614: 13 Mistakes High School Students Make When Creating Their College List

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

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” want… to what you want
• The problem with rankings
• The importance of doing “future math”
• Why treating college as a one-year experiment can lower the stakes
• And more

Harlan Cohen is the New York Times bestselling author of The Naked Roommate: And 107 Other Issues You Might Run Into In College and six other titles (over 1 million copies in print). His social media accounts have over 1.5 million followers and he hosts a popular podcast. He is the founder of Best First Year, a college success coaching program for students and parents. Harlan lives in Chicago, Illinois with his wife and three children.

Harlan also has a wonderful college readiness and success program called Best First Year. His coaching guides parents and students from college search all the way through the first year on campus. You can use code CEG for a nice little discount.

We hope you enjoy.

Play-by-Play:

• 3:12 – Understanding the importance of college choices
• 5:54 – Mistake #1: Focus on being wanted
• 12:12 – Mistake #2: Start with rankings
• 16:45 – Mistake #3: Let scarcity and fear guide you.
• 19:56 – Mistake #4: Make this about the rest of your life.
• 23: 11 – Mistake #5: Don’t have a plan (SEPFA).
• 27:21 – Mistake #6: Expect instant access to clubs and activities.
• 34:01 – Mistake #7: Don’t look for merit aid and financial aid.
• 38:21 – Mistake #8: Don’t do future math.
• 41:26 – Mistake #9: Don’t talk to current students on campus.
• 44:02 – Mistake #10: Want to impress friends and family.
• 46:06 – Mistake #11: Don’t visit at the best time.
• 47:01 – Mistake #12: Follow friends and significant others to campus.
• 47:54 – Mistake #13: Assume everyone graduates (nope).
• 54:38 – What does Harlan hope students and families will keep in mind as they go through this process?

Resources:

• Harlan Cohen’s Best First Year (enter the code “CEG” for a discount)
• CEG Podcast Episode 207: 17 Things to Do Before Going to College
• CEG Podcast Episode 109: How to Figure Out Which School is Right for You
• CEG Podcast Episode 121: Which Schools Are the Most Generous With Financial Aid? (US Version)
• Murphyjitsu: an Inner Simulator algorithm
• College Essay Guy’s Personal Statement Resources
• College Essay Guy’s College Application Hub