353 - Navigating College Applications and Preparation with Greg Kaplan

Justin and Greg talk about Greg's App at ArtisCollege.com that can help guide parents and their kids through the preparation of College Applications. 

 

Greg Kaplan

ArtisCollege.com

His Book is Earning Admission:Real Strategies for Getting Into Highly Selective Colleges

 

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Episode Transcript

(00:12):
Listen to me, listen to thankChase that Hello, and welcome to the

(00:37):
Dad Podcast. I'm your host JustinWarsham with me today. Is It's a
topic that I'm very excited to talkabout because I think it is what is
on everybody's mind, especially the supercrazy neurotic parents that I interact with.
Joining me today is that none otherthan Greg Kaplan. He wrote a book

(00:57):
Earning Admission, Real Strategies for gettinginto highly selective colleges, and he's got
a great app art is College availableat artist college dot com. Greg,
Hello, good morning. How areyou? I didn't really well? Thanks
for having me on the show today. We were chatting a little bit before
we hit record on this fantastic episode, and poor Greg as having a strip

(01:18):
mall built right above his head.So if you hear any kind of construction
noise, just know that any mildedconvenience that it creates for you while you're
enjoying this on a walk, oron the treadmill or in the car,
it is freaking poor Greg out overwhere he is. That we had this
schedule for weeks and we we connectand we're talking, and we weren't on

(01:41):
the horn for two minutes and he'slike, do you hear sawing in the
background? And then I go,actually, yeah, but it just sounds
like a washing machine. And thenwe're like, oh, okay, great,
and then we go and then theystarted drilling, and that sounded much
louder. So I feel for mynew friend Greg and all the noise he's
with over there. But I knowthat my listeners they don't give a shit.

(02:04):
It's all good in the hood,as they say, all right,
Greg, let's get into this becauseand well, let me first ask you
this. Am I anywhere in thenear the bulls eye in hitting that the
chances are this is the number onefear concern priority even when your kids.
I'm noticing it at the elementary levelthat parents are hyper concerned about making sure

(02:29):
that they have made all of theright moves. I mean, I'm talking
down to shifting which public school theirkids are going to in the elementary level
to get them into a good college. Is that Am I anywhere near the
bull's eye on there? Yeah?I think you actually are pretty close to
the bulls eye, whether it's figuringout how to actually get in or even

(02:50):
the more scary part, which ishow do you pay for it. The
college admissions tobacco has just proven tobe something that's probably a huge stress point
and a huge cause friction between parentsand kids, especially when they're in high
school. And why like, becausehere's the thing, my dad was always
big on education. But my fatheris a high school dropout, right,
he for very stupid reasons too.By the way, great just to give

(03:14):
you an idea of the academic backgroundof the Worshams, it was my dad.
He loves shop class in high school, and he had modular scheduling so
he could make up his schedule eachday and he took the bare minimum of
science, math and English, right, but the rest of his day he
would fill with wood shop, metalshop, auto shop, anything he could
do because that's what he loved todo. And he forgot to put PE

(03:36):
in the mix. So it wasthree months left to go in a senior
year, and the school counsel pulledhim aside and said, hey, buddy,
you're gonna have to go to summerschool. He goes, oh,
this is my senior year. Theygo, yeah, you didn't take enough
PE classes. And he goes,what And he goes, yeah, you
need to take PE classes over thesummer so you can get your high school
to Plumba. And my dad waslike, nah, I'm not gonna do
that. I'm out And he droppedout of high school and went and took

(03:58):
his geed. Here's the thing.I'm not trying to papo college in any
way, shape or form. Butthis is another discussion we'll have. My
dad did all right for himself.He went on to make his own businesses
and uh, and he's it alwayssounds like I'm a bragger, but I'd
like to say the truth of itis is that he's pretty much a millionaire.
Like he's doing good for himself.I'm not seeing any of that scratch

(04:18):
yet. Greg, who emphasis onyet, took a dark turn on there
waiting for Pops a kick it.Evidently Greg back, yeah, Freud says
there are no mistakes. Greg.Oh no, I'm gonna need one of
the kids using your app to talkto me. Talk me off this ledge,
my man. But here's so,my question is there was not a
concern. He was big on academics. He wanted me to do well in

(04:40):
school, but whether or not Iwent to college wasn't a big deal.
He never paid for it. Itwas never. My dad always had the
philosophy of, like, if I'mpaying for it, you're not going to
appreciate it. If you're paying forit, you're gonna bust your ass and
get that stuff done. Kind ofa kind of a vibe. And now
I feel like this generation of parentsis not only, like you said,
hyper concern about haying for it,but hyper concerned of trying to look down

(05:02):
the road for their seven or eightyear old to make sure that they've aligned
them on a path to get there. Why do you know why that shift
happened? You know, it's reallyhard to pinport it. I think sometimes
it's you know, for every familyit's different, Like why there's this like
fear bordering on obsession. But Ithink part of it stems from the fact

(05:23):
that, you know, there's justwe can all agree that today, in
twenty nineteen, the world's just alot more competitive for our kids than it
was, say when you know,folks like your dad were starting out.
And I think there's a lot ofmisplaced obsession on, oh, if my
kid gets into Harvard or Stanford,that that's going to set them up for

(05:43):
the life that I want them tohave. So I think that we're always
looking kind of for a magic bulletor an answer to say, well,
if we do this, everything's goingto turn off fine. And I think
when you get a you know,a fancy you know name on a diploma,
that a lot of people think thatthat is all it takes. So
part of me thinks that's irrational andit's misguided and you can reverse engineer your
way back to being insane, youknow the sand lot. So Um,

(06:08):
I think it's just kind of thesphere of what happens now. And you
know, a lot of us,you know, if you have kids in
elementary school, they were born,you know, right around the time of
the of the Great Recession in twothousand and seven, two thousand and eight,
and you just know it's become alot tougher to get ahead these days.
So there's a lot of emphasis onwell, if we get into you
know, UCLA or Berkeley or Columbia, it's going to be better. Um.

(06:30):
And this is also coupled with thefact that it's gotten a lot harder
to get into these schools. It'sit's not as easy. You can't just
kind of turn in your application witha blindfold put on and expect to get
into a school that has a lotof respects. A lot of these schools
here in California where we're both atUM the UCS five percent acceptance rates at
the more selective school. So youtake this obsession with like, my kid

(06:54):
needs to get into you know,fancy Schmancy University, coupled with the fact
that Fancy Schmanza University doesn't accept anyoneunless they're bribing their way in. It
seems like these days. Please knowthis, Greg, as we move forward
and chatting together. If at anypoint I ask you a question that you
genuinely don't know the answer with,just feel comfortable to say I don't know,
because nobody listening to this show isgoing to be like, what a

(07:15):
fucking moron Greg is? But I'mjust I'm fascinated by this whole thing.
Is that? Can you see ordo you know if there was a turn
like when I was so I wasborn in nineteen seventy nine, I'm forty
years old, Greg, and Igraduated high school in nineteen ninety seven.
Were those same colleges Did they havea higher acceptance rate when I would have
been applying versus Really? So,let me give you an example, I'm

(07:41):
I'm thirty one or thirty two.Sorry, just turned thirty two. Oh
young buck, Greg, I'm notforty Greg. So now everybody in their
thirties I get to call you aslick and kid and stuff like that.
I like that. And so Igraduated high school in two thousand and five,
and when I applied college. Youknow, the ivs have always been

(08:03):
hyper competitive. But when I appliedto college in two thousand and five,
slots fourteen years ago coming on up, and schools like Vanderbilt when I applied,
how over a forty percent acceptance rate. So you if you applied to
Vanderbilt and you had the numbers,you felt pretty good applying to Vandy.
And when you say numbers, I'msorry to interrupt you, but when you
say numbers like we're talking, becauseI know this is also different. I

(08:26):
don't want to take you off topic, but it's you could just have like
a three point five to four pointzero g PA and maybe a solid decent
SAT score and maybe the twelve hundreds. But now that's not even there,
right, Yeah, So if youhad whatever their minimum was back in the
day, if you had you know, good grades, good test score with
a forty percent acceptance, right,you felt pretty good. Applying today Vanderbilt

(08:48):
has less than a twelve percent acceptancerate, so only one out of every
ten kids are getting in. Andthere are a lot of kids applying with
very strong test scores, very stronggrades, and very strong resumes. So
you've seen this what I kind ofrefer to as yield compression, where the
acceptance rates and everything less like um, everything kind of you know, all

(09:11):
the public universities, a lot ofthe privates are now approaching what the ivys
used to be. Like when whenyou or I applied, Wow, so
it used to be you only hadyou know, a handful a handful of
schools across the country that we're veryhard to get into. Now I think
the concern is whether it's public orprivate. Most schools are becoming very competitive

(09:31):
and very selective. So let's sayI want to go to U, I
want to send my kid to UCLA, or my kid wants to go to
a Yale or a Harvard, Like, what's the difference today and or I
don't know if you can even well, no, let's do today. What's
the difference an acceptance rate between thosetwo? Do you know off the top
of your head. Well, ifnot, give me a different example,
but stamp I could give is.Back in the day, you didn't need

(09:54):
a perfect ACT or SAT score toget into UCLA. Today they set the
floor for most applicants applying U salein the top one percent of global test
akers on the set ACT And Imean you have a ninety nine percent chance
of not getting that score. Sowhat would that score be? Is that
like a fifteen hundred because the topis one like a fifteen hundred even for

(10:16):
them to look at your application.And the scary part is is you get
that score and not just the firsthurdle these days, so you have this
you know, solid like rock starSAT ACT score the need to kill yourself
to get and that literally says,okay, we put you in a new
pile with another thirty or forty thousandkids where we're then going to start.
You know, reading through the essaysand seeing who even brings more to the

(10:37):
table is a part of this becausewhen I was going to school, not
you, you're a young buck,but when I was going to because now
I'm now that you're you're paying areally great picture for me here is that
when people listening to this show whohave kids that are younger. When they
were planning you'd go to school,the issue was how am I going to

(10:58):
pay for it? And that waspretty much about it. If you were
going to go to college, itwas more about the financial aspect. But
now it seems one could argue thatputting your kid into college has become such
a priority that parents kind of plannedfor it financially and that they maybe they've
hit some kind of it's not afinancial barrier that they've got so many people
applying that they've created academic filters toweed it out so that they're not just

(11:24):
you know, it doesn't look liketimes square at UCLA all the time.
Is that a fair assessment? Uh? Yes, and no, I think,
um, you know, these schoolsare so hard to get into,
but the only thing, like Imentioned earlier, that's harder to get into
them is figure out a way topay for them. So the ucs today,
if you're in California, that's ouryou know, a flagship university system

(11:46):
would between tuition, room and board, you're looking at thirty grand a year,
and that's where a public school ifyou're looking you know, you know
more towards gentility, the Yales andthe Hovards of the world eighty grand a
year all in, so it wasnot that much when we were younger.
Right, No, and that's notjust inflation either, like that's it is.

(12:11):
I think it's far exceeding the costincreases are you know, a multiple
of inflation every year. And wehave a huge, huge, huge student
loan crisis in this country. It'sin the I think it's in like over
a trillion dollars or student loan debtis carried by you know, millennials and
even you know folks older than that, and it's going to get worse and

(12:33):
worse. Um. So, youknow. The nice thing is is if
you are applying to some of thesevery selective schools, if you your income
doesn't hit whatever threshold the said inat most schools, at the privates that
can be around one hundred fifty thousanddollars, you can qualify for some pretty
substantial financial aid. So that's makingit harder to get into because people are
figuring go bigger, go home.You know, if you get into a

(12:54):
top school, it may be paidfor. But I think most people are
facing this crisis of how do weeven pay for this public or private.
When you think of eighty grand ofpost tax income, that's that'll wipe out
most people's you know, you know, finances for that year. So it's
then I want to go back toit is that is there has there been

(13:16):
just a cultural shift that made itto where everybody wanted to put there because
here's the thing, I wanted toput their kids through college. Is what
I was going to say, becauseI'm trying to wrap my mind around it,
is that I don't know or believethat there was a It has to
go one of two ways. Eitherthere was a cultural shift in the company
level right where the employers are saying, we want you to have a college

(13:37):
degree if you want this job,or and that caused everybody to then shift
their kids into college. Or itwas everybody thought, well if because that's
always been the thought, is thatif you get you into college and you
go to a good school, you'regonna have a good job, you're gonna
have a good life. And therewas just more people who prioritize that,
which kind of flooded the system withbodies and money. Yeah, I think

(14:01):
you know, we've in in thisdigital age, we definitely trans you know,
it's cemented this transition to a serviceeconomy in this country. So um,
I think, you know, withthe rise of you know, tech
jobs and just you know, serviceindustries becoming the mainstay of this economy,
I think folks have felt that thatis the way to kind of secure a

(14:22):
spot in the middle class or shootfor hires. Soum. Probably it coincides,
if I were to guess, itcoincides with the you know, the
information age we now live in.Yeah, so it's more about everybody what's
that white collar job and that's whatyou mean by service industry, right,
yeah, okay, all right,that makes sense. That jives with it,
all right, So now let's getinto it. Let's say, so

(14:43):
I have kids in the elementary schoolright now, what kind of steps should
I be taking with them besides goingto artist College dot com and downloading the
app that can set up a pathfor it? And maybe that's a better
question. Is that app something thatI, is a parents should be using
for my child or is it somethingthat I should be using for myself and

(15:03):
an older child. Sure, myapp Artist's College Life Career starts guiding families
through the admissions process as early asseventh grade. So we're not quite there
yet, and I don't think elementaryschool is the right time to be thinking
about college. But I'll give yousome ideas of what what are healthy kind
of conversations and activities for any age. I like that you qualified it with

(15:26):
healthy. You're my man, Greg, I love you. Yeah, No,
because like I think, you know, if we're talking about an obsession,
is that that's I think inherently unhealthyto be obsessed, Like we really
want our kids, like at theend of the day, to be healthy,
happy, and financially independent. Soyou know with the graduate degree,
Greg, don't forget the graduate degree. Well, I have a graduate degree

(15:46):
and I hated every day of it. I started my business because I hated
law school so much. That's everyperson I've ever heard they've got about how
is there more than five lawyers?Because everybody I hear that's either in entertainment
or in real estate investing, orthey established some kind of cum. I

(16:06):
mean, even Harvey Levin himself,the guy at t TMZ was the ethics
professor from the guy used for BillHandle who I used to work on his
boarding show, and he didn't likedoing law either nobody wants to be a
lawyer when they go to law school. It's hilarious to me. But anyway,
I'm sorry, I digress. SorryGreg, Yeah, No, I
mean I'd be happy to come backon the show and tell you about how
much I hated laws. But Icould talk about that forever and ever and

(16:30):
then some more. And if anyof my law school professors are listening,
well, you know that just sucksfor them. But so the idea is,
like, you know, you wantto start thinking about this process in
middle school, and artists kind ofguides you through, you know, every
step of the way, picking theright classes, how and when to prepare

(16:51):
for the college entrance exams you canget the scores you need. And then
the part that I'm most excited aboutis recommendations and tailored advice to what ever
is your kid wants to explore oris thinking about doing or studying in college.
Ideas for community service extracurricular activities ifthey're an athlete, how to use
that the athletic recruitment process to eitherget into college or pay for college.

(17:14):
If you're an artist or musician,Recommendations for how to kind of create a
portfolio to get into college. Andthen also comes senior year help with filling
out the application forms and writing essaysthat are persuasive. So for me,
it's like I wanted to create somethingthat everyone could afford for ten bucks a
month. That it's kind of cradleto grave for the college emission standpoint um

(17:37):
to to figure out how to makethe mostess process and how to take the
stress out of it. So Ithink it's complete, you know, bullshit
to be like upset, you know, stressed about it in elementary school.
And yes, you hear of peoplewho you know, they're they're expecting and
they're they're putting deposits down at youknow, you know posh uh preschools because
they know those are feeders into youknow whatever, you know, whatever glorious

(18:00):
to come or you know, theirmortgaging limbs to get in the right school
districts, you know, in yourneck of the woods in LA And I
think you know, in elementary school, you know, and just in general,
this process, this process has shiftedfrom so when you were I applied,
if you had strong numbers and againby strong numbers, I mean SAT

(18:22):
or act scores and grade grades,you were kind of a shoeing. For
most of the schools out there inthe world, this has changed. So
there's you know, fifty percent ofkids today have a grade point averages,
so good grades are not enough toseparate yourself from anyone else. And there
are so many strong test scores.Last year, UCLA received over one hundred

(18:42):
and thirty thousand applications, and myguess is that they probably had forty thousand
kids that had you know, superstrong numbers, so it's not enough what
they're really looking for, and whichalso I think makes this process healthier if
you're mindful of this is passion.If they are looking for kids that they're
saying like, this is what I'mpassionate about. Whether it's I want to

(19:04):
go into science or I want tobe an engineering I just really like political
advocacy or whatever, writing poetry,it could be anything, and this is
what I'm going to kind of buildmy story around. So to an elementary
school, to parents with kids inelementary school or middle school, high school,
my strong suggestion would be is helpyour kids figure out what they love
so then they can start building theirstory to get into college. But this

(19:26):
is nothing to do with college.If your kid has a passion, whatever
it is. And like, let'sgo back to example with your dad.
If he had a passion for thebusiness he started, he didn't need a
college degree to be successful. Andwhether your kids are going to go to
college or not, and I thinkmost want our kids to go to college,
is that the way to help themstand out and build a strong college

(19:47):
application is to figure out what thatpassion is. And that's what artist is
all about, is you know,tailoring every activity in class in high school
to the things that actually matter becauseit makes this process less stressful when you
cut the crap. So if yourkid likes, you know, wants to
go the law route, even thoughwe've just spared that, is that you

(20:07):
can say, let's focus on thoseEnglish and history classes because those irrelevant,
and let's avoid those really tough scienceclasses that I'll keep you up till two
or three in the morning, becausewhat we want you to do is just
focus on the things that matter sothat story shines through. And that would
be my advice is kind of justsay what are your kids actually like to
to encourage them to find what theylike to do and then start building you

(20:27):
know, their activities and the classesand what they do. You know,
we have so little free time,it seems like these days is like focus
on that stuff because that's what's goingto make their application better, that's what's
going to help them get in,and also it's going to make life just
a lot more pleasant for the wholefamily. So hit pause right now,
go to artist college dot com,pick up the app, start checking it

(20:48):
out, and then also don't forgetto pick up the book Earning Admission Real
Strategies for getting into Highly selective Colleges. It sounds like to me what you're
saying, Greg is there was atime in high school for me, I
felt like you. The vibe wasyou spent in your high school years kind
of cultivating what you might want todo, Like you always have the dream
ambition jobs when you're seven or eight, right, and then in high school

(21:11):
you kind of narrow down to maybesomething that's less dreamy, more realistic,
and then in your twenties you kindof meandering around and it sounds like what
you're you know what I mean,and until you kind of fall into something
when you're thirty, when you crapout a kid or something. So,
but what it sounds like to me, what you're saying is is that what
you can use is use those elementaryyears. And I'm not necessarily against this,

(21:33):
but I want you to tell meif you think I'm wrong here in
my perception that the elementary years havekind of become let your kids kind of
find their passion and that's when they'rereally kind of meandering without any need for
direction, Like you know, youcan expose them to different elements of interest,
right, and maybe they'll stumble onsomething that they're really into, like
golf or cello or whatever that thingmay be. And then if they stick

(21:56):
with it going into junior high,then you use that and say, Okay,
we're gonna we're gonna use this tobuild your story as you put it.
Is that a fair way to lookat it, exactly? And there's
just so much out there, Ithink for a lot of you know,
right now, tech as an industryis just super trendy, right everyone you
hear you know all these just techis where it's at, whether it's on

(22:18):
the programming side or building, youknow whatever, And a lot of kids
like to build things. So ata lot of elementary schools these days,
there is a robotics league that issponsored by Lego, where you can your
kids in elementary school can be buildingyou know, robots that are powered by
AI and if you want your kidsto see, if you know, that's
something that they may, you know, pursue further in life. That's the

(22:41):
type of activity that are offered ina lot of public and private elementary schools
these days. So it's not justlike, oh, does my kid like
golf or tennis, or it's goingto be a music prodigy. It's their
opportunities to like get out there andexplore even things that you know are a
little more on the academic side aswell. It's interesting. I can't help
but think about how we're in thisinformation age where literally I feel like I

(23:03):
could watch a YouTube video to learnhow to do anything right. Like that
is the perception. Whether or notit's the reality could be argued, but
that is the perception. And sonow I feel like the other reason why
college has become so hard to getinto is that the premium then becomes well,
where did you acquire said knowledge right? Was it from YouTube or was
it from an excellent professor at UCLAor Vanderbilt or wherever that may be.

(23:29):
But I do agree with this idea. I love this idea of I can.
I can let my kids kind offigure out what they want. But
there is there seems to be somuch more available to them, Like like
if this if my kid he wasdoing it for a while. He was
learning to write code just by screwingaround on the internet, and he found
like a website that lets him builda web based video game because he was

(23:51):
into video games like every kid is. And so of course video game developer
has become the new veterinarian or marinebiologist. Right when I was a kid,
everybody want to be a marine biologistor a veterinarian at some point in
their life. Now every kid wantsto be the person to build the next
Fortnite or Apex Legends or and whateverit is. I don't know. Hey,
if it gets them off the couchand it gets them into building something

(24:11):
productive, that can you You know, the next Fortnite is going to make
your retirement if your kid creates it, very comfortable. So I say,
you know, encourage that. Rightthat horsetail dies, Oh I'm not I'm
trust me. Listen. I lovethose kids, but I'm not relying on
those ship birds to take care ofme in retirement. There's just no way,
no how. They're too selfish.I think I'm failing them as a

(24:32):
parent, Greg, is my point. No, Um, you admitted it.
I didn't say that's true. It'strue. No, everybody listens to
this nose. They just know that'swhy they come here. This, this
show is to parenting what walking throughWalmart at three am is to your self
esteem? You know what I mean? You're picking up what I'm putting down,
Gregg. You know, you knowI've I've done Walmart at like two
am, and you know I canstill hold my head up high. Yeah,
you feel good about your life choicesafter that. Yeah, No,

(24:53):
I think they should charge extra foryou just to walk through. That's that's
that's better than screen for tament factor. Oh yeah, yeah, it's And
it's self esteem, you know whatI mean. It's a Catharsis you walked
through and go, you know what, at least my tight pants fit me
properly. You know that kind ofstime. So anyway, So okay,
so now we've got a game planfor my elementary age kid. And so

(25:15):
now the kids, he's hitting fifth, sixth grade, he's going into junior
high or she what are what areso that this seems to be the time
that I should be going to artistcollege dot com and grabbing the app,
picking up books and seeing what thenext step is is that and walk me
through junior high if you don't mind. Yeah, I think middle school's all
about building that foundation for making highschool more enjoyable, less stressful, and

(25:40):
more meaningful. So you know,from figuring out which kind of classes to
be taking. So let's say yourkid decides to commit all in on I
want to develop Fortnite two point now, okay, and so you kind of
have to do a little bit ofreverse engineering. So computer science programs at
universities to see kids that have donewell in math and have taken advanced math

(26:03):
classes because that's more relevant. Sokind of have to backtrack. So if
your kid has to get to calculusby the end of senior year to get
into a compside program, and I'mnot saying he or she does or does
not, but if that's what's expectedof them for the schools that you you
know in your state or you knowwherever you're shooting for, you kind of
have to start planning in middle school, like how am I going to get

(26:25):
there, and if I take prealgebra and seventh grade then algebra, then
it goes to geometry. Does thatget me to calculus? Yes, that
would by senior year. So it'simportant to start figuring out which classes and
also start building those study skills.Like every you know, there's a huge
transition from elementary to middle school fromyou know, time management and workload and
switching you know, classrooms, andthen in high school that's again where you

(26:48):
ratchet it up. So it's aboutreally kind of laying the foundation for success
in high school, getting involved inactivities that you can continue to do and
thrive in high school and academically andalso with like activities, so whether that's
sports, music, stuff like we'retalking about robotics at the time. Is
to kind of start exploring and alsosaying we're going to start going down this

(27:10):
path assuming we still like it,and taking stock of what we like and
what we don't like, and canI go as far as to sign my
maybe it's not the best thing formy kid to do volunteer hours, because
I know that's a big thing oflike community service hours, but at the
junior higher level, if I'm tryingto reverse engineer this thing. And also
I want to make sure I'm clearbecause I have what I call putting on
a job application some college greg socompsie, that's computer science is what my

(27:37):
some college mind was able to process. Is that fair? Yes? Okay,
great? No, No, don'tapologize. I just want to make
sure I know everybody else is like, yes, it is you moron.
So But my point is is thatwould it be in my best interest to
get my kid a tutor just toeven though he's not behind in math by
any stretch of the imagination, butmaybe just some a little extra work,

(27:57):
not so much that he's turning outright. You want to keep it healthy,
as you said before, But couldit hurt for me to sign him
up with a tutor that could kindof get him advanced in math and kind
of push him along a little bit. I don't know if you need to
get them ahead as long as youknow, they build a foundation for every
class, so it can definitely helpstart building. But by no means is

(28:21):
this a race? No? Doyou need to get ahead to you know,
there's no prize if you finish first. Are you are you doing well?
And are you able to kind ofget through the material because it especially
with these math and science classes,they all build on each other. So
in middle school, I really thinkit's like, are you figuring out how
to do well in the type ofenvironment that you're going to be placed in

(28:41):
the high school and you're actually onthe clock? Gotcha? All right?
And then what about so even notI shouldn't even put my kid in,
say a junior college class that hecan you know, sign up for and
go take at that level, Likethat's something that you This is all stuff
for high school. So elementary schoolseems to be like, let's let's figure
out what you're into. Junior highseems to be like, okay, now

(29:03):
we're going to start narrowing in andzeroing in on a passion for you and
and that time frame we're it's aboutbuilding the skill sets that you're gonna use
so that when you walk into thathigh school your freshman year, you can
kind of you're you're not stumbling toobad, and you know, you have
study skills, you're pretty well organized, you have a solid enough work ethic
in place that then we could startto work on stuff. Yeah. I

(29:27):
think it's an absolute correct Okay,great, that that make that makes sense,
that drives and then what about likebecause the other I don't know how
much this falls into your your wheelhousehere, but the the scholarships, like
the the athletics scholarships. There's alot of talk about how like you you
get your kids signed up with aprivate coach when they're you know, getting
into that double digit years, sothat by the time they get into high

(29:49):
school they can play in the varsityteam their sophomore year and and all that
stuff. Do you are you familiarwith any of that or is more of
your focus on the academic side.Now, I'm very familiar with the athletic
side. And again, artists doescover athletic recruitment for any sport at the
NCAA level, which is college level, intercollegiate level. The first thing I'll

(30:11):
say about athletics is and that's somethingthat you know, I hear at the
park, you know, with kidsthat are three or four, and I
had something in my you know,with my business working with students one on
one and you know, feedback fromfamilies is this expectation that you know,
my kids a great athlete, thereforewe're going to get you know, a

(30:33):
soccer scholarship to Stanford. UM,let's just kind of take a step back.
And I don't mean to burst anyone'sbubble here, but um, six
percent of high school athletes are recruitedto play at the college level. Let
me say that one more time.Six percent. So, and some sports
are much more competitive than others,like soccer, like basketball, it is

(30:55):
very tough and the competition is verystiff to get athletic scholarship. And and
at many schools if they're not oneof these enormous schools that have you know,
you know, a budget, ata recruiting budget, and you know,
more sports at the athletic department youknow, has more you know money
than most countries. They're not necessarilyscholarships to go around for every athlete full

(31:18):
scholarships, so they may only havea couple of scholarships that are shared amongst
the whole team. So what Ican say is, do not bank on
sports getting your child into college.You have to be very proactive with recruitment
in high school. Do not expectcoaches to come find you. It's something
we guide students through, which isbeing proactive, sending video footage, sending

(31:41):
your test score, sending your grade. So college recruiters are the first question
they ask any of my stonds orathletes are what is your GP and what
is your test score? Because therehave been so many recruiting scandals in the
last twenty years that their hands aretied if you don't have the ACT score
or the SAT score that they setthe floor a no. You know,

(32:02):
Olympic qualifications are going to overcome thathurdle, and I've seen that with my
own students that I work with individually, So um one is to understand.
So I guess what that being saidis don't bank on sports. It's still
encourage your kids to get the bestgrades that they can, encourage them to
build that story because until you're actuallyrecruited, and the most often recruitment doesn't

(32:25):
come to senior year when it's youknow, when it's it's all or nothing
at that point, is to assumethat it's going to have to be for
you know, an academic application,and if sports get you, and that's
awesome, but just don't bank onit. So it sounds kind of like
what you're saying is, if Ican over abbreviate or simplifies, don't put
all your eggs in one basket inany situation, be it academic, be

(32:47):
it athletic. That really, becausethings are so competitive, it is truly
about being as rounded as you possiblycan't. Is that correct? Okay?
I mean it's to be. It'sto be. It's to have that pitch.
It's like, what do you addto a college And that could be

(33:08):
a sport, that could just behaving a passion for something, that could
just be, you know, havinga really great perspective about something that happened
in your life. But just don'tbank on any one thing to be that
what gets you into college, especiallyathletics. And I want to hit on
this because it was something that kindof shocked me. Not in the sense
that I don't think he's a greatkid, but my nephew he went to

(33:28):
high school and he played defensive endfor his high school team in Hilmar,
California, which is a small townin northern California, and they were pretty
good. They didn't win a statechampionship or any of that stuff. And
I think I'm guessing I never reallytalked to my brother in them about how
this happened, but I'm assuming thecoach kind of took the lead and advised

(33:49):
him in the way that artist Collegeapp can do that at artist college dot
com. Is that he got ascholarship. So what he did is he
finished high school, he was agood player, and then he went on
to a junior college and got somemore tape and then got a free ride
not at a Division one school,but at a very small four year college
in northern Colorado. What was greatfor him was that he wanted to kind

(34:09):
of go into sports medicine and bea physical therapist, and so they had
a program and he got to gothere for free to achieve his degree because
he played college football. And somaybe as a parent you could look at
that and go, well, dependingon what your kids passion is and what
they want to do, maybe youdon't always have to shoot for Stanford as

(34:30):
the place that they need to getinto, especially if you're worried about the
finances of it. Because he likehe went through, he got a degree
and now he's working on his graduatedegree at a different school that's a little
closer to home, and he wasable to get into that because he did
so well getting his undergrad Is thatwhat do you think of that breakdown?
Yeah, I always tell athletes isto focus on small Division three schools because

(34:53):
they're just it's a little more openof a process, and there are a
lot of opportunities small schools to playsports and actually play on the field or
the quart or wherever. So thatto me seems like a home run for
just a sports analogy. You getinto school, it's paid for, and
then it's a smaller environment, andyou know a kid's able to thrive there

(35:15):
and then able to go to graduateschool. Um So to me, that
seems that's you know, that's whatwe advise through the app is to keep
an open mind when it comes tosports recruitment because if it's odds are if
it's you know, if their gamesare being you know, televised, it's
it's just those those are hard teamsto make it on. So keep an

(35:36):
open mind and be proactive and contactingthose small T three schools that aren't coming
out to you know, small townsin northern California to recruit. If you
send your material there, that maybe a great fit. And they're waiting.
Some of these smaller schools are waitingto be contacted by prospective athletes because
that's how their recruitment process works.And what greater way to pull in some
nice college tail than by starting quarterbackor lineback or for a Division three football

(36:00):
team in a small town. Imean, that's a big fish in a
small pond. I get what you'resaying. Greg, That's exactly what you're
saying. You know, there thereare perks for you know there are there
are perks for every good decision youcan make them a solid way to save
me from that statement, Greg,You're a good friend. Um, That's
all I can aspire to be.So okay, So I feel like we've

(36:22):
got a good grasp on the juniorhigh level. It's about you know,
zeroing in on the passion building theskill sets for going into junior high.
So now we get into high school, is there what kind of steps do
we need to start doing when wehit the ground. Are we already as
soon as we start freshman year?Are we into SAT ACT preps or what

(36:45):
the test prep really should begin betweenthe summer of tenth and eleventh grade.
Testing is just one of those thingsthat just sucks, that standardized tests like
there no one ever said like,oh I just love the SAT or the
ACT. And my advice to familiesis always to be very surgical about test
prep is after tenth grade. Sothe SATI or the act covers through algebra

(37:08):
two and trigonometry, So most studentsare finishing that level of math in tenth
or eleventh grade, and so itdoesn't make sense to start prepping for the
SAT in the beginning of ninth gradewhen you haven't had all the math and
most students have only had you know, Algebra one at that point, if
even that, So, how canyou expect to start prepping for geometry algebra

(37:30):
two if you haven't taken the class. So the other thing I would say
is one, most kids aren't readyin ninth or tenth grade to take the
test, and then two is theburnout factor. I mean, grades matter
in high school, and you cannotexpect a kid to be studying every week
for the set act if they're playingsports or playing an instrument and they're involved
with stuff. Is that if you'rereally focused on test preproducing tenth and eleventh

(37:52):
grade, that's the summer to kindof buckle down and treat it like a
part time job or full time job. And the reason why I say that
is that scholarship academic scholarships are typicallybased on a student's SAT or ACT score,
So if you score in the top, you know twenty five percent of
the pool for school and these numbers. So whatever school you're interested in attending

(38:15):
and you know on artists, wetell you those ranges directly in the app
for your kids dream school. Butif you were to go on a website,
say I was born in Tucson,so I'll use the University of Arizona,
it'll tell you on their website whatthe top You know twenty five percent
of students have who are applying forthe test scores. If you're in a
school that accepts more than twenty fivepercent of their applicants and you're in that

(38:38):
top bracket for test scores, you'resetting yourself up to be considered for up
to a full tuition scholarship. Sothere are very few things you can do
in high school that can pay youa couple hundred thousand dollars for a summer's
worth the work. There's very fewthings in life you can do, for
that matter, that can pay thatkind of money. It's time to buckle
down and treat the SAT or Actlike a job, because that's how you

(38:58):
get a scholarship. That's also howyou make it through that first cut.
So with the APP, we're guidingfamilies how did it like, when to
take the test, and also howto figure out what's the right way to
prepare for it. This isn't simplyjust go to the library every morning and
just take a practice test. Nowyou have to actually figure out how to
break down these problems. The ACT, which is now more popular than the

(39:19):
SAT, that only has forty sevenmath concepts on the test. So if
you can figure out how to dothose, I mean, forty seven sounds
like a lot, but it's notlike they're going to be pulling stuff out
of random like stuff you've never seenor heard of before. It's if you
can just master those concepts, youcan feel very well prepared going that test
and really give yourself a shot upto a full tuition scholarship. That's insane,

(39:42):
that's brilliant. That is I hopeeverybody, if you're not, you
need to hit that back button twoor three times. And because that is
that is a very solid point thatI've never heard broken down like that.
To say, I'm gonna just focuson it like it's my gig. Over
one summer, and that one chunkof three months preparation can save me,
you know, hundreds of thousands ofdollars in my education. That's insane to

(40:06):
think about. And I never wouldhave connected those dots. Great, Thank
you God. That is. Thatis. I'm sorry, I'm really taking
it back. I don't know ifit's obvious. That just blew my mind.
I've never you know what I mean, because in life you always try
to think of like, I'm abig entrepreneur guy. So I like the
eighty twenty rule. I don't knowhow many folks are familiar with that,
but it's that you want to buildyour life, and in most cases,
this is how it actually works out, is that twenty percent of your effort

(40:29):
or work yields eighty percent of yourresults. Right. And so that to
me is a really solid eighty twentyexample that you spend three months out of
your one summer to prepare for atest, and that and that preparation can
take care of you for at leasttwo to four years of your college education,
right. Absolutely. And so there'sa time and a place for everything

(40:52):
in this process, especially in highschool when you know it's coming on up.
For you justin like it's gonna getreally hectic high school with all the
stuff that kids are doing and thenjust family commitments. You just set aside
the right time, you know,at the right you know, the right
activity at the right time makes thisprocess easy, and it makes this process
so much more, you know,literally rewarding. So that's why we created

(41:15):
the app, which is to tellyou, Hey, this is what you
should be focusing on now. Don'tworry about any of the other crap because
it just doesn't matter for your pointin this process. And it sounds like
because here's the thing. For mepersonally, I was the first person in
my family to achieve some college.I don't want to brag or embarrass you,
Greg with your graduate degree, butyou are talking to a holder of

(41:37):
a AA degree in transfer Studies.I also, and I've got multiple degrees.
I'm not done, Greg, buckleup. I also have a certificate
in electronics from the Cleveland Institute ofElectronics. So kind of a thing that
we like to call in the academiaworld, and it is academia a big
deal. But hey, you couldprobably set up your Amazon firestick, which

(41:59):
I struggle exactly. Yeah, stickthat in your graduate degree smartness, I'm
gonna send I'm gonna send back theboss for to my law school and be
like, well, why couldn't youteach me how to do that? Where's
the real world application? Profum?Anyway? So yeah, I mean it

(42:20):
took me like two months to figureout how to watch an arcos. So
I mean, I'm not saying thatyou need to go to graduate school to
live a very exciting life, becauseI just wanted to and that just didn't
happen as quickly as I wanted.That's funny. So but the reason I
brought it up is because my dadnever went to college obviously, high school

(42:42):
drop out, and so therefore therewas nobody really in my family when my
niece and nephew were looking to goto college. I remember my brother and
sister kind of asking me because Iat least had applied to college, right,
uh, and they were kind oflike, hey, how does this
work? And that kind of stuffand by then and it kind of already
changed, but I didn't know itat the time, right, So it

(43:05):
sounds like what makes and I'm goingto do an unintended solid commercial for you
here, but this app at ArtistCollege dot com is. What it does
is you could have been a familyof pure academics, right, you could
be a third generation MD. Everybodywent to the same med school. And
unless you are a big contributor tothe booster organization that said school, and

(43:29):
then the chances are that you mayalso not be aware of the admission process
and how competitive things are because itwas an entirely different ballgame when you were
going to school. I mean,we're just talking about a difference of basically
ten years. It sounds like thatit's made just this huge jump. So
it can help you whether or notyou're an academic family, and it can

(43:49):
help you, I would imagine evenmore, if not just as much,
if you're a family, if you'relike parents are like, listen, we
graduated high school, we entered theworkforce, and we want our kids to
go to college. But I don'teven know where to start. That you
could literally get this app, kickdown ten bucks a month and have somebody
hold your hand and walk you throughthe whole process. Is that a fair
assessment. That's a fair assessment,you know, regardless of even if you

(44:13):
if you have a college degree ornot MD or this um, you know
your electronic certificate, which I alsois that. What I just say is
like I work with hundreds of studentsone on one and thousands, you know,
through the app, and don't expectyour high school, you whether it's
public or private, to be anyhelp in this process. My guidance counseling,

(44:37):
I was close to straight as studenthad close to perfect test scores,
and she just said, you know, you're kind of on your own.
And my parents basically mortgaged organs toget us into the right public school in
San Diego, and my mom didn'tgo to college, and you know,
mind I was always at work,so I had no guidance at home,
and I was kind of, youknow, I was pissed that they were

(44:58):
like, you know, you're onyour own, and that only forty percent
of public school cans get any collegeadmissions help from their high school. So
I was at a college fair lastnight and I was telling a dad about
artists and he was like, well, don't we have guidance counselors at school,
And you know, I was like, kind of good luck, you
know, like I mean, Ihope they can help you, but just

(45:19):
don't expect, you know, whetheryou have the knowledge or not, whether
you went through this process or not. It's hard to get answers in this
process. It's because you know,folks want to guard it. Like today
broke in the news that you know, there's all the celebrities paying millions of
dollars to get their kids, youknow, into these hoity toity universities,
and that's kind of what they're resortingme because people don't know how to navigate
it on their own. Yeah.Well, and I listen. I can

(45:40):
even tell you at the elementary level, and I serve on multiple boards for
at the school level, we're workingwith the district to change fundraising things.
But I'm getting the impression as aparent, and I don't I don't think
this could be limited to just sosouthern California, but our public education system
is starting to become because things aregetting so competitive. I believe at the

(46:00):
collegiate level, it's starting to becomebasically diet private schools that you have to
be, as a parent, preparedto kick down a lot of coin just
to enhance your kids public school experiencebecause the money from the state level,
and maybe I'm just talking about Californiahere is just not going into the schools.
It's not in the or maybe Idon't know if money is a solution,

(46:22):
maybe that's not even answer. Ijust feel like more and more and
I'm not against it, but Ido think that more and more expectation is
being passed over to the parents,and I like it personally because I think
who is going to be more investedin your kid than you? In reality,
that's how it's supposed to be.And we live in an era where
the information is available, you knowwhat I mean? You could make an

(46:43):
excuse that I couldn't. I don'tknow how to help my kid get into
college. I didn't go to college. My wife and my husband didn't go
to college. Nobody we know intocollege, right, But now you can
go to artist college dot com andthere's somebody there who will walk you through
it and talk about that eighty twentyrule. I just did some quick math
in my head, is that ifyou start this thing by the time kid
is in sixth grade, right,it costs you about seven hundred twenty bucks
to use the whole thing. That'sover six years, and it could save

(47:07):
you, Like you just said,the same example of the over the summer,
hundreds of thousands of dollars and that'snot even counting the stress of you
know, navigating admissions. And itsounds like it even helps you to have
like a dream school and then otherschools that are okay, and maybe a
safety school. As I've heard thatterm. Is that also a fair assessment
of what the app does? Yeah, that's a fair assessment. And I

(47:28):
just want to give folks little backgroundwhy I create this. So I am
a I started, you know,when I decided like law wasn't for me,
I was like f that. Istarted working as a private college counselor
people will pay me lawyer rates towork with their kids. Oh yeah,
craft a package. So I tookthe best of my one on one program,
which costs thousands of dollars per year. So I have kids to go

(47:49):
to public and private school spend alot of money to kind of navigate this
process because they know how tough itis. So we've taken that. It's
like for ten bucks a month,everyone for two cups of coffee or you
know, one latte, you liveyou know in LA and have that guidance
that you need so you can makethe most of this process. So again
it's like, you know, theROI return on investment, you can if

(48:12):
you can kind of make the mostof us and have a really strong plan
for the set act or huh,maybe I should be looking at a D
three school for football or basketball,get a scholarship that way. I mean,
that's what I want. Every familyis like, that's what I like
hearing from a family at the limailand said, hey, we got into
school. We weren't even thinking aboutit. It's free, has an awesome
program, it's perfect for my kid, and you know, this process actually

(48:36):
worked for us. That's what Iwant. That's what I wish you would
get at the high school level,right where you would actually have that kind
of guidance, whether it's public orprivate. Everyone had to plan, everyone
knew how to do this. Butthat's just not the world we live in
as with respect to this process.So it's time for us to kind of
take control back of it. Soall that hystery you hear in the sandbox
or at the Little league games,like how are we going to do this,

(48:59):
it's like, Okay, let's dosomething to actually make it better.
Yeah, this is it's amazing tome. The other thing I kind of
want to talk about is this cameup. I was interviewing Julie Lithcott Haymes.
I talk about her a lot becauseI love her book, How to
Raise an Adult. But she usedto be the dean of freshman students at
Stanford, and the whole genesis ofthis was that she noticed that kids were
entering college being less and less preparedto be on their own, and then

(49:22):
also there was more and more parentalinvolvement at that freshman year. And she
was like, this is Stanford we'retalking about too, by the way,
Like there was this whole thing.And one of the things she started to
say, and it sounds like itplays into what you're talking about, is
that by using someone like you,Greg and your app and company is somebody
who keeps up up with the trends. What she was saying is that at

(49:43):
the time, volunteer hours were becomingmore and more like the thing. But
now when everybody started doing it,that's no longer a way to stand out.
Right, when every kid has twelvethousand hours of volunteer hours in their
community, then that's not a standoutthing. And so actually more and more
colleges were becoming impressed by kids whohad part time jobs, especially in the

(50:05):
fields that they were interested in,because so few kids had part time jobs,
and so I'd be curious to getyour take on it is that what
is it? Is it about thebalance between volunteer hours and a job or
our jobs becoming a more an easierway to stand out because so few high
school kids have jobs. Now,well it's twofold. The first is what

(50:28):
we're hearing what the you know,kids are overly manufactured, meaning that you
know, mom does the homework assignment, Dad does the book report. Every
paper goes through like with a professionalproof reader from you know, some Hollywood
screenwriter. That what we're seeing isis that I think the term that she
coined in her book was we're nolonger helicopter parenting. Our kids were snowplow

(50:52):
parenting. So if you remove everyobstacle from your kids path and then they're
actually faced with a little bit ofadversity i e. Getting an Amazon box
delivered to your Stanford dorm and notknowing what to do with it, is
can a kid cope with any kindof adversity or any kind of setback?
And so what they're finding is thatthe answer is no. Is that no

(51:13):
we we've removed every obstacle. Theminute there's a setback or a disappointment or
a loss or whatever, is thatthere are a lot of kids that just
don't know how to cope because,you know, mom and dad have taken
care of everything up until that point. So part time jobs are not just
because there's too much community service outthere. It's just that when you work
a shit job at the mall orbagging groceries, you just deal with a

(51:34):
lot of crap that people. Youknow. That's that's what gives you perspective
and a little bit of a stifferspine. And so colleges know that is
I can tell you I work withpeople that you know, you know,
dump a lot of problems on me, and it's the same. You know,
I learned how to deal with thatbeing you know, a pool life
guard in the beach life guard,when people would treat you like you know,
you didn't exist. And so Ihave to say I've learned. I

(51:58):
learned how to take it and smileand you know, you know, to
keep my thoughts to myself. Thatwas something I learned when I was sixteen,
not when I was you know,twenty eight or twenty nine. And
so when you think about the skillsthat our kids can develop by having a
part time job, it's the stuffthat can make them very successful. On
my first job at a college wasand there was an internship too, is

(52:19):
I worked on Wall Street for asummer between my junior and senior year of
college. And the kid next whosat next to me, and so I
had had, you know, crappyjobs like I had, you know,
baby sat I mean, actually,like baby, I really did like that.
I lifeguarded, I did errands forpeople, chores like we did anything

(52:39):
to make money, my brother andI. And so we get on you
know, we're on this like tradingfloor, and you know it's kind of
like wow, like I've like kindof made it. And the kid next
to me, brilliant kid. Butbrilliant kid went to MT but he had
never had a job up until thatpoint, like any type of job,

(53:04):
and grew up I think in somelike mansion and aspin or something. And
so he could not believe he calledme. I was like, I can't
believe you're going to ask your bossif he wants coffee. I was like,
we're an intern. He's like,well, that's that's that that's beneath
me, like I'm I'm, I'msome analysts. And I was like,
we're interns, Like we're not evenlike at the secretary level. Yet it's

(53:28):
disregard the fact he's never had ajob. He's just never seen a movie
in an office place setting, likeand like and you know, I always
said, like, you know,I wasn't the best financial engineer out there,
Like I mean I type with twofingers, like like it wasn't boss.
Sit there, I'll ask you howmany I will go downstairs. I
will get you a Starbucks in fiveminutes or less. I promise you that.
And so he was really good athis job, but he did not

(53:51):
know how to like be the lowmanon the totem pole. And this is
something I to all of my students. It's written in a nice way in
the app content as well, isthat you have to learn or humility in
life and that only comes from apart time job. And also it gives
you some perspective. And I thinkback to your earlier point just to bring
it back is like does a parttime job stand out a college application?
What I would say is the communityservice, the part time jobs, the

(54:13):
extracurriculators. They all need to worktogether to tie to that and to tell
that story about what is your passion. So if you want to be an
engineer, your community service can behabitat for humanity why because you're relying on
engineering principles to build the house.You can go try to get a job,
you know, shadow or intern atan engineering firm or email engineering lab

(54:35):
at the college in your town andsee if you can sweep the floors,
you know, help out any waythat's appropriate for a high school kid.
You can get involved robotics. Andso it's not just you need a part
time job for the sake of havinga part time job. It's what can
you do collectively between community service,between having a part time job, between
internships and extracurricuers that all kind ofwork together to show what you're about.

(54:57):
Yeah, that's kind of my planfor my kids, and I'd be curious
to get your take on this.Is that as they get older, Like
right now, my kid is inthe marine biology phase where he said that
he wants to make video games,right, like, that's what he wants
to do, and so it'll behard pressed for me to be able to
take him some place at ten andlet him go work. But I want
him. I want to at somepoint, maybe when he gets closer to

(55:20):
fourteen fifteen, I want him tobe I want to set him up with
somebody who is willing to take himunder their wing and just kind of show
him around a little bit. AndI want him to be that person who
says, listen, if you tellme what you know, I'll wash your
car, I'll bring you coffee,I will run errands, I will reply
to emails, I will tweet foryou. Whatever it is you need done
that you don't like to do,I will do that for you if you

(55:44):
will just every once in a whilehave a conversation with me and tell me
what you've learned to know him.Just by being in proximity of that person,
Not only do I think that theywill learn about the industry in which
they want to get into and whatit takes to get into that industry and
just a more effective and efficient wayto enter that but they're also networking with
people, which I think is sokey, and learning, like you're saying,

(56:06):
learning to be that low person onthe total bowl. All at the
same time. Do you think that'sa stupid plan on my part um.
No, I think you know yourelectronics degree programs should be saluting you for
great brilliance. And where's my honorary, doctors Cleveland, where's my honorary?
A common sense parenting? I mean, like it's not just please go.

(56:28):
You do not have to kiss myass in any way, shape or form
that. Trust me. Everybody listeningwould love for you to tell me a
bit more. I've interns every summer, you can send them my way.
No, I mean this is like, you know, it's kind of you
know when you take it, youknow, let's step back a second.
All everything this process rewards is buildinglife skills like and and developing perspective and

(56:49):
getting that excitement. It's like,you want your kids to be able to
stand on their own feet, Sothey need skills, they need perspective,
they need passion, Like you gottajust equip them with all that and guess
what you do all that and I'llhelps them get into college. That's awesome,
That's incredible. All right, Sowe cover the job versus volunteer thing.
Is there anything in your mind thatwe didn't touch on in our chat
here today that you would like toshare with the people. I think one

(57:14):
other thing I would say is ifthere if their dad's out there listening up
kids in high school, is whenit gets time to apply. Because we've
kind of covered everything is give yourkids. Make sure your kids set aside
a ton of time to write theseessays, because that's the only way that
when when you submit an application,that's the only way they actually get to

(57:36):
know who you are, who yourkid is, and what matters to them
in that perspective and that passion andthose skills. So, um, I
think we've kind of covered from youknow, beginning to end this process,
and the end of this process reallyis this writing essays that show who your
kid is, what makes them excited. Um. You know in the app
we provide examples of good essays andbad essays. And I just think that

(57:59):
a lot of folks come, youknow, to my company senior year being
like we just kind of missed theboat thinking that we could just kind of
wing these essays. So it's notsomething if you know, your if your
kid can't even write in general rightnow, it's not something to worry about
for another you know, ten fifteenyears. But you know, in school
and I don't know if this wasyour experience just or not, but I

(58:22):
never once wrote an essay with theword I in it, like I like,
you know, apples or whatever.Yeah, it was never about you.
Is always about some piece of nonfictionor an interpretation of a piece of
fiction exactly, but your personal statementis an essay about you. So it's
this weird thing where you go throughouthigh school. You've analyzed the great gyats
Be, You've read maybe Hemmingway orGrapes of Wrath, You've read some of

(58:45):
the greatest works of fiction or nonfiction, and then you get to this point
in senior year, we're like,okay, tell me about yourself. And
it is a struggle for most highschool seniors, whether they're brilliant or not,
to actually ever because they've never beenasked to do that. So it
just kind of as a heads up, like you seem like a forward thinking
kind of guy. It's um,you know, maybe at some point you

(59:07):
put your kid in a creative writingclass at a community college at some point
in high school or an online class, because it's kind of painful when you're
like, how do I write aboutmyself? How do I sell myself?
No, that's that's solid. Imean, anybody listening to this, if
they've ever had to write a resume, like you're just like, uh,
like, there's something weird and offputting about like complimenting yourself. It seems

(59:28):
wildly parcissistic. And maybe it's justbecause I'm burdened with self loathing thought seats.
I don't know. Maybe I'm projectingonto everybody else around me. Great
this morning that the minimart upstairs onthis building has gone away, right,
yeah, you can tell that you'vejust relaxed. I could hear your butthole
unpucker. But no, I thinkAnd as a guy, as a comedian,

(59:54):
I've had to write like short biosabout myself and they always seem like
bullshit when I'm trying and to getover that little element of writer's block to
figure it out. And and Iwas a guy who was creating jokes for
a living, like that was howI pay taxes and my bills and all
of that stuff. But you askedme to write eight sentences about myself,
and remember, I can't do it, like it would lock me up.

(01:00:15):
And so to have also on topof that, because I remember part of
the comfort I would find in thesebios about myself that they're barely a paragraph.
Would be that nobody's going to readthis shit like I never but to
think that the essay is the thingthat could very well decide whether or not
you make it in or not putsthat added pressure, which I would imagine

(01:00:37):
intensifies that writer's block. So toget ahead of the curve and maybe start
writing drafts so that you could tweakit and to a point where you know,
you kind of feel pretty strongly aboutwhat it is and move forward with
that. I think is I thinkthat's a that's a hot tip. Yeah,
just you know, time and aplace for everything, and sometimes it
takes a little bit of guidance tokind of make the most of it and

(01:01:00):
to make sure that it actually fitswhat they're looking for. One last question
and then we will wrap up.Is I'm getting the vibe that this app
is not just for the parents,but it also could be used as with
as well by kids, And sois there an element like I, as
a parent would go sign up andsubscribe to it, right, and then

(01:01:21):
it gives and then my kid canalso log in to see information and then
I can kind of am I allowedto monitor their progress or is it just
one profile that walks the whole familythrough everything? How does it work?
So the cool thing about it isthat, so let's say dad downloads the
app. You can put your kid'sphone number in the app and it'll send
them a carbon copy of the adviceevery week. Or kid can download the

(01:01:44):
app and then send mom or dad. So we want families to be on
the same page, and we wantto kind of reduce the friction soum.
Most teens do not like being toldby mom and dad what to do,
so we figured like we could createa work around for that by having some
neutral, third party Switzerland app tellboth mom and dad and kid what to

(01:02:05):
do. No, I love it. It's because I call it cool Uncle
Loo syndrome, right that you couldsay the exact same thing that your app
is saying to your kid and yourkids like whatever, pops, what do
you know? But then it comesfrom Greg's mouth and all of a sudden,
it's the gospel, right, Likeit's like, no, but Greg
said that I should get a job. Dad. No, you, And
here's the God's out of truth.You have to just smile. And my

(01:02:29):
dad did this to me. Andit turned around my entire financial life.
I was in my early twenties,I just gotten married, I had appendicitis,
was hit was sixty five thousand dollarsworth of medical bills because we didn't
have insurance, and I just weeach had three jobs. My wife and
I went to my dad. Iwas like, this can't be a way
to live life. And he gaveme Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover, and

(01:02:50):
he said, here he goes,you should check out this book. He's
also got a radio show that youshould check out, and I started listening
to the podcast all the stuff right. Well, suddenly it turned my entire
financial life around. And then Iremember asked, like talking to my dad
about it with somebody else, somaybe he was even on this show.
And what he broke it down washe said, well, I knew if
I told you you wouldn't listen asmuch as if you got it from somebody

(01:03:12):
else. So it was just mostlyabout finding a book that's that said what
I wanted to tell you. Sothat's what this app could be for you,
moms and dads again. It's ArtistCollege dot com A R T I
S C O L L ege dotcom don't worry about writing it down because,
as with all things, it is. The link is in the description

(01:03:34):
of this episode and also another goodread to have even before you get the
app. To plan ahead, pickup the book Earning Admission Real Strategies for
Getting Into Highly Selective Colleges by misterGreig Kaplan. Greg, thank you so
much for the time as can Igive a Twitter or Instagram or Facebook page
to people too that they could comesay hi and check out. Yeah,

(01:03:55):
you can definitely check us out onInstagram. We're at Artists College app.
Oh great, perfect, all right, artist College app on Instagram. Again,
the link for that is in thedescription of this episode, and I
think that's it. So on behalfof the fantastically intellectual and former almost lawyer
Gray Caplan. This is justin worshipsaying, hug your kids, hump your

(01:04:15):
loved one, and stay frosty myfriends.