Dr. Terrie Shipley is an independent education consultant with 15 years of experience helping 200+ families with college and career planning. (By day, she is the Director of National Fellowships and teaches leadership and life design as an Assistant Professor of Education at The University of Tulsa.) 

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She cares more about fit than school prestige, having helped students gain admission to 125+ various colleges and universities ranging the entire scope of type and selectivity. She is a member of NCDA (career development), HECA (education planning) and GPACAC (admission counseling).

 

Terrie earned a doctorate in Educational Administration, Curriculum, and Supervision from The University of Oklahoma (2017) and a master’s in Education from Michigan State University (2010). As an undergraduate student, she soaked up college life as a Chancellor's Scholar, sorority sister, campus TV news program anchor, resident advisor, student organization founder and president, and dining hall dishwasher. She also found time to help her cousin apply to elite business schools. Terrie encourages similarly fulfilling student engagement while at college. Despite this full plate, Terrie chose the fast track to graduation, finishing in 2.5 years with two bachelor’s degrees: one in Journalism and one in Political Science (from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, respectively). Yes, she did get admitted to some of the country's more prestigious colleges (Cal, NYU, etc.), but she chose Syracuse as an aspiring journalist. And she is grateful to Syracuse for the opportunity to intern at NBC in New York, where she learned that she wants nothing to do with that career's lifestyle. Now, she counsels clients on securing a solid Plan B through Life Design.

 

Formerly, Terrie was an education nonprofit director collaborating with Tulsa Public Schools District to innovate in Advisory and Extended Day programming. She has also been Associate Director of a selective youth development program; a university admissions counselor, academic advisor, and student affairs officer; and an English teacher in Spain and China. The golden thread connecting all of these roles is student development.

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She was named an Oklahoma Magazine Top 40 Under 40, has been a president or executive committee member for several nonprofit boards, and is a graduate of Leadership Tulsa (Class 46). Terrie is the mother of two spirited children, who could barely sit still for the family portrait below! In her spare time, she plays tennis, loves her book clubs, volunteers, and as a licensed agent in Oklahoma and California, is constantly doing something with real estate. 

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A fun, college-related fact: Terrie met her husband at Syracuse as a rising sophomore during living-learning community Resident Advisor training.