Susan has navigated every corner of the admissions landscape, from guiding American and international students applying to highly selective research universities and liberal arts colleges, to fine and performing arts programs, test-optional institutions, and disability support programs. In college admissions, she has evaluated thousands of university applications to multiple selective institutions.
As a known expert in the field of admissions, she was a founding board member of the Character Collaborative, a nonprofit supporting the use of personal qualities and character attributes in students’ applications. She has served and volunteered on many other industry boards including College Board, the Educational Testing Service, the Common Application, the National Association for College Admission Counseling, and the access organization GoToCollege NYC. You can also find her as a regular contributor to the Your College Bound Kid podcast.
Susan is a counselor at heart who loves helping students and parents launch their college searches and prepare authentic and strategic college applications. When she isn’t podcasting or writing, this native New Yorker is a dedicated sports enthusiast and mother of adult twins (an ICU nurse and an entrepreneur). She splits her time between the Big Apple, Philadelphia, and the coast of Maine—bringing countless years of wisdom to every student she mentors.
I love to help students build their college lists and understand what colleges want to know about them - and how to communicate it through the jigsaw puzzle pieces of the application.
Think of a college application as a representation as opposed to a résumé. You are more than your achievements. Once a college determines that you can do the academic work, their evaluation is all about the other dimensions of who you are and what you will contribute.
Colleges that are similar on paper are often very different when you consider what will bring out your best. Rankings and the media tell you very little about fit and potential success.