College Counselor (Part-Time)

About This Job

As a part-time Collegewise counselor, you'll carry a caseload of 12+ students — most of whom are juniors and seniors, though many counselors also work with underclassmen — and guide them through the full arc of the college process. You'll build 1:1 relationships, counsel students outside of school hours and in their own time zones, and occasionally work weekends during the busy fall season. You'll be supporting both students and the families behind them, and working alongside colleagues who have absolutely no reverence for US News & World Report college rankings.

What part-time actually looks like: Part-time counselors typically spend 10–20 hours per week with students, depending on season and caseload size. Counseling sessions are billed at $75/hour; administrative and non-counseling work is billed at $35/hour. The fall season (roughly September–January) is the most intensive period.

Every counselor who joins us completes an initial training (30–40 hours in total) led by our Learning & Development team, followed by mentoring, support, and ongoing professional development. Even our most experienced counselors don't coast. We all want to keep getting better.

Who We're Looking For

• You'd rather be challenged than comfortable. You have high expectations of yourself, your work, and your employer — and you want a job that meets them.
• You work with students of all ages. Not just seniors. Freshmen and sophomores think differently, need different things, and require a different kind of rapport. If you've built that muscle, great. If you haven't, it's something we'll talk about.
• You understand families, not just students. Working with parents — anxious, skeptical, hard-to-reach ones included — is a core part of this job. We're looking for counselors who've navigated those dynamics and are comfortable doing it again.
• You're a project manager at heart. You drive the process, track the deadlines, and make sure nothing falls through the cracks — for 12+ students at a time.
• You want to keep getting better. That matters especially for part-time counselors, who have more autonomy and less built-in structure than full-time team members.
• You're comfortable working within evolving systems and learning as you go. You problem-solve, make decisions, and manage your own work without needing daily check-ins.

Ambition with Heart. Strategy with Soul.

You definitely wouldn't be crossing over to the for-profit "dark side" here. We have an excellent reputation with both high school counselors and admissions officers. We present at NACAC and local ACACs, partner with community-based organizations to support college access, and tell the truth — even when it's not what families want to hear. We treat people right, we recycle, and we have at least five confirmed vegetarians on the team. We're biased, but this is a genuinely great place to work.

Pay & Benefits

Let's talk numbers. Counseling sessions are billed at $75/hour. Administrative and non-counseling work is $35/hour.

Part-time Wisers are also eligible for:

• Sick leave that accrues as you work — you'll earn 1 hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to 80 hours, and it rolls over year to year
• 401(k) with company matching — you're eligible once you've completed one year of service and 1,000 hours worked in that same year; for every dollar you contribute (up to 5% of your pay), Collegewise adds 33 cents
• NACAC membership — we'll sponsor your National Association for College Admission Counseling membership upon request
• Professional development — access to Collegewise's internal L&D programming, training resources, and ongoing support

Part-time Wisers use their own equipment and work remotely. All Collegewise systems are cloud-based, so you can work from anywhere with a reliable internet connection.

Start Date

We're hoping our new counselors can start between June and July 2026, but we're flexible for the right people.

We Want to Hear from You

If you're excited about this opportunity but unsure if you're the right fit, we hope you'll take a shot. There's no such thing as a perfect applicant (or a perfect job, for that matter). We promise to give a fair and thorough read to every application submitted by someone who took the time to put it together thoughtfully.

Collegewise is stronger because of the different perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences our team brings. We're committed to building a place where everyone can do their best work — and we actively work toward that through our IEA Committee, our resources for students from all backgrounds, and our everyday practices. If that matters to you too, we'd love to meet you.

How to Apply

Instead of a traditional cover letter, please choose 3 of the following questions to answer. 150–250 words is a helpful guideline, but use as much or as little as you need. We're most interested in your counseling philosophy, skills, and experience.

Application questions (choose 3):

1. Collegewise counselors build trust and relationships with students over time — from 9th grade through senior year. Tell us about a time you built a meaningful relationship with a student (at any grade level) that directly shaped their experience or outcome.
2. Working with high schoolers means navigating both student needs and family expectations — and they don't always align. Tell us about a time you managed a difficult conversation with a parent or family. How did you handle it, and what happened?
3. Wisers love learning. How do you approach your own professional growth? What are you actively working on or curious about right now?
4. Why college counseling, and why Collegewise? What draws you to this work and this team specifically?
5. What does your year look like, and how do you manage your time? We're especially interested in how you handle the fall season — the busiest, most deadline-driven stretch of the year.

Please submit your resume and responses through our Careers page. Every applicant receives a response, and we do our best to reply within 10 days.

Questions?

Email us at jobs@collegewise.com — no phone calls, please. We promise to get back to you quickly.

Thanks for reading. We'd love to hear from you — and if this isn't the right fit, we hope you find it somewhere else.

Candidate FAQ

What does a typical part-time caseload look like? Part-time counselors carry 12+ students, mostly juniors and seniors. Depending on your availability and the time of year, that typically translates to 10–20 hours of work per week. The fall season (September–January) is the most intensive; spring and summer are lighter.

What hours do I need to be available? You'll need to be available during West Coast hours as a regular part of your schedule, since most of your students will be in Pacific time zones. Most counseling sessions happen after school and on weekends during busy season.

Do I need to have worked in college admissions? No — and if you have, we'll be upfront about what you'll need to learn. Our counselors come from school counseling, higher education, and private practice. We have onboarding tracks designed for different backgrounds. What matters most is your experience working directly with students and families.

What does the pay structure look like? Counseling sessions are billed at $75/hour. Administrative and non-counseling work is billed at $35/hour.

What does training and onboarding look like? All new counselors complete 30–40 hours of initial training led by our Learning & Development team, followed by mentoring and ongoing professional development. Even our most experienced counselors keep learning — it's just part of the culture here.

What tools do you use? We use a combination of internal systems and third-party tools to manage caseloads, track student progress, and communicate with families. We'll train you on everything, but comfort with tech that doesn't always work perfectly is genuinely useful here.

When would I start? We're hoping new counselors can start between June and July 2026, but we're flexible for the right people.