As a high school student, Hope Allchin was unaware that college counseling was a profession, let alone a career she might pursue. Years later, as a college counselor and admissions officer, Allchin has developed a passion for learning students’ stories and helping them navigate the admissions process.

Allchin loved storytelling ever since high school: as the editor of her school’s newspaper and later a reporter at Yale Daily News, she enjoyed learning new stories and sharing stories to the student body. 

“When I was an editor, we would come in five nights a week and put together a 16 page print newspaper every day,” Allchin said. “I think being able to find myself and what I cared about was also something that was really, really special at being part of a newspaper.”

For Allchin, being part of a university’s newspaper was an integral part of her college experience, and through the newspaper, she found a community of friends and family. She wanted to provide students with the same experiences that she had; however, she had never really considered becoming an admissions officer or a college counselor. 

“I went to a high school that was a fairly large public high school,” Allchin said. “We had one college counselor for my entire school, which had about 2500 students in it, and so you’re not getting really direct college counsel. I didn’t even really know this was a job in high school in that way, but I do wish I had someone like this right to kind of help shape my path.”

So when Allchin learned about working in college admissions, it seemed like the obvious choice, allowing her to read students’ stories and learn more about them. In addition, she was essentially creating communities just like the one she had so thoroughly enjoyed in college.

“I really just liked being in a space of helping students find that next community,” Allchin said. “For me, college was such a transformative time in my life, and it just brings me a lot of joy to think that I could be helping others find that place that is going to spark something in themselves.”

When Allchin left college, she eventually found herself as an admissions officer at Washington University in St. Louis, where she read through multitudes of applications. Allchin described it like reading a short story on a person’s life.

“When I was in admissions, I loved reading students’ essays,” Allchin said. “It was such a joy to see that window into students.”

However, she later decided to switch to academia, where she could research the data surrounding college programs and grants. For example, she studied the statistics covering the Pell Grant, a federal grant that funds undergraduate students. In her dissertation, she also studies the effectiveness of programs supporting Indigenous students.

“There are programs across more than 300 schools in the United States that offer some sort of discounted tuition for Indigenous students who meet certain criteria in order to support their enrollment rates,” Allchin said. “So I was looking at, essentially, do these programs actually work; do we see, in the years after policy adoption, increases in enrollment in the student population.”

After a career in research, Allchin decided to settle down in Dallas, where many of her husband’s relatives lived. And after both working in an admissions office and working as a researcher, she ultimately decided to experience working as a college counselor. 

“I miss being on a campus and working so closely with students, and so I decided to look at other opportunities,” Allchin said. “And for me, one of the things I was really interested in was college counseling, because it’s really helping students find their next home, find their path, find what’s exciting to them.”

For Allchin, college counseling offered her the opportunity to mold students’ narratives, to create and tell stories just like she had done years before in her high school and university newspaper.

“I really like storytelling, and I think that’s something that is a surprising part of college counseling,” Allchin said. “In a way, so much of it is about telling students stories, and whether that’s helping you tell your own stories through things like essays, or it’s telling your story through things like a recommendation letter and getting to share that tale.”

During the hiring process, Allchin’s skill set lined up well with the school’s priorities. She was experienced as an admissions officer, and she was also a researcher: her experience preceded her. 

“We need someone that is good with people and students and families, and then we need someone with good experience either on the college admission side or working in an independent school,” Al G. Hill, Jr. ’63 Director of College Counseling Veronica Pulido said. “That was our main focus when looking for candidates. Once we brought (Allchin) onto campus, she felt like we felt like she was a good fit for our school.”

The sense of belonging that Pulido identified was mutual, since Allchin herself enjoyed the community and the environment of the school. And importantly for Allchin, she enjoyed being back in a position where she could provide a support system for students.

“(St. Mark’s is) a wonderful community. Visiting here is just amazing to see how creative and curious everyone is here. And so when I was thinking about college counseling, the most fun roles are to work with students who are creative and energized and excited about what their next steps are going to be. And so it seems like a natural fit to get to be a part of (the) community,” Allchin said.