Jeff Selingo: College: Who Gets In and Why

Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa

SiriusXM Podcasts and Poppy Media, LLC

Kelly Ripa, Celebrity, Pop Culture, Society & Culture, Kellyripa, Kelly, Tv & Film, Comedy

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 12 November 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

New York Times best-selling author of WHO GETS IN AND WHY and DREAM SCHOOL: FINDING THE COLLEGE THAT’S RIGHT FOR YOU, Jeff Selingo, joins Kelly to discuss the ins and outs of the college admissions process. He shares if there’s any one thing that gets you into a school, how to deal with deferments, and what the real deal is with schools and A.I. Plus he breaks down the distinction between acceptance rate vs yield rate, how to figure out if ACT or SAT is right for you, and explains why you should encourage your kid to start rowing.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Is there one thing when they're reading a college application that kids have spent months on,
0:06.8	they're reading it in seven minutes, is there something that makes it stand out that they can
0:10.5	get an application to the top of the pile?
0:13.7	So the thing that really is going to stand out, especially at these highly selective schools,
0:17.8	is the transcript.
0:19.3	They're going to focus most of the time on the high school
0:21.9	transcript. They want to know, like, what courses did you take? It doesn't mean you have to take
0:25.2	every AP course available to you or every honors course or whatever. They want kids who actually
0:30.6	took like an interesting combination of courses. Somebody got to cue me or do I cue myself?
0:35.5	To yourself. Okay.
0:38.0	Oh my gosh.
0:39.5	We are back with another live episode of Let's Talk Off Camera.
0:43.5	So let's get talking.
0:46.1	Don't mind telling you listeners this, that I am so thrilled to be out of this process that we are discussing on this here podcast. Jan, you are in it.
0:58.5	You are in it. And if you are a parent of a child applying to college, or if you are a child
1:05.7	applying to college, or if you know someone applying to college, this is the episode for you because I know the feeling.
1:15.6	I know what Jan is feeling right now.
1:18.5	Even though it's in my rearview mirror, I know the anxiety, I know the stress.
1:23.5	Tell me what's going on in your college journey, Jan.
1:27.2	Well, we just applied to 15 schools through the Common App.
1:33.3	Some of them are early action.
1:36.3	Some of them are regular.
	...

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