Julie Taylor-Vaz

Julie Taylor-Vaz’s career in college admissions counseling began in the admissions office of her alma mater, Stanford University. There, she coordinated African American recruitment and served on the athletics subcommittee in addition to fulfilling more general professional responsibilities. During her time in admissions, Julie also served as a Resident Fellow in one of the University’s undergraduate residence halls. When she moved to Los Angeles and assumed the role of Director of College Counseling at Oakwood School, she also joined the faculty of UCLA Extension’s College Counseling Certificate Program, for which she taught a course that focused on professional ethics.

 

In recognition of her early-career achievements and impact on the profession, Julie received the Western Association for College Admissions Counseling’s Steve Hankins Award. She returned to her hometown of New Orleans when she became Co-Director of College Counseling at Isidore Newman School. During her years there, she trained new college admissions officers and prepared them for their first year of recruitment travel through the Southern Association for College Admissions Counseling’s Dry Run program. She was also among the founding faculty members of the National Association of Independent Schools’ Summer Institute for College Counselors, which evolved into the professional organization now known as the Association for College Counselors in Independent Schools.

 

Julie returned to Los Angeles to serve as Director of College Counseling at The Buckley School. While there, she gained national recognition for uncovering several of the unethical (and illegal) practices of the independent educational consultant at the center of the Varsity Blues college admissions scandal.

 

Julie is currently Cranbrook’s Dean of College Counseling. In this role, she leads the team of experienced educators who support the school’s students and their families in what Julie frames as the “college search and selection process,” emphasizing student choice in the search for and selection of the colleges where they enroll upon graduating from Cranbrook. She is also a residential faculty member who enjoys the lifestyle of living on campus with her family (including a recent graduate and a current student of Cranbrook) and building relationships with students, faculty, and other members of the community both in and outside of the Cranbrook and Kingswood Residence Halls.