Jessica Velasco

Background
I have worked in higher education for the last ten years. After graduating from college, I went to work in the Career Center at UC Berkeley where I planned and coordinated numerous career and graduate college fairs every year. I then started working in college admissions in 2006 at the University of La Verne in Southern California. I traveled throughout the western United States meeting students, reviewed and made decisions on applications from students in my recruitment territories, supervised and trained admission tour guides and planned and coordinated admission events on campus. In 2010, I became the Director of Admissions at Northwest University, just outside of Seattle. I continued working with students throughout the country, served as the Admission Counselor for all international students, made the final admission decision on all undergraduate admission applicants and oversaw the operations of the Undergraduate Admissions Office.

Why I started JLV College Counseling
After moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, I decided to start JLV College Counseling to help students through the college admissions process. I know and understand that the college admissions process is an extremely stressful time for students and parents and brings a lot of questions and concerns. As a first generation college student, my family and I did not know anything about college. I did not have much guidance through the process and I made a lot of mistakes. I feel that when students and families have the proper guidance through the process, the time is less stressful and much more enjoyable. Students already have enough pressure; my goal as a college counselor is to take some of that pressure away by sharing my knowledge and expertise of the college admissions process.