The Admissions Directors Lunchcast

Hosted by Nathan and Teege

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156

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Aug 2026

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About the show

Our proposal: the most productive lunch meeting you'll take all week. Each episode, Nathan and Teege will discuss an issue directly related to college admission. We don't have all the answers, so we'll bring in two guests each time - one influencer and one practitioner. By the end of the episode, our hope is that you'll have an idea or a tactic that you can implement in your office, perhaps as early as the afternoon.

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60 recent

September 8, 2026Episode 8957 min

Recruitment Travel (What Actually Works?)

Season 12 starts where the fall always starts: on the road. This season we're asking one question: what actually works? Not what's trendy, not what we've always done. First up: recruitment travel. What makes a high school visit worth the drive? When is a college fair actually doing something for students? And how do you decide a territory isn't worth it anymore? Influencer guest: Brian Ford, Assistant Principal of School and College Counseling at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Practitioner guest: Mary Randers, Vice President for Enrollment at Austin College in Sherman, Texas. Join us for the most productive lunch meeting you'll take all week. Sponsors: · College Board Strategic Advisory Services (Email strategicadvisory@collegeboard.org to schedule a conversation) · Caylor Solutions, caylor-solutions.com · Custom Viewbook, customviewbook.com

September 4, 2026Episode 8810 min

The Secret Episode

A short one, and a quiet one. Teege and Megan Cooley are running a series of secret roundtables on Thursday, October 8, a block from the NACAC convention center. No slides. No presentations. No laptops. Just five to fifteen people around a table talking about the work. Four discussions: Jeremy Tiers on culture and leadership, Mary from Three Enrollment on standing out in a crowded market, Teege on improving morale to improve enrollment, and Megan on email marketing. There's no website and no signage. Sign up and you'll get the where and when a couple of days ahead. This one is aimed squarely at college admissions folks — directors, deans, VPs, senior associates. School counselors and IECs, we love you, but this one isn't built for you. Sign up for more information here.

September 1, 2026Episode 8910 min

Season 12 Teaser: What Actually Works?

And here goes another season! Starting next week, season 12 of the Lunchcast will drop in your feed every Tuesday. Eight episodes, all with one theme: what *actually* works? Each week, we'll bring you a discussion with one influencer and one practitioner, all with a goal of giving you something tangible you can use in your office immediately

August 25, 2026Episode 8927 min

College Is Broken: Pessimistic or Optimistic

In this special cross-listed episode, Teege and Nathan discuss whether Teege's new book, College Is Broken, is inherently pessimistic or optimistic. If you are reader, pick up the book on amazon and decide for yourself. If you are listener, subscribe to the College Is Broken: Podcast Edition feed, and let Teege read it to you! Pick up College Is Broken here: Check out the College Is Broken: Podcast Edition feed here: Apple: Spotify:

April 28, 2026Episode 8855 min

What Keeps You Here?

For years, we have been talking about all the reasons to leave the profession - and many have. This week, we flip the script, and ask some of our rising stars (and ourselves) to reflect on what keeps them in the profession. As always, we've got two outstanding guests. Joining us as our Practitioner Guest is Debbie Lysicatos , Admissions Counselor at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi . Our Influencer Guest is Jenni Kimball , College & Career Counselor at Timberline High School in Boise, Idaho . If you're reading this far, please know how much we appreciate you being a listener of the Lunchcast as we wrap up season 11!

April 21, 2026Episode 8744 min

Admissions As Advocacy

The word "advocacy" can mean many different things to many different people. In the world of admissions, we often have a challenge of determining who to advocate for in a given situation. We are all mission-driven folks, who like to think of ourselves as advocating for students, but what do those moments and decisions look like on the ground, day to day? To help sort through that, we have two rising star guests joining us. Our first Practitioner Guest is Cherese Jackson , Director of Admission, Enrollment, and Diversity at Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey . Our second Practitioner Guest is Sebastian Brown , Regional Admission Counselor at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon .

April 14, 2026Episode 8646 min

Leadership Without A Title

Ahh, yes - the old debate about how leadership and a title can be disconnected. We couldn't think of a better group of people to talk to about this than some rising stars in the profession. We sought out people who are recognized leaders in their NACAC affiliates or on their campus to talk through the challenges, opportunities, and pathways to leadership - without the title. Joining us as our first Practitioner Guest is Gabby McCoy , Admission Representative at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa . Our second Practitioner Guest is Ryan Brinkman , Assistant Director and Regional Recruitment Coordinator at Saint Mary’s College of California in Moraga, California .

April 7, 2026Episode 8557 min

Burnout Prevention 101

Will admissions ever be able to stop talking about burnout? We are used to discussing this topic from the perspective of those of us who have been around a long time, thinking about how things used to be. For this week's episode, we take a twist - zeroing in on burnout prevention from the perspective of rising stars in the college admissions profession. Joining us as our first Practitioner Guest is Emily Hannon , Director of First Year Admissions at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa . Our second Practitioner Guest is Chris Hoffman , Assistant Director of National Recruitment at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities in Minneapolis, Minnesota .

March 31, 202648 min

Pay, Purpose, and the Pivot

Salary, benefits, mission, and how that all changes as we get settled into our role. As you know, this is a topic your hosts can talk about at length with the drop of a hat - so we are thrilled to be joined by two folks who had insights and perspectives that made both Nathan and Teege stop and think. Or, as some people would say, stop, reflect, and relearn. Cathryn Loy, Assistant Director of Admissions at Bradley University Kevin Buckley, Assistant Director at University of Louisville

March 24, 2026Episode 8243 min

Hybrid Hustle

In the heat of the pandemic, we were all working from home. There was no "hybrid" element to worry about - just a whole new way of working. Since then, every aspect of our job can be measured against the question, "Do I need to be in the office to do this?" But with the flexibility comes challenges that didn't exist before. Given our longer runs in the profession, we thought this would be a great topic for folks who see this current approach as more normal and mainstream than those of us who've been around for a minute. Lexi Aguayo, Senior Associate Director at Pepperdine University Ebony Sistrunk, Associate Director of College Counseling at The Whitefield School