<p>I was essentially looking through Google for a counseling service to help point me in the right direction of highlighting certain things on my application along with review my essays. I called for more information and was able to speak with Dee Blackman (former Harvard Dean of Admissions) shortly about help. The question I'm posing here is has anyone used the service or know someone who has and if no one can answer that then is there anything I should be wary of when trying this service?</p>
<p>Thanks in Advance for any help you guys can give!</p>
<p>I’m a high school student in his summer before senior year, so the pressure is on to get into college. I’ve looked into some of the college counseling services out there, and I have heard of the Ivy Dean but from some research I’ve found that Hernandez College Counseling and The Ivy Coach have generally better results.</p>
<p>BUT, if you’re the type of person willing to shell out $10,000+ on these kinds of services, chances are you are invested enough in your own education that with some hard work and lots of asking your teachers for help, you could achieve these kinds of results on your own. What these do offer however, is professional assistance that I guess does give a peace of mind and definitely does make a difference, but, again, that’s something you can probably achieve on your own.</p>
<p>In the end, you have to make your own choice. But if your issue lies solely with your essays, why not have a trusted teacher look over them first for you? The benefit is twofold; you get essay revision and better relations with your teacher, who of course will be invaluable for those req letters.</p>
Having interviewed several college counselors over the past year for our high school student (and having just gone through this process with another child of mine who is a freshman at Harvard) what Ms. Blackman offers is how colleges approach each candidate which may be the opposite of what we have heard over the years. She speaks frankly as a former admissions dean at Harvard and Columbia. She seems patient and I like her approach to working with students throughout the process. Her fees seem reasonable and she doesn’t charge for each call. She is highly intelligent and researches before answering questions, except for the ones that she just knows off the top of her head from her experience.