Both parties have kept the news under wraps until it was appropriate to reveal it, but today we can finally announce our newest college counselor. She's Stefanie Potts.
Who's Stefanie?
First off, Stefanie's someone we like. She's smart. She's a great writer and communicator. And most importantly, she's a good cultural fit here–she's serious about work without taking herself too seriously.
Since October 2007, Stefanie's been an assistant director of undergraduate admissions at USC. She's evaluated over 4,000 applications, interviewed over 400 applicants, and each year conducted over 75 presentations. She also worked in the admissions office at Wash U as an undergrad. In fact, we really got the sense that Stefanie has been working in college admissions since she was about 18. That beats all of us.
Why did we pick Stefanie?
First off, we didn't find Stefanie; Stefanie found us. A year ago, she sent us a cover letter, a great cover letter that she'd obviously sat down and written just for us. It was clear she'd taken the time to read our website and get a sense of what we were all about.
Then she showed up at my college essay workshop for counselors at an annual conference we attend. No assistant director of admissions at a selective college needs to be taught anything about college essays. I think she was sizing us up. I think she wanted to see if we really had the goods and if we seemed like the kind of people she wanted to work with. I have to admit, I was kind of impressed by that.
But when we finally had her come visit us for an afternoon, it was clear just how perfect she is for this job. To be a great college counselor here, you've got to be someone that kids will like and parents will trust. She's got that. Stefanie knows a lot about college admissions. She wants to use that knowledge to help kids navigate the process better. And she wants to do it here. We liked all those things.
We're really excited
Stefanie will be starting in our Irvine, CA office in June. She'll be helping seniors with college applications this summer and fall, conducting seminars for our Collegewise families, and fielding our questions about what really went down with Pete Carroll.
So, everyone say hi to Stefanie Potts!
katiegate says
Congrats, Stefanie! Can’t wait to meet you.
-Katie Konrad (Collegewise Northwest!)