Sorry about this, but imo, most paid college pro counselors have no experience with admissions beyond the help they sell. Or it’s not recent, was very short (right after undergrad.) Same for essay help.
Lots of misconceptions out there. You really need to get your own finger on the pulse.
But yes, CC is a good help. If you can sort through the misconceptions.
I don’t think that there are economies of scale available for admissions pro searches. The ideal admissions assistant is someone who knows your kid’s school and knows the colleges that they should be targeting based on the school’s past performance and the student’s individual skills. There isn’t an online clearinghouse for finding admissions assistants. The most elite ones don’t care to market outside of their exclusive communities.
Well @anxiousmom11
You are using the internet to access CC!
The very last place I would look for a college admissions professional to help my kid would be a blind internet search.
If you really want a professional college admissions counselor, your best bet is to get a personal reference from someone who has used one and was satisfied with both the services offered, and the costs. Many of these private college admissions counselors will do what you are asking…help target college application options, help with essay topics and editing, etc.
What they can NOT do is guarantee your kid will be admitted to colleges, especially the highly competitive ones it seems you are interested in. Fact is…if your kid isn’t a competitive applicant for these colleges, a private college counselor can’t make them one. And for colleges with under 10% admissions…if someone says they can guarantee your kid’s admission…I would suggest you NOT use them.
These private counselors can be very good for some kids. If hired early in high school, they can help guide kids in terms of HS course selections and the like.
My best free advice to you is…stop being anxious about your kid’s potential college admissions. There are 3000 colleges in this country. Your student will land in a place where they can grow and learn. Being anxious doesn’t help you…or the kid.
“just surprised that no parents have used apps/tech to connect their children with professionals to improve admissions chances.”
If such professionals are college counselors, word of mouth is often a much better route to find one than tech, surely? Tech in this sense is basically just the equivalent of the yellow pages… pick someone at random based on their blurb? There’s plenty of stuff on the web about interview questions, etc. One of my daughter’s interviewers seemed to have read the same articles she did and asked all the same questions!!
I’m leery about the comment about “editing and collaboration” on essays. Editing, maybe, but anyone good at English can do that. The “collaboration” bit worries me both from reducing the authenticity of the student’s voice as well as potential unintended plagiarism.
@austinmshauri Your comment made me realize that it was dumb for me to ask about leveraging tech when the parents that come here use this service bc it’s free so they’re DIYers so to speak. Thank you for the epiphany
No, it’s not that we’re DIYers. Plenty of people here have hired consultants. It’s just that it has nothing to do with technology. There are “college match” sites, but I’m not sure what an app would do. Matching with a consultant on line would not be useful IMO.
@anxiousmom11, Many of us are in technical fields. And the reason we’re here is because it’s good, not because it’s free.
I guess you can count me among the confused as well. You keep talking about “leveraging tech”, but then it seems like what you are looking for is a database of admissions counselors. I mean I guess that would be tech, as is this site, but your comments sound like you’re looking for something more techy but won’t name exactly what it is. Except it’s not anything anyone has offered.
I’m wondering whether the poster is actually someone who wants to develop an app.
There are some families here who are looking at $80k a year investments in their children (a handful even more than that if they’re donors). “Leveraging” tech is one thing, but relying on some app or program to supposedly tell you the best way to spend that kind of money seems a bit naive. Even for a kid on a full ride, it’s still a huge investment of 4 years of their life. I’m sure everyone here has used the net, and some sites offer more use than others in trying to narrow down the decision to the best school for your student (I haven’t tried any of the paid ones so don’t know personally how good they are) but at the end of the day making big decisions like this requires at least some level of effort on the part of both parents and student.
Best techy tool, hands down: Net Price Calculator. 
No, it won’t come up with a master list of affordable colleges. But it’s vital. Works best for married or together parents, not self employed. There are colleges where the tool is not so accurate, but most of us agree ithe majority we know are darned close. Then you can eliminate what you cannot afford.
There’s no automating this process.
Good rule of thumb: the higher you want to aim, the more personl work you have to do. No one rolls over and wakes up in a top college.
And get a Fiske Guide to Colleges.
@melvin123 @harvardhusband11 i’m not a developer, just an anxious parent who wants the best for their child. And yes, I had hoped to get more recommendations bc my daughter did mention using AdviseMe app and wanted to see other alternatives. And there seems to be none. 
You seem to hope there is some application out there that will maximize your student’s college acceptance potential…is that right?
If so, on this, I think you are off the mark. Certainly you can gain information using some online things…Naviance for example. But maximize entrance potential? Well…maybe if you understand where your student really had the better potential to get accepted given what their application contains.
Really…if you want help…you could contract with a private college counselor. The ones I know really prefer to start with students when they are HS freshmen…or before…so they can help with course selections, review grades each term, help hone ECs…note…not pick but hone, help with essay writing. And they can also advice on test prep and the like.
They can also look at what your student is bringing to the application table and help identify colleges to consider.
They can NOT guarantee admission to specific colleges…and anyone who promises they can get your kid admitted to a specific college (that might otherwise seem out of reach) should be viewed with caution.
Having said that, some of these private counselors do have relationships with colleges, or were previously adcoms there. They might have a better handle on what it takes to actually be a competitive applicant.
My impression since you are looking for online applications is that you are also looking at low cost or free. Just have to say…some of the private counselors do cost a fair amount…and especially if you contract with them for the full high school time.
Best way to choose a private counselor…word of mouth from satisfied families who have used someone.
When a college is looking for thinking skills, how one challenges herself and takes on responsiilities, is open and gives back to the community…there is no tech for that. It boils down to: how one thinks. Not tech. No tech will tell you what activities work best for college X or what works for an essay.
Use a spreadsheet. Use the NPC. Read the web site, as much as you can. Use that 21st centuy tech.
After what seemed like “21 Questions” game, @thumper1 pretty much summed things up as I’d have.
Right now for obvious reasons Harvard is the college whose admissions process is better known than anywhere else…
Sure, but then 99% of what we think has been “revealed” through the lawsuit had already been divulged more than a decade ago in Daniel Golden’s wonderful book, “The Price of Admission: How America’s Ruling Class Buys Its Way Into Elite Colleges–and who Gets Left Outside the Gates.” To me, what’s been “revealed” from the court case served no more than a confirmation of what a thorough and meticulous investigative journalism that Golden’s book had revealed.
Pro counselors have been claiming for a long time that they have current and former adcoms at their beck and call.
You really think “Harvard Undergraduate” is a Harvard adcom, waiting to tell a hs kid how to get in?
Harvard’s let out some of the process but not the content that works. So you know the hamburger has a secret sauce…not the recipe.
The acceptance rate to Harvard is UNDER 10%. There is no online app that is going to increase a students chances of getting accepted to Harvard. There just isn’t. If that is what you are hoping, you need to let go of that idea.
Also, while it’s nice that you would like your kid to go to Harvard, you need to also understand that this school is not a slam dunk for admissions for most applicants. In the 90% plus who are rejected annually, there are plenty of very well qualified applicants.
If you are hoping for some magic wand to help get your daughter into Harvard, I would suggest you rethink this. There is no such thing.
As I said earlier…a good private college counselor can help your daughter with her applications, proofread essays, etc. BUT they cannot guarantee acceptance to any college. They can’t.
My understanding is AdviseMe uses undergrad students as their “counselors”. I’m going to go on the record as saying…an undergrad at the college won’t be able to help your daughter get accepted there. They just won’t.
What year in HS is your daughter?
What is her SAT or ACT score?
How much can you pay annually for her to attend college?
What is her GPA?
What else does she do beside school?
I think private counselors can be great. You just need to get the right one. I agree with most of the other posters. Word of mouth is the best way to find one.
We had a private counselor that did a great job. We got her through word of mouth. She didn’t have any adcoms at her beck and call but she knew the process very well which helped a lot