120: College List Hacking: Better Fit, Less Time, More Fun

SHOW NOTES

On this episode I interview Anne Wager, who used to work for many years in data and technology but made the transition to counseling and, as she puts it, “out of desperation”, developed a set of cards that she uses with students to help them identify, not just their preferences for what they’re looking for in a college, but what she called “deeper preferences”.

We’ll explore what she means by deeper preferences, explain why they’re important, talk about common mistakes that students make when picking colleges, and how parents can best support their students. All this and more. Enjoy!

PLAY-BY-PLAY

Who is Anne Wager? [1:15]
Why Anne created the Corsava Cards [4:46]
Common mistakes students make when picking colleges [6:50]
What the Corsava Cards can do [8:47]
How different counselors use the cards [15:36]
What does “Corsava” mean? [19:21]
How the cards have evolved over time [20:45]
What the color coding means for the cards [22:26]
How the online version is different [24:55]
How adding definitions to cards has helped students working online [29:35]
How parents have responded to this process [31:44]
Advice for counselors working with helicopter parents [34:14]
How students who don’t have a counselor to work with can help themselves [36:50]
Anne’s Show and Tell [41:45]
Ethan’s Show and Tell [43:50]
Anne’s final thoughts [46:05]

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE