The Paw’dcast: Starting the College Application Process (Part 1)

Listen to seniors Emma Chiu, Chloe Postlewaite, Milena Raeber, and Taila Lee give advice about the college admissions process.

Taila Lee, Emma Chiu, Chloe Postlewaite, and Milena Raeber • April 11, 2020

Taila Lee

Welcome back to another episode of The Paw’dcast!

This is the first podcast in a series focusing on college admissions advice/experiences.

New to the college admissions process? Hear from four Woodside seniors about their experiences with applying for college in the fall.

0:00 – Introduction, how/when we started preparing for the college admissions process

2:30 – Brainstorming, essay writing process/timeline

6:56 – What UCs look for in essays versus Common App colleges

7:53 – How to make the best use of limited characters in the activities and honors sections

9:47 – Researching colleges

12:00 – How we compiled our college list (safety, match, reach)

17:14 – Miscellaneous advice (procrastination, setting up interviews, finalizing college list)

19:20 – Applying early, merit deadlines

22:33 – FAFSA, CSS

Note: PIQ stands for Personal Insight Question, an essay question required for the UC application. Applicants reply to 4 of 8 PIQ prompts.

Music credit:

Laundry by Tokyo Music Walker https://soundcloud.com/user-356546060

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0

Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/laundry-tokyo-music-walker

Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/Z2Gf-hiYO-Q

About the Contributors

Taila Lee, Coeditor in Chief

Taila Lee is the second-year coeditor in chief and a third-year reporter for The Paw Print. Along with winning regional and national awards from Journalism Education Association (JEA), SNO, and the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, Lee is a member of KQED's Youth Advisory Board for 2019-2020. She has been featured on KQED’s Bay Curious podcast and 2019 Youth Takeover, and she co-taught a student press law workshop at the National JEA Convention in Washington D.C. in November. Lee plans to major in media studies and minor in journalism at UC Berkeley to empower youth and inspire change with journalism.

Emma Chiu, Coeditor in Chief

Emma Chiu is a senior, a third-year journalism student, and the coeditor in chief of The Paw Print. She strives for fair, accurate coverage and appreciates the variety of perspectives she's gained through reporting. Her work has been published in Best of SNO, The Youth Journal, and The New York Times in addition to The Paw Print. When she's not writing, Emma enjoys dancing, reading, and raising awareness for mental health.

Chloe Postlewaite, Online Editor

Chloe Postlewaite is The Paw Print's online editor and a third-year journalism student. She has had a lot of fun with journalism in the past, and she enjoys taking photos and meeting new people. Aside from writing and design, she is passionate about psychology and mental health, which she plans to pursue in the future.