We are bringing back our popular series, Meet an Admissions Counselor , where we introduce students and households to a different member of the College Coach admissions team . Drop in to see what we’re reading through, where we went to school, and our strategies for beginning the college article. As you work with us to find an educational consultant who best fits your needs or the needs of your kid, we will help you consider the personality and working styles that will bring out the best in you or your pupil. Today we introduce Lisa Albro , who works with students both remotely and in our Short Hillsides, NJ office.
Where are you from?
Mack: Fort Shelter, NJ – home of the George Washington Bridge and the gateway in order to New York City.
Where did you go to school?
Lisa: Goucher College in Towson, Baltimore (a northern suburb of Baltimore) for both undergrad and grad school, but with a 12-year space between finishing undergrad and beginning grad school.
What did you study?
Lisa:
Undergrad: English with a Writing Emphasis. We took very few (read: “the minimal required for graduation”) literature classes and an overabundance of writing courses: journalism, writing for film, TV and radio, every creative creating class Goucher offered, technical creating, writing for public relations and advertising, you name it. Of the literature programs I took, my absolute favorite was the James Joyce seminar. Reading through Joyce just does something to a soul.
Grad: Excellent Master of Fine Arts within Creative Nonfiction. Sometime in the earlier 2000’s I became serious about our writing and embarked on the program a lot sooner than I had planned.
Where do you work?
Mack: An city consulting firm, a commercial real estate firm, an advertising agency, the paralegal school, and a veterinary technician training school. I have spent nineteen years in admissions and counseling, working at Goucher College so that as the director of college counseling with three high schools.
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What are you reading right now for fun?
Lisa: I am between books now, having recently finished The Burning Room by Michael Connelly, and desperately awaiting the release in a few days of Radiant Angel by Nelson DeMille. I love private investigator novels, a hazard of having grown up with a cop for a dad. Being a kid I would pick up whatever this individual was reading, and it was typically a detective story. I got addicted to Lawrence Sanders’s “Deadly Sin” series at a very early age.
You have a free weekend break and carte blanche to go anywhere and do anything. What do you do?
Lisa: Our perfect weekend is spent soothing on a raft in our pool, barbecuing for friends and family, going for long moves, and playing with our 5-year-old shepherd/hound mix Mattingly.
What was your favorite thing about college?
Lisa: Discovery! It was four years of ongoing discovery – associated with artists, writers, philosophers, friends, experiences – you name it! One of the reasons I love working with students who are going through the school process is that my college encounter was so positive because We went to the right school for me. I wish to help kids find the places that will give them their best experiences too.
What about your own college experience was different from everything you expected?
Lisa: For starters, I didn’t expect to be so homesick in my first semester. I was The Most Homesick Freshman in the World for a good four months there. Meeting the right individuals and getting involved in campus life helped me to overcome that by second semester. I think I was a little bit sheltered as a kid, and being on my own in college made me recognize what it meant to take responsibility just for myself and to take initiative.
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What’s your philosophy upon college admission?
Mack: It’s a procedure. One does not just apply and get in and be done with it. You should investigate and research and filter things down. It’s about finding the right fit for a student’s interests, capabilities, and personality. Like any process, it’s not without its challenges, but in our role as a facilitator of this process, I see such terrific growth within students from overcoming those issues.
Exactly what aspect of the college admissions process do you most enjoy working on?
Lisa: I really like the interaction with my learners, and listening to them as they discover things about themselves by visiting campuses, or even looking deeply into programs or even majors of interest. And I adore having those discussions with seniors in the spring who are considering multiple offers of admission. I be able to help them assess their pros and cons, which allows me to sometimes perform the devil’s advocate, to help them come to the best decision for them selves.
Very best most common mistake you see from learners that can easily be fixed?
Lisa: I meet and speak with a lot of students – and parents – who will only consider what we contact “name brand” schools that only account for a small percentage of the thousands of choices here in the U. S. on your own. I try to get my households to think outside the box a bit and look deeper into what different schools have to offer. I see so many students become fixated on one particular school far too earlier in the process, causing them to focus as well narrowly on just one place with no giving full consideration to other opportunities. It’s an easy fix: keep a mind, and be willing to consider every options before narrowing the focus.
How do you encourage students to look beyond the schools they know to find hidden gems?
Lisa: If the conversation allows, We tell them my story, for starters. I would recommend some places they may consider that offer some of the options they are looking for, end up being they certain majors or applications, and help them to look deeper into these other options. I discuss facts and testimonials to help debunk myths that lead them to believe you will find only certain schools they should think about.
Exactly what in your mind makes a good college article?
Lisa: An essay that helps the reader to see a student in three dimensions. On paper, students can seem so similar to one another within a provided applicant pool. A good essay provides a student to life, and helps the reader to learn something about the pupil that they might not otherwise know. The very best essays are the ones that sound like the writer, not who the writer thinks he or she ought to sound like for the benefit of the readers. I always inform my students, “be your authentic self. ” And for God’s benefit, please avoid using the “SAT words” that so many students think they need to throw in for good measure. No one frequently uses words like “plethora” or even “myriad, ” but they always appear to pop up in college essays.
What are a few important things you’ve learned during your time as a College Coach educator?
Lisa: The collective expertise of our team of experts is astounding. We learn something new whenever my co-workers and I have a conversation or a meeting. We are really, really good at what we do, and we all want to make a difference in the lives of the students we assist. I’ve also learned that 99. 999% of the time, students end up pretty much exactly where they are meant to be in spite of all of the stress and worry they put them selves through.
What would you say to your high school self if you could coach them through the process?
Mack:
You are NOT going to be the next Woodward or even Bernstein.
Don’t doubt yourself so much!
You are not your standardized test score. Focus on the qualities that make your application stick out apart from your scores.
Trust your gut.
When you visit a campus, look for learners who are “your kind of people. ”
Don’t think you need to map out the rest of your life RIGHT NOW. Start your college career with tips and a general direction, but be operational to the opportunities that may come your way from out in left field.
Don’t try and rush through your college experience. The “real world” will be there whenever you finish.
Check out Lisa’s post: Deciding on a College: Assessing Academics
Lisa Albro is a member of College Coach’s team of university admissions experts . Lisa earlier worked as a senior admissions official at Goucher College and as the director of college counseling at Solomon Schechter Day School and Xavier High School.
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