Top Tier AdmissionsA former Admissions and Financial Aid Officer for Harvard University, Kristen brings over 20 years of experience working in higher education. Kristen has a PhD in Education with a concentration in Higher Education, an M.S. in Business Management, and a B.A. in English. Her PhD dissertation won the International Susan B. Anthony Institute Dissertation Award. In her role at Harvard, Kristen oversaw admissions for 17 departments and was also responsible for distributing funding from the National Science Foundation Fellowships Program and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Student Research Fellowship Program. Kristen previously worked as a substitute K-12 teacher, as adjunct faculty at three universities in MA and NY, and as an educational researcher. Kristen recently published a book (Information Age Publishing) on faculty and tenure in academia which Stanford University Libraries featured on their recommended "Gender and Education Books" list. Kristen has written for Entrepreneur Magazine and published in journals such as the Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs and the American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences Journal. Kristen has also been featured in and interviewed for publications such as U.S. News & World Report, the Washington Examiner, Yahoo News, and Business Insider.
Every year, talented applicants submit graduate applications built around the same parameters that helped them prepare a strong and winning Common Application: open with a catchy hook, tell a compelling story, relay a scholarly niche, and showcase strong character and promise. Those essentials have their place, but they are not what graduate admissions committees are […]
By the time June arrives, the emotional weather of the college waitlist has changed. In mid-April, waiting can still feel hopeful. Colleges are still making decisions, classmates are still comparing outcomes, and the process still feels alive. Then, June actually arrives. As author Jean Hershey once said, “June is the gateway to summer,” but if […]
Recently, Yale’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences confirmed they’re reducing enrollment by roughly 13% in the humanities and social sciences and 5% in STEM fields over the next three years. Their decision is tied largely to financial strain, particularly a sharp increase in the federal tax on university endowments, which is expected to cost […]
The first year of college is exciting—new friends, new place, new food, new social opportunities, new classes, new perspectives, and a future that suddenly (and hopefully!) feels wide open. But it can also be sensory overload, overwhelming students with too many options, limited structure and too little guidance. When it comes to college, the assumption […]
For students driven by curiosity, problem-solving, and the desire to shape the future, STEM offers a direct path toward meaningful impact. Yet, with hundreds of universities claiming excellence in science, engineering, and technology, it can be difficult to know where truly exceptional programs and opportunities for hands-on research actually exist. What defines a strong STEM […]
The Senior Year Roadmap
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