The graduate school application process differs greatly from applying to undergraduate admissions so a key goal of her consulting is to ensure that applicants understand that difference. As a former graduate admission officer, Barbara has first hand knowledge of how the selection works and she shares that information with all of her clients.
Barbara served as Director of Graduate and International Admissions at American University for almost ten years working with applicants from liberal arts, communications, business, political science, and international affairs. She also coordinated and managed the university fellowship and assistantship award program. That experience and her work with Kaplan clients for the past six years has allowed her to become extremely knowledgeable about how faculty evaluate graduate school applicants. What keeps Barbara coming back year after year is sharing in the thrill and exhilaration that most students have when they receive acceptance to graduate school.
Her personal experience as a graduate student helps as well. She has a master's degree from Syracuse University in Education and a PhD from the University of Maryland, College Park in University Administration.
While campus location is often less important at the graduate school level, Barbara continues to visit lots of colleges every year. During the past three years alone she visited over 60 colleges in Colorado, Southern California, the Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin), upstate New York, and Pennsylvania.
Graduate school applicants are focused and extremely busy, whether they are completing an undergraduate degree or grinding out extremely busy work schedules so as Barbara works with graduate school applicants she looks for ways to help them manage and schedule enough time to complete their applications on time. Many of her clients are accepted at the Ivies and other competitive schools, but she is just as proud when clients are excited about their acceptance—whether it's a regional state university or a nationally recognized school. Helping applicants reach their goals is intensely important and she thoroughly enjoys it. Barbara is looking forward to another year where she can assist her clients in achieving their goal of continuing their education for a masters or doctoral degree.