<p>Make sure you have a clear understanding of what the person is committing to do AND the time frames involved. If essay and application review is part of the agreement be sure it is clearly spelled out how long it will take for drafts to be returned. Also, the first time the person tells you that something you were expecting from them is delayed for a reason having to do with one of their other clients, establish clearly that their other clients are of no interest to you. A private admissions counselor/consultant can make the process easier and bring a lot of value. However, like many consultants, they tend to promise high and deliver low. There’s an old saying “A consultant is someone who borrows your watch and tells you what time it might be”. Too often, college admissions consultants tend toward validating this.</p>
<p>CalAlum,
Of course you can do it without a counselor!! Truly it is like preaching to the choir on CC because those who hang out on CC a bunch, are taking the time to research it all and so on. There are many families who are not participating on CC. Also, CC is not individualized, though it has a wealth of information and good advice!</p>
<p>Calalum – My experience was that the CollegeBoard “match” program is incredibly unrealistic for some students, particularly those with 3.8 and 3.9 gpas and very good but not great SAT/ACT scores. From what we saw, many of the most selective colleges came out in their “match” even though nobody with experience would suggest that they were really a match unless you had some hook.</p>
<p>Objective789, that is a good point to ask how long it will take for drafts to be returned by the counselor. For example, I believe emails and drafts should be returned in 24-48 hours to a student or parent by a college counselor. </p>
<p>However, I must smile at this post only because I WISH as a counselor, I could find out how long it will take for ME to get a draft back, LOL!!! Truly, some students work up to the 11th hour deadline (not allowing adequate time for othe revision process with an advisor) and expect the counselor to be there and return things back and forth in real time on the spot within an hour, and literally an hour before the deadline comes. Been there, done that, too many times, despite trying to set up timelines and deadlines to pace the process out. </p>
<p>Remember it works both ways. When a counselor mentions they have other clients, it may be because a client is asking the counselor to push their drafts and tasks ahead of others at the last minute when the advisor has work in his/her hands that came in from other clients before that. I’ve had this expectation happen many times.</p>
<p>If you are not equipped to handle the workload in a manner consistent with your promises then you should have less clients. If 24-48 hours is the agreed upon turnaround time, then both parties should adhere to that and expect it. I maintain that a consultant should never use “other clients” as a reason for anything within the confines of the agreed-upon expectations. I would also advise against setting out the milestones in the process that are the most important until such time as you do not get them done on time and then claim that they weren’t important after all. Can you tell I have had an “experience”?</p>
<p>@arabrab, I agree that you will need to use Naviance to identify the best range of schools. Or, lacking that, the website I mentioned above.</p>
<p>But College Board can be a good resource for someone who has a specific subject-area interest. It helped to identify colleges for my son, who wanted to find schools that had strong programs in Japanese and Japanese studies. Naviance won’t do that for you.</p>
<p>Objective7890, in my experience, I always adhere to the 24-48 hour turn around time. But if the student starts the task late, is lax and takes a week to turn back a draft and then is working the night it is due, and expects me to be there in “real time” helping back and forth ON THE SPOT because he/she did not plan accordingly (considering another person is involved) and did not do their end of the bargain and expects me to stop everything to push their work ahead of students who got stuff into me in a prompt manner and who are waiting, then it is appropriate to tell the student that this is not working well and the student should plan accordingly and not wait until the last minute and not expect the counselor to be “on call” to send things back and forth on the spot at midnight and all weekend long, and to push it ahead of kids who are waiting who have sent things in a timely manner. Believe me, I can’t tell you how often this has happened to me, as recently as last week.</p>
<p>You have a valid point, as I stated above. I am not talking about clients who expect preferential treatment. In order for the relationship to work both parties need to
treat the expectations seriously and and act appropriately.</p>
<p>“CC is not individualized”</p>
<p>And there’s also no accountability. If you’re here for years, you can gain a good sense of who knows what they are talking about, and who is what they claim to be. If you just show up on CC one day to begin the college search, and you don’t know who is who…well, there’s a lot of garbage information here that many of you automatically discredit or ignore, but new readers don’t know how to do that. A private counselor, however, should show you verifiable credentials, and should be willing to provide testimonials or put you in touch with satisfied clients.</p>
<p>Realistically, in any sector of the service economy, there are going to be some workers and some customers who don’t treat the other party with appropriate professionalism and respect. It’s my job to work to inspire trust in my prospective clients, and the clients’ job to choose a counselor who is trustworthy.</p>
<p>Independent counselors work hard to help all kinds of kids be successful and happy undergrads. There are lots of good colleges that are not so well known. Counselors can bring them to your attention. I’m finding that the volume of information now accesable through the web has parents, teachers and schools overwhelmed. A good consultant can help sift through the facts, rumors and wishful thinking. They do not have a ‘special sauce’, because there isn’t one. If they spend time to know their client…the student…really well, they can help cook up the best possible sauce for that case. Full disclosure…I have been working as a consultant for decades. The work is so satisfying, because it does help. (like the VISA card commercial says, the results are priceless) A counsleor can point out where the effort is worth making, and where not. But the effort still has to come from the student, parents and school.</p>
<p>Hi,
I’m a rising senior in the Fairfield County area of Connecticut. I am looking for a private counselor because my high school is a large public school and the guidance counselors are fickle. I am looking for a really good counselor that can help me get in. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>We are in Fairfield County and used Howard Greene and Associates. Also heard good things about Freudigman & Billings.</p>
<p>I would like to know if anyone hired " Road to College admissions Consulting Services" at Boston to get help to Ivy school.</p>