Episodes

  • Special Edition: Brennan Barnard on Scholarship360's Office Hours
    Dec 2 2025

    Today we highlight Brennan Barnard's visit to the Office Hours podcast where him and host Will Geiger talk about the myth of the "dream school" and how to frame the college search process before diving into the AI transformation happening in the college admissions world.


    LINKS:

    Truth About College Admissions Newsletter

    Office Hours Podcast


    Office Hours Host: Will Geiger

    Office Hours Guest: Brennan Barnard

    TACA Host: Rick Clark

    TACA Production: Jack Purdy


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    34 mins
  • Special Edition: Rick Clark on Palisades Hudson’s Something Personal Podcast
    Nov 13 2025

    Today, we divert off the beaten path for The Truth About Admission Podcast as we highlight Rick Clark's appearance on the Something Personal podcast, where he goes into his lessons learned from multiple decades of working in college admissions, how to pay for college, and his advise on keeping perspective during the college search process.


    LINKS:

    Truth About College Admission Newsletter

    Something Personal Podcast Feed


    Something Personal host: Amy Laburda

    Something Personal guest: Rick Clark

    TACA Production: Jack Purdy

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    49 mins
  • The Truth About ROI - Emily Roper Doten
    Oct 28 2025

    Rick and Brennan are joined by Emily Roper Doten, Dean of Admissions at Brandeis University, to talk about her experiences in helping develop liberal arts programs for the current job economy and how her career leading up to Brandeis has influenced her ability to be a leader in her space.


    LINKS:

    Truth About College Admissions Newsletter

    "Brandeis Pours $25M Into Careers-Focused Liberal Arts" - Inside Higher Ed


    Hosts: Brennan Barnard, Rick Clark

    Guest: Emily Roper Doten

    Production: Jack Purdy

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    35 mins
  • The Truth About Standardized Testing in 2025
    Oct 14 2025

    Rick and Brennan are joined by Jed Applerouth, founder of Applerouth Education, to talk about the origins of Applerouth, the differences and simlarities between the SAT and ACT, how to decide when is enough test prep, why the science section is leaving the ACT, and how to best approach standardized testing.


    LINKS

    The Truth About College Admission Newsletter

    Jed Applerouth Bio

    Applerouth


    Hosts: Brennan Barnard, Rick Clark

    Guest: Jed Applerouth

    Production: Jack Purdy

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    38 mins
  • The Truth About Admission Strategies - Ken Anselment
    Sep 30 2025

    Rick and Brennan are joined by Ken Anselment, Vice President for Enrollment Management at RHB, to talk about his journey in higher ed, learnings at RHB, how schools approach early decision, and how high schoolers now can approach the pace they attack the admissions process.


    LINKS

    Truth About College Admission Newsletter

    Ken Anselment Bio

    The Admissions Leadership Podcast

    Rick Clark on The Admissions Leadership Podcast

    Climbing The Admissions Leadership Peak - Anselment

    "Why Did I Say "Yes" to Speak Here?" - Gladwell

    "Early Decision Applicants: The College Admission VIPs" - The Application Trail


    Hosts: Brennan Barnard, Rick Clark

    Guest: Ken Anselment

    Production: Jack Purdy

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    44 mins
  • The Truth About AI and Essay Reading - Juan Espinoza
    Sep 16 2025

    To kick off the season, Brennan and Rick are joined by returning champion, Juan Espinoza (Vice Provost for Enrollment Management at Virginia Tech), to dive into how Virginia Tech has adopted artificial intelligence to help with the essay reading process, how that has affected their timeline, and his advice to students approaching the essay writing process this fall.


    LINKS

    The Truth About College Admission Newsletter

    Juan Espinoza

    Humans And AI Collaborate To Review College Admission Essays - Forbes


    Hosts: Brennan Barnard, Rick Clark

    Guest: Juan Espinoza

    Production: Jack Purdy

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    36 mins
  • Season 4 Trailer
    Sep 9 2025

    Rick and Brennan are back from summer vacation and ready for the FOURTH(!) season of The Truth About College Admission Podcast. Today, the pair recap their summers, preview a format update to the episodes this season, and reflect on a word they're thinking about for the upcoming admissions cycle.


    LINKS

    Brennan's Substack: The Application Trail

    The Truth About College Admission Newsletter


    Hosts: Brennan Barnard, Rick Clark

    Production: Jack Purdy

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    14 mins
  • Season 3 Summer Bonus with College Parent Central
    Aug 1 2025

    In our Season 3 bonus episode, Rick and Brennan visit the College Parent Central podcast with Elizabeth Hamblet and Vicki Nelson to talk about communication during the college search, realistic expectations, how schools evaluate prospective students, how college is an opportunity, and focusing on long term relationships with family.

    See the video version here


    Hosts: Elizabeth Hamblet, Vicki Nelson

    Guests: Brennan Barnard, Rick Clark

    Production (TACA cut): Jack Purdy

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    47 mins