<p>Hi!</p>
<p>I'm just wondering which educational consultants has a good reputation and what the price range is?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I wouldn't know, because I haven't worked with one, but some people on here have. Go to THIS board: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=201014%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=201014</a> and scroll down on the first page to a post by admissionsrep. PMing that person might help, though I don't know when they come on; that post was made a long time ago.</p>
<p>If you're worried about getting into boarding school and want to use an educational consultant, I wouldn't recommend it because you can keep your grades up and apply to a variety of schools if you are really interesting in receiving the boarding school experience without spending a ton of money that could be put to use elsewhere (like future tuition).</p>
<p>wow i didn't even hear about these till after i was accepted at bs. not necessary, i think.</p>
<p>I'm an educational consultant, and I can't recommend them enough! And in fact, most people at boarding schools do use a consultant in one way or another, so to be without one, you can be at a disadvantage. (For example, all the kids from inner-city programs have one, all international students have one, and all kids from K-8 private schools have a placement officer) Boarding schools work very closely with these people in getting more information about a student.</p>
<p>As a consultant, I visit all the boarding schools and the admissions officers visit me. I become basicly "a student of schools". I benefit from having clients at these schools, and I know what type of kid will get in and who won't. A consultant can also do an admissions preview, and call a school and see if they "encourage" a kid to apply or not. This saves parents a lot of time driving around visiting schools that they have no chance of getting into. Most of my clients are not applying to top tier schools, and it is with those kids that I am the most helpful.</p>
<p>I had a client today with 98% SSAT who was rejected from all 8 boarding schools he applied to. HI did a practice interview with him and it was terrible--we'll work on that about 5 or 6 times before he applies again next year.</p>
<p>So I could go on and on about what a good consultant does. I'd recommend you look at <a href="http://www.iecaonline.com%5B/url%5D">www.iecaonline.com</a> which is the independent education consultants association. Be sure to ask whoever you pick how many boarding clients they work with each year. </p>
<p>Prices range from $700 to $6000.</p>
<p>"Prices range from $700 to $6000."</p>
<p>really? i personally know one who charges $100K for 4 years, starting 9th grade, until college. we were about to hire her but i figured i didnt need one. my cousin used her, he went to salisbury, went to a pretty bad college...and ended up dropping out anyway....but that's just one incident i m guessing</p>
<p>Thanks. Can anybody give specific names/information about them? Or a good place for directories?
Right now, I'm just considering it and gathering information.
edconsultant: I've sent you a pm.</p>
<p>For some people they are essential. We used a personal friend with a great reputation. PM me and I'll pass on the name. She's CT based, and we couldn't rec her more highly.</p>
<p>Definitely...find someone with boarding school experience. Someone who is da bomb in terms of helping with colleges could make you his or her guinea pig for a new niche serving boarding school customers. edconsultant22 mentions the way he and others collaborate with the boarding schools, as to specific applicants and in more general ways. That is incredibly valuable. The absence of that in an educational consultant's repertoire of services could lead to a waste of money...even if that person comes highly recommended regarding college services. This forum is a great resource...and it marginalizes the value of a college-oriented educational consultant. But I can only expect that someone who actually knows the things that we often speculate on can make life much better through the entire application process. (Plus, I'm told, these consultants have all 250 schools' rankings!)</p>
<p>Those rankings are suspect, at best.</p>
<p>ed consultant- it also depends on your location for fees. I have been told by families that I work with, that the fee is in the 8000 to 10000 range for boarding school.</p>
<p>Bearcats,</p>
<p>The $100k for four years is really ridiculous. I know of only a two consultants who charge that rate---one here in New York City and one who has written a book. They are both under fire from the consultants associations and from many colleges for charging such an unreasonable rate. One of these consultants tried to host a 2 day seminar for a group of high school kids to be held at the Yale Club in NY, and she was going to charge $25k, but she was under pressure to cancel and she did.</p>
<p>But anyway, those prices are for college admission. One of those two consultants who charges that fee also farms out her boarding school consulting business to someone, and she charges much less than $25---I think it is more like $3-8k for boarding placement. </p>
<p>Anyway, the rate of $700 is for a small package of services, and it usually goes up to about $6k for full service, working together all year. And also I should note that most consultants don't make the big bucks you think. According to the consultant member surverys I have seen, most make around $40k a year after expenses. The top 10% makes 100k. Those two high priced consultants make much more. Sometimes people think consultants charge a lot, but if you consider all the conferences we go to, days on the road visiting schools, it really doesn't work out to as much as you think.</p>
<p>As for the rankings that consultants have---what is more important is the knowledge of what type of kid gets in. I know certain schools that will take the "nice kid, nice parents" with a 60% ssat over the "sullen kid/fighting divorced parents" with 99%. So really, the value is in that knowledge more than the rankings. </p>
<p>And yes, of course before hiring a consultant always ask how many boarding kids they placed last year, how many schools visited, etc. Some consultants work mostly with therapeutic schools but will take on a boarding client just because they want the business, which isn't good.</p>
<p>If I were an adcom, I'd take the sullen kid with the fighting divorced parents and get the gifted, hurt kid away his parents that are obviously making him miserable and hindering his ability to shine. Hopefully I'd be able to take the other kid, too.</p>