Meet Our College Counselor

Meet Nikki Danos, Director of College Counseling

Nikki Danos has worked in college admissions and college counseling for more than 25 years. She spent six years in admissions at her alma mater, Loyola University New Orleans; another six as a college counselor at Windward School, a co-ed independent school in Los Angeles; five years as the director of college counseling at Rainier Scholars, a community based organization in Seattle serving low income students of color; and is rounding out her tenth year as director of college counseling at Forest Ridge.

For the past 10 years, Nikki has served on multiple councils for the College Board, including the Counseling & Admission Chair for the Western Regional Council. Because of her leadership in that role, Nikki was tapped to serve on the National Counseling & Admission board. Most recently, she was elected to serve a four-year term as a College Board Trustee.

In 2015, Nikki led the charge for Forest Ridge to become one of the 20 pilot schools across the country who had early access to Khan Academy for sophomores who were preparing to take the PSAT. In fall 2022, Nikki arranged to have our freshmen and sophomores be among the first in the nation to take the pilot Digital SAT. Finally, Nikki is the founder of the West Coast College Counselor Consortium, a four-day intensive college counseling summit where experienced counselors from independent schools across the country discuss high-level topics, write letters of recommendation and review best practices. She has presented at three national conferences and six regional conferences during her tenure at Forest Ridge and is considered a leading expert in her field.