Inside the Yale Admissions Office

About Inside the Yale Admissions Office

Admissions Officers Hannah and Mark share the complex and dynamic work happening inside the Yale Office of Undergraduate Admissions. The podcast gives firsthand accounts of how officers read applications, make decisions within the Admissions Committee, and collaborate with other offices and resource centers. Yale College receives more than 35,000 applications annually for a first-year class of 1,550 students. Hannah and Mark give an inside look into the strategies and processes that enable admissions officers to attract promising applicants from around the world, consider every applicant through a whole-person review process, and build a class filled with strong students from an amazingly diverse collection of backgrounds. Recorded inside the Office of Undergraduate Admissions on Hillhouse Avenue, this new podcast pulls back the curtain to reveal some of Yale’s most fascinating and rewarding work.

Publisher

Inside the Yale Admissions Office

Category

business · education · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

7 May 2020

Latest episode

1 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

16 of 56 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   1 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   What Yale Looks For, Part 1: Academic Strength

   Yale admissions officers Hannah and Mark reveal how they evaluate academic strength and what makes an applicant stand out for Yale College.

2. 

   17 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Application Update 2026-2027

   Admissions Officer Dara and host Hannah discuss Yale's 2026-2027 application updates, including standardized testing changes and new essay prompts.

3. 

   28 Apr 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Bulldog Days Live 2026

   For their fourth annual Bulldog Days Live episode, Hannah and Mark ask four recently admitted students visiting campus to reflect on the factors and forces that affected their college application journey – including things they chose to do and things that were completely out of their control. Admissions officer Brynne dazzles the audience with her encyclopedic knowledge of what her admitted students shared in their applications. Hannah and Mark share many more insights from admitted students who considered how they were successful in their college application process.

Inside a recent episode

What Yale Looks For, Part 1: Academic Strength

Published 1 Sept 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] It just means that we are trying to understand all the context. Okay, so let's go and be even more specific. When we are looking at your academic record, we want to see that you have consistently challenged yourself by taking the most rigorous coursework available in your high school. We also want to see that you have received consistently strong grades in all of those courses. No, one grade of B is not going to undo your application. That's not what we're saying, but we should see that you are consistently excelling in all of your courses. And that's going to be true regardless of how your school grades or regardless of the grades that your peers received as well. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.5 / 5

308 ratings

Spotify

4.8 / 5

992 ratings

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Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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