Meet Sara Harberson
America's College Counselor. Founder of Application Nation. Author of SOUNDBITE. Mom Of Three.
Sara Harberson is known as America’s College Counselor. She is a nationally recognized authority on elite college admissions with the philosophy that every kid applying to college deserves the best advice. In 2018, Sara launched Application Nation, a private subscription-based Facebook group, to train parents how to think like admissions officers. Application Nation has fast become the most powerful way for families of all income levels to navigate the college admissions process.
SOUNDBITE: The Admissions Secret that Gets You Into College and Beyond, Sara's first book, was published by Hachette Book Group in April, 2021. In it, Sara reveals the secrets of her signature college admissions tool, the "Soundbite," and shares tried-and-tested exercises that have helped thousands of students gain admission to their school of choice.
Sara’s rare perspective is born from humble roots. She is a proud graduate of a large public high school in New Jersey. She went on to graduate summa cum laude from Hamilton College and earned her Master's in Higher Education from the University of Pennsylvania. Over the course of 10 years, Sara rose through the ranks to become the Associate Dean of Admissions at the University of Pennsylvania, and then became the youngest Dean of Admissions in the country at Franklin & Marshall College. After taking time off to raise her young family, Sara returned to become the Director of College Counseling at the Baldwin School on the Philadelphia Main Line.
Sara is the only private counselor in the country who has led both an admissions office at a highly selective college and a college counseling office on the other side of the process at an elite high school. Sara has read hundreds of thousands of essays and applications.
As the leading authority on college admissions, Sara has made appearances on NBC Nightly News, CNBC, ABC News, HBO's Vice News, CBS Evening News, CBS This Morning, The Today Show, and Lifetime. She has also published op-eds in The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, and has been quoted as an expert in national publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and Teen Vogue.
As a dean of admissions, college counselor and mother of three, Sara has an extraordinary understanding of college admissions. She knows what it takes for each student to get into their optimal college. Sara’s goal is to help every student achieve the best version of themselves through the college admissions process.
