Sara Llansa, College Counselor

Sara Llansa has been impacting students since day one: after spending three years teaching her own ESL classes for adult learners while at Brown, Sara took a position as an adjunct faculty member in the English department at the Houston Community College. But a year later, Sara turned her focus to supporting high school students and didn't look back.

Sara spent a year as a Freshman Seminar Instructor and Summer Opportunities Coordinator at YES Prep in Houston and then transitioned to EMERGE, a college readiness organization within the Houston Independent School District. They began with four students in one high school, and now serve 1,000+ students across 42 high schools in Houston. Sara has worked her way up to Director at EMERGE and is unofficially known as the "O.G." She supports her own caseload of students, in addition to training everyone from her own team to district employees. Outside of EMERGE, Sara is the co-chair of the Brown Alumni Interviewing Program in Houston and a member of TACAC's Admission Practices committee.

Sara earned her bachelor's in Education and International Relations at Brown University and went on her earn her master's in Human Dimensions of Organizations at UT Austin. Sara is fluent in Spanish, a legit hiker (she just did her second 14er in Colorado!) and knows the lyrics to pretty much every song. She also may be the first Collegewise employee who was a Tetris child prodigy.

Education & Experience

B.A., Education and International Relations, Brown University

M.A., Human Dimensions of Organizations, UT Austin

Freshman Seminar Instructor / Summer Opportunities Coordinator, YES Prep, Houston TX

Director, EMERGE, Houston Independent School District

Co-Chair, Brown Alumni Interviewing Program, Houston TX

Professional Organization Memberships

NACAC: National Association for College Admission Counseling