It's time for the high school class of 2027 to step into the college search spotlight. As juniors kick off their college search, AB resets its narrative spotlight to the discovery phase. In the ninth season premiere, Dartmouth's Lee Coffin welcomes recurring co-host Jacques Steinberg, a former higher ed reporter at the New York Times and the best-selling author of The Gatekeepers and The College Conversation, and Kate Boyle Ramsdell, director of college counseling at Noble and Greenough School in suburban Boston, for a wide-ranging primer on the college search. The trio outlines key milestones in the search calendar; shares tips on identifying criteria and "non-negotiable" factors; advises the development of an exploratory list as an opportunity to discover; and recommends a family's financial capacity as an essential list shaper. "Let's give you a toolkit to move from discovery to applying with a sense of purpose," Dean Coffin says.

In a preseason bonus episode, Admissions Beat cross-shares a YouTube conversation about financial aid from the parenting website Grown & Flown featuring AB host and Dartmouth Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid Lee Coffin and AB contributor Jacques Steinberg, former New York Times higher education journalist and bestselling author of The College Conversation. As G&F notes on its YouTube channel: "In this essential conversation…Steinberg and Coffin break down what families really need to know about paying for college. This is not about negotiating like you’re buying a car—it’s about understanding how colleges calculate affordability, how financial aid works behind the scenes, and how families can make informed, realistic decisions without panic." You can learn more about Grown and Flown’s video offerings here.

For the high school Class of ’26, the first college admissions milestone is at hand as early decisions—some binding, some not—land. In AB's season finale, a trio of deans and a college counselor unpack those decisions, offering guidance on the etiquette of an early acceptance as well as reassurance for those with an early outcome that extends a search into regular decision.