best college admissions counselors?

<p>what do you think about hiring a private college counselor? i've read such conflicting ideas. what's the real deal? who can you recommend?? when do you start looking for one?</p>

<p>I've never really understood the whole deal with hiring a private counselor when the guidance counselor at the school is just as good (unless you're homeschooled, in which case I guess it's acceptable). If one can get to know their GC well, then there's no need for a private college counselor...it just seems to be a waste of money.</p>

<p>I don't why you would need one,college admissions shouldn't be so hard, if you see yourself at a point where you need to hire people to get accepted into a college you're doing something wrong, buy a book or something.</p>

<p>all of the information they provide can be found in the guidebooks at your local barnes&nobles/borders.</p>

<p>just read this site...there is a ton of valuable (and not-so-valuable, so watch out) info in the forums and on the main site.</p>

<p>isn't it easy though to get caught up in the whole 'if i pay for it , it must be better' mentality. thanks for the info</p>

<p>My parents paid for it with me. That was because my guidance counselor is pretty much an idiot. The one we hired as good. Some of her college choices were pretty bad (UNCC, UNCG, UNCW) when I said I wanted a good Jewish population and not that far south... But without her, I never wouldve thought at looking at American. But pretty much this site helped me more than any of the personal help ive had.</p>

<p>on another thread i was reading about how disappointed families were with the high school counselors and how they hired private counselors. i also read somewhere that 22 % of failies hire private counselors; with that info it makes sense to ask who people out there are hiring and what they think.</p>

<p>i read an article today about this very topic:
<a href="http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/SavingForCollege/WhatPriceCollegeAdmission.aspx?GT1=8376%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/SavingForCollege/WhatPriceCollegeAdmission.aspx?GT1=8376&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>