Grab your trusty #2 and find the desk with your name tag on it, because class is in session this week at Sounds Like a Cult! Our /pedagogically inclined/ episodes are always RIPE with juicy insight, and today’s topic is no different. Be it Hogwarts or Pacific Coast Academy, boarding schools have long shrouded themselves in an air of mystery and exclusivity that has most recently led to a culture-wide obsession with the Dark Academia genre. But is this intrigue secretly supporting a sinister institution? What culty rituals and traditions lie behind the plaid and ivy? Let’s find out! Amanda and Chelsea are thrilled to be joined by the wonderful Ceara O’Sullivan from the Petty Crimes podcast to discover what lurks within boarding schools' hallowed (culty) halls.

Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod @amanda_montell @chelseaxcharles @reesaronii

Watch the new season of Sounds Like A Cult on YouTube!

To order Amanda's new book, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, click here. To subscribe to Amanda's new Magical Overthinkers podcast, click here :)

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Dipsea is offering an extended 30-day free trial when you go to DipseaStories.com/cult.
• Go to the App Store or Google Play store and download the FREE Ibotta app to start earning cash back and use code CULT.
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Further reading:

• Psychopathology and Dissociation among Boarding School Students in Eastern Turkey
• National Museum of the American Indian: Boarding Schools
• Time for America to Get Over Our Ivy League Obsession
• A Brief History of Boarding-School Scandals

NOT going to lie, this episode was a wee bit nerve racking to record!!! Despite the, ahem, LARGE number of requests we received for this topic (which would make you think it was ubiquitously reviled), the acolytes in this group ride HARD for their leader! Money and religion are the twin engines that make the world go ‘round, dear culties, and as such, they are the perfect mediums for sinister influence. This week’s subject has been ~blessing~ the airwaves and teaching your parents how to be debt free AND godly since the 1990s…the OG finance bro…the one and only… Dave Ramsey. This week, Amanda and Reese take a trepidatious foray into the chaotic, testosterone-filled, rapidly aging world of Ramsey Solutions with the help of seasoned Dave Ramsey experts (though, tbh, *survivors* is probably a more apt word) Jen Smith and Jill Sirianni from the Frugal Friends Podcast.

Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod @amanda_montell @chelseaxcharles @reesaronii

Watch the new season of Sounds Like A Cult on YouTube!

To order Amanda's new book, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, click here. To subscribe to Amanda's new Magical Overthinkers podcast, click here :)

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Head to Squarespace.com for a free trial, and when you’re ready to launch, go to https://www.squarespace.com/CULT to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.
• Earn points by paying rent right now when you go to joinbilt.com/CULT.
• Shop the SKIMS bras at SKIMS.com. After you place your order, select "Sounds Like A Cult" in the survey and select our show in the dropdown menu that follows.

Who’s your #mommy culties: Taylor or Whitney? That’s right, fresh(ish?) off the release of Hulu’s Secret Lives of Mormon Wives reality series (for which Amanda and Reese attended a blissfully tinsel-adorned premiere party #notsponsored lol), this week we are covering the cult of Mormon MomTok. This coalition of young Mormon mothers turned TikTok stars raises a truly baffling number of questions: Are these girls really Mormon? Does that matter? Where are their garments? Are they even friends? And most importantly, will MomTok survive the "swinging scandal" that overtook headlines a few years back, earning these gals their own TV show?!?!?!??!?! Grab your heaviest Stanley, fill it with Fruity Pebbles ;) and settle in to have all of your most sacred prayers answered. Potentially cultier than the sum of its cults (and trust us there are plenty), Reese and Amanda are determined to get to the bottom of the drama-filled, diet Dr. Pepper flavored mom-strosisty that is #MomTok.

Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod @reesaronii @amanda_montell @chelseaxcharles

Watch the new season of Sounds Like A Cult on YouTube!

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Head to Squarespace.com for a free trial, and when you’re ready to launch, go to https://www.squarespace.com/CULT to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.
• Visit BetterHelp.com/CULT today to get 10% off your first month.
• Dipsea is offering an extended 30-day free trial when you go to DipseaStories.com/cult.
• Go to stopscooping.com/SLAC and enter promocode SLAC to save an EXTRA $50 on any Litter-Robot bundle.

To order Amanda's new book, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, click here. To subscribe to Amanda's new Magical Overthinkers podcast, click here :)