Almost exactly a year ago, George and I launched this podcast in hopes of talking through, as much for ourselves as for our audience, the myriad factors that shape what public education looks like in the United States. At the time, we were just getting used to platforms like Zoom, platforms that have become ubiquitous in our daily lives. As we’ve passed the one year mark of the COVID pandemic, and while there have been countless educational interruptions and pivots, and business has been anything but usual for everyone in and beyond our schools, students are still going to school and graduating and going to college. So, today, with many of the country’s seniors facing choices about which college they should attend and our juniors, the class of 2022, looking hopefully towards their graduation dates, we’re talking college as we ask: what does it take to “get into” college? And then, even more importantly, what does it take to be a successful college student?