Clear Admit this month welcomed a new Admissions Counselor to our team of experts. Erin Hale joins us from Columbia Business School (CBS), where she worked in admissions for three years as a member of both the recruitment and operations teams. Erin brings not only her in-depth knowledge of the CBS admissions process and MBA admissions in general, but also a passion for working with MBA applicants.
Erin has been drawn to admissions since her college days at Colgate University, where she volunteered in the admissions office while completing her degree in English. She had a brief but enjoyable stint at publisher John Wiley following graduation, but soon enough the pull to return to work in admissions was too hard to resist. Working first in transfer admissions at Marymount Manhattan College, she came to CBS in 2011. At CBS, Erin spent her first year and a half as a member of the recruitment team and the remainder of her time on the operations team, learning the admissions process from all angles. As a member of the Admissions Committee, she traveled both domestically and internationally for recruitment, conducted information sessions and interviews, personally evaluated more than 1,000 applications, managed the application reading process, planned events for prospective students, liaised with student clubs, and worked with candidates on the waitlist across several application cycles.
Through the course of this work, she developed a true appreciation for the MBA applicant pool. “I think it is really exciting to work with people who have accomplished so much already,” she says. “MBA applicants already have really good work experience and a sense of what they want to do,” she adds. “The choice to go to business school is a more self-reflective process than applying for undergraduate study.”
Her time at CBS and with students there also helped underscore for her how transformative the MBA can be. “I really believe in the process and the degree,” she says. Along the way she completed a graduate degree of her own, an M.A. in higher and post-secondary education at Columbia’s Teachers College.
Erin’s move into this new role at Clear Admit will give her the opportunity to work even more closely with MBA applicants. “I am really excited to be involved in the coaching aspect, in helping people be successful and put their best foot forward,” she says. She was drawn to Clear Admit in particular because its counselors work with clients through every stage of the application process, a model she believes allows for true relationship building and the best quality of service.
When not helping prospective applicants prepare the strongest possible applications for their target top-tier business schools, Erin loves exploring New York City, which has been home for the past seven years. She also likes travel, reading and writing, and spending time with her husband and their many nieces and nephews.
We are thrilled to welcome Erin and pleased to add first-person CBS admissions office expertise to our roster, which includes graduates and former admissions officers of several of the world’s leading business schools, including Chicago Booth, Stanford, Ross and Wharton.
If you are interested in speaking with Erin or any of our counselors about your MBA application strategy, contact Clear Admit by emailing us your resume.
