FACULT Y FOCUS
Early Action Suzi Nam and the new college counseling office are striving to restore a sense of humanity to the college admissions process. By Jesse Overholser ’15
Under the leadership of new Director of College Counseling Suzi Nam, the GFS college advisory program has undergone a major transition. Before Nam’s hiring in 2015, GFS historically employed one full-time college counselor, assisted by six part-time counselors, all members of the faculty or administration. In Nam’s first year, she hired two fulltime associate directors of admissions, Mikael Yisrael and Rachel Fumia, in an effort to enhance the role that the college counseling office plays in the lives of Upper School students. As the college admissions process becomes more and more competitive, with colleges and universities across the nation reporting record-high application rates and record-low acceptance rates, the stress on students and families has only increased. No one knows this better than Nam, who spent 13 years in the admissions office at Swarthmore College—eight as director—before transitioning into high-school college counseling.
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“The college admissions field has changed significantly, and it’s still changing,” she explains. “The needs of families are different now, especially with the process starting earlier and earlier. That’s something we can’t really fight, we just need to support our students.” As a result, beginning this school year, students will be assigned college counselors in January of their sophomore year. The idea is not to “dive deep” into the college process at this age, but simply to begin the conversation with students about their interests and passions, summer opportunities—and when they should start visiting and thinking about colleges. Sophomore year may seem early to some, but Nam believes it will help build a stronger foundation and a more