The EdisonOS Podcast

In this episode, Kevin McMullin, Chief Education Officer of Collegewise and founder who grew the company from 9 students in 1999 to serving over 30,000 families, shares insights from 26 years in college admissions. Starting at Princeton Review's corporate headquarters as their spokesperson, Kevin explains how he transitioned to driving to students' kitchen tables before scaling to the largest admissions consulting firm in the industry with 150+ counselors processing roughly 2,000 applications per available position—statistically harder to get hired than getting into Harvard.Kevin breaks down the brutal mathematics of highly selective admissions, explaining why Princeton could fill two and a half freshman classes with nothing but valedictorians, and reveals the surprising truth behind early decision statistics—Tulane admitted 68% of early decision applicants versus only 2.5% regular decision. He addresses the biggest misconception families have about college essays, explaining why admissions officers can spot when teenagers write "playing volleyball taught me many important lessons about hard work" instead of sounding like themselves, and shares the story of a successful applicant whose opening sentence was "the worst part about being the slowest runner on my cross-country team is that sometimes I fall so far behind I have to stop and ask spectators for directions." Kevin emphasizes that great college essays are "equal opportunity employers" where everyone starts with a blank slate senior year, unlike GPAs and test scores that can't be dramatically improved in one semester, and stresses that students should spend more time building on their strengths than polishing perceived weaknesses—the B-minus in chemistry after studying harder than ever before deserves celebration, not disappointment.

In this episode, Heather Krey, co-president of World Class Tutoring, shares insights from nearly two decades of standardized test prep experience. Managing 50 students annually alongside three other tutors in her virtual company, Heather explains how the pandemic forced her transition from a brick-and-mortar office to Zoom-based tutoring, and reveals her initial excitement followed by reality check when the SAT went digital—making her "hustle to be the expert" in her town on the new format.Heather addresses the growing gap between straight-A students and their SAT scores, citing a UC San Diego study showing how GPAs now reflect effort rather than content mastery, leaving high-achieving students confused when they score only 500 on math despite their A grades. She breaks down her "revenge on a question" strategy and her business partner Anna's error log system, explaining the crucial difference between understanding something today versus retaining and transferring that knowledge weeks later. Heather emphasizes that the most common skill students lack isn't algebra or grammar—it's the discipline to study for something weeks away instead of homework due tomorrow, and she's frank that tutoring without homework simply doesn't work. She discusses her experiments with AI question generation, admitting ChatGPT initially "did horribly" but now serves as her efficiency tool for double-checking math answers and generating sentence variations, while stressing that one bad question can destroy student confidence or make them dismiss all future questions as flawed.

In this episode, Dennis Vidach, CEO of The College Admissions Experts, shares insights from 12 years of guiding students through the college admissions process. Working with top-tier applicants targeting Ivy League and elite schools, Dennis explains why he sometimes has to scrap well-written essays and start from scratch—many students write about their childhood or treat it like a high school english assignment instead of understanding what admissions officers actually need to see. He reveals his framework for differentiation through the story of a videography student who created compelling homeless interview documentaries instead of traditional volunteering, generating significant donations and demonstrating genuine initiative.Dennis breaks down the brutal reality of 5-10% acceptance rates, explaining the inherent randomness when choosing between remarkably qualified candidates and why families need to understand that admissions is fundamentally a marketing campaign, not just form-filling. He addresses common mistakes including parents over-editing essays and losing the student's voice, expensive consulting packages that provide poor essay support, and the financial implications of early decision applications that eliminate negotiating power. Dennis emphasizes that beyond the top 20 colleges, the next tier offers exceptional education that families often overlook in their pursuit of prestige.

In this episode, Brooke Henry, a 20-year-old college student and founder of Henry College Prep, shares her journey from taking the SAT in seventh grade through Duke Talent Search to building a thriving test prep business at 18. She explains why the digital SAT represents a radical shift that most prep resources haven't caught up with—particularly how Desmos has transformed math strategy from teaching 15-20 concepts down to just 5-8 patterns.Brooke reveals why she believes the SAT is the better choice for 95% of students doing any kind of prep, and how her students achieve an average 16-point increase per tutoring hour—triple the national average. She discusses her AI-powered app Stratify, which tracks not just what students missed but why they missed it by analyzing wrong answer choices to identify thinking patterns rather than just content gaps.From her unconventional marketing approach of taping 100 flyers to neighborhood mailboxes to offering free SAT prep sessions at private schools, Brooke shares how she built her business through uncomfortable but effective face-to-face outreach. She also addresses the biggest mistakes parents make—waiting until junior year and resume stuffing—and explains why college essays actually begin on the first day of freshman year through the depth and initiative students show in their chosen pursuits.

In this episode, Jeremy Ciampa, founder of Higher Learning Test Prep with nearly two decades of experience, shares how starting as a digitally-native company with Skype tutoring made the digital SAT transition seamless for his organization. Working with 60-100 students one-on-one and another 200+ in small groups annually, Jeremy explains how the digital shift gave test makers back control of their materials, making it harder for students to find leaked tests on Reddit. He reveals his approach to the SAT versus ACT decision: strong reading comprehension is the biggest ceiling for SAT success, while the ACT rewards efficiency and speed. Jeremy discusses his evolved homework philosophy—moving away from assigning six days of massive homework to offering on-call support with multiple tutors throughout the week, recognizing that overscheduled high-achieving students were doing SAT work at midnight.Drawing from his background as a musician and mountaineering experience, Jeremy shares practical anxiety-management techniques including the counterintuitive strategy of squeezing every muscle as hard as you can instead of trying to relax. He explains his systematic approach of coding every released SAT question from 2015-2023 by type, his use of AI trained on 10,000 hours of his tutoring transcripts to generate practice questions, and why the most common skill students lack is breaking hard problems into smaller pieces—citing the quote: "Small minds are capable of great ideas, but great minds proceed by the smallest of stages." Jeremy concludes by reframing test prep not as a hurdle to leap over but as a doorway to walk through—an opportunity for young people to take something seriously for the first time and become serious people in the world.