<p>Our friends used a college counselor and they could not be happier. They have a rather contentious relationship with D1. She is smart but a fairly middle of the road student with middle of the road test scores (at least for our high performing high school). They needed to take themselves out of the picture and get an independent third party who could motivate their daughter and getting her thinking seriously about college.</p>
<p>They thought the money, $2500, was well spent. The counselor directed their daughter to schools that met her interests and that she could realistically get into give her stats. The acceptances are rolling in and so far she has gotten in everywhere she applied. He also helped the family negotiate scholarship/financial aid money and so far every school has given her some sort of money. </p>
<p>Could they have done it themselves? Sure, but there is a steep learning curve and they started fairly late (2nd semester Junior year). Their biggest regret is that they did not hire the consultant 2nd semester sophomore year.</p>