College Admissions Counselor (Bay Area)

About Empowerly Empowerly ([link removed]) is an education technology company that personalizes college and career counseling with a mission to empower students to become the most successful version of themselves. From college preparation, landing internships, and beyond, we support students in achieving their academic goals. We provide data-driven education technology, start up and research internship programs, and personalized counseling led by former university Admission Officers and experienced College counselors. We are a rapidly growing, mission-driven, and venture-backed company. It takes a unified team committed to our core values – collaboration, data driven, and empowerment – to achieve this goal and a fast-moving team committed to serving the needs of families. Each student is holistically evaluated through our Empowerly Score™ — the only predictive technology that can also quantify subjective material. Each student is offered a three-pronged approach to evaluate academics, essays, and extracurricular activities – providing them a 360-degree view of how to be competitive against other applicants. Empowerly raised $30 million from investors, including Goodwater Capital, Conductive Ventures, FJ Labs, Scrum Ventures, Translink Capital, Azure Capital Partners, and Spero Ventures. About The Role We are currently seeking experienced College Admissions Counselors who live in or have extensive experience working with students in the San Francisco Bay Area. Many of our students are Bay Area families applying to highly selective colleges, including the University of California system, Ivy League institutions, and other Top 50 universities. A significant number are also pursuing competitive pathways in computer science, engineering, and pre-med/BS/MD programs. The ideal candidate has several years of college counseling experience and/or previous experience as an admissions officer at a selective college or university. We especially value counselors who graduated from Top 50 institutions and have backgrounds in STEM fields such as computer science, engineering, or medicine. As a College Admissions Counselor, you will guide students throughout the admissions journey by developing personalized academic and extracurricular plans, providing strategic application guidance, reviewing essays, and supporting college list development, passion exploration, and early career planning. Responsibilities Keep up to date with current college admission changes. Available for 20-25 students with flexibility based on schedule and bandwidth. Advise students about extracurriculars that expand interests and may potentially present leadership opportunities. Help students with meaningful summer plans by applying to internships, explore competitions, research opportunities, and community service options. Create a plan for standardized testing that includes strategies for improving scores and help decide which tests are appropriate. Help create college lists, rate colleges for students (reach, target, and safety), and offer tips for college visits. Guidance through the entire application process: personal statement, activities, resume, recommendation letters, essay review and edits, utilizing research when necessary, reviewing entire application materials before submitting. Strategizing plan for early action, early decision, regular decision as well as waitlisted strategies and college choice guidance. Discuss financial aid resources and guidance as well as merit scholarship resources. Prepare for sessions in advance, be on time, log sessions in a timely manner, stay in touch with students, maintain a healthy relationship with parents, and include parents in all communications. Support a wide range of students, including; transfer, undergrad, post graduate, and international. Attend monthly team meetings. Utilize resources available within Empowerly to provide optimal advice for all students. Monitor Empowerly email account and Slack account for up-to-date Empowerly communications. Minimum Qualifications Graduate from a top 50 national university (advanced degrees like MD, PhD, MBA, JD, or Masters are a plus) Experience as a college counselor for high school students, with a track record of acceptances into a top 50 national university Have consistent availability in the afternoons (after 3:00 p.m.) and/or on weekends to meet with students. Possess passion for education, talent for teaching, essay writing, and essay editing. Possess exceptional oral and written communication skills Able to plan around and meet deadlines Possess dedication to client service Able to commit to students for multi-year packages Preferred Qualifications Former admissions officers at top 50 colleges Experienced independent college counselors (NACAC, WACAC, IECA, etc) Originally posted on Himalayas