Admissions Beat

Discovery is act one of every successful college search, and it should reveal as much about the searcher as about the places being explored. AB host and Dartmouth Dean Lee Coffin leads a “junior kickoff” deans panel that includes Elena Hicks from SMU and Karen Kristoff from Colorado College as well as college counselor Darryl Tiggle of Friends School of Baltimore. The quartet of admissions veterans offer advice and tips for juniors and parents about assessing personal interests and “non-negotiable” priorities that will frame the search; developing a list of college options that sync with those personal considerations; planning in-person or virtual visits to explore those places; and then assessing reactions as early ideas about college become more tangible. Dean Coffin advises, "You have to figure out who you are before you can figure out where you want to go." And when that happens, “You will discover your options with purpose.”