In this episode you will hear:   (01:48) Mark and Susan discuss the first of three reports by Educational Reform Now entitled, “The Future of Fair Admissions Report 1: Early Decision”. The Report was written by the Senior Policy Analyst, James Murphy. The Report looks at a number of questions including: Who benefits from Early Decision; which colleges utilize Early Decision the most; does ED give students an inherent advantage; What can be done to change affirmative action to make it more just and equitable. Mark and Susan discuss the full range of issues related to affirmative action. This discussion will air in two parts over the next two Thursdays. Each discussion is approximately 32 minutes. This is Part 2 of 2 https://edreformnow.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/The-Future-of-Fair-Admissions-Report-1-Early-Decision.pdf   (31:38) Mark and Lisa discuss a second article. It is a Washington Post article entitled, “Yale accused of discriminating against students with mental illness” The article was written by William Wan on November 30th, 2022.       (01:09:20) Mark continues his interview with Milyon Truelove, the Vice President and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Reed College. We turn our attention to the topic of, “Understanding Reed College” Part 2 of 2   Preview of Part 2   Reed talks about an iconic aspect of Reed students that makes them distinct Milyon tells us what they look for in a Reed student? Milyon talks about a college-specific essay that Reed asks that is very helpful in discerning who is a good match at Reed Milyon talks about phone calls the admission officer often makes to get clarification Milyon talks about how recommendations help Reed in their assessment Milyon shares the role interviews play in their process Milyon gives advice on what a student should ask a teacher when they are requesting a teacher recommendation Milyon talks about demonstrated interest     (01:20:00) The recommended resource is . This is the best free calculator I know of at estimating your student’s chances of admission at the colleges they are applying to.   (01:33:03) College Spotlight: George Washington 2/2   We now have set up audio recordings in your own voice for any question you send in for our “question from a listener” segment. In order to send us an audio message, just go to speakpipe.com/YCBK. You can also use this for many other purposes: 1) Send us constructive criticism about how we can improve our podcast 2) Share an encouraging word about something you like about an episode or the podcast in general 3) Share a topic or an article you would like us to address 4) Share a speaker you want us to interview 5) Leave positive feedback for one of our interviewees. We will send your verbal feedback directly to them and I can almost assure you, your positive feedback will make their day. Speakpipe.com/YCBK is our preferred method for you to ask a question but if you are not comfortable with this, we will also receive your questions either on Twitter at @YCBKpodcast using the Messages tab or via email at If you have a question for one of our upcoming interviews with admissions professionals, here is a list of admissions professionals who we will interview in 2023 or 2024 Confirmed interviews not yet completed Bard-Mackie Siebens 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 University of Wisconsin-Andre Phillips University of Illinois-Brian Hodges Purdue University-Mitch Warren University of Minnesota-Keri Risic Cornell University