Ever wondered how the elements of a college application came to be the elements of the college application? Today, essays, testing, recommendations, and interviews are fundamental ingredients of most selective admissions processes, but they were not always part of a college application as it evolved over the last 125 years. Dartmouth’s admissions dean Lee Coffin and Maria Morales-Kent, a former admission officer at the University of Pennsylvania and the longtime director of college counseling at Thacher School in California, draw lessons and insights from the courses they have both taught on the twists and turns of college admissions history.

“I’ve never of it is…” is a frequent reaction from students and parents as college options are introduced, but there is real opportunity when a student is open to options that aren't fully “known.” AB host Lee Coffin welcomes Clark University’s Emily Roper-Doten, Ben Baum from Saint John’s College in Annapolis and Sante Fe, and college counselor Kate Boyle Ramsdell from Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, Mass., for a conversation about fit versus familiarity, honoring potential, and the intentional introductions that arrive in your inbox or mailbox. Coffin advises, “Instead of saying ‘I’ve never heard of it,’ ask ‘why haven't I heard of it?! Let’s learn about it.’ Sometimes discovery leads you someplace unexpected, and that’s where you’re supposed to be.”

For students around the world, going to college in America has been a goal of many for decades. AB host LeeCoffin and his guest Robin Appleby—who led schools in London, The Hague and Dubai—ponder the opportunities of American higher education for an international audience of prospective applicants.Appleby encourages students to explore the “why?” of applying to schools abroad and to ask questions like “what kind of learner am I?” Theydiscuss the advantages of studying a wide range of subjects versus the norm of a more structured concentration in a local university as well as the cultural and personal lessons such an American adventure offers.