Have you used a private admission consultant, if so what is your experience?

Parents Forum
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I beg to differ. From my D’s graduating class this year, our local public school had about a 15 kids accepted into the Ivies plus peer level schools like MIT, CalTech, UChicago, and Stanford. We know almost all of the families, and none we knew were hooked. Several were ORM as well. And if we include the top 30 schools, that probably makes up 25% of our class.

What our school does have going for it though is a reputation for consistently sending strong applicants to these colleges. Most of the the above listed colleges visit our school annually, and therefore they know the school and its guidance counselors.

So I think an un-hooked great student that comes from an unknown high school will be hard pressed into get into a top college.

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I agree with above. Both girls that got into ivies this year from our high school had absolutely no hooks and no connections. What they had was a reputation of being brilliant and intellectual. Have no idea how the reputation started. No national awards either. I know the one personally. I think the top schools are now admitting from a variety of schools and that makes the processes more competitive and less predictable. Our school is not know for sending kids into ivies by the way.

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Use of private counsellors doesn’t seem to be common in the Midwest where I live. I googled the other day to see if there’s any PCs around and saw only a few. None seem to be competent due to their own education, but I could be wrong because we don’t need NFL players to coach NFL teams. Some CC posters are very knowledgable but only if we know how to take full advantage of that.

I think good PCs are helpful to any student that can afford one. For parents with younger kids like myself, the best approach should be to raise component kids that can fully express themselves to get into and succeed at whatever schools they belong to. I do see disadvantages in families like mine where non-US educated parents (undergraduate and prior) cannot better help their kids along the way since day one.

I dream one day that standard tests are randomly pulled from new sources that no one can prepare for (no need to compare results between years) and that college applications are filled timed with computer camera flipped on (no help from others). That only levels the playing field slightly.

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GSL, that hypothetical college educated parent should only need a few minutes to learn, eg, that Columbia no longer takes 50%. Or all sorts of bits that trigger questions they then pursue.

But I do see how some need help wading through realities and options. It’s just that this counseling is so very expensive. I wonder how much is truly needed.

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I looked at a couple of college counselors. College Karma gave a detailed personalized analysis of my son’s strengths and weaknesses. They were quite pessimistic, and I felt that my son could get into the target schools they identified without a counselor. So I did not go with them. College decisions showed that their pessimism was probably warranted, though my son did get into a few universities that they identified as reach, mostly in the top 20, but none in the top 10.

I also considered Collegevine. They have an excellent sales team, and could sell Ivy dreams. I went with them for a few thousand dollars. They are a fairly new company, and appear to be genuine, with a responsive higher administration. But their business model does not work for effective counseling. Their consultants are current students at top universities who can write well, but lack experience. My son’s counselor had awful work ethics, even though she was good at writing. In addition, due to their lack of experience (the counselors are just students), they cannot provide meaningful advise on the colleges to select or how to tell your story. I think their input did improve the essay, but this could have impacted only one top-20 college decision.

If I had to do it again, I would probably just pay per hour for essay editing and college selection with some experienced counselor.

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@CourtneyThurston - yes my point exactly. He is going to ‘Regions’ for Accounting (UIL) and to continue in that line, there is no better place than McCombs at UT Austin.

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My D was aiming for top ten schools and was accepted at 5 of them last month. In my opinion, the most important thing to spend money on is test prep. A great tutor is invaluable not only to help your child get a top score but also to save the kids precious hours by allowing them to study efficiently. Spend the money on getting the best tutor you can afford. No consultant can makeup for lackluster scores. My D went from a 33 on a practice ACT test given at school to a one and done 36 in a three month period.

My DH really wanted to hire a college consultant. The college counselors and college counseling process at my D’s private school leave a lot to be desired. DH and/or I talked to many of them. I had spent hundreds of hours on CC, taken notes from my friends with older kids, read through the admissions sections of dozens of colleges, created numerous excel spreadsheets, and picked up the phone and made calls when I had questions. In other words, we did not need help with the process (things like timing, what tests to take, reach, match, safety…) Where we did need help is with the strategizing/essay brainstorming part of the applications. I hired a consultant who worked out really well for this. I think she would have been worth the money just to help D get through the activities section of the common app. The consultant used D’s resume as the basis for brainstorming ideas. D would write draft essays and then they would talk through them. Rinse and repeat or on occasion an essay just didn’t work and was scraped. The consultant did not act as a proof reader and D’s esssay’s were never publish ready when she finished working with her.

I want to add that I work part time so I had the time and enjoyed all the research I did. If both of those are not true for you, then hire a consultant. From everything I have seen this year, the kids whose parents helped them tee up the process had the best results. Good luck!

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We did not spend money on test prep. Treated each kid to the latest edition of the Kaplan book on Amazon.

There are kids who do paid prep and their scores go up. There are kids who do paid prep and their scores stay the same. The variable appears to be the kid, not the prep but you’ve already spent the dough.

There are tutors in my area who charge $150 an hour. The book cost $20.

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Appreciate the few posts where actual college counselors and your experience with them are mentioned. Anyone else care to weigh in? Thanks.

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@cheetahgirl121 - My D got a 35 on the ACT in one sitting with only studying the official test book on her own. It’s possible. She’s very organized and disciplined and was methodical about the way she did it. It was a raise of 3 points in about two months.

She’s also unhooked and got into the two Top 10 schools she applied to (one Ivy, one not). Her (large) public school guidance counselor was worthless in the whole process and I helped her with the use of CC and the Internet.So it absolutely is possible to get in to a tippy top school without paying for any outside help.

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@blossom same here and my kid got a 35 single sitting (with the $20 red book). But my youngest is not as receptive to self study so we may end getting a tutor if practice test scores need improvement.

@AS2017 seems like college Karma was pretty accurate. I think it’s important for parents and kids to have a pessimistic view of admission decision possibilities so they can focus more on finding great match and safety schools.

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I think of test prep and counsultants as insurance or like paying for AAA for your car. You may not need it, car may never breakdown, you may not be sued or have a neighbor’s tree fall on your home, but IMO it provides a higher level of comfort.

My D has high test scores and grades and very organized. I could have just given her $20 test prep book, but, for example, the test prep serivce offers free proctored SAT exams at their offices every weekend and I think it’s fantastic that the kids can get up at 8:00-8:30 in the morning as many times as they desire (service recommends 3-4 of them) and feel what it’ll be like come test day. And then subsequently at a separate sitting, go over any mistakes, pass along hints, or whatever. That experience counts in my book.

Can everything be done by the student and parent? Sure. Can I and my D get it all done by ourselves? Sure. I just like having the safety net or insurance. Again, YMMV.

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@SuburbMom You are for sure very fortunate to have a motivated, and obviously smart daughter. Congrats to having great choices!
I think in my post I qualified by saying “rarely”… as with all things in the application process there are no absolutes.

We did use someone to help with essays and test prep. Our d got into her top school, definitely had to show interest and have “all of the pieces,” but for our family it was worth it.

One last thing… working with someone who can pull out of your kid their story and help them see more of their picture than academics, athletics, community service etc. in my opinion is priceless (with or without getting into the target college).

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At this point, my S is interested in college but unfocused on what he wants in a school. We visited 2 ivy and 2 top LAC and he liked them all and likely will apply but he seems unexcited about any one school or even unexcited about putting a list of choices together. We have some top in state schools so at this point I’m inclined to push him toward the cheapest best option where he is likely to earn merit. However, after reading this thread I’m wondering if an outside consultant might be able to focus him where his parents have been unable. His stats match those going to ivy and top 10 (35 ACT, 4.0, 5’s on AP’s, rank 1/400+, etc.) which is the frustrating part. This is our first going into college. Any opinions on whether a consultant might help or anyone else have this experience? Maybe we aren’t doing something right on our end. I don’t care if he gets into an ivy or a top 10. I’d be happy if he said here’s my list. For now, we are going to just let it ride and not put anymore pressure on him. That could be part of the problem. I think he’ll be successful in any school he chooses.

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@FinalFor, can you afford top private schools should your son get in?

Neither of my sons was “into” any particular school. Oldest son knew what he wanted to study (math & physics at the time), and since he was very advanced (taking upper division college math and physics courses in high school), we knew we had to find certain schools that would either really challenge him with undergrad courses or offer grad level courses in those subjects. We also were looking at schools that met either 100% need or ones that offered full tuition+ scholarships. So his list was fairly easy to compile, but I can tell you that the school where he eventually attended, MIT, was not on the list until September of senior year.

Middle son was definitely didn’t care where he went. He was only looking for an affordable option. He also wasn’t sure what he wanted to study. He also has disabilities. Working with him was much harder, since we needed to scour the country looking for schools that had his possible majors (game design, animation, industrial design, mech engineering, and so forth) and were potential affordable (again, either 100% need-based aid or possible full tuition scholarships).

An experience college consultant offered her services for free with my oldest son, and wow, it was hugely helpful! My sons were homeschooled/dual-enrolled, and my oldest was my first go around with college apps. He was a strong writer; she helped him become a better writer, and helped him learn to write about himself well. She taught him how to communicate with colleges, and she helped me with my documentation (school profile, counselor letter, etc). I learned so much that people began asking me to help, and I fell into the job of college consultant soon after that.

I would have loved to hire someone else for my middle son because having a middle-man for some kids is necessary, but I took him through the process. We definitely clashed, but he finally got into the swing of things around October of senior year. He had a lot of “red flags” (less rigor, Bs in some college classes, no AP scores, SAT II scores were a bit low, and so on), but I definitely knew how to communicate his strengths through my documents, and I helped him bring out his best qualities through his essays and arts supplement. I think he also got great letters of recommendation from two community college profs, his cello teacher and his boss (he was a cellist for a professional theater production) While he had a good SAT (2230), he didn’t have a “winning” profile. However, I do think my help was essential for him as he applied to 23 schools. He ended up getting into 16 schools including one Ivy, waitlisted at 3, and rejected at 4. He did better than I ever could have imagined.

No matter what level of student that I work with (I’ve worked with kids who have a 25 ACT and kids who have 2400/1600 SAT), my job is to partner with the student (and the parents if they are homeschooled) to come alongside them in order to lower stress, guide them when they need/ask for help (essays, communicating with colleges, interview prep, organizing colleges and deadlines, guidance for arts supplements, etc), and help make the application season actually enjoyable. I love what I do, and am thankful to be able to meet some great students and parents.

Only you can decide if a consultant is necessary or worth it; some families decide yes and other never give it a second thought.

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I totally forgot I did get a free consultation with someone who had just got all her kids into colleges and decided she was going to become an independent college counselor! She offered to do consultations for a few of us for free to build her resume. It was such a negative experience that I repressed it and then the post above triggered it. (mention of free help)

Granted, this person wasn’t a professional (yet), but I couldn’t believe how negative and condescending she was. The worst was when she told us that D couldn’t just participate in Musical Theatre; she needed to get the lead roles in order to show leadership. (Huh? Lead roles are given to students that have the most talent. They have 0 correlation with leadership.) She thought D’s volunteer work wasn’t good enough and told her what she should be doing instead. (A short while later D was featured in the “Good News Sunday” section of our city’s newspaper for that “subpar” work. The woman who started the program D was working with sent the reporter D’s contact info.) What bothered me is that this woman kept telling us what D needed to change, rather than work with what D had done/who she was.

So maybe that’s a distinction in counselors and packages - some will get involved from the start and work to craft your child into a package that is going to look good to top schools, while others will try to wrap up the package that you present and find schools that are going to find that package attractive.

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@sbjdorlo, Good info. I’m finding financial aid at top schools like Princeton and Harvard to be close to the amount I’d pay for my in state flagship assuming he gets the standard merit award. He will certainly apply for as many scholarships as are practical as I think there is opportunity there. You provided some good info and perspective. In my case, I think I’m more stressed than he is about this process. My younger son, 14, just wants to go to the state flagship so as long as he doesn’t change that one will be easy.

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First, no matter who “organizes” you, there has to be an understanding of what each college values and looks for. And offers. If you want to leave that in an outsider’s hands, fine. But at some point, you’re going to want to see why your kid is a match - not just for an admit letter, but through the four years.

If where your kid matriculates is important enough to lay out $10-20k for help, you still want this understsnding, no? You want to see it, right? Cuz otherwise, you could send him anywhere, one of your state schools or some LAC that takes his stats.

Of course, it’s different when you’re looking for merit and his stats aren’t perfect. Or the right sports recruiting opp. But I still question the real motivation of some families, who just want a PC to polish him into some top 25.

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^ I think he means the “standard merit award” at the state flagship? (I guess you could read it either way)

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Ouch, @SuburbMom.