Meet Amy Abrams, Director of College Counseling and Alumni Relations

When Amy Abrams was earning her undergraduate degree in psychology at Skidmore College, she was also a work-study student and tour guide in the admissions office. Little did she know that this experience would be a precursor to a long and rewarding career in college admissions.

It began with 10-year stint in the admissions office at the University of Pennsylvania, where she started as a receptionist right out of college and ended as the Regional Director of Admissions. From there, she became the Director of Admission at Occidental College, the Director of Admission at Scripps College and, finally, the Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Sarah Lawrence College.

However, her love of California–as well as the desire to branch out and explore college admissions from another angle–kept calling Amy back to the West Coast.

“I remember the feeling of walking in the first day and having everybody tell me they were happy I was here,” says Amy. “That sense of community was so special to me.”

Amy likes to joke that she doesn’t have children of her own, but every year she sends between 55 to 65 kids off to college, guiding them toward schools that might be the right fit for them.

“These students are going through a very stressful time in their lives, when they’re trying to figure out what they want to do with their futures,” Amy says. “With my background, I help them understand what an admission officer is thinking when they’re reading an application and the importance of how they portray themselves, as admissions officers think a lot about the communities they’re creating.”

Amy believes that it’s vitally important to give her students proper perspective about the college admission process.

“I explain to them that they’ve done everything right and that decisions are not personal,” says Amy. “It’s not just about the individual. It’s about the applicant pool, institutional priorities, balancing the financial aid budget, and so on. We work hard to make sure  students’ applications really ‘pop’ and show their personality so the admission officer has to sit up and take notice.”

In addition to her counseling role, Amy also keeps connected to Wildwood alumni throughout their years in college and beyond as director of alumni relations. 

“No matter the graduation year or how far life takes them, our alumni will always have a home at Wildwood,” Amy says. “It’s a lifelong connection to each other, to our teachers, and to our values that begins on their first day at Wildwood and continues as they go forth to transform the world. Once a Wolf, always a Wolf.”