Countdown to College is a weekly one-hour show dedicated to helping college-bound high school students and their families understand the process of getting ready for --and getting into--college. Show host Beth Pickett interviews experts on the college application process, high school coursework, summer opportunities, extracurricular activities, application essays, standardized testing, financial aid, and college options, with the occasional foray into how to maintain a healthy and positive attitude throughout what can be a very stressful process.

Countdown to College Radio Show creator, producer and host Beth Pickett graduated with distinction from Stanford University in 1986. She holds a College Counseling Certificate (also with distinction) from UCLA.

Beth attended Miramonte High School in Orinda, California for freshman year; Manchester Junior-Senior High School in Massachusetts for sophomore year; and The Head-Royce School in Oakland, California, for junior and senior years, so she's familiar with both east and west coasts, and with public and private high schools.

After college, she became an associate scholar with the Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society, accompanying expeditions with the National Geographic Society and the Cousteau Society, and traveling around the world for a year on this experience-based scholarship. She has also worked as a staff editor for the Cousteau Society and as a guest editor for Whalewatcher, the Journal of the American Cetacean Society. Later, she was a project manager Archipelago Productions, the multimedia division of college publisher Harcourt Brace. She has written more than 50 articles for newspapers and magazines, including an article for Sports Illustrated for Kids. Three of her articles on college admissions topics appeared in the September 2007, October 2007, and January 2008 issues of San Diego Family Magazine.

Before relocating to northern California, Beth was an adjunct college admissions counselor at the Grauer School in Encinitas, California. She is a member of the Higher Education Consultants Association and the Western Association for College Admissions Counseling.