History
Heather decided to start HM College Consulting after 20+ years helping students with college admissions. The first 13 years of her career were spent on the college side, crafting enrollment marketing materials, running auditions, recruiting nationally and internationally, and managing multi-million dollar financial aid budgets. In 2011 she switched sides to create the college advising program at The Chicago HS for the Arts, Chicago’s first public performing and visual arts High School. After direct experience with 600+ colleges and over a thousand students, Heather decided she could help students and families to navigate the entire process. HM College Consulting was born out of the desire to help students (both in the arts and outside the arts) navigate the current college admissions landscape - including arts auditions and portfolios - and make the process manageable for students and families. In the Fall of 2021, Heather was invited to join College Inside Track and join their impressive list of college consultants. With a focus on finding the academic, social and financial fit for their clients, joining this team was the next step in Heather’s consulting practice. Leveraging the proprietary method and tools that College Inside track provides, Heather is able to serve her students to an even higher level.
Get in touch
Let’s sit down and talk about how we can help you. The first step is booking a 1-1 consultation. This is a free meeting to talk through all the services that I can help with at College Inside Track. To get started please go here:
Staff
The bigger the glasses, the better the college list.
Principal
Heather V McCowen, PhD
Heather McCowen, Ph.D., is excited to be a college consultant at College Inside Track. Before joining CIT, she was the Director of Programs at The ChiArts Foundation, serving alumni, creating external partnerships, and running her own college consulting company. Before her role at the foundation, Heather was the college Counselor, AP coordinator, and testing coordinator at The Chicago HS for the Arts (ChiArts). As ChiArts's first college counselor, she created the college advising program in 2011 and has worked with over 1100 arts students in Creative Writing, Dance, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts. Before this position, Heather was the Asst. Dean for Enrollment and Student Services for Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, where she oversaw all auditions and arts scholarships. She also served as Assoc. Dean for Admissions at the Longy School of Music at Bard in Cambridge, MA. Heather has been an adjunct music professor at Texas A&M Univ. - Commerce, a financial planner for Raymond James, and has admitted students in the arts (all the arts - Creative Writing, Dance, Music, Theatre -acting AND musical theatre- Art History and Visual Arts) at Southern Methodist University (SMU). While her official admissions career started at the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU, she began by calling admitted students while a student at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music.
An Alum of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, she has performed with the Dallas, Fort Worth, Shreveport, and Indian Hill Symphonies (among others), including a recent solo performance with the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest. Currently, Heather plays bassoon in the Northshore Concert Band. Heather lives with her husband Paul, her 5th grader Theo, and Australian Cattle dog Clybourn in the South Loop neighborhood of Chicago. She is a dedicated Blackhawks fan and currently plays women’s ice hockey for the Chicago Frozen Snappers. She spends her time sewing a handmade wardrobe, coaching her son’s hockey team, volunteering for her son’s school, and reading great books.
Education
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS
Ph.D. Higher Education Administration, Minor: Marketing
SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY
M.M. Bassoon Performance
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
B.M. Bassoon Performance
Activities & Affiliations
• NACAC IC Member
• Illinois ACAC
• IECA, Associate Member