905: How to Break Into College Admissions Counseling With Kevin McMullin, Collegewise [Espresso Shots]

Kevin McMullin is the founder and Head of Talent at Collegewise, the world’s largest college admissions counseling company. Kevin founded Collegewise in Irvine, California, in 1999 using his last paycheck from his previous job. He started out that fall working with nine students at their kitchen tables to help them find the right colleges and complete their applications.  Within a year, over 100 families had enrolled in the Collegewise program, and Kevin was no longer the only counselor. A graduate of UC Irvine with a double major in English and history – Kevin has been asked: “What will you do with those majors?” approximately 783 times.  He also has a college admissions counseling certificate from UCLA. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE: Why working in a college admissions office is the best entry level job for his field (3:56) Why clear communication, being able to read people and taking initiative are some of the best skills to have entering the college counseling field (4:48) How acquiring knowledge about colleges and their requirements can benefit you in this field (5:57) Why your engagement and passion towards the work is more important than what your undergraduate degree is (6:39) Why a graduate degree is necessary for going into school counseling versus private counseling and coaching (7:18)  How working to provide any kind of guidance to people is a valuable life experience in this field (9:03) Why never saying “that’s not my job” to someone is the best career advice Kevin ever got (12:04)  How TV shows and movies depict college counseling in a comedic way that’s so far from the truth, and how the book The Gatekeepers shows what the admissions process is like from behind the scenes (12:58) What’s the most surprising fact about his job that very few people know (listen to find out!) (13:51) Why to listen to T4C episode #368 to learn more about what Keven does at Collegewise and how he built his career