Rachel Hagan

Rachel Hagan is an academic counselor and instructor at San Jose City College, where she has served students since August 2011 while also coordinating the Pathway to Law Program. She provides comprehensive academic counseling to community college students, teaches career development and college orientation courses, and leads workshops on college applications, personal statements, financial aid, nursing and health sciences, study skills, test taking, time management and academic probation issues. She serves as an Executive Member of the Academic Senate and a member of the Basic Skills Initiative Committee, demonstrating her commitment to institutional leadership in student success. With ten years of experience teaching career and major exploration courses to both high school and college students, one of her specialties is working with undecided students to help them discover academic and career pathways that align with their interests.?

Before joining San Jose City College, Rachel worked as a high school counselor at Piner High School in Sonoma County for six years, where she served as counselor and co-coordinator of the Piner High School-Santa Rosa Junior College Early College Magnet Program. This innovative program emphasized adding college courses to high school schedules, with several students graduating from high school with an associate degree. For her work as a high school counselor, she received a Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction award. She also worked at Santa Rosa Junior College as an adjunct counselor and administrative assistant from October 2001 to December 2011. From December 2009 to February 2015, she served as a Freshman Admissions Reader at UC Berkeley for five admissions cycles, reviewing approximately 300 to 600 freshman applications each year, including over 4,000 college essays, making her extremely knowledgeable about the comprehensive review process and the qualities valued by UC Berkeley, especially for the Colleges of Engineering and Chemistry. From November 2013 to May 2018, she worked as an educational consultant with Equity College Consulting, providing individual assistance for high school, college and post-graduate students across the United States on college admissions, career and major search, scholarship applications, essay support and financial aid.?

Rachel holds a Master of Arts in Counselor Education and School Counseling and Guidance Services from Sonoma State University, a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from UC Santa Cruz, where she served as a teaching assistant and conducted research on identity development in African American college students, and a Certificate in Independent Educational Consulting from UC Irvine. Her areas of specialty include career and major counseling for undecided students, advising community college pre-nursing and pre-law students, and supporting students interested in attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities. She became a counselor because of the lack of guidance she received from her own high school counselor, and she is passionate about helping others get to college with the support they deserve.