The College Admissions Edge cover art

All Episodes

The College Admissions Edge — 219 episodes

#
Title
1

The Truth About AI + Your Kid's College Essay

2

How to Get More Money From Any College in 2026 (Real Examples)

3

The "Safe" College Major That Just Collapsed

4

The $30,000 College Planning Mistake Nobody Warns You About

5

This FAFSA Lie Cost a Family $13,000 — Are You Next?

6

The Hidden Connection Between March Madness and Financial Aid

7

Discover Your Financial Aid Pot O' Gold

8

Didn’t Get Into Your ED School? Here’s What to Do

9

5 College Planning Tips Parents Wish They Knew Earlier

10

5 Secrets Colleges Won’t Tell You About Early Decision

11

Top 5 College Planning Mistakes to Avoid in 2025

12

The Untold Truth About Breaking Early Decision

13

The Common App Essay Trick Most Students Miss

14

Why Your College List Needs A Reality Check

15

Does Your College List Suck? Fix It Before It’s Too Late

16

What You’re Not Told About Elite College Admissions

17

The College Advice Your Guidance Office Won’t Give

18

College Admissions After DEI: What Changes Now?

19

Behind the Scenes: Ivy League Financial Aid Mistake

20

What Students Get Wrong About College Admissions

21

Think You Don’t Qualify For College Help? Listen to this!

22

New Law Could Cost You Thousands In College Aid

23

ACT Score Jump: 17 to 31 — Real Tutoring Case Study

24

3 College Essay Mistakes That Could Cost You Admission

25

Can You Lie on Your College Application in 2025?

26

New Law Could Destroy Student Loans: What Families Must Know Now

27

Essay Mistakes That Kill Applications | How to Stand Out in 2025

28

The Grinch Who Saved Her College Dreams (With Hard Truths)

29

FAFSA Changes 2025: Student Loan Limits & Financial Aid Cuts Explained

30

Financial Aid Myths for High-Income Families (Debunked!)

31

College Admissions Secrets: What Officers Really Look For in 2025

32

Major Changes to Federal Financial Aid: What Families Need to Know

33

Double Deposits in College Admissions: Smart Strategy or Huge Mistake

34

How You Can Get Off College Waitlists in 2025

35

Why They Got Into The Ivy League — And You Didn’t

36

Is Trump Ending the Department Of Education?

37

2025 Financial Aid at Risk? DOE Cuts Explained

38

FAFSA & Student Loans at RISK? The TRUTH About Education Job Cuts

39

3 College Planning Mistakes That Could Cost You Everything

40

ALL Students MUST know the TRUTH about the Diversity Essay

41

Parents, STOP Making These Costly College List Mistakes

42

The Big Grovel: How to Appeal for More Financial Aid & Get the Best Offer

43

AP or Honors? The Key to Boosting Your Teen’s Elite and Ivy League College Chances

44

College Advisor vs NYC Counselor: Early Decision Truth Revealed!

45

The Truth About the New ACT

46

Navigating Financial Aid If You’ve Been Affected by the LA Wildfires

47

College Applicant Goes 10-for-10

48

Erasing $270K in Parent Loans: Proven Loan Forgiveness Strategies

49

Admissions Exposed: The Scandal Rocking Georgetown and the Ivy League

50

What to do if you’re deferred

51

Master Application Deadlines: Proven Tips to Stay Organized

52

Andy’s Proven Formula for Acing College Interviews

53

Is Applying Early REALLY the Key to Getting Accepted?

54

Do Letters of Recommendation Matter?

55

How to prepare for the SAT and ACT: best study methods for high scores

56

What are the best strategies for researching and selecting colleges?

57

Does applying early decision hurt your financial aid?

58

How can students stand out in their personal statement?

59

How early should students start preparing for college applications?

60

How important are standardized test scores compared to GPA?

61

What extracurricular activities have the biggest impact on college admissions?

62

What are some common mistakes students make on college applications?

63

What are the key factors colleges look for in applicants?

64

Top 10 College Essay Mistakes

65

Bombshell Changes to the ACT

66

A Few Financial Aid and Essay Faux Pas

67

Deep Thoughts Re: Summer Applications and Essays

68

How to Ruin a Financial Aid Appeal

69

College Essay Mistakes, Magical Thinking

70

More FAFSA Glitches, Child Behavior We'd Like to Change

71

The Death of Test-Optional?

72

Harvard: Safety School?

73

New: Financial Aid "Secrets" for Families Who Think They Can't Qualify

74

How to Beat the Leprechauns in the Financial Aid Office

75

Live Workshop at the Manhasset (NY) Library

76

Can My Kid Get Into Harvard?

77

Post Mortem: The First Digital SAT

78

Student Loan Relief Case Study -- Too Good to be True?

79

The Truth About Merit Scholarships

80

How to Write a Good College Essay

81

The Mom Who Ripped Me

82

Can My Accountant Help Me With Financial Aid?

83

Bombshell Mistake Made By Parents

84

Test Optional Announcement, FAFSA Delays - The Week That Was

85

The Little Lie About Financial Aid

86

College Predictions 2024

87

The FAFSApocalypse

88

What To Do If Deferred

89

Secret Payment Relief for Student Loans

90

50+ financial aid questions...answered!

91

Being "Less Asian" and Other Things I Said Publicly

92

The Big Lie About Early Decision

93

College Admissions and Financial Aid for Class of 2024, 2025 and Younger Families

94

EXPOSED - The Inconvenient Truth About the New Financial Aid Rules Changes

95

The Truth about Scholarships

96

Writing an “original” college essay

97

The Southern Phenomenon

98

Late Stage College Planning for Class of 2024 Families

99

The New Rules of College Admissions and Financial Aid

100

Decision Day

101

Should You Submit Your SAT or ACT scores

102

How to Negotiate Financial Aid

103

What's a Good SAT Score?

104

Extracurricular Activities That Suck

105

The New Rules of Financial Aid

106

The Inconvenient Truth About Honor Societies

107

How Many Kids Lie on their College Application?

108

What High School Classes Look Good for College Admissions?

109

How to Appeal or Negotiate Financial Aid

110

What to do if you're Deferred from your DREAM SCHOOL?

111

College Financial Federal Student Aid FAQ Live Session (2022)

112

Child Savings Account Penalized on FAFSA?

113

The Inconvenient, Surprising Truth About the 529

114

What to Do When the Financial Aid Office Gets it WRONG!

115

How to Pay For College: FAFSA, CSS Profile

116

Don’t Let Colleges Rob You Blind! Financial Aid Tips

117

College Admissions Results

118

Here’s What You Should Be Doing In October

119

The Inconvenient Truth About Scholarships

120

10 College Admissions and Financial Aid Results Mistakes to Avoid (2022)

121

The "Secret" Deadline for FAFSA and CSS Profile (2022)

122

3 Deadly Federal Student Aid Mistakes To Avoid (2022)

123

FAFSA Application NEWS - What You MUST Know!

124

The TRUTH About the Student Loan Forgiveness Proposal (2022)

125

What happens when you can't qualify for student loans or parent loans?

126

College admissions and financial aid trends and predictions

127

Here’s what you should be doing now!

128

RIP Safety Schools?

129

When a College Advisor visits her own kid in college

130

Admissions Results

131

Andy’s Sweet 16 Predictions (by financial aid)

132

SAT changes, upcoming ACT and new “cram” courses

133

College Board changes, Student Loan interest suspension, more

134

Don’t Let Colleges Rob You Blind

135

When the financial aid office gets it WRONG

136

The NEW SAT Changes and What They Mean For You

137

What happens if you don’t get into your “top choice”

138

Eavesdrop on Advice to Clients

139

Financial Aid FAQ: Live and unscripted, (9/30/21)

140

SAT vs ACT: Which Test is Best?

141

SAT vs ACT Live Q&A

142

How to Bust College Essay Writers Block

143

How to Write a Gripping College Essay Even if You Haven’t Experienced Severe Trauma

144

On Teacher Recommendations

145

How to Avoid College Admissions Armageddon – May 2021

146

Lacrosse Recruiting in the Age of Coronavirus

147

How to MOTIVATE your Teen

148

The College Scandal and John Tesh

149

College “Burning” Questions

150

SAT and ACT “Open Mic”

151

How to Get Financial Aid and Merit Scholarships in Today's Turbulent Times

152

What to do if you’re Verified

153

FAFSA Changes!

154

Pencils Down! SAT Changes

155

Making Sense of 2020's Early Decision/Early Action Results

156

College Planning Edge - Missing the “Secret” Big Picture

157

College Planning Edge - How to deal with "missing" financial aid info

158

College Planning Edge - Post Mortem!

159

College Talk Tuesday – Should You Apply for Financial Aid?

160

College Talk Tuesday: Financial aid mistakes and new admissions info

161

College Talk Tuesday: New York State’s Excelsior and TAP programs

162

Financial Aid, Essays and Applications

163

NCAA Sports Update

164

College Coffee and Corona Virus Talk - The 529 Mistake

165

College Coffee and Covid Talk – Latest SAT and ACT changes, more

166

College Coffee and Covid Talk – The Fix For The Online Learning Mess

167

FAQ Us Friday #3

168

FAQ Us Friday #2: What do you write in an appeal letter?

169

FAQ Us Friday #7: The Grandparent 529

170

FAQ Us Friday #4: What the H-LL Is Going On

171

FAQ Us Friday #5: What to do about the SAT and ACT

172

FAQ Us Friday #6: The New Coronavirus Essay Prompt

173

FAQ Us Friday #1

174

College Coffee and Coronavirus Talk

175

Special Corona-cast edition

176

The College Ostrich

177

Madam Pearl and Soothsayin' Andy Lockwood's College Predictions 2020

178

Negotiate Financial Aid & Merit Aid Offers

179

Character - The New SAT?

180

The College Scandal: Hot Pockets & Parenting

181

College Horror Stories

182

Should You Delete All Social Media Before Applying to College?

183

Sneaky deadlines you can’t afford to miss

184

When MUST You File Your Financial Aid Applications?

185

5 Things Parents and Kids Get Wrong About the SAT and ACT

186

Hidden Supplemental Essays on the Common Application

187

Andy Lockwood Interviews Steve Schwartz

188

What does it mean when a college offers a “Priority Application“?

189

How to Defeat College Essay Anxiety, Writer’s Block and More

190

Can You Qualify for Financial Aid If You Own A Home?

191

College Appeals & Negotiations Case Studies

192

Ironic New College Admissions Scandal

193

“War Stories” with NYC-based College Advisor Abby Siegel

194

Interview with former Princeton Admissions Committee Member, College Board Trustee on The Recent College Admissions Scandal

195

My Personal College Admissions Scam Confession

196

How to Negotiate Your Financial Aid & Scholarships Award

197

4th Annual College Predictions

198

The Self Sabotage Episode

199

Finally, Your College Questions, Answered!

200

How to Beat Test Anxiety

201

College Planning For Business Owners

202

How to Avoid a College Student “Boomerang Disaster”

203

Financial Aid Applications – The Scoop on FAFSA & the CSS Profile

204

Early Action, Early Decision and Other Ways to Apply to College

205

“Secrets” of Paying Wholesale Prices for College…No Matter What You Earn

206

“Secrets” of Paying Wholesale Prices for College…No Matter What You Earn

207

Parent Self-Sabotages Financial Aid Award

208

Weird Technique to Bust College Essay Writer’s Block

209

The College Gold Rush

210

Why Colleges Don’t Tell You Exactly How to Qualify for Merit Scholarships

211

What Happens If You Get “Dinged” From An Ivy League College

212

Impromptu College Planning “Secrets”

213

The Talk

214

College Planning Q&A “Open Mic Night”

215

Real World Financial Education For High School & College Students

216

The Mental Side Of Test Prep

217

How To Negotiate With Colleges After They “Lowball” You

218

How To Avoid Going To College And Learning Nothing

219

What Happens If You Don’t Get Into Your Dream School?