helps us to understand Willamette University (Part 2 of 2) Preview- Preview of Part 2 Preview of Part 2 Sue shares the things that have changed at Willamette since Sue was a student Sue also shares the things that have changed with the city of Salem over the years Sue talks about how Willamette and Lewis and Clark are different Sue talks about what the Northwest 5 consortium is Sue talks about who the overlap schools are Sue talks about what is unique about the admissions process at Willamette Sue talks about how an applicant is evaluated by admissions Sue talks about writing, extracurriculars and admissions interviews Sue talks about the role demonstrated interest plays in admissions decisions Sue talks about the role that test scores play in admissions decisions. Sue talks about the role test scores play in merit scholarships Sue talks about whether ability to pay impacts admission decisions Sue discusses whether Williamette offers need and merit or only merit based money Sue talks about two different fly-in visit programs that they have Sue encourages people to email her at Sue encourages people to copy email the regional admission officer Sue goes on the hot seat in our lightning round     Willamette University is our College Spotlight.    (Part 2/2)   (01:47:53) The recommended resource is This sensational resource looks at accurate government data on cutting edge admissions topics and presents the data visually. It is the work of Jon Boeckenstadt, the VP of admissions at Oregon State. Mark will interview Jon about this resource in three months but he wants listeners to be exposed before the interview.   .   Please send in your questions either on Twitter at @YCBKpodcast using the Messages tab (this is our preference) or via email at for the 27 admissions interviews we are doing in the summer and fall. Our interviews are with the following people at the following schools: Confirmed interviews you can still send in questions for our guests: Bard-Mackie Siebens Mercer-Kelly Holloway Reed College-Milyon Truelove- 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) University of Connecticut-Vern Granger* Colby College-Randi Arsenault* University of Georgia-David Graves* Washington University St Louis-Ronne Turner     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 admis