PrepMyRound

Wake Forest undergraduate admission · Sample interviewer (fictional)

Fictional interviewer written for this sample; the employers are invented.

Gordon Ashcombe (he/him)

Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at Wake Forest University · Winston-Salem, North Carolina

About

I've spent fifteen years helping students figure out where they'll do their best learning, first as a college counselor and now on the admissions side at Wake Forest. I read applications from the Carolinas and the Mid-Atlantic, and I interview a lot of students, mostly over video. What I listen for is curiosity and how someone treats the people around them, not polish. I'm a Wake alum, a first-generation college graduate from a small town in Virginia, and I still think a good conversation tells you more than a perfect transcript.

Experience

Wake Forest University, Office of Undergraduate Admissions (Winston-Salem, NC) - Admissions Counselor, then Assistant Director, then Senior Assistant Director, Jul 2019 - present - Read and evaluate about 1,400 applications a year; conduct roughly 250 student interviews each cycle. - Coordinate outreach to rural and first-generation students in western North Carolina and southwest Virginia. - Train new counselors in interviewing and holistic review.

Brookhaven Day School (Charlotte, NC) - Associate Director of College Counseling, Aug 2014 - Jun 2019 - Advised 45 to 60 seniors a year; built a junior-year essay workshop series.

Linwood College (Danville, VA) - Admissions Counselor, Jun 2011 - Jul 2014 - Recruited across southern Virginia; ran campus visit days for high school groups.

Education

  • Wake Forest University - B.A., History, 2011. Senior thesis on textile mill villages in the Piedmont.
  • Appalachian State University - M.A., Higher Education, 2014 (completed part-time).

Volunteering

  • Reading tutor, a Winston-Salem elementary literacy nonprofit (2020 - present).
  • Volunteer, community college transfer advising nights in Forsyth County (2021 - present).

Interests

Bluegrass mandolin (badly), Demon Deacon basketball, trail running at Salem Lake, local history and old maps, and finding the best biscuit in every town on the recruiting road.