Interview with an Expert: Irena Smith

This month’s installment of “Interview with an Expert” features college admissions consultant extraordinaire, Irena Smith. 

Irena graduated from UCLA summa cum laude with a B.A. in English and subsequently received a Ph.D. (also at UCLA) in Comparative Literature. She has taught undergraduates at Stanford and UCLA, and spent four years working in the Stanford Office of Undergraduate Admission before becoming an independent college counselor in 2007. 

Irena is also the author of a forthcoming memoir about her experiences in college admissions and parenting in the Bay Area as well as essays that have appeared in The Henry James Review, Pacific Coast Philology, Mama, Ph.D., and Literary Mama. You can follow her on Twitter at @irenawrites.

How did you get into the field of college counseling? What made you stay?

I became a reader for the Office of Undergraduate Admission at Stanford in 1999, after teaching humanities and composition in Structured Liberal Education, one of Stanford's freshman humanities tracks. One of my fellow SLE lecturers was a senior director in Undergraduate Admission, and his descriptions of his work there were fascinating (I'm not going to lie—I also had two small children at home and the flexible schedule, which allowed me to mostly work from home, was deeply appealing). I was hooked from day one: reading applications is fast-paced, intellectually demanding, and without a single dull moment. The only downside was turning away so many qualified applicants season after season—and that was back in the day when Stanford had a "generous" 12.5% admit rate. 

Eventually, I decided I would rather be on the other side of the desk—helping students tell their best story, not only through their essays, but also through crafting an intentional and authentic high school trajectory. The storytelling aspect is what keeps me in this field year after year; I love learning students' stories and helping them identify their spark, which is often something they themselves consider inconsequential and mundane until I help them see how fascinating that spark—an interest, an experience they've had, their family background, a singular way of looking at the world—might appear to others.

How has college counseling changed since you started? How has Covid changed things in the college counseling world?

College admissions at highly selective schools has become significantly more competitive since I started as an independent counselor in 2007, and it was plenty competitive already. Student stress has gone up, and there's been sort of a nuclear arms race in which the number of AP courses or the extracurricular accomplishment level has gone through the roof.

On a more positive note, students and families have become more open to considering schools—particularly large public universities with strong honors programs—that are far easier to get into and that offer many of the same resources and advantages as the selective private schools. I've also seen private schools trying to level the playing field by admitting fewer legacy applicants (which, of course, makes it tough on the legacy applicants and their families) in favor of unaffiliated students with extraordinary circumstances or accomplishments.

As far as COVID: although some things have become more difficult (connecting with junior-year teachers who will be writing letters of recommendation is much more challenging during distance learning, for instance), there has also been a welcome shift away from standardized testing. Many colleges and universities have gone test-optional or test-blind, and I don't think many students are mourning the demise of SAT Subject Tests. And because of the enormous shift to virtual everything, students have been able to connect with college advisors and specialists in other states or even other countries and learn about colleges through virtual tours and information sessions. I love that these opportunities are accessible to everyone, not only students whose families can travel to visit schools in person.

Where do you see college counseling going in the next five years?

Given the diversity of the field, it's hard to predict, but I'm already seeing a shift as college counselors increasingly recognize and work to address the educational inequity that has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Many college counselors I know are focusing more on serving a more diverse range of students on a pro bono or sliding scale basis if needed. I am also hopeful that given the record number of applicants to highly competitive schools (and the dwindling admit rates as a result), students and families will realize that they have a much wider choice than the usual Harvard-Yale-Princeton-Stanford anxiety-provoking continuum. To that end, I often recommend parents and students read Frank Bruni's Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be and Malcom Gladwell's brilliant New Yorker piece "The Order of Things."

Please share your top piece of advice with parents & students from your many years of experience in the college applications world -- that advice you keep repeating again and again.

Become a voracious reader if you're not one already. Reading does more than help with standardized test prep, English papers, or college essays—it's basically magic that allows you to develop a field (or fields) of expertise, chase your curiosity down new rabbit holes, become more imaginative and empathetic, travel to new worlds, and accrue cultural capital. Plus, there is nothing like geeking out with a fellow book-lover, whether they're a college interviewer, your English teacher, or your future roommate.

Tell us an inspirational story from your years as a college counselor.

Several years ago, I worked with a student who was feeling pretty beat up about himself. He had attended a competitive private school but didn't shine, and to the disappointment of his ambitious parents, had what he described as "slim pickings" when college decisions rolled around. To make it worse, he failed a senior-year course and ended up in a local community college. But this is where the story takes a "bad news/good news" turn: at the community college, he became a straight-A student, discovered a field he was passionate about, and pursued it both in and out of the classroom. Less than two years later, he was admitted as a transfer student to multiple highly selective universities, one of them with a full merit-based scholarship. 

Thanks so much to Irena for providing us with her insights into the world of college admissions counseling. If you’re interested in working with Irena, you can contact her at this link.

To learn more about Pacific Preparatory, request a consultation here and we’ll be in touch.