Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBS Costin's new radio.
Speaker 2: All right, this is our eighteenth annual college Admissions panel,
Speaker 2: and we're delighted to be joined once again by Bill Fitzsimmons,
Speaker 2: the Harvard College Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, and
Speaker 2: Grant Goslin, Dean of the undergraduate Admission and Financial Aid
Speaker 2: at Boston College. Now we have one hour down and
Speaker 2: we may, depending on the phone calls, go all the
Speaker 2: way till ten, but we shut it off no later
Speaker 2: at the ten o'clock. This is a busy season for
Speaker 2: both of these gentlemen. It is not easy for me
Speaker 2: to prevail upon Bill fitz Simmons, now in year eighteen,
Speaker 2: and Grant Goslin, who has been here. John Mahoney was
Speaker 2: the Boston College representative for many years, and Grant is
Speaker 2: now in John's position. John has moved on and retired
Speaker 2: actually from Boston College. So we're going to get to
Speaker 2: phone calls, and I'm going to ask you to keep
Speaker 2: you your questions regarding college admissions. I have many questions,
Speaker 2: but I'd love to give as many folks an opportunity
Speaker 2: to jump in with their questions. So let us without
Speaker 2: any further ado, let me go to Kathy and Exeter,
Speaker 2: New Hampshire. Kathy, you a first this Hour with Bill
Speaker 2: Fitzimmons of Harvard and Grant Goslin of Boston College. What's
Speaker 2: your question of comment.
Speaker 3: Kathy, Hi, I have a couple quick questions. I think
Speaker 3: a lot of people would love to hear the answer
Speaker 3: to number one. How has this common apt and the
Speaker 3: fact that everyone can just click a button and apply
Speaker 3: to a crazy number of colleges changed it for everyone?
Speaker 3: I mean, you've obviously got just top kids applying to you,
Speaker 3: but with all these schools, everyone I know's kid is
Speaker 3: applying to like ten fifteen schools and getting into many
Speaker 3: of them, which has got to skew everything for those
Speaker 3: poor kids who maybe didn't you know, do as well
Speaker 3: freshman year. Yes, I've got that trajectory. They will make
Speaker 3: great college students, but now they just can't get in,
Speaker 3: Like what has the common life? And you know, I
Speaker 3: even know if you who have kids that are amazing
Speaker 3: candidates know they're going to get into top schools and
Speaker 3: still apply to fifteen because some of it. Oh, I
Speaker 3: wanted to turn that one down, and I'm like, whoa
Speaker 3: you are really messing with other kids opportunities.
Speaker 2: Quality of a quantity is your question. Grant. Let's let's
Speaker 2: start with you on this one, if you don't.
Speaker 4: Mind, well, Kathy, thanks so much for your question. I
Speaker 4: grew up nine miles from Exeter in Southampton, New Hampshire,
Speaker 4: so it's nice to have a seacoaster on a call.
Speaker 4: You know this. You know, things have really changed, as
Speaker 4: you mentioned, the Common Application has you know, maybe had
Speaker 4: some unintended outcomes. You know, was designed many years ago
Speaker 4: to make the process of applying to college simpler. When
Speaker 4: I applied to college in the early nineteen nineties, I
Speaker 4: did that on a on a typewriter and you know,
Speaker 4: applied to six colleges. I remember, you know, the I'm
Speaker 4: not familiar exactly. I remember the University of New Hampshire's
Speaker 4: application was blue and I made a mistake and I
Speaker 4: had white out on a blue application. So there was
Speaker 4: stress back then as well. But you know, when the
Speaker 4: Internet really took off, I think that's when the common
Speaker 4: app really took off and student behavior did as well.
Speaker 4: And you know, in the mid nineteen nineties, students were
Speaker 4: applying to about six colleges on average, depending on the
Speaker 4: survey today, students are applying to somewhere between ten and
Speaker 4: twelve colleges on average, and I think, Kathy, you're right
Speaker 4: that students are sometimes not going about this process in
Speaker 4: a thoughtful way. It's more throwing, you know, as much
Speaker 4: as they gan against the wall and seeing what sticks,
Speaker 4: Whereas if they had really been a lot a bit
Speaker 4: more discerning earlier in the process to think about the
Speaker 4: types of colleges in which they would best thrive, the
Speaker 4: opportunities that they might be looking for, they might not
Speaker 4: be applying to some of the schools that they have
Speaker 4: if they really did term and that, you know, an
Speaker 4: urban school might be a better match than a more
Speaker 4: of a suburban campus, or a small school rather than
Speaker 4: a larger school.
Speaker 1: Those are the.
Speaker 4: Types of things that students ought to be doing, and
Speaker 4: I think many school counselors are working hard to try
Speaker 4: to give students the information they need to make informed choices.
Speaker 4: But we often hear from students that apply to twelve
Speaker 4: schools and then they get into ten and they think
Speaker 4: that it's going to help them narrow down their choices,
Speaker 4: but then they find themselves in early April with ten
Speaker 4: options and in less than a month to make a decision,
Speaker 4: and it's really delaying the process. So we encourage students to,
Speaker 4: you know, if you've got you know, high school students,
Speaker 4: to get them, you know, on a few college campuses,
Speaker 4: you know, maybe in the second half of tenth grade
Speaker 4: or the summer before eleventh grade, and really trying to
Speaker 4: begin this journey of figuring out where they might feel
Speaker 4: most comfortable and that may help them be a little
Speaker 4: more focused down the road.
Speaker 2: Bill fit Simmons every year saw So it seems around
Speaker 2: April second or third, I'll be watching some network television
Speaker 2: show and they will have on some student who applied
Speaker 2: to you know, I don't know, twenty nine colleges and
Speaker 2: was a shifted to all of them, every Ivy League school,
Speaker 2: et cetera, et cetera, and it's celebrated, and all of
Speaker 2: a sudden that student has to pick one out of
Speaker 2: twenty nine or one out of nineteen, which seems to
Speaker 2: me to be crazy. Your observations on this issue as well.
Speaker 5: We were the first of our kind as an institution
Speaker 5: to be a part of the common app and was
Speaker 5: right around the time Grant was applying to college in
Speaker 5: the in the mid nineties, and I guess I would.
Speaker 5: There was certainly our abuses and crazy things that happened,
Speaker 5: but I'll just make it really personal as a first
Speaker 5: generation college student who was trying to help out at home,
Speaker 5: work in the gas station, and the comedians tour across
Speaker 5: the street, go to college, go to high school, and
Speaker 5: try to put pay for college, play ice hockey at
Speaker 5: a high enough level maybe to be recruited. Lots of
Speaker 5: different things going on, and my parents had not gone
Speaker 5: to college, so couldn't really give the advice on what
Speaker 5: to do. A thing like the Common App would have
Speaker 5: been a real blessing because the whole idea was that
Speaker 5: you could do this well and do it once. And
Speaker 5: you know, as oppose, you know, on the other side
Speaker 5: of the tracks, there were people whose families knew how
Speaker 5: to play this game, and many cases perhaps had professional
Speaker 5: help and you know, putting putting the app together, and
Speaker 5: all those kinds of things, you know, the idea of
Speaker 5: I think the Common App has done a great deal
Speaker 5: to democratize access to colleges like Harvard and Boston College,
Speaker 5: because you know, let's say, you might not have even
Speaker 5: you know, just given how hard it was to apply
Speaker 5: to colleges in those days you might have been able
Speaker 5: to get into b C or M I T or
Speaker 5: you know, Stanford or whatever. But you said it's such
Speaker 5: a long shot. I won't, you know, I won't go
Speaker 5: through the trouble with a common app. You can give
Speaker 5: it a run and and sort of see what happens.
Speaker 5: So for all the abuses of having you know somebody,
Speaker 5: uh really, you know, you use it to the to
Speaker 5: the extreme negativity sometimes, I think, and that you see
Speaker 5: out shown in the press. I think it helps way
Speaker 5: way more people than it hurts. And I think it's
Speaker 5: done a lot to democratize access to higher education.
Speaker 2: All right, to two very different points of view, perhaps, Kathy,
Speaker 2: great question.
Speaker 3: Great, thank you so much.
Speaker 5: Help Cappy, it does.
Speaker 3: I guess I still just know so many you know
Speaker 3: kids who are they're using it, Like you said, you
Speaker 3: hear the people the twenty nine on this show. It's
Speaker 3: like it's a contest and it's really hurting that three.
Speaker 5: That's crazy, isn't It doesn't help anybody?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I might have overstated that. I think the biggest
Speaker 2: one of them was seen was like fifteen, So I
Speaker 2: might have I might have overstated that.
Speaker 3: How many kids in this age were arrange and all
Speaker 3: of them are applying to over ten and I just
Speaker 3: think it's hurting the kids. Who are you know, I
Speaker 3: have a student who didn't do so well freshman year,
Speaker 3: and that's really coming, you know, to get back at
Speaker 3: them now. And you know, I don't want to comment
Speaker 3: on that, like that projection. Obviously they're not going to
Speaker 3: be able to apply to BC or Harvard. But you
Speaker 3: know a kid who right now has a three eight,
Speaker 3: who freshman year had a two eight. What those kids are?
Speaker 3: You know, you're trying to compete with these you know,
Speaker 3: outstanding four point whatever is applying to you know, twelve
Speaker 3: schools and taking what appears what could have been spots
Speaker 3: for you know, other learners and performers. But anyway, I appreciate, Well, look,
Speaker 3: thank you for the question.
Speaker 2: It was a really good question.
Speaker 5: We've got to take a break Bankabby, all right, that
Speaker 5: was one.
Speaker 2: That's one off my list. Now we'll take a quick
Speaker 2: break back with Bill Fitzsimmons of Harvard and Grant Goslin
Speaker 2: of Boston College. They both are in charge of the
Speaker 2: undergraduate UH admissions programs at these two just incredible universities,
Speaker 2: and there are so many universities, and at some point, gentlemen,
Speaker 2: I do want to talk about picking the best university
Speaker 2: for every student. It is not as if the best
Speaker 2: university for every student is Harvard or is BC, but
Speaker 2: there are lots of great universities around the country. If
Speaker 2: you'd like to join the conversation one line at six
Speaker 2: one seven, two, five, four to ten thirty, love to
Speaker 2: hear from some students. That's what I'm We always do this.
Speaker 2: We'll always hear from a couple of students, will have
Speaker 2: the courage to call, or six one seven, nine three
Speaker 2: one ten thirty. Back on Night Side right after this.
Speaker 2: This is our eighteenth annual College Admissions Program Panel.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Way live from the Window World
Speaker 1: Life Side Studios on WBZ News.
Speaker 2: Radio, back with our very special guest Bill, Bill Fitzimmons,
Speaker 2: Grant Goslin. They are the admissions deans at respectively Hardard
Speaker 2: and Boston College. Grit you told us that you'd have
Speaker 2: about thirty thousand applicants, thirty five thousand applicants for twenty
Speaker 2: four hundred seats. I'm not good at math anymore, but
Speaker 2: I think it's about a five or six percent acceptance rate,
Speaker 2: or that's that's very competitive.
Speaker 4: It is, you know, and you know, the myth out
Speaker 4: there is that you just do that math and you
Speaker 4: find the acceptance rate. The reality is most institutions are
Speaker 4: admitting more students than they have room for. As these students,
Speaker 4: you know, as Kathy mentioned in the previous call, we'll
Speaker 4: have multiple options from which to choose. But last year
Speaker 4: we admitted about sixteen percent of the students that applied
Speaker 4: for admission. So it is a competitive process, a highly
Speaker 4: competitive process, not quite at the level my good friend
Speaker 4: Bill at Harvard enjoys, but you know, it is also
Speaker 4: something that you know, we struggle with. You know, I
Speaker 4: think the hardest part of working in highly selective admission
Speaker 4: is entering each cycle knowing that we're going to need
Speaker 4: to disappoint some very deserving students. And we are human
Speaker 4: beings that work in these roles. We care deeply about
Speaker 4: young people and helping them achieve their goals. And you know, selectivity,
Speaker 4: you know, helps the college I think, feel good and
Speaker 4: be popular, certainly, but there is a reality to the
Speaker 4: fact that we are working with seventeen year olds that
Speaker 4: are you know, working through this process, and we don't
Speaker 4: take that responsibility lightly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think that those acceptance rates are it's
Speaker 2: interesting to point that out. People maybe have more of
Speaker 2: a chance than they might believe, particularly if there are
Speaker 2: people out there who are applying to large numbers and
Speaker 2: they get accepted to five, six, seven, eight, ten, twelve colleges,
Speaker 2: they can only go to one, so they might their
Speaker 2: acceptance rate of the acceptances that received might be in
Speaker 2: the in the single digits. Aid as well, let's keep
Speaker 2: rolling here, going to keep Next up is Scott in Quincy. Scott,
Speaker 2: you're next on Nightside with Bill Fitzimmons of Harvard Green
Speaker 2: Boston of Boston College. Go ahead, Scott.
Speaker 6: Well, great show, Dan, gentlemen, I would imagine that you
Speaker 6: guys have a wide professional network of college admitters. And
Speaker 6: my question to you is this is should the United
Speaker 6: States Armed Services votccational Aptitude battery tests be a mandatory
Speaker 6: requirement for college entrance and presentation of proof that students
Speaker 6: are registered for selective service and extra admission points be
Speaker 6: given to students agree to participate in ROTC and other
Speaker 6: similar programs. Given the geopolitical.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let me do this, Scott. We're waiting into some
Speaker 2: political waters there which I'm not comfortable with and if
Speaker 2: my guests are not comfortable with them, I don't think
Speaker 2: that either of them are in a position, in my opinion,
Speaker 2: to answer that on behalf of the universities. Gentlemen, any
Speaker 2: of those questions one, did you feel pertinent to tonight's conversation?
Speaker 5: I actually I would like to dive into this a
Speaker 5: little bit because it's very important to us. Especially over
Speaker 5: the past five six seven years, we have increased our
Speaker 5: recruitment of veterans for undergraduate admission at Harvard greatly. So
Speaker 5: it wasn't too many years ago we might have only
Speaker 5: one or two veterans a year coming into the first
Speaker 5: year undergraduate class. In recent classes, we've been averaging over
Speaker 5: twenty veterans, and we've done all kinds of recruiting and've
Speaker 5: been involved in various organizations to get that done. So
Speaker 5: we're very, very pleased to see that. The obviously, at
Speaker 5: the graduate level at Harvard there are many, many more veterans,
Speaker 5: and that's a whole other story. Our OTC is another
Speaker 5: piece where we have increased our recruitment and gotten the
Speaker 5: word out. We hope that we are interested in having
Speaker 5: more and more people come to Harvard who are interested
Speaker 5: in ROTC, and so we've been recent years been averaging
Speaker 5: over forty a year of students either with an ROTC
Speaker 5: letter directly coming out of high school or a strong
Speaker 5: interest that could then turn into a a sort of
Speaker 5: an experience in ROTC at Harvard. So these are big
Speaker 5: priorities for us, and we've made enormous progress just in
Speaker 5: the past four or five, six, seven years.
Speaker 2: I think that there was a period of time, I'm
Speaker 2: bill if I'm not mistaken, where r OTC members at Harvard.
Speaker 2: Harvard for some period of time did not want ROTC
Speaker 2: on campus, and I think that might be where Scott's
Speaker 2: question comes from. And it's good to know that maybe
Speaker 2: policies and philosophies have changed. I know that Congressman Seth
Speaker 2: Moulton was a graduate of Harvard, and I.
Speaker 5: Believe that absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2: TC student and went on to have several tours of
Speaker 2: duty in Iraq, and I believe both Iraq and Afghanistan,
Speaker 2: and was an aid to then General David Petraeus. Has
Speaker 2: there been a change? Am I correct in recalling that
Speaker 2: there was a time where the rot students at Harvard
Speaker 2: actually had to participate in r OTC through on the
Speaker 2: MIT campus or am I incorrect.
Speaker 5: In that I don't want to put no, you're you're correct,
Speaker 5: and just going back to my era, and uh, you
Speaker 5: know they were Rotzi of all kinds was available at
Speaker 5: Harvard and for undergraduates. And one of my mates was
Speaker 5: Navy ROTZI and served in their rick Over nuclear power
Speaker 5: program on the subs nuclear subs for about five or
Speaker 5: six years after college. Another one was in Air Force ROTZI.
Speaker 5: But then ROTZI has discontinued for many years at Harvard
Speaker 5: and then brought back relatively recently. And we have done
Speaker 5: everything in our power to get the word out that
Speaker 5: Rotzi has been back for a while and that we
Speaker 5: are really interested in getting more students, you know, we're
Speaker 5: interested in Rotzi to come to Harvard the classes they
Speaker 5: actually take r at MIT when that still remains the
Speaker 5: case because there are limited numbers of opportunities around the country,
Speaker 5: you know, for for these programs. But it's really been
Speaker 5: amazing when you look at Harvard's military record, because it's
Speaker 5: the oldest university in America and you would expect this,
Speaker 5: but we have contributed more of our graduates to all
Speaker 5: the different wars America has been involved in for all
Speaker 5: these years. It's a great track record, and at this time,
Speaker 5: I think when the world is even shall we say less,
Speaker 5: a certain place where the importance of having a strong
Speaker 5: military is I think greater than ever. I'm delighted to
Speaker 5: see you Harvard's progress that's been made here over the
Speaker 5: past five or six or seven years, and so the
Speaker 5: word is out. I hope that if you're a veteran
Speaker 5: or a person interested in Razzi, I hope you would
Speaker 5: consider Harvard.
Speaker 2: And of course we don't have to go back too
Speaker 2: many presidencies to think of John Kennedy, who true believe
Speaker 2: that he was a member of the ROTC at Harvard,
Speaker 2: but he certainly was a hero World War Two and
Speaker 2: went on to become the thirty fifth President of the
Speaker 2: United States. Also assume building just like the military, the
Speaker 2: Rozzi Corps of today, the Rozzi participants r O T
Speaker 2: C RETIP participants at Harvard would be of either male
Speaker 2: in or female.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, yeah, exactly. It's a whole whole, whole different thing,
Speaker 5: much much better.
Speaker 2: Gotcha. Okay, Scott, good question, and I thank you for
Speaker 2: raising it. I wasn't sure do you want to weigh
Speaker 2: in at all? Grant does does b C have an
Speaker 2: R O T C program or are they concerned about
Speaker 2: you know, people who maybe left high school joined the
Speaker 2: military and uh and we're applying to college later. Is
Speaker 2: that a factor at BC?
Speaker 4: Yes, Dan Scott, thanks for the question as well. Just
Speaker 4: like Bill said that, you know, Boston College is also
Speaker 4: really trying to increase our enrollment of veterans. At Boston College,
Speaker 4: we are members of an organization on a service to
Speaker 4: school that works with vets and their re entry. Many
Speaker 4: of them might start at a community college and then
Speaker 4: might be looking to transfer into a four year bachelor's
Speaker 4: degree and their scholarship opportunities where members of the Yellow
Speaker 4: Ribbon program that I'm sure Harvard is as well. One
Speaker 4: of the challenges that we have with veterans is around housing,
Speaker 4: right as many of these veterans have families and might
Speaker 4: not be looking to live on campus in a traditional environment,
Speaker 4: and so there are opportunities not just through the residential program,
Speaker 4: but through the Woods College of Advancing Studies, which is
Speaker 4: our Nights and Evening program, where many of our vets
Speaker 4: are really successful balancing their re entry to civilian life
Speaker 4: in the workforce as well as earning their degrees. And
Speaker 4: we do also have RTC on campus in conjunction with
Speaker 4: Northeastern University, so as Harvard is working with their classes
Speaker 4: at MIT, our students are taking their classes with Northeastern.
Speaker 4: But it definitely provides it's a nice pathway for students
Speaker 4: that might be thinking about service down the road.
Speaker 2: Great, Okay, Scott, appreciate the question starting it kicked off
Speaker 2: a good conversation. Thank you, sir.
Speaker 6: All Right, Dan, have a good night and great show.
Speaker 2: Thank you, sir. Appreciate. Take quick break nine thirty news
Speaker 2: about a minute late. I'll tell you I've got a
Speaker 2: couple of open lines if you'd like to get in,
Speaker 2: and if there are students out there listening, you're missing
Speaker 2: a great opportunity. Six one. Every year we've had two
Speaker 2: or three students, so I'll be disappointed if we don't
Speaker 2: have a couple of high school students participate. Summon up
Speaker 2: the courage and ask whatever question you would like. I
Speaker 2: have plenty of questions, but the more important ones are
Speaker 2: those for people who are just approaching the process. And
Speaker 2: whether you're a parent or a grandparent very important as well.
Speaker 2: Six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty six one seven,
Speaker 2: nine three one ten thirty this is the night Side.
Speaker 2: My name is Dan Ray. My guests from Boston College
Speaker 2: Grant Goslin, the Dean of Undergraduate Admission and Financial Aid,
Speaker 2: and from Harvard College, Bill Fitzsimmons, the Dean of the
Speaker 2: Harvard College. Harvard College Zene of Admissions plural and Financial Aid.
Speaker 2: Little bit of a difference in the title, but not
Speaker 2: even much. Not even need to discuss in one plural
Speaker 2: one singular titles of important though. We'll be back at Night's.
Speaker 2: I join us right after this. According to an NIH
Speaker 2: recent study, by age sixty five, many Americans have lost
Speaker 2: at least six permanent teeth that can lead to chewing, digestion,
Speaker 2: and self esteem problems. Dental implants are now the gold
Speaker 2: standard for treating missing and compromised teeth. I am delighted
Speaker 2: to endorse new arts by doctor Sal Dental Implant Center.
Speaker 2: Now I make it very clear, I've never had a
Speaker 2: dental implant, but I know if I needed one, he's
Speaker 2: the man I'll see. Doctor Sal, a distinguished Boston University
Speaker 2: Dental School graduate, skillfully combines all the stages of dental
Speaker 2: implant treatment for your convenience and to achieve long lasting
Speaker 2: results for you. So to learn. If you are a
Speaker 2: candidate for dental implants, visit doctor Sal and a Aceland
Speaker 2: office centrally located in MetroWest near framing Him Route one
Speaker 2: twenty eight four ninety five Route nine. He will listen
Speaker 2: to you. Doctor Sal will listen to you and he
Speaker 2: will craft the best way to treat you. He will
Speaker 2: walk you through the process, just as he did with me.
Speaker 2: I went out and sat in the chair. He explained
Speaker 2: on a screen so that I had a clear picture
Speaker 2: of every step of the way. And I'm telling you
Speaker 2: I would feel very confident, and I know you would too,
Speaker 2: about the procedure before you start. Now to schedule a
Speaker 2: consultation with doctor Sal. There his team called five zero
Speaker 2: eight eight eight one twelve ninety. That's five zero eight
Speaker 2: eight eight one twelve ninety. Remember New Arches, New England's
Speaker 2: choice to chew and smile with confidence. Great guy, he's
Speaker 2: a miracle worker. Make sure he shows you the before
Speaker 2: and after wall. People who went in there with like
Speaker 2: I mean when I say a handful of teeth or
Speaker 2: he may be as few as four or five. He's
Speaker 2: able to get they want walk out with a Hollywood
Speaker 2: handsome smile. It's an amazing process. He does it so well.
Speaker 2: New watch by Doctor sells New England's choice to chew
Speaker 2: and Smile with distinction. Five O Way five zero eight
Speaker 2: eight eight one, twelve ninety. That's the number. Five zero
Speaker 2: eight eight eight one, twelve ninety. You won't regret it.
Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Well, we have our first high school student tonight, for
Speaker 2: which I am thrilled, and his name is Riley and
Speaker 2: he's from the state of Virginia. Riley, appreciate you listening
Speaker 2: to the Night Side. You're on with Bill Fitzimmons of
Speaker 2: Harvard and Grant Goslin of Boston College. How are you tonight, Riley? Hi?
Speaker 7: Am good.
Speaker 8: How are you?
Speaker 2: I'm great? Are you a regular listener or did someone
Speaker 2: tell you, hey, there's a good show to listen to
Speaker 2: tonight in Boston.
Speaker 8: My mom's from Boston and she had the show on
Speaker 8: and she just let me know about it.
Speaker 2: So I've been knowing what you are you and are
Speaker 2: you still in high school?
Speaker 8: Yes, I'm a senior in high school.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, whatever your question is for Bill, Bill
Speaker 2: Fitzimmons or Great Goslin, you go right ahead, Riley.
Speaker 8: Okay, so obviously I'm an out of state student, but
Speaker 8: my mom went to school in Boston and she loved it,
Speaker 8: and I've loved the Boston schools, and I'm super interested
Speaker 8: in both schools, and obviously they're both super competitive. So
Speaker 8: I was wondering other than the essays. I know that
Speaker 8: the common app essay is important, but I didn't know
Speaker 8: if there's another way to stand out.
Speaker 2: That's a great question, and I think you're going to
Speaker 2: get a great answer for both of these gentlemen who
Speaker 2: would like to take this one for us. Grant you
Speaker 2: want to lead us off.
Speaker 4: Sure thing, Riley, thanks so much for your question and
Speaker 4: for calling in, and I'm glad to hear that you're
Speaker 4: looking north at potential options for college. You know, I
Speaker 4: think when students go through this process, we often will
Speaker 4: hear from them that you know they're they're looking to
Speaker 4: stand out. And I think the best way, very honestly,
Speaker 4: is to be yourself in this process, to let us
Speaker 4: know the things that you value in your life thus far,
Speaker 4: the things that you're looking for in an institution like ours.
Speaker 4: Boston College gives students the opportunity, in addition to the
Speaker 4: common application essays to respond to one of four supplemental
Speaker 4: prompts that are very much tied to our values as
Speaker 4: an institution, our mission as a Jesuit Catholic university, and
Speaker 4: those questions for us are probably the most enlightening part
Speaker 4: of the application in many instances, because you can't fill
Speaker 4: out the responses to our questions and have them make
Speaker 4: sense at other institutions, so you really have to do
Speaker 4: your homework. They do require some discernment upfront, but don't
Speaker 4: try to be something that you're not. I think oftentimes
Speaker 4: students might visit BC and they learn about the fact
Speaker 4: that we're a Jesuit university and we value UH, you know,
Speaker 4: students that look to use their education for the greater
Speaker 4: good and want to be involved in service UH, and
Speaker 4: many of our students do that. That doesn't mean that
Speaker 4: we're only looking for students that have been involved with
Speaker 4: certain service in high school, right. We are looking to
Speaker 4: bring together a class with a wide range of backgrounds
Speaker 4: and talents. So I if doing service has been part
Speaker 4: of your identity, then then tell us all about it.
Speaker 4: But don't go out and join a service club this
Speaker 4: this fall just because you think it will look good
Speaker 4: on a college essay, college application. Tell us the things
Speaker 4: that you do, uh, and trust that we're going to
Speaker 4: be looking to take those talents that you have and
Speaker 4: and see how they might fit into a greater class
Speaker 4: of students from around the country and throughout the world.
Speaker 2: Than rarely. Don't go away. You got to talk to
Speaker 2: from Harvard too, Bill fit Simmons. I know that you
Speaker 2: have talked about this before on this program in the
Speaker 2: context of kids who go off on a one week
Speaker 2: trip to build a house in Columbia or whatever, while
Speaker 2: at the same time there are great opportunities for service
Speaker 2: in their own community. You folks are not impressed. I
Speaker 2: think that the I don't know the distinction of going
Speaker 2: five thousand miles from home to spend a week building something.
Speaker 2: I think the novelty of that maybe has worn off.
Speaker 2: Or am I did I misread you? No?
Speaker 5: I think you bring an important point to the right
Speaker 5: out for people to consider. I mean, not everyone can afford,
Speaker 5: of course, to travel hundreds of thousands of miles, you know,
Speaker 5: to do such a project. Now there are people who
Speaker 5: can afford it and who do it for all the
Speaker 5: right reasons. We're in a great deal and are better
Speaker 5: for it, but there are also ways to help out.
Speaker 5: Write in your own family, right your own neighborhood, right
Speaker 5: in your own community, your own high school. You know
Speaker 5: things closer to home that that you could make a
Speaker 5: real difference. So, Riley, you've already told us kind of
Speaker 5: an interesting story. You've got a mother who went to
Speaker 5: school in Boston. You know something about Boston from her.
Speaker 5: You know about Virginia, I mean your region of the
Speaker 5: country we call mid Atlantic at an area where I've
Speaker 5: traveled to quite a bit in my recruiting along. I
Speaker 5: have one recruiting group Georgetown, Penn, Duke, and Stanford. I've
Speaker 5: got another one Yale, Princeton and UVA and a whole
Speaker 5: bunch of different I won't go through our travel groups,
Speaker 5: but we we hit your area very hard and we
Speaker 5: get some really wonderful students that it sounds to me
Speaker 5: as though you in some ways have kind of a
Speaker 5: special story to tell. And you can tell up through
Speaker 5: your common application essay, of course, and as Grant said,
Speaker 5: you can also tell up through our supplementary questions, and
Speaker 5: we have five of them, including one where we try
Speaker 5: to ask you to think about it. Was there a
Speaker 5: time you and someone else disagreed strongly about a particular issue,
Speaker 5: and how did you talk about it, How did you
Speaker 5: resolve your differences? And what did you go what did
Speaker 5: you learn from that? It's one of the issues that
Speaker 5: we're trying to get people to think about. To be
Speaker 5: able to talk about difference, you know, we've got to
Speaker 5: give free speech and intellectual vitality I think are very
Speaker 5: very important, and I think in a world that is
Speaker 5: complex and requires, I think compromise on everyone's part. How
Speaker 5: can you you know? How will you perhaps mean? One
Speaker 5: of our five questions has to do with what kind
Speaker 5: of a roommate will you be? It's the last of
Speaker 5: our five questions. We ask you about the future, We
Speaker 5: ask you about your your extracurricular stuff and community stuff.
Speaker 5: But the reality is you have a unique story to
Speaker 5: tell about who you are and why you might be
Speaker 5: interested in going to college in the Boston area. So
Speaker 5: they always say, right about something you care about and
Speaker 5: something you know about, And it sounds to me as
Speaker 5: though you have both. And so you can tell this
Speaker 5: story and you'll be able to make your case about
Speaker 5: how you can how you might be a person who
Speaker 5: could make a real difference to others during your time
Speaker 5: at BC or at Harvard and maybe make a real
Speaker 5: difference to the world later.
Speaker 2: Rollie, you got some great suggestions. We had a student
Speaker 2: a couple of years ago, more than a couple of
Speaker 2: years ago, been seven or eight years ago, Bill Fitzimmons.
Speaker 2: You might remember her dad called in and said that
Speaker 2: she had had a rough sophomore year, but her grades
Speaker 2: and the other years were pretty john good. And I
Speaker 2: think it was you, Bill who had the the insight
Speaker 2: to ask, well, what caused the drop? And her mom
Speaker 2: had died during that year. And the point that you made,
Speaker 2: and I hope you remember it, Bill, was that that
Speaker 2: was a great topic for her to talk about the
Speaker 2: terrible loss, but you know how she was able to,
Speaker 2: you know, bounce back in her junior and senior year.
Speaker 2: So everyone has a story, they just have to dig
Speaker 2: down and figure out what that story is, and hers
Speaker 2: was a very appealing story. I hope you recall this conversation. Oh,
Speaker 2: I do.
Speaker 5: And you know there have been COVID has created so
Speaker 5: many tragic stories within families and within communities as well.
Speaker 5: I don't think the country has come close to recovering
Speaker 5: from COVID yet, and the young people whose talents were
Speaker 5: not as well developed during that time. But nor your
Speaker 5: memory is as always dan perfect And that's I mean.
Speaker 5: And I will just say myself. You know, as I
Speaker 5: was going through high school, middle school especially, there were
Speaker 5: some issues and perhaps I was also spending a little
Speaker 5: bit too much time playing ice hockey. But you know,
Speaker 5: whatever the reasons, I ended up not doing as well
Speaker 5: as I had hoped in my first ninth grade. So
Speaker 5: I'm now an expert in ninth grade. So I was
Speaker 5: very lucky enough to be able to repeat the ninth
Speaker 5: grade at Archbishop Williams and Braintree. Uh And that made
Speaker 5: an enormous difference in my life. I had a chance
Speaker 5: to start over and and and you know, there was
Speaker 5: a story there, and I think again, you've got to
Speaker 5: tell your own story and and create in your in
Speaker 5: your truth, I think will win out in the ends.
Speaker 2: Rolly, great call. Thanks for having the courage to call
Speaker 2: uh I boy. I'll tell you if I was in
Speaker 2: a missions director at any school in the country, someone
Speaker 2: who had the courage to do what you did tonight.
Speaker 2: And you're awfully well spoken. You are very very well spoken.
Speaker 2: I suspect you're going to be a strong candidate wherever
Speaker 2: you apply. Thank you so much, Thank.
Speaker 8: You very much. Thank you for all the advice. I'm
Speaker 8: looking forward to telling my story about becoming a Navy nurse.
Speaker 8: The advice on Rossy was super helpful too well.
Speaker 5: Sound good. Let us know if you apply.
Speaker 8: All right, I'd like to hear Riley good night.
Speaker 2: We'll take a very quick break, coming right back. Got
Speaker 2: a couple more calls we're going to get to. I
Speaker 2: think tonight's been one of our better shows. We've had
Speaker 2: a lot of good ones over the years, and I
Speaker 2: think we're going to finish strong tonight in the final
Speaker 2: ten minutes. Coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray Mine from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Let's keep rolling here. I got three callers, going to
Speaker 2: try to get them all in. Let me go to
Speaker 2: Jovanna in Newburyport. Jovannah next on Night's Side with Grant
Speaker 2: Goslin and Bill Fitzimmons. Go right ahead, Jovanna. Hi.
Speaker 7: My mom actually called earlier Joy Moy and she recommended
Speaker 7: I come and ask my question.
Speaker 2: Are you a student?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I'm a junior in high school right now. I
Speaker 7: go to from Long Island, but I go to a
Speaker 7: boarding school up in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: Okay, go right ahead. We're just really tied on time,
Speaker 2: So whatever you I wish you had called earlier, but
Speaker 2: we'll get you. We'll get your question in. Go ahead.
Speaker 7: Yeah. So, like my mom said, she had a lot
Speaker 7: of opportunities at BC and now going to the college process,
Speaker 7: I was wondering how many colleges should I be applying to,
Speaker 7: because I know when she was, you know, a senior
Speaker 7: in high school, she applied to six or seven. But
Speaker 7: now I'm hearing from outside sources that it should be
Speaker 7: more than twelve, maybe fifteen. What do you recommend?
Speaker 2: How many?
Speaker 7: How many do you think I've applied to to get
Speaker 7: the best opportunity.
Speaker 2: Let the experts recommend, but I think you pick four
Speaker 2: or five and good and good ones that you would
Speaker 2: intend to go to. Don't don't, don't look at it
Speaker 2: as an Olympic competition. Go ahead, Grant or Bill, whichever
Speaker 2: would like to take that, go get them.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, Jovanna, I don't think there's a real
Speaker 4: easy answer to this question. I think the first piece
Speaker 4: of this is to take a careful look at the
Speaker 4: list of schools that you have and do an honest
Speaker 4: assessment about the selectivity of those institutions. If you're applying
Speaker 4: only to schools that have single digit admit rates, that
Speaker 4: might be a challenge for you down the road if
Speaker 4: things don't work out of those schools. I think if
Speaker 4: you have a balanced list and you're certainly reaching for
Speaker 4: some schools that it might be aspirational or you know,
Speaker 4: might be a bit of a reach. Or also having
Speaker 4: some schools that are pretty you're pretty confident you'll earn
Speaker 4: admission to and some you're absolutely sure that's going to
Speaker 4: be an option. I think that's going to take some
Speaker 4: of the pressure off from feeling the need to apply
Speaker 4: to fifteen colleges. I think a well designed college search
Speaker 4: doesn't have to include that many. You know, and the
Speaker 4: reality is that the average admit rate into a four
Speaker 4: year degree program in the United States is about seventy percent.
Speaker 4: And here in the Northeast we have so many really
Speaker 4: strong schools that have very selective admission processes that sometimes
Speaker 4: you can become a little disillusioned at the college process,
Speaker 4: thinking that it's impossible to earn admission. So my advice is,
Speaker 4: have a well balanced list and you can get away
Speaker 4: with applying to a smaller.
Speaker 2: Number, Billy, any other information I suggest you like that?
Speaker 5: Well, I thought Grant summed it up beautifully.
Speaker 2: All right, thank you, Jovanna A good question and best
Speaker 2: of luck.
Speaker 7: Okay, thank you so much, thank you, thank.
Speaker 2: You very much. So we go to Paul in Plymouth. Paul,
Speaker 2: you gotta be quick for me. I got one other
Speaker 2: caller as well.
Speaker 9: Go ahead, Paul, Hi, gentlemen. I just wanted to thank
Speaker 9: mister Goslin because back in the eighties, I got out
Speaker 9: of the service out of the coast and I went
Speaker 9: to Massasoyt and I applied to After getting out of there,
Speaker 9: I applied to ec U, mass Amherst and Bridge Rawer.
Speaker 9: I got kept it at all three. Ec offered me
Speaker 9: a wonderful whole scholarship and this and that and uh,
Speaker 9: but I couldn't afford to live on campus. They had
Speaker 9: no on campus housing at the time, so I ended
Speaker 9: up going to UMass. I had a great experience out there,
Speaker 9: but I never sent a thank you note to BC.
Speaker 9: So it's a long related thank you, and I appreciate
Speaker 9: that it was a nice thing for folks to do.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 9: Thank yeah, thank.
Speaker 2: You, thank you for your service and thank you for
Speaker 2: being a gentleman. Thanks, Paul, I got to get one more.
Speaker 9: I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Good night now, Mary, good night, Merry Christmas. Do you
Speaker 2: as well? George and New Bedford. George, you're gonna wrap
Speaker 2: it for us. We got a little tight on time.
Speaker 2: Go right ahead, George.
Speaker 10: Yes. I wonder if anybody.
Speaker 11: At Harvard is responsible for informing interested students and what
Speaker 11: the dropout rate is for the bachelor's program, uh, those
Speaker 11: who frunk.
Speaker 10: Out, those who drop out, those who transfer. And then finally,
Speaker 10: is anybody possible beer for informing people with a definite
Speaker 10: career agenda and program what the placement rates are in
Speaker 10: jobs and how soon after they get it?
Speaker 2: Okay, Bill.
Speaker 5: Story here for New Bedford and for the world, we
Speaker 5: typically have among the very highest graduation rate in the country.
Speaker 5: Typically it's ninety seven ninety eight percent, so very few
Speaker 5: people end up dropping out, as it turns out. And
Speaker 5: the other thing is that over time, and especially recently
Speaker 5: because of the Mignoni family, we have a brand new
Speaker 5: career center, the Minone Center for Career Success, which helps
Speaker 5: people who are interested in any number of different careers
Speaker 5: that in almost any career you can imagine, and for
Speaker 5: that matter of careers that haven't even been invented yet.
Speaker 5: So it's a really great story BC or Harvard or
Speaker 5: places like it. Great, very very high graduation rates, very
Speaker 5: low dropout rates, and very good things happening after college.
Speaker 2: And I'm sure great the story is very similar at
Speaker 2: PC in terms of the loss of students from a
Speaker 2: freshman to senior year.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we have, you know, the best majority of well
Speaker 4: of a ninety percent of our students graduating from BC
Speaker 4: and at most recent survey, ninety six percent of students
Speaker 4: within six months meeting with success, whether that's going to
Speaker 4: the workforce or a graduate school.
Speaker 2: And I'm sure that you guys have some great placement
Speaker 2: programs and career guidance counseling.
Speaker 4: You sure do, We sure do.
Speaker 2: Gentlemen, gentlemen, this was a great two hours. Bill Fitzimmons,
Speaker 2: thank you very much for number eighteen. Let's see if
Speaker 2: we can hit nineteen a year from now. But I
Speaker 2: know you're a little bit on the disabled list tonight.
Speaker 2: You held up for the two.
Speaker 5: Hours, man, I no, no, this was great, And yeah,
Speaker 5: we're going to shoot for nineteen and and and kind
Speaker 5: of go from there as they say, you know I yeah,
Speaker 5: you're right. It was diagnosed on Saturday with COVID, and
Speaker 5: after one really bad day, things have been all on
Speaker 5: the upward trend. So thank you. If my voice didn't
Speaker 5: sound quite the same as usual, I apologize.
Speaker 2: No, it sounded fine. I hope that your docs. I
Speaker 2: introduced you to pax Clovid because that helped me a
Speaker 2: couple of years ago. Immensely. That's between you and your doctors,
Speaker 2: but it really worked for me, and I hope you
Speaker 2: get a quick recovery. Grint. As always, thank you very much.
Speaker 2: Look forward to the BC Nebraska football game at Yankee
Speaker 2: Stadium for what they call it the Christmas Bowl down there.
Speaker 4: For that one, we'll call it Christmas Ball. I think
Speaker 4: it's a pinstripe Bowl. But looking forward to a great game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'm predicted BC he beats the Huscars, that's
Speaker 2: for sure. Gentlemen. I can't thank you enough on behalf
Speaker 2: of every one of my audience tonight, and of course
Speaker 2: this is available. Both of these hours will be put
Speaker 2: up on podcast form tonight at nightside on demand shortly
Speaker 2: after the program is over by our great producer Rob Brooks.
Speaker 2: So this will be replayed by many, many students and
Speaker 2: many many families around the country. Both Bill and Grant.
Speaker 2: I'm indebted to you deeply on behalf of my audience.
Speaker 2: Thank you, gentlemen, and have great.
Speaker 5: Aank you Dan for being such a champion of higher education.
Speaker 2: My pleasure. Merry Christmas to both you and yours and
Speaker 2: your families and to your student bodies who celebrate whoever
Speaker 2: celebrates Christmas. Thanks guys, Talk to you soon.
Speaker 5: Yeah bye bye.
Speaker 2: Here we go where I'm heading to the other side
Speaker 2: of the ten o'clock news, and we are going to
Speaker 2: get back to a more regular fear. Of course, the
Speaker 2: big story today is the arrest of the twenty six
Speaker 2: year old in al Tuna, Pennsylvania. He is a strong
Speaker 2: suspect not yet charged in the murder, but I think
Speaker 2: the writing's on the wall. Back after the ten here
Speaker 2: on nightside,