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After spending 10 years in admissions at various colleges and universities, Susan Chiarolanzio ’88, director of college counseling at the Flint Hill School in Oakton, Va., knows firsthand the anxiety that sometimes comes with the admissions process. She decided to write a book to reduce the unnecessary stress experienced by parents and prospective students.
Barron’s Head Start to College Planning is meant to educate families and allow them to begin their college planning more calmly and in a more informed way. A key message is that preparing for and choosing a college is important, but not the most important thing people do.
“The emphasis on the college search which exists in some regions of the country is absurd,” she says. “Some parents forget that kids need time to be kids and that where one goes to college is not a measure of anyone’s self-worth as a parent or merit as a person.”
Chiarolanzio credits numerous Lafayette professors and administrators for positively affecting her decision to enter the field of education, including former deans Dawn Person, Herman Kissiah and Alfredo Hernandez; James Krivoski, vice president for student affairs; Clay Ketcham, former head of education; Andrew Fix, Dana Professor and head of history; Robert I. Weiner, Jones Professor of History; Susan Niles, professor of anthropology and sociology; and Bill Conley, former admissions officer.
“The breadth and depth of the academic experiences provided by Lafayette combined with the wonderful leadership and extracurricular opportunities are what I think should define the college experience,” she says.
Prior to working at Flint Hill, Chiarolanzio, a history graduate, worked in college admissions at Gettysburg College, Drew University, and Georgetown University. She earned a master’s degree in higher and adult education at Teachers College, Columbia University.