In this episode you will hear:   (23:02) Mark and Susan discuss an article by Akil Bello, written on June 27th, 2022 that appeared in Forbes entitled, “The testing predators have beaten the ACT and the College Board” They article looks at how the test providers of the ACT and the College Board once skewered the test prep companies but now they are in bed with them. How and why did this happen? Susan draws off her decades of experience to shed invaluable of insights on this topic.   https://www.forbes.com/sites/akilbello/2022/06/27/the-testing-predators-have-beat-act-and-the-college-board/?sh=706e6651cf7f   (01:01:17) For our question from a listener, Jessica, a student in Connecticut wants to know, How do I pick the school I am going to apply Early Decision to? Mark explains why this is a flawed question.   (01:28:00) Our interview is with John Ambrose, the Director of Undergraduatate Admissions at Michigan State University. Our topic is, Understanding Michigan State University.  2 of 3 This interview will also serve as our college spotlight.  Preview of Part 2 John talks about an admission model they have built that really helps them to factor different high schools into their file reading. John explains why test scores are not necessary for MSU to read a file well. John talks about whether the college a student applies to impacts admissions decisions. John shares what colleges are the toughest to get in John discusses merit scholarships John shares all of the new developments on campus John shares some of the initiatives that are being worked on John shares how MSU can provide support for incoming freshman John talks about whether MSU is looking at making their classes smaller John is asked if MSU is working on improving communication with parent and students about “to do” items regarding transitioning to MSU John goes more in depth about MSU’s strongest programs   (01:42:48) The recommended resource is Common App’s updated application guide for First-Year students to completing the Common App. Here is the link: https://www.commonapp.org/apply/first-year-students   .   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) 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 admission news,  and updates about the podcast before they go live. You can ask questions on Twitter that he will answer them on the podcast. Mark will also share additional hot topics in the news and breaking news on this Twitter feed. Twitter message is also the preferred way to ask questions for our podcast:   https://twitter.com/YCBKpodcast   To access our transcripts, click: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/category/transcripts/ Find the specific episode transcripts for the one you want to search and click the link Find the magnifying glass icon in blue (search feature) and click it