Anita Gajula pattern

Anita Doddi, College Counselor

Anita has spent her entire career helping students get where they’re trying to go, beginning with her early days as an academic adviser at the University of Chicago. As a college counselor, she’s guided hundreds of students through the college admissions process, many of whom garnered acceptances to schools like University of Michigan, Cornell, UPenn, Columbia, Tufts, University of Chicago, Duke, Drexel, Northeastern, NYU, Oberlin, Grinnell and all the UC (University of California) schools.

 

At her core, Anita is fascinated with teenagers (and a parent to two kids of her own). She asks her students thoughtful questions, builds trusting relationships, and points out each student’s areas of strength and potential as they appear during their work together. In fact, several parents have commented that Anita helped them see something in their child even they had not previously seen. While many students on her caseload are drawn to STEM or business fields, Anita also particularly enjoys working with students who are undecided about their future course of study or career, and often finds them to be some of her most thoughtful students.

 

The most dedicated college counselors view their work not just as a job, but a calling that compels them to keep learning, teaching, and growing in pursuit of mastery. In that spirit, Anita regularly volunteers at her local high school with weekly walk-in hours for college counseling. She mentors one local student every year as part of the Green Halo Scholars community-based organization. She’s presented workshops at admissions conferences, she regularly delivers admissions webinars for the public as well as internal professional development presentations for her Collegewise colleagues, and she walked away with our College Knowledge award at our 2025 Collegewise employee retreat.

 

Outside of work, Anita is always happy to discuss books, movies, and TV shows with anyone. She loves to spend time with her two teenage kids and the family dog, Pongo.

Education & Experience

Williams College, B.A.
University of Michigan, M.A.
Independent educational consultant (5 years)
Admissions adviser, multiple college planning firms (4 years)
Academic adviser, University of Chicago (4 years)

Professional Organization Memberships

NACAC: National Association for College Admission Counseling

IACAC: Illinois Association for College Admission Counseling

IECA: Independent Educational Consultants Association

Ready to tackle the admissions process?

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