Get to Know College Admissions Expert, Anita Doar

Our mission at Top Tier Admissions is to provide comprehensive support, guidance, and resources to students and families navigating the college admissions process. We prioritize teen mental health and work towards alleviating the stress and pressures associated with this process, empowering students to make informed decisions, nurturing their authentic love of learning, and encouraging academic achievement.

You attended Princeton University for undergrad. What was the highlight of your college years and what do you wish you had known about Princeton when you were an applicant?  

Academically, the highlight was a toss-up between having scholars Toni Morrison, Cornell West, James McPherson, and Peter Singer as professors and writing my thesis senior spring: tucked away in my own private carrel deep in the stacks of Firestone library, musing on moral philosophy, before emerging into the sunshine to run around with friends on the lacrosse field.  

As an applicant and then a first-year student at Princeton, I wish I’d spent more time thinking about “Princeton in the nation’s service.” Princeton’s School of International and Public Affairs is an incredible program that I might have better positioned myself to contribute to and benefit from. 

How was your college experience informed by your perspective as a student-athlete? What do you enjoy most about working with potential athletic recruits?

My Princeton experience was entirely shaped by my perspective as a student-athlete. In lacrosse, I essentially had a physically consuming, full-time job on top of Ivy-league academic rigor—with workouts starting before sunrise and library sessions going late into the night.  I had to be disciplined with my time and pass up a lot of opportunities that other classmates could take advantage of, like campus organizations, social events, study abroad, etc. The sacrifices were steep but the rewards richer: I got to represent my school in something larger than myself, and even be part of an NCAA Division I national championship!

In working with prospective recruits, I find kindred spirits in student-athletes who juggle it all. I understand the range of pressures they face and the second world they enter when they leave school and head into practice each day.  I see the lifechanging experience awaiting them on the other side of the college admissions process and keep my eye on the long game as they navigate the alternating thrills and agonies of the sports they are so invested in. My TTA student-athletes have me on the shortlist of people they call when they have a good game or a PR!

You also have over a decade of experience working with high schoolers as an English teacher, an academic advisor, and a head varsity coach. How do these experiences translate into your role as a private college admissions counselor?

They’re everything! I’ve spent a solid portion of my career living the daily lives that my private counseling students live. I’m intimately familiar with the pace of the school day and year, course progressions and challenges, and the inner workings of relationships with teachers, coaches, and administrators. I’ve worked with thousands of students spanning every type of personality, learning challenge, or gift. Both as a teacher and a coach, I’ve learned to motivate with high standards and compassion, and to know when to hold the line and when to give.  Most importantly, having seen all different students return as proud alumni from all different colleges, I feel a strong conviction when I advise students and families that the process has a way of working itself out.

What made you decide to pursue a graduate degree in English from Middlebury College? How has this experience helped you advise students on their own academic and college writing?

Middlebury’s Bread Loaf School of English epitomizes the bedrock of the TTA approach. It’s a five-year summer program for English teachers who leave the classroom at the end of the school year and then immerse themselves in the scholarship and love of learning we hope to inspire in our students: poetry readings over campfires, scholarly lectures by published authors, Shakespeare productions in converted barns, and endless pages of reading and writing.  I did it not only for my own intellectual fulfillment, but to become a better English teacher. 

My experience pursuing graduate-level writing and literary analysis certainly comes in handy while advising my students on essays for summer programs and college applications—often to the dismay of my students who get pushed to write draft after draft after draft! 

Want to work with Anita? Contact us today to reserve your spot.