Martha is a three-decade admissions professional with experience in admissions at a number of highly selective liberal arts colleges, including Hamilton College, Oberlin College, and Bryn Mawr College. In fact, it was at Oberlin that Martha and Hannah first worked as colleagues for a number of years. Martha’s last position in admissions was at Swarthmore College, where she held several titles over eight years, ultimately serving as Director of International Recruitment. Martha knows selective and hyper-selective college admissions from the inside. She consults with Creative College Connections students remotely from her home in Pacific Grove, CA, where she also works as a college counselor at a boarding school.
Martha is a believer in the power of education. A college education, however, wasn’t necessarily in the cards for her growing up as a steelworker’s daughter in Pittsburgh. Martha was lucky that a school counselor recognized her potential. “You’re really smart,” she said, “and you’re a woman, and you’re good at math. Fill out this application.” Martha followed that advice, applied, and enrolled at University of Dayton for engineering. At Dayton, Martha quickly realized that college was for her, but engineering was not, so she transferred to Smith College on the advice of a friend. Those three years at Smith changed her forever.
Words of advice from Martha: The state of college admissions is kind of crazy. The increasing volume of applications arriving at selective colleges is making the process less predictable each year. The highly selective schools are getting even more selective, and the schools people thought of as safety schools are not as safe. But there are so many amazing colleges out there that students often overlook. If you're targeting any of the hyper-selective places that everyone dreams of, the story you tell in your application can make the difference. So, part of what I counsel is trying to get students to think about the things that interest them and then developing those things so there’s a story to tell when the time comes.
Schedule Your Initial College Strategy Consultation with Martha here
Schedule Your Complimentary 20-Minute Discovery Call with Martha here
