Summary: Reporting directly to the Principal, the Director of College Counseling is responsible for leading all aspects of college counseling and works to guide students and parents, beginning in grade 9, through the college admissions process. The Director of College Counseling will also work closely with the Director of Counseling on the Human Development and academic advising program toward the support of the academic success of our students.
Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion: Diversity is a vital element of Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s mission to educate young women for a life of faith, integrity and truth. At Flintridge Sacred Heart, we seek to create and sustain a vibrant, inclusive community and we value and appreciate the uniqueness contained within each person so as to honor the diversity of God’s creation.
Essential Job Functions
The director works with students and parents.
Reviews, adjusts, and improves the college counseling program each year.
Establishes and teaches the college counseling curriculum.
Meets with parents about their children’s college process.
Coordinates after-school application workshops.
Coordinates a college counseling essay workshop ahead of the beginning of students’ senior year.
Promotes and coordinates annual college visit programs to the East Coast and/or West Coast.
Meets with students individually in fall, winter, and spring.
Oversees progress through the spring process of preparing a summer visit list.
Advises on course selection and its consequences in the college selection process beginning sophomore year with students and parents.
Prepares regular communications to parents at all grade levels
Oversees progress through the fall process of finalizing their list of colleges and sending off applications.
Provides essay feedback and support for students throughout essay writing process
Helps seniors to understand and decide among their financial aid packages in April.
Coordinates Senior Awards night
The director works with college representatives.
Visits college campuses to establish and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with college admission staff. Counselor tours hosted by multiple, geographically-linked colleges are particularly useful. They usually take one week or ten days at various times of the year. The director participates in three or four such tours each year.
Creates relationships with other high school college counselors to strengthen college counseling programs and solidify relationships with college representatives.
Attends national and regional conferences:
The National Association for College Admission Counseling Conference, September.
The National College Board Forum, November.
The Regional College Board, February.
Invites and receives more than 75 college visitors to campus each fall.
Speaks on the phone with college representatives to discuss our applicants for the ‘early’ round in December and for the ‘regular’ round in March.
The director has the support of a college counselor. Maintains clear communication with athletic coaches and compliance officers at colleges to ensure that all academic requirements are being fulfilled.
The director guides the work of the College Counseling Office by
Holding weekly meetings with Associate Director of College Counseling
Ensuring close daily communication, both face-to-face and through email.
Providing regular contact in July and August.
Planning and executing regular and systematic evaluation, followed by explicit initiatives to address recommendations.
The director works with the faculty, administration, and Board of Directors.
Attends weekly, monthly administrative and curriculum board meetings.
Prepares for the Board of Directors three reports on the college admission process for a given class (fall, winter and spring). In these meetings, the director strives to explain how college admission readers view our curriculum. Such information is gleaned from the many phone calls the director makes to support seniors’ applications in December and March.
Advises the faculty in their writing of college recommendations.
Counsels advisors and coaches on how to help students through the college athletic selection process.
The director works with the Business Office.
Establishes and maintains a yearly budget.
Anticipates expenses necessary to account for all professional development opportunities and to cover expenses for on-campus events.
Approves all expenditures from the college counseling budget.
The director is responsible for the effective use of multiple technological tools, such as:
Scoir, college planning tool; College Kickstart, etc.
Website management, i.e., managing college counseling website through the school website. (Updating these pages requires close coordination with our Director of Communications.)
Working with the Data Systems Admin and Academic Dean to ensure that all data is input correctly.
Other Job Functions
Serves as a member of the Administration Team (Ad Team) and the Curriculum Board.
Other duties as assigned.
Supervision: May supervise one to two college counselors.
Skills, Knowledge, And Abilities
Bachelor’s degree, Master’s preferred
Experience as a Director of College Counseling or minimum 3-5 years’ college counseling experience in high achieving, private secondary school
Broad experience with the admissions processes at state, private, and nationally recognized universities
Proficiency in technology as related to all areas of the college counseling process: especially Scoir, Google Suite, data collection.
Strong communication and organization skills. Attention to detail and excellent follow-through are a must.
Ability to develop positive relationships with both students and parents; ability to work collaboratively with teachers, administrators, and university representatives.
Strong writing abilities.
Working Characteristics
Mission – Must possess a spirit open to the pursuit of faith, integrity and truth.
Organization – Must possess the ability to multitask, attend to detail, organize work effectively, meet deadlines and report status of work in a regular and systematic fashion; strong project management skills are essential.
Communication – Must possess excellent written and verbal communications skills; basic presentation skills and ability to develop and present presentations to small and large groups.
People Skills – Must be customer service oriented and seek to maintain positive interpersonal relationships with employees, parents and other school constituencies encountered.
Initiative – Must possess the ability to proactively initiate, participate and follow through in strategic planning matters and on work assigned. Positive attitude and teamwork perspective is essential.
Learning Posture – Must maintain a learning posture and embrace change and growth individually and institutionally. Expected to participate in professional development training and the annual employee retreat.
Physical And Environmental Conditions
While performing the essential functions of this job the employee is occasionally required to lift and/or move up to 30 pounds.
Simultaneous/repetitive use of both hands is required for data entry.
Excellent sensory skills are important (sight, hearing and speech) as well as the ability to communicate effectively.
Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate all applicants without unlawful consideration of race, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, disability, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
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