Gerard Jeremy Hart currently
works at St. Paul’s School for Boys in Brooklandville, MD. Among his
many duties, he is a college counselor, he teaches two sections of
International Baccalaureate (IB) history, advises the Model UN club, manages
an advisory, and coaches football, basketball, and lacrosse.
What led you into admissions/college counseling? Share your
journey story!
I just happened into the college counseling world by a bit
of good luck. I met the St. Paul’s School Upper School Head at a
hiring fair while looking for a teaching job. The Head thought that
college counseling fit a number of aspects of my career goals then connected me
to Jake Talmage. Despite originally not even thinking about pursuing
college counseling jobs, Jake’s passion for the whole process and the way he
talked about the role counselors can have in student’s lives really touched on
some of my biggest passions. Long story short, I’ve been hooked on
college counseling ever since.
What do you love most about your job?
The best part of my job is getting to know students in so
many different arenas and then getting to help them find their next home to
continue their education. In particular, I can think of one student
that I coached, taught, and college counseled. Knowing him as a
student, as an athlete, and as a young man, I felt like I could significantly
better advise him in the college process. I knew that he wouldn’t do
well in large lecture halls, but also knew he wanted to follow his passion for
lacrosse. While he was enamored with the large, selective, and very
talented lacrosse school, helping him investigate new universities and
counseling his process over the course of his junior and senior years was
really enjoyable. Ultimately, having this student receive an offer
of admission to his newly discovered number one school (and have a chance to
play there too) made all the late night worried e-mails from his parents,
random and frequent hallway questions, and time spent helping with applications
entirely worth it.
How do you balance work/life?
As many of us in the college counseling and admissions
world know, there are so many commitments beyond the typical 9am-5pm workday
and making sure to reserve time for your personal life is really
important. On a daily basis, I make sure I keep the first hour and a
half after my daily commitments end free of checking e-mails and to just catch
my breath. In terms of the longer term, I keep a small planner on me
at all times to keep a clear schedule of both my professional and personal
commitments in order. If I start to notice the work commitments
piling up, I make sure to schedule some free time (as ironic as that sounds) or
block off time to watch my football teams on weekends in the fall to tip the
scales back during counseling and recommendations season.
What advice would you give to someone considering entering
the admissions/college counseling profession?
The biggest piece of advice I would give to someone
considering entering the admissions/ college counseling profession would be to
realize the entire business is not a black-and-white world. Some people on the
outside might think admissions as a binary process- you’re accepted or denied-
but there are so many levels. Whether it’s certain schools placing
more emphasis on certain attributes or others holding a firm line of test
scores and GPA or even a hundred point holistic review, learning the landscape
from school to school takes time. The more I learn, the more I
realize I don’t know. So piece of advice two, take advantage of
colleagues in the field. No matter the side of the process they
might be on, we’re ultimately all in it together.
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