@sleeplessmom1
I went through the same decision process with both of my children.
- With first son in a large, competitive public school, we hired an outside college counselor for $3,300. In the end, it was not the best use of our money, as I think I did a better job at researching and helping my son than the counselor did, but it gave us some comfort to know that we could rely on someone else other than ourselves and our friends for advice (husband was too busy). Son’s public school counselor was very supportive, but she had about 250 kids to cater to for many issues other than college. This CC website is also good for advice at times, but many people have different perspectives about colleges from mine, so I couldn’t totally rely on it either.
For the first child in a public school, if money were no object, I would still hire an outside counselor, at least for review of the essay and resume items, as well as the strategy about how many safe, match and reach colleges should be on the final application list.
- With our second son in a private school (90 per grade), we did not feel the need to have an outside counselor. Although, I did ask his school counselor (nicely but bluntly) if she thought she would really have time to fully cater to my son (and me!), and she promised she would. I was so grateful, and she was wonderful. She knew the details of colleges and the Common App, etc way more than the outside college counselor that we had hired in a different state. Both the school counselor and the AP English teacher were also an amazing help in brainstorming ideas with my son for the main Common App essay, and then critiquing it thoroughly. The counselor was a strong advocate of applying ED, which son wanted. She was willing to meet with both of us together or separately as many times as we needed. It was such a luxury. The kids at the private school were no smarter than the ones at public school, but the attention my son got at the private school was special.
Bottom line: For a child in a private school, it might not be necessary to spend the extra money on an outside counselor, especially if the school college counselor and the AP English teacher are experienced and seem enthusiastic about going the extra mile for your child and your family.
But, that said, I was heavily involved in the college admissions process for both of my kids. If a parent does not have time to be involved or if a child will not respond well to a parent’s involvement, then I recommend an outside college counselor just to ease the pain, especially if the child is applying to colleges that require more than just name, contact info, GPA, and test scores. Deciding which colleges to apply to and writing the main Common App essay were the hardest parts of the application process for my sons.