December 1, 2025

Finding Perspective in the Admissions Process with UPenn Dean of Admissions Whitney Soule

Many professionals find that the admissions process gets more stressful each year. But how can we take a step back and approach the process in a measured, productive way? UPenn Dean of Admissions Whitney Soule has some tips.

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About the Episode

In this episode, UPenn Vice Provost and Dean of Admission Whitney Soule discusses how to manage stress in the admissions process, stress, and busts some myths about how colleges read students’ applications. Drawing on her three decades in higher education, Soule explains how selective admissions actually work and why the idea of “hyperachievement” as the only path to success is both false and harmful.

Whitney discusses how students can stand out by simply being themselves and shows why part-time jobs can be just as impressive to admissions officers as prestigious academic programs. She also gives pointers for students, parents, and counselors to reduce pressure along the way. She also offers a nuanced guide to determine whether to submit your test scores to test-optional schools, and debunks the idea of a ‘perfect fit’ school.

Mentioned in this Episode

Dean of Admissions Tells Parents This Is How You Can Really Help Your Teen by Whitney Soule

Host

Will Geiger

Will Geiger is the co-founder of Scholarships360 and has a decade of experience in college admissions and financial aid. He is a former Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at Kenyon College where he personally reviewed 10,000 admissions applications and essays. Will also managed the Kenyon College merit scholarship program and served on the financial aid appeals committee. He has also worked as an Associate Director of College Counseling at a high school in New Haven, Connecticut.Will earned his master’s in education from the University of Pennsylvania and received his undergraduate degree in history from Wake Forest University.

Guest

Whitney Soule

Whitney Soule is Vice Provost, Dean of Admissions at the University of Pennsylvania. Her focus is on the future and bridging the gap between what ‘has been’ and what ‘can be’ to make the entire admissions process less complex and more accessible (and digestible, valuable, rewarding…all the things) for students in their college search.

She serves on Common App’s Board of Directors and chairs its Finance Committee, the College Board’s Enrollment Leaders Group, and the Advisory Core for its Admissions Research Consortium, and as a member of the Advisory Council of NACAC’s Character Focus Initiative.

Soule received the NEACAC Professional of the Year Award and was named one of the “Top Women Leaders for 2023” and “Top 25 Women Leaders 2025 in Pennsylvania” by Women We Admire, and is included in the 2025 Philadelphia Business Journal’s Women of Influence.