New York Times Symposium On College Admission and Preparation

Preparation -- that's the theme for the New York Times annual Symposium on College Admission. We'll be covering grades, testing, essays, "fit", affordability, how to research colleges, and exactly how relevant all those scarey headlines about hyper-selectivity are. (There actually are more than 10 colleges in America.) I'll be talking with the Deans of Admission and Vice Presidents of Enrollment from University of California at Berkeley, DePaul University and Wesleyan University. And I'll be dicussing what students and families need to know when there are special challenges to consider with two experts on learning differences and mental health -- Marbeth Kravets, author of the definitive college guide for students with learning differences and Jenny Jaffe of Project UROK. Also joining us for a full day of presentations and a special Q&A session where attendees can pose their questions one-on-one are Julie Lythcott-Haims, author of How To Raise An Adult, essayist Meghan Daum, Grown and Flown founder Lisa Endlich Heffernan and more.

Here's the entire list of participants:

  • Raymond Ravaglia, Director of Pre-College Programs at The School of The New York Times
  • Christine VanDeVelde, journalist and author of “College Admission: From Application to Acceptance, Step by Step”
  • Jon Boeckenstedt, Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management at De Paul University
  • Amy W. Jarich, Assistant Vice Chancellor and Director of Admissions at the University of California, Berkeley
  • Nancy Hargrave Meislahn, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Wesleyan University
  • David C. Levy, President of Sotheby’s Institute of Art
  • Julie Lythcott-Haims, former Dean of Freshmen at Stanford University
  • Chris Roellke, Dean of College at Vassar College
  • Lisa Heffernan, Author and Journalist
  • John Darnton, Curator of The George Polk Awards in Journalism
  • Bruce Weber, Memoirist and Former Culture, Metro and Obituaries Writer for The New York Times
  • Meghan Daum, Award-winning Author, Essayist and Journalist
  • Kofi Kankam, CEO of Admit.me
  • Aviva Hirschfeld Legatt, University of Pennsylvania Faculty and Admissions Expert
  • Marybeth Kravets, Learning-differences Expert and Former President of the National Association of College Admissions Counselors
  • Jenny Jaffe, Founder of Mental Health Website Project UROK
  • Alan Katzman, CEO of Social Assurity
  • Natasha Singer, New York Times Journalist
  • Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, Founder of The Restful Company and Author of “Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less”

If you're not joining us for the day, the event will be live streamed and the New York Times will be making individual video interviews available at a later date.