Catherine L. Marrs, Certified Educational Planner

As a practicing Educational Consultant specializing in college admissions advising, Catherine has helped place hundreds of students in colleges of their choice.

Having worked as an academic counselor for North Hills Preparatory School, she learned first hand that school counselors have too many administrative functions, in addition to their counseling responsibilities, to give adequate time to individual students as they work through the college admissions process. Even within the time constraints of her other responsibilities, North Hills moved from #18 to #9 in Newsweek’s ranking of top performing public high schools in the United States during Catherine's tenure. During the same period, she helped 29 students find $5.4 million in financial aid.

Catherine has worked with a wide range of students – from National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists to those who struggle through regular high school classes. She understands the needs of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds who will be the first in their families to attend college and of those for whom an Ivy League education is a family tradition. Catherine motivates her students to work through the steps in the college admissions process with good humor, teaching them to efficiently manage their time to create a stress-free environment.

Catherine is one of a handful of college admissions advisors in the Dallas area who has pursued the rigorous certification process of the American Institute of Certified Educational Planners (CEP). As part of that certification, she is required to visit 15 to 20 campuses each year to stay current with the culture of the various institutions so she can help students find the right “fit” in a college or university. She is also a member of the National Association of College Admission Counselors and the Texas Association of Admission Counselors, where she sits on the LDI committee that mentors new high school and college admission counselors. A member of Executive Women of Dallas since 1989, she is also a member of the Network of Executive Women.

She established her consulting firm, Your Collegiate Advocate, in 2004 and changed the firm’s name to Marrs College Admission Advisors in 2009. Prior to becoming an educational consultant, she was owner and CEO of a workers compensation cost-containment company for 20 years.

Catherine received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Arizona, her Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy from Texas Woman’s University and a Certificate in College Counseling from UCLA. She has also completed the Harvard Summer Institute on College Admissions, the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) Principles and Practice Training and earned her Certificate
in Educational Planning in 2007.

The mother of a teenage daughter, as well as two dogs and a cat, she volunteers at Greenhill School and St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church. For six years, she was a trustee of St. Alcuin Montessori School.