Abby Friedman

Abby Friedman is an independent educational consultant and founder of Abby Friedman Educational Consulting, based in the San Francisco Bay Area with remote services for students and families across the United States and abroad. She offers comprehensive college counseling that blends practical guidance with a strong equity lens. Her practice centers on helping students, families and school-based counselors understand a wide range of university options, including opportunities outside the United States, while keeping processes clear and manageable for busy households.

She has spent more than two decades building and leading college access and success programs in schools, universities and community organizations. At Coliseum College Preparatory Academy in Oakland, Abby launched and directed a 6-to-12-grade college advising program and Family and College Resource Center that helped move 60 to 80 percent of graduates into four-year colleges, the highest college-going rate in the district. She later served as College and Career Readiness Specialist at Oakland Technical High School, as a college access and success consultant to EdTech startups and nonprofits, and as Associate Partner for Community Partnerships and Strategy at Bay Ed Fund, where she designed initiatives to expand educational opportunity across the Bay Area.?

Abby has also worked on the university side, including service as an admissions reader for UC Berkeley and leadership roles in the Early Academic Outreach Program, where she coordinated academic enrichment for low-income and first-generation high school students and led a financial aid completion campaign across multiple schools. Earlier positions at San Francisco Conservation Corps, Learning Leaders, Legacy International and Global Forum honed her skills in program design, training, cross-cultural communication and community engagement. She is a professional member of HECA, NACAC and WACAC and approaches her work with a learner mindset that keeps her aligned with evolving higher education landscapes.