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Job outlook for college admissions counselors in the United States
Are college admissions counselor jobs in demand?
College admissions counselor job and salary trends over time
College admissions counselor jobs over time
College admissions counselor job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 129 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 127 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 129 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 124 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 118 | 0.00% |
Average college admissions counselor salary over time
College admissions counselor salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $41,260 | $19.84 | +1.9% |
| 2024 | $40,493 | $19.47 | +1.3% |
| 2023 | $39,975 | $19.22 | +1.6% |
| 2022 | $39,336 | $18.91 | +1.6% |
| 2021 | $38,732 | $18.62 | +1.7% |
College admissions counselor jobs by state
Most common states for college admissions counselors
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 100 | 14% |
| 2 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 236 | 7% |
| 3 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 312 | 6% |
| 4 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 64 | 6% |
| 5 | Delaware | 961,939 | 62 | 6% |
| 6 | Alaska | 739,795 | 47 | 6% |
| 7 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 653 | 5% |
| 8 | Arizona | 7,016,270 | 365 | 5% |
| 9 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 310 | 5% |
| 10 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 290 | 5% |
| 11 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 143 | 5% |
| 12 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 37 | 5% |
| 13 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 28 | 5% |
| 14 | New York | 19,849,399 | 736 | 4% |
| 15 | Illinois | 12,802,023 | 536 | 4% |
| 16 | New Jersey | 9,005,644 | 357 | 4% |
| 17 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 347 | 4% |
| 18 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 324 | 4% |
| 19 | New Mexico | 2,088,070 | 75 | 4% |
| 20 | Vermont | 623,657 | 28 | 4% |
College Admissions Counselor job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of college admissions counselor experts
Saint Xavier University
Western Illinois University
Seattle University
East Tennessee State University
Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy - CSWA
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
American University
Pace University
Frostburg State University
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Kent State University
Angelo State University
What general advice would you give to a College Admissions Counselor?
Katherine Stavrianopoulos Ph.D.: Education and Credentials: Invest in obtaining advanced degrees and relevant certifications that enhance your qualifications and marketability. A master's or doctoral degree in counseling psychology, along with licensure or certification in your jurisdiction, can significantly increase your earning potential. Specialization and Niche Expertise: Develop expertise in specialized areas of counseling psychology that are in demand or command higher fees. Consider focusing on niche populations, such as children and adolescents, trauma survivors, couples therapy, family therapy and acquire specialized training or certifications to differentiate yourself in the market. Clinical Experience and Internships: Gain diverse clinical experience through internships, practicum placements, and supervised training opportunities. Continuing Education and Professional Development: Stay abreast of emerging trends, research findings, and evidence-based practices in counseling psychology through continuing education, workshops, and professional development opportunities.
What College Admissions Counselor skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Kristen Toole: This is an exciting time to be a counselor. It is a time for integration and inclusivity. With an
increasing focus on neuroscience and the advent of telehealth, incorporating science and
technology in counseling is increasingly relevant.
The use of technology is on the rise. As more people become familiar with telehealth, counselors
must become comfortable providing virtual care. Telehealth practices are also critical to
expanding our reach and improving the accessibility of our services.
Undeniable links between science and counseling continue to emerge. Findings in neuroscience
are shaping how we understand counseling and informing best practices (Cammisuli &
Castelnuovo, 2023). Furthermore, this supports incorporating knowledge and skills from other
disciplines to broaden the counseling field's horizons.
Mastering essential attending behaviors and the basic listening sequence (Ivey et al., 2018) is not
enough if we cannot successfully and accurately position our clients against a backdrop of broad
and complex contextual factors. Embracing diverse perspectives is crucial to supporting holistic
counseling practices. Integrating new information will be the key to achieving a more complete
and inclusive understanding of our clients and our work as we move forward.
What will help College Admissions Counselors increase their earning potential?
Emily Yowell Ph.D.: Psychologists should be aware of what others in their field are making for similar positions. It is important to ask for what your work is worth in an initial position to assure raises are based on a solid starting salary. Newer psychologists may also consider asking for an early review that prompts an early conversation around potential raises, bonus, or other job benefits.
Leigh Ann Tipton-Fisler, PhD, BCBA
Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of Specialist in School Psychology and Clinical/ Community Mental Health Graduate ProgramsWestern Illinois University
Clinical, Counseling And Applied Psychology
What general advice would you give to a College Admissions Counselor?
Leigh Ann Tipton-Fisler, PhD, BCBA: - The best I can give to graduates is to focus on taking small steps at first. Often the first year in the field can be exciting and overwhelming at the same time. The system we work in (the helping profession broadly) often has a lot of challenges, and new professionals want to re-envision a path for changes. This is tangible, but at first, it is important to understand the roles and functions in the workplace before flipping everything upside down. I suggest taking one small change at a time in an area that is important to you and build relationships and trust with your professional colleagues before overloading yourself with the new job and new goals.
Theresa Earenfight Ph.D.
Professor of History, Director, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies ProgramSeattle University
History Department
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on College Admissions Counselors?
Theresa Earenfight Ph.D.: As a historian of the European Middle Ages, I'm struck by how students this past year have acquired something scarce: historical empathy. The past can seem so remote, so very different from our lived experiences today, and this can make history seem irrelevant. But this fall, I was teaching a section on the bubonic plague, which historians of medicine now know was a global pandemic, not just an epidemic in Europe. Usually, students are fascinated by the gruesome medical details, but not this group.
They did not need or want to look death in the eyes. They wanted to know how did people react? How did they get back to normal? When we ticked off the list of reactions--fear, distrust of science (such as it was in 1348), xenophobia, scapegoating, economic collapse, hoarding supplies, turn to religion, gallows humor about worms crawling about corpses--they got it. When we talked about the aftermath--eat, drink, be merry, and protest the inequality--they got it. That is historical empathy, and I'm sad that this was how it had to be learned, but it will give them broader compassion that can encompass people alive today.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on College Admissions Counselors?
Dr. Frederick Gordon Ph.D.: Graduate students will need to refocus on the changing institutional role, being both remote and in-person, and impacting agency goals and performance.
Nicolle Zellner (on behalf of members of the CSWA)
ChairCommittee on the Status of Women in Astronomy - CSWA
What type of skills will young College Admissions Counselors need?
Nicolle Zellner (on behalf of members of the CSWA): I believe (hope) that the effects of the pandemic will be short-lived and that there will be a surge in job opportunities once a vaccine is available. Nevertheless, greater flexibility and versatility in skills are always useful. For example, astronomers who have analyzed large data sets or worked with machine learning algorithms will be in significant demand.
Interdisciplinary studies are also on the rise. New fields like astrobiology are rapidly growing, and there are ripe potentials for researchers with unique combinations of expertise or who can work with broad collaborations spanning disciplines.
With the growth of data, especially from large astronomical surveys, technical skills like computer programming and experience with data science tools and machine learning is increasingly useful. The ability to communicate complex ideas to a range of audiences is a necessity in most fields, and astronomers generally have great relevant experience with community outreach.
What type of skills will young College Admissions Counselors need?
Brian Ogolsky Ph.D.: Critical thinking skills are crucial in science disciplines. Graduates need to be the right consumers of research because there is a lot of false information floating around. They need to be able to understand and critique science, methods, and data. Independence and creativity are also crucial. Employees are becoming more dependent on specific guidelines, tasks, and directives, but to thrive and move up the ranks, it is critical to come up with new and exciting ideas and take risks.
How do you envision technology impacting College Admissions Counselors in the next 5 years?
Dr. Adelaide Kelly-Massoud: Well, every teacher and teacher candidate was thrust into distance learning. Misguided attempts to foster understanding often leaned our adult distant learning pedagogy. Teachers, and those who prepare teachers, found their job to research, define, design, and implement meaningful teaching and learning using a virtual platform. Words such as synchronous and asynchronous are now a part of our everyday vernacular. But there is a much more optimistic change on the horizon that we can thank coronavirus for.
Communication and collaboration have been forced to change. Parents and Teachers are more connected and have been put in a position to leverage technology to build networks of support and consistent dialog. I urge teachers to leverage this in their future as we work to reopening schools; we should learn from this experience to leverage technology to keep us connected.
Dr. Sheying Chen Ph.D.
Professor of Public Administration/Social PolicyPace University
Department of Public Administration
What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for College Admissions Counselors in the next 3-5 years?
Dr. Sheying Chen Ph.D.: The economy will eventually recover, though its structure and job composition may be quite different. Public administration has to adapt to those fundamental changes with retraining, renovation, etc. with more muscular accountability control, particularly for new entrants to the labor force. Experts suggest that the pandemic's primary consequence is to accelerate the timeline of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) we had already anticipated. Policymakers should push for investments in institutions that closely tie worker skills to employers' needs, as the economy recovers after COVID-19.
Jamelyn Tobery-Nystrom
Coordinator of M.Ed. Special EducationFrostburg State University
Educational Professions
What type of skills will young College Admissions Counselors need?
Jamelyn Tobery-Nystrom: Special education needs are wide and varying, depending on position and state/jurisdiction needs. In general, knowledge and experience in the Autism Spectrum is a high need area. Knowledge and skills in behavioral/mental health are also in demand. Indeed, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ability to adapt instruction online is a new skill area for special education teachers.
What type of skills will young College Admissions Counselors need?
Dr. Thomas Dearden Ph.D.: Indeed, the way we work is changing. The skills that young graduates will need are diverse. Transferable skills and soft skills will certainly be marketable. These include traditional crafts such as communication, but I also think the world expects more empathy from its employees. Young graduates with an understanding of racism, sexism, and environmental responsibility will become increasingly important.
Dr. Janice Byrd Ph.D.
ProfessorKent State University
School of Lifespan Development and Educational Sciences
How do you envision technology impacting College Admissions Counselors in the next 5 years?
Dr. Janice Byrd Ph.D.: Increased use of technology in school settings, I believe, is here to stay regardless of changes due to the nation's response to COVID. As school counselors and school counselor educators, we need to continue examining how parts of what we do look like in a virtual environment. I imagine educational tech companies will develop platforms that will help us complete tasks smoothly.
Most importantly, school counselors collaborating with instructional designers to identify meaningful solutions that do not require lots of money from schools or parents will be essential. For individual and group counseling tasks, school counselors may find themselves doing more Telehealth and/or increasing consultation with school-based clinical mental health counselors. Additionally, there is a lot of room for new tasks we can undertake as school counselors to support our students and school communities.
Lesley Casarez Ph.D.
Director, Quality Enhancement Plan Program Coordinator, M.S. Professional School Counseling Associate Professor, Curriculum and InstructionAngelo State University
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for College Admissions Counselors in the next 3-5 years?
Lesley Casarez Ph.D.: Graduates will need to learn to use technology in which virtual platforms are taking place and web conferencing platforms. Numerous platforms are being used, so the particular platform itself is not as crucial as being well-versed in how virtual education differs from face-to-face environments. Typically, the instructional role in online learning is more of a facilitator, as the educator guides the students to think critically, integrate, and apply new knowledge. This may be difficult for educators who would rather stand in front of a classroom and pass on their knowledge through lecture-based formats. Additionally, being well-versed in various web conferencing platforms will benefit graduates, as they move into a career that is currently requiring communication in virtual environments.