To Email, Mail, or Text: That Is The Question

This WACACast is a small batch edition thanks to the many many applications Chapman and USC received this season! In it, Sam and Grant talk about different ways of notifying students of their admission decisions and cap it off with what is putting a kick in their step this week.  Share your thoughts about how to send admission decisions in the comments section!

Here are the apps Sam suggested to Grant:
https://www.headspace.com/headspace-meditation-app
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/calm-meditate-sleep-relax/id571800810?mt=8

FERPA, Having Tough Conversations and Avoiding Word Vomit

This week, Grant and Sam talk about the recent story out of Stanford where students are encouraging others to gain access to their admission files.  Then they approach the tough conversations many admission counselors know and anxiously await when a denied student (or their parent) calls and the times when they have been denied things they want.  Per tradition (is three times considered a tradition?), we end with what is making us happy this week.

Links mentioned:
Buzzfeed Article

New York Times Article

Instructions for checking out e-media from the LA Public Library

League of Legends (LoL) Championships

Standardized Testing, a Lifetime Movie Pitch and a Gone Girl Spoiler

Grant and Sam discuss the pros and cons of standardized testing and the different ways colleges and universities do or don’t use them.  Sam pitches a Lifetime movie and toward the end there is a (small) Gone Girl spoiler.  Grant also references a bear onesie that he wears during file review in addition to academic works on standardized testing.

We recorded this before Thanksgiving, so enjoy the belated wishes for a happy holiday!

 Links to a few things Sam and Grant talk about, plus the famous picture of Grant:

Defining Promise

SAT Wars

CollegeBoard Studies

Stick It




US News and World Report and Apparently Dinosaurs

In our second podcast, we introduce our kicky intro and outro music as well as discuss the updated US News and World Report rankings lists.  Grant goes into the methodology while Sam discusses some of the frustrations professionals feel surrounding the list.  Apparently, we also give a brief vocabulary lesson.  Seriously.

Here are the things we reference:

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/article/2014/08/26/how-northeastern-gamed-the-college-rankings/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/05/kid-live-tv-apparently_n_5651146.html

http://www.ellentv.com/videos/0-la4onvx2/

Our First Podcast!

We are super pumped to debut our first WACACast with Sam and Grant!  In our first podcast, we talk about recruitment tips and our individual approaches to planning and executing fall travel.  We encourage feedback in the comment section and hope you’ll tune in for future WACACasts to come.

Sidenote: You may notice that at times Grant is echoing.  While it may be cool to think that we are speaking through tin cans in neighboring tree houses, it is in fact due to Sam’s ignorance of how to properly record a podcast (this is my first) and will not be an issue in the future.  PSA: wear headphones with a microphone when recording podcasts on two different computers.

Here are the blogs Grant mentions in the podcast: TripIt Post and Evernote Post