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

Welcome to a brand new series here on the podcast I'm calling "On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling." In this series, we'll dig deep into college essays from past students, talking about why we love them and how they came to be.

 For me, this title "On Becoming" speaks not just to the craft of writing (how a story came to be), but to what I believe the personal statement is at its best: a record of b...

Welcome back to the College Essay Guy Podcast. Today's episode is hosted by Tom Campbell, Community Manager & Senior Essay Specialist at College Essay Guy and a former admission officer at Pomona College and Holy Cross.

We've polled the thousands of students who participate in our live webinars and courses and ask what they're favorite subject is, and consistently, STEM reigns supreme. By a lot. In this ep...

Hey friends, and welcome back to the College Essay Guy podcast. Today's episode is a behind-the-scenes look at Alisha's supplemental essays. If you've been following our Inside the Personal Statement Process series, this episode zooms out a bit—you'll hear us work live through several of her supplements and talk through how to bring clarity, intention, and personality into each one.

In this session, Alisha...

Welcome back to the College Essay Guy Podcast. This is a very special session with a dear friend of mine and an honored guest in my world, Joan Liu. Joan is the founder of Second Chance, an organization that helps high achieving students from around the world secure full scholarships to universities after their original offers fall through. This conversation is adapted from a live webinar that we hosted where Joan shar...

The transition from high school to college is something that thousands of students struggle with each year, and it's not something people really talk about. There's a lot of pressure for students to "have it together" in some broad sense. That's why today I'm excited to talk to Dr. Jill Grimes, Dr. Jill Grimes, author of The ULTIMATE College Student Health Handbook: Your Guide for Everything from Hangovers to Homesickn...

Hey friends, and welcome back to the College Essay Guy podcast.  Today's episode is the third and final episode in our series called Inside the Personal Statement Process. If you're just tuning in, this series takes you behind the scenes as I work one-on-one with Alisha, a current high school senior applying for the Fall 2026 term. Find Part 1 here and Part 2 here. 

This episode was recorded just a few d...

Hey friends, and welcome back to the College Essay Guy podcast.  Today's episode is part two of our series called Inside the Personal Statement Process. If you're just tuning in, this series takes you behind the scenes as I work one-on-one with Alisha, a current high school senior applying for the Fall 2026 term. In the first episode, we got to know Alisha through her brainstorming and outline. 

In this ep...

In our new series, Inside the Personal Statement Process, we're taking you behind the scenes with Alisha, a current high school senior working through applications right now. If you've ever wondered what it's like working with Ethan in a session, this is the podcast for you! 

You might remember a similar series last season with Cassidy, where we got to see her whole application process. Rather than focus ...

In today's episode, I'm joined by my long-time colleague, and our Chief People Officer here at CEG, Sandy Longworth. Sandy has worked as a therapist, a researcher, college counselor — among other things — and has spent years studying the role that narrative storytelling plays in how teens develop their identities. 

Important note: While Sandy trained as a therapist, and we do talk a lot about ...

Hi friends, and welcome back to the podcast. In today's episode, I'm joined by two special guests: Dr. Steven Antonoff and Jay McCann, co-authors of the newly updated 5th edition of The College Finder: Your comprehensive guide to finding colleges that fit YOUR unique path.

In this conversation, we dig into some of the biggest questions students and families face in the college search today, including:

...

Welcome back to the podcast. It's September, which means many students are building the list of colleges they're applying to.

Today I'm joined by New York Times Bestselling Author, Harlan Cohen, who walks us through his 13 most common mistakes students make when they're creating their college list. 

• We cover, among other things: 
• The importance of shifting from what "they" ...

Hi friends, and welcome back to the podcast.

This one's going to be short—and honestly, it's an episode I didn't think I was going to record. Why? Well, if you've been following along with Cassidy's journey over the past year, you know we've covered a lot: from brainstorming her personal statement, to revising her supplements, to weighing her college acceptances.

And when we wrapped Part 5, I ...

Welcome back to the podcast! This is our sixth and final chapter of our series on admission nutrients — qualities that can make for a healthier, more meaningful college admission process… and life.

In case you missed it, we started with collaboration, with Raissa Diamante (Director of admission from Harvey-Mudd College), then I sat down with Deanna Dixon, (Dean of Admission at Smith College) to talk about ...

In Episode 5 of our series on Admission Nutrients, Tom Campbell is joined by Nathan Faust, Admission Counselor at Loyola Marymount University, to talk about Service to Others / Community Impact. In their conversation, they get into: 

• Why service to others and community impact is a valuable nutrient to fold into your high school exp...

In Episode 4 of our series on Admission Nutrients, Tom Campbell is joined by Dysean Alexander, Assistant Director for West Coast Admission at Lafayette College, to discuss Consistent Engagement. In their conversation, they get into: 

• Why consistent engagement is a valuable nutrient to fold into your high school experience
• How it's talked about in an admissions office, and how admission ...

In Episode 3 of our series on Admission Nutrients, Ethan is joined by Deanna Dixon, the Dean of Admission at Smith College, to dive into leadership and initiative. In their conversation, they get into: 

• What are a few of the qualities Smith College looks for? 
• How does their supplemental essay point to their institutional priorities and what they're looking for in an applicant?

In Episode 2 of our series on Admission Nutrients, Ethan is joined by Raissa Diamante, the Director  of Admission at Harvey Mudd College, to do a deep dive into collaboration — why is it important to colleges and where does it show up in the application process? Ethan and Raissa get into, among other things:

• What does the admission review process look like at Harvey Mudd?

Welcome back to the College Essay Guy Podcast! Today, Ethan kicks off a brand-new series: Admission Nutrients — qualities that not only enhance a well-balanced college application but can also contribute to a more meaningful life.

In Part 1, Ethan introduces these "nutrients," breaking down what they are, where they show up in the application, and why they matter. In upcoming episodes, Tom and Ethan will b...

Welcome to Part 2 of 2 of this mini-series on AI in college admission! In our last episode, I interviewed Jen Rubin from foundry10 on how students and counselors are using AI in the college admission process. In today's episode I'll get into what colleges have to say, and what I would advise as a result. I'll get into:

• My biggest concern with AI… in general (spoiler: it's much bigger than college ap...