Headshot of a smiling woman in a coat
MEET YOUR COLLEGE COUNSELOR

Jaime Manduke

Jaime (she/her) has spent the last 15 years in college admissions, from reading thousands of applications as an Assistant Director of Admissions at Stanford to serving as an Associate Director of College Counseling at two independent schools in California and Tennessee.

Core Values

Close Relationships

Meaningful Work

Balance

Jaime began her career as a caseworker for at-risk youth in NYC, and that social work background continues to anchor her student-centered approach. Most recently, she was an undergraduate application reader for NYU and Questbridge.
Jaime believes students thrive when they have ownership over the college process. Grounded in deep listening, humor, and genuine care, she helps students uncover the authentic values that make an application feel unmistakably like them. Jaime’s students have been admitted to colleges including Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Deep Springs, Duke, George Washington, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Hamilton, Northwestern, NYU, Scripps, Stanford, St Andrews, Swarthmore, Tulane, UChicago, USC, Vanderbilt, Washington U, Yale, and every UC campus.
Outside of work, Jaime is an avid bagel baker, a novice seamstress, a Broadway musical lover and lives in San Francisco with her husband and two preschoolers. She has strong, well-defended opinions on the best croissants in the city, spends more time scrolling IMDB trivia pages than actually watching the movie (her self-proclaimed beige flag), and loves swapping TV or podcast recommendations. Her philosophy on the relationships she builds is simple: once her student, always her student.

EDUCATION

A few things about me

I bake bagels, cookies and/or challah every week, no matter what! I ship my flour from New York to create the perfect bagel texture and usually go through about 1,000 pounds of flour each year.
I love a good comedy show or a live music event, from the Eras Tour to a local comedy club.
My kids are deeply obsessed with Halloween, so it’s spooky season at my house all year long. I’ll throw an over-the-top skeleton themed birthday party in December and consume pumpkin all year round.
In addition to reading for scholarship committees and institutions like NYU (Go Bobcats!), I’ve counseled families coast to coast from the Bay Area to Nashville.

Quick Questions

What I love most about this work

I love getting to be the counselor and mentor I wish my high school self had. By meeting students where they are and helping them find their authentic selves, I get to cheer young people on as they develop the confidence to be successful in college and beyond.

My best advice for students

Get in the habit of self-reflection. Students who journal or document their curiosities often come to know their wants, tastes and interests earlier on and find the process far more enjoyable.

Something families are often surprised to learn

The person visiting your high school from a college or the twentysomething you’re chatting it up with at the college fair is often the person who will actually read your application. Ask them thoughtful questions and actually listen to their answers. The review process, while imperfect, is much more human than you think.