The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions

Hi friends, and welcome back to the podcast. Today's a bit unconventional: normally I'm interviewing somebody in the college admissions world, but this time I'm the guest. I spent some time recently rewriting both my books: College Essay Essentials (about 90%, almost a page-one rewrite) and College Admission Essentials (about 40%). After a few people asked me about it at our national conference, I figured it was worth a podcast. In this episode, I walk through: What I've realized about brainstorming in the ten years since I wrote the first edition of College Essay Essentials Why "what colleges want" was conspicuously missing from that first edition, and what I added A different way to think about the personal statement, for students, parents, and counselors alike What I learned after analyzing 300+ supplemental essay prompts this year Practical tips for a few of the most common prompts Where I land on AI and the essay-writing process If you're listening to this before November 10th, 2026, I'll link in the show notes where you can download advance reader copies of both books for free; if you enjoy them, an Amazon review would mean a lot. We hope you enjoy. Play-by-Play: 0:35 – Why did Ethan rewrite both books after ten years? 3:14 – What was rewritten in Ethan's first book, College Essay Essentials? 5:33 – What do the new brainstorming exercises look like, from the Values Exercise to Roles and Identities? 6:15 – Exercise 1: The Values Exercise 6:46 – Exercise 2: The I Love, I Know Exercise 8:13 – Exercise 3: The Essence Objects Exercise 8:48 – Exercise 4: The Random Questions Exercise 9:10 – Exercise 5: The Career Brainstorm Exercise 10:07 – Exercise 6: The Identities Exercise 10:45 – Exercise 7: The Home Exercise 11:09 – Exercise 8: The Roles and Identities Exercise 14:47 – How did researching 300+ college websites lead to the five Admission Nutrients? 20:31 – What are some common phrases from counselors that are well-meaning but could be intimidating or misleading for students at the start of this process? 22:19 – What are some college essay topics that could be more difficult to write well? 31:18 – What is a montage essay, and how can a common topic like soccer still stand out? 36:41 – What was rewritten in Ethan's second book, College Admission Essentials? 38:02 – What did Ethan learn after analyzing 300+ supplemental essay prompts? 42:52 – What should students keep in mind when approaching supplemental essays? 47:16 – How can students brainstorm the "navigating differences" essay using values and needs? 52:50 – Where does Ethan stand on AI and the college essay-writing process? 57:20 – Closing thoughts Resources: Download advance reader copies of College Essay Essentials and College Admission Essentials (free through November 10, 2026) Pre-order College Essay Essentials on Amazon! Pre-order College Admission Essentials on Amazon! Podcast Episodes: 501: What Colleges Want (Part 1): A Deep Dive into the Factors Colleges Deem Important & State of College Admissions Report | College Essay Guy 512: Navigating Mental Health Disclosures in the College Application: The Counselor Perspective 513: Navigating Mental Health Disclosures in the College Application: The Admission Officer Perspective 514: Navigating Mental Health Disclosures in the College Application: The Student Perspective 718: Turning the Tide in 2026: Preparing Students for Lives of Caring and Purpose (with Harvard's Making Caring Common) | College Essay Guy Student and Counselor Resources: 101 College Essay & Personal Statement Ideas to Get You Inspired How to Write an Awesome College Essay on a Common Topic College Essay Guy Brainstorming Exercises Workbook The Values Exercise The Roles & Identities Exercise The Feelings & Needs Exercise I Asked 20+ Admission Officers about Using AI in Your College Application (+ Here's What They Said) Learn How to Write Great Supplemental College Essays College Essay Guy's Personal Statement Resources College Essay Guy's College Application Hub AI Stance Builder Blog Posts: What do colleges look for in students? CEG's College Admission Nutrients (aka The Great College Application Test) How to Use the Roles and Identities Exercise to Write an "Identity/Diversity + How would you contribute" Essay Should I Discuss Mental Health in My Personal Statement or College Application? (And If So, How)? Navigating College Applications with AI: What Colleges Say + CEG's Advice to Students and Counselors Media Recommendations Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist The Last Invention (podcast) If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares

Hey friends and welcome back to the podcast! I'm Tom Campbell, a former admission officer and now a college counselor and content creator here at College Essay Guy. In this episode, I sit down with one real student and talk through the actual, messy work of applying to college — in real time. That student is Harmony, and I met her backwards: not in person, but through her writing during CEG Live, which are large group essay writing classes Ethan leads every summer for high school students across the US. I was invited to lead a "bonus session" during the program, where I'm tasked with reviewing as many in-progress essays and drafts live on Zoom. Harmony's was the first one I read, and boy did she set the bar HIGH. After reading her essay, I had the exact same reaction you'd want any admission officer to have: "dang. I want to meet this person." And, luckily, she was down to link up on Zoom and introduce the face— and bright light— behind the page. To give you a taste (pun intended) of what makes harmony special… she answers "what did you do this summer?" with a brief interlude about an app she built that tells you whether the berry you just found on a hike will kill you (she tested it — merely sour), and a watermelon-sweetness experiment involving acoustic resonance. She also writes psychological mysteries at 5 a.m. and bakes a mean sourdough. Throughout our conversation, we get into how a single community college class finally made computer science click, why not getting into some coveted summer programs turned out to be the best thing for her, and a live, in-the-room workshop of her personal statement — editing on the fly, tech hiccups and all. Harmony is a current high school senior from the Bay Area. She tends to get carried away by curiosity, turning random questions into projects and occasionally questionable kitchen experiments. She loves quiet mornings, her people, and a good adrenaline rush, whether she is surviving the final lap of a 500 free, competing in Tetris or board games, or always listening to the most extreme of perspectives and stories. One day, she hopes to build technology rooted in human cognition and agricultural tech, and publish novels exploring deep questions of morality and identity, but for now she is just trying to convince her parents to let her grow mushrooms, and that it probably won't give them food poisoning. We hope you enjoy. Play-by-Play 2:44 – How is Harmony feeling as she gets started on her college to-do list? 3:59 – How did Tom and Harmony meet through a CEG Live essay review, and what was Harmony's reaction to finding out her essay stood out? 7:32 – How did Harmony's interest in computer science develop? 12:44 – Why did not getting into summer programs or internships freshman year push Harmony toward building her own independent projects instead? 18:59 – What is Harmony most proud of creating during high school? 22:39 – What was it like for Harmony to step into the college process and CEG Live during the summer before senior year? 23:38 – How did CEG Live's exercises help Harmony identify her values and discover the hook for her personal statement? 26:14 – How does Harmony's top three values (second chances, freedom, and authenticity) show up across her essays and experiences? 28:37 – How did Harmony's original topic idea shift from baking and agriculture to the broader theme of systems? 35:37 – What stood out to Harmony as she heard her own essay read aloud, and why do live, specific details like Cantonese egg waffles and family games matter? 36:03 – How does Tom suggest moving the sentence connecting storytelling and computer science later in the essay to preserve its impact? 41:05 – Why did Harmony include the "watermelon acoustic resonance project, and how does it show the human assumptions behind technical work? 45:45 – How might condensing the question-asking allow more room for deeper insights into her storytelling and character creation? 50:37 – Closing thoughts and what's next for Harmony's application Resources College Essay Guy Live College Essay Guy's Personal Statement Resources College Essay Guy's College Application Hub

Friends, welcome back to the podcast. This is part two of my conversation with Angel Pérez, the CEO of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. The theme of our conversation was navigating ambiguity. In case you missed part one, Angel and I talked about where our own relationships with uncertainty began, what it has looked like for him to lead NACAC through some extraordinarily difficult moments, and some of the lessons he's learned along the way. In this second part, we get much more practical. Angel and I wanted to explore a simple question: What can we actually do when we don't know what to do? So we try out a few tools together. We start with what it means to stay with uncertainty for a moment instead of immediately trying to solve it. Then we experiment with something called Q-storming, using AI and the future of college admissions as our test case. From there, Angel helps me pressure-test a project I'm considering using a pre-mortem exercise called "Murphyjitsu." The basic arc is pretty simple: How (and why) to stay with the feelings. How to ask better questions. How to make better plans. I hope you enjoy part two of my conversation with Angel Pérez. Play-by-Play: 02:04 – How does Angel orient to practical tools when navigating ambiguity? 02:40 – What does Angel notice emotionally and physically when sitting with a current leadership challenge? 6:07 – What does Angel do to bring the temperature down in a moment of tension? 08:02 – How do leaders orient to reversible and irreversible decisions? 11:15 – How can Q-Storming help generate better questions before rushing to answers? 15:43 – What is the value of sitting with questions before rushing to answers? 16:42 – How can managing a polarity help when a challenge isn't a problem to solve? 20:45 – What was the leadership challenge Angel was working through during the first exercise? 21:50 – How can Murphy Jitsu help pressure test a plan before putting it into action? 29:27 – What small next steps can Ethan take towards his plan? 33:32 – Why did Angel create the Leaders Are Human podcast? 34:24 – What does Angel want listeners to leave with? Resources: Leaders are Human Podcast - National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) The Hottest Seat on Campus: A Roadmap for Mastering Leadership in College Admission by Angel B. Pérez The 5-Minute Nervous System Reset: Simple Regulation Tools You Can Use Anywhere The Great Nerve: The New Science of the Vagus Nerve and How to Harness Its Healing Reflexes Vagus Nerve Deck (75 ways to calm your system) and you can learn much more about the vagus nerve here College Essay Guy's Personal Statement Resources College Essay Guy's College Application Hub

Hi, friends, and welcome back to the College Essay Guy podcast. This episode is a fireside chat with Angel Pérez, the CEO of NACAC (the National Association for College Admission Counseling), someone who was named by Forbes as the most influential voice in college admissions. Not long ago, Angel was discussing in an interview his book The Hottest Seat on Campus: A Roadmap for Mastering Leadership in College Admission, and he mentioned that if he could add one more chapter to his book, he'd write it on navigating ambiguity. This is a topic that has interested me for the last couple years as well, so asked Angel if we could just write that chapter aloud, together, on the podcast. And he agreed. In part one we start in a more personal place, starting from how navigating ambiguity is something we've each been doing since we were very young. Then we chat about what it's been like for Angel leading a non-profit during times of great uncertainty, how crucial it is to make the decision that allows you to sleep at night, and the importance of developing the capacity to sit with discomfort. Then in part two we get into practical tips and resources — from slowing down when things speed up — to conducting "pre-mortems" when planning. We hope these are tools you can make use of, whether that's in your office, at home, or wherever you are being called to lead. If you haven't met Angel Pérez, he is CEO of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). In this role, he represents more than 25,000 admission and counseling professionals worldwide committed to postsecondary access and success. Angel strives to build an educational ecosystem that better represents today's society. Prior to joining NACAC in July of 2020, Dr. Pérez served in secondary and higher education leadership positions across America, most recently, as Vice President for Enrollment and Student Success at Trinity College in Connecticut. Angel is a self-described recovered over-achiever, an advocate for counselors everywhere, and a dear friend. We hope you enjoy the episode. Play-by-Play: 02:27 – What memories does Angel have around uncertainty and navigating ambiguity? 04:52 – What were some of Angel's anchors growing up, and what did Angel orient around when there was so much uncertainty? 07:41 – How did caretaking show up in Angel's world growing up? 11:07 – How does Angel's childhood caretaker role show up in his work today? 13:44 – What have been the gifts of Angel's ability to read a room? 17:33 – Who were the early influences that put Angel on the path to becoming CEO of NACAC? 21:30 – What was going on behind the scenes for Angel during a moment of great uncertainty in the profession, and what did that experience teach? 26:26 – What helped Angel get through that time of uncertainty? 28:41 – What would Angel have done differently during the first year as CEO of NACAC? 33:56 – How does Angel decide how much to share with a team, and how transparent should a leader be? 36:40 – How does Angel relate to being liked when making big decisions as a leader? 42:06 – How does a leader's identity change as organizations and circumstances evolve? 44:40 – How has Ethan's role evolved as College Essay Guy grew from a team of one to a team of twenty? 50:10 – How does knowing an institution will outlast its leader change what it means to lead? 52:50 – What does Angel hope persists in the organization and the profession long after his tenure? 54:39 – What message does Angel want to leave for leaders? Resources: The Hottest Seat on Campus: A Roadmap for Mastering Leadership in College Admission by Angel B. Pérez College Essay Guy's Personal Statement Resources College Essay Guy's College Application Hub

Hey friends, welcome back to the podcast. Ten years ago, a group at Harvard released a report called Turning the Tide, and it attempted something audacious: getting college admission (of all things) to make caring count. This June, the fourth report in that series came out, written with NACAC's Center for Innovation in College Admission, and my sense is it's the most urgent one yet. Here's a stat that struck me: 34 percent of teens say they have little or no meaning or purpose in their lives. For young people 19 to 25, it's 51 percent. My guests today wrote the report: Dr. Rick Weissbourd, psychologist and faculty director of the Making Caring Common project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Trisha Ross Anderson, MCC's Senior Director of Higher Education and College Admission Initiatives, who some of you will remember from episode 503 of the podcast. In today's episode we talk about what admission officers, counselors, and parents can each do; why your teen doesn't necessarily need one big passion; and what ten years of trying to turn this tide has taught them. One more thing: the report asks adults to stop demanding a passion from teens and to start asking what they find meaningful. Rick Weissbourd is a psychologist and senior lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard Kennedy School, where he serves as faculty director of Making Caring Common, HGSE's national project on raising kids who care about others and the common good. He leads the Turning the Tide college admission initiative, which has engaged more than 300 admission offices in elevating ethical character, easing achievement pressure, and expanding access and equity. He is the author of The Vulnerable Child (named one of the top ten education books of all time by the American School Board Journal) and The Parents We Mean to Be (named one of the top books of 2009 by The New Yorker), and a founder of ReadBoston, WriteBoston, and the Lee Academy pilot school in Boston. His research spans moral development, loneliness, young adult mental health, and how adults can help young people build caring relationships. Trisha Ross Anderson is Senior Director of Higher Education and College Admission Initiatives at Making Caring Common. She has served in leadership at MCC since it was founded in 2013. A former classroom teacher with an Ed.M. from HGSE, she has helped research and write many of MCC's reports, including the Turning the Tide series. With Rick, she piloted the Common App checklist that lets students report family responsibilities, like caring for a sibling or working a paid job, so those commitments count in admissions. She previously joined the podcast for episode 503, "What Colleges Want (Part 3)." We hope you enjoy. Play-by-Play: 02:07 – What's something meaningful in Trisha and Rick's lives right now, outside of work? 04:50 – What does Rick mean by a "moral freefall," and when did he first sense it? 06:02 – What is Making Caring Common, and how did a project about raising kind kids end up shaping college admissions? 07:39 – What's changed (and what hasn't) in the ten years since the first Turning the Tide report? 9:46 – What's behind the striking numbers on teens and young adults lacking purpose? 13:27 – Why has MCC focused specifically on college admissions? 15:38 – What are the six capacities at the heart of the new report? 18:01 – What does caring across differences actually look like for a teenager? 19:36 – How do we keep values like humility and curiosity from becoming one more thing to game? 22:15 – Where does AI help, and where does it get in the way, in the essay and admissions process? 24:15 – Why shouldn't teens be expected to have one single passion? 28:06 – What can parents say instead of "find the one thing"? 31:01 – What's the difference between healthy striving and achievement pressure? 35:04 – How can parents help kids hold onto self-worth, wherever they land? 38:56 – What's the story behind the Common App's new question crediting students who care for siblings or family? 40:38 – After ten years, what has actually turned, and what hasn't? 43:37 – What's next for Making Caring Common? 45:45 – What do Rick and Trisha hope counselors and educators take away? 46:30 – Closing thoughts Resources: Turning the Tide in 2026: Preparing Students for Lives of Caring and Purpose Making Caring Common Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg 503: What Colleges Want (Part 3): "Positive Character Attributes": What Are They, and How Do You Show Them in Your College Application? College Essay Guy's Personal Statement Resources College Essay Guy's College Application Hub