Ms Jodi Walder

About

Jodi is the founder and owner of College Admission Coach℠. She puts her drama degree from UC Irvine to good use, as she is overly dramatic when explaining why it is important to find a right-match college. After stints as an English teacher, media buyer, advertising sales rep, Kinderdance franchise owner, magazine editor and corporate marketing communications manager, Jodi finally found her true calling and got her college counseling certificate from UCLA. Since 2005, she has helped over 1000 students navigate the college admissions process and unabashedly admits that she is an application essay geek, since she loves a good story. During reading season, Jodi has worked as an application reader for a highly-selective east coast college. 

Jodi belongs to the following professional associations for college counselors: PNACAC (Pacific Northwest Association for College Admission Counseling), HECA (Higher Education Consultants Association) and PACCC (Portland Area College Counselors Consortium). She visits at least 25 colleges per year, collecting pennants everywhere, but only buying additional swag if the school color is purple.

When she is not working with College Admission Coach℠ students, Jodi can be found hiking through the Columbia Gorge, keeping up with the reading for her two book groups, dancing in her living room,  improvising healthy recipes or hanging with College Admission Cat Sherwood (as in: I "Sure Would" like to get into X College).

Whether you are a straight-A student with a long list of extra-curricular activities and community service, a solid student looking for a college where you can thrive or a struggling student with a story to tell, I can help you find, apply and get admitted to a university that meets your academic, social, emotional, and spiritual needs and is a financial fit. I work with students on pre-college planning, career & major exploration, developing a college list, time management & meeting deadlines, college application essays, application completion, and finding scholarship & financial aid resources.