Meet Paige!

Paige Watson, College Counselor

Since moving into college counseling eight years ago—after discovering how much she enjoyed helping students with their college essays during her time as an English teacher—Paige has guided students to admission at dozens of the most competitive colleges in the country, including Penn, Northwestern, Colgate, NYU, Barnard, Mount Holyoke, Boston University, Kenyon, Hamilton, and Tulane. After earning her master’s at Columbia University, Paige worked as an academic and college counselor at Beacon High School in New York, where she designed a college counseling and career planning curriculum used by more than 500 students schoolwide. She then accepted a position as a college counselor at Brooklyn Prospect High School, where she guided an annual caseload of more than 50 students through the college admissions process, and created a personal statement curriculum and writing retreat that significantly boosted both essay quality and on-time completion percentage for the junior class.  

We’ve learned that counselors like Paige, who help students find and tell their best stories for college essays, have a unique talent that has surprisingly little to do with writing—they can see what makes a teenager special in ways that even they themselves may not recognize (yet). Paige helps her students stand out by recognizing that at the most competitive colleges, there’s a certain point at which it’s simply impossible to out-achieve the other applicants. When so many in the pool are already presenting impeccable credentials, it’s the personal qualities behind those accomplishments—a student’s character, empathy, work ethic, and sense of curiosity—that offer the best opportunity for differentiation. Paige excels as a counselor because she can recognize those qualities, help teens honor them, and make sure they are presented clearly on a college application.  

A former competitive gymnast, Paige once won an award for “Longest Handstand.” While she may have lost some of her handstand endurance since her competitive days, she could still nail that pose well enough to impress the judges (provided she’s given time to stretch beforehand). 

Education & Experience

American University, B.A.
Columbia University, M.S.
College Counselor, Brooklyn Prospect High School (2 years)
Academic and College Counselor, Beacon High School