<p>hey guys,
do you think thousands of dollars for a college counselor will help towards getting into HYPMS?</p>
<p>any success stories? any non-success stories?</p>
<p>if you can eailsy afford it than do it, for some of these counselors it is their full-time job and they can really help</p>
<p>They won't get you in anywhere. I go to a school where the counselor has tons of connections. No one gets into HYPMS who doesn't deserve to get in based on merit (well, legacies sometimes factor in, but you know what I mean).</p>
<p>You are paying for a counselor who cares about you, who will work with you to select the best college and create a good, personal application. They will NOT get you into places. They provide opportunities, not miracles.</p>
<p>a good amount of independant college research (much of which can be done here) would suffice in the place of a counselor too.</p>
<p>o wow. looking at the stats of how 93% of their clients go to top choice school really got me thinking that they could really help me. cost isn't a factor, so i am still considering it. does no one have ANY good experience?</p>
<p>I do not, but if cost isn't a factor and that stat is valid, why not? There's nothing wrong with improvingyour chances at getting into a good school.</p>
<p>"I do not, but if cost isn't a factor and that stat is valid, why not? There's nothing wrong with improvingyour chances at getting into a good school."</p>
<p>Again, they won't get people into places who don't deserve to be there. If your own counseling at school is not providing the attention/tools you need, please go and investigate independent counseling. However, do not think that a counselor will offset bad GPA, SATs, whatever or will use his connections to get you in. It won't happen. If you are a very good applicant and have done your research, then in most cases you'll be fine. If your GC is way too busy, does not know you at all, is very uncooperative or bad, then go for it. </p>
<p>BTW, be careful of their stats. If they have a screening process, they may only take students who have a great shot at getting into their top schools anyway. Or their top choices change.</p>
<p>"o wow. looking at the stats of how 93% of their clients go to top choice school really got me thinking that they could really help me. cost isn't a factor, so i am still considering it. does no one have ANY good experience?"</p>
<p>As to the 93% stat, I would be skeptical if more info. isn't given. The statistic might be true, but remember that top choice school is subjective-- someone might hear top choice and think HYPS, others might think of the #50-#100 ranked schools on USNWR.</p>
<p>CC is not good enough for you!</p>
<p>thanks for the responses,
has anyone on CC ever hired a college counselor?</p>
<p>Most of them you have to be accepted to even take part in. Plus they really consult you in other schools other then just HYPMS. Some you have to book
2+ years in advance because they are filling up so quickly. I've talked to few about doing it but it isn't worth it because you can basically do it on your own if your focused and organize yourself to stand out.</p>
<p>hmm, I think top choice school means the school the applicant wants to go to most. So it could really be any college, not necessarily a highly ranked one</p>
<p>Try to find one that charges by the hour; not one you have to pay $5,000 for the minimum packages for. So if you pay $150/hr and think they're worthless after the first meeting you don't have to return.</p>
<p>any feedback on hernandez college counseling? she quoted 36,000.</p>
<p>I would not advise it. She is often quoted, but I do not know of anyone who has used her. Then again, I only frequent some threads and boards so you may be able to find more.</p>
<p>That being said, 36k is outrageous. Either you are capable of getting into HYPMS or you are not. If you are, then you don't need a ridiculously expensive counselor. If you aren't, then it's a lost cause anyway. ONLY go to an outside counselor if you don't think that your current one can devote enough attention to you and really make your app shine. You don't need to empty the bank account to do that.</p>
<p>Do not listen to Baelor; he's constructing a strawman and then refuting it with faulty reasoning.</p>
<p>First of all, OP is simply asking if, and how much, a college counselor would help in getting into some schools. He did not say that he had poor scores, was looking for a miracle, or is trying to gain an admission that he does not merit. Baelor's response is akin to telling someone not to take that extra AP class junior year because one class is not going to make up for "poor SAT's", "low grades", et al. The extra class - just like the college counseling - can help and shouldn't be dismissed just because they're not a definite hook.</p>
<p>Secondly., there is no such dichotomy between those "who are capable of getting in" and those "who are not". I'll leave it at that.</p>
<p>There are valid reasons for not hiring a counselor (money being the biggest, I think), but it gets on my nerves sometimes when people treat college admissions as some holy process that is insusceptible to a great deal of pragmatism.</p>
<p>Response to OP - No</p>
<p>"Baelor's response is akin to telling someone not to take that extra AP class junior year because one class is not going to make up for "poor SAT's", "low grades", et al."</p>
<p>No, I'm just saying that an independent counselor won't perform miracles, nor will they get you into any colleges. I'm not constructing a strawman because I'm addressing a more general scenario than just the one where someone uses a counselor just to improve impossible odds, although that is frequently a reason.</p>
<p>As I said, either you can realistically have a shot at the Ivies or you cannot. If you cannot, no counselor can get you in. If you can have a shot, make sure that the counselor gives you attention and helps put together a good application. THAT is their purpose, not to "get you in" anywhere. They can't. If they say that their connections guarantee you admission, they are either deluded or lying (in the words of Montauk, in his excellent book about colleges and admission at top schools). They can put together an excellent application most of the time, and that is what you really want. If your school offers these services and performs them well, you have no need for a private counselor. Again, an inept CG at a school is a reason to look for independent counselors.</p>
<p>"Secondly., there is no such dichotomy between those "who are capable of getting in" and those "who are not". I'll leave it at that."</p>
<p>I would argue this entirely. There are reasons that people are admitted to Ivies, some that are not known to us. But for most applicants, it is pretty clear what colleges will be realistic stretches and which are just not in any range. </p>
<p>"The extra class - just like the college counseling - can help and shouldn't be dismissed just because they're not a definite hook"</p>
<p>The extra AP class brings something, if only added academic rigor to the High School curriculum, something that will be useful because of good study habits regardless of whence you matriculate. An independent counselor doesn't do that, necessarily.</p>
<p>Again, I'm not discouraging you from using one. But they are appropriate in certain scenarios, which I have mentioned in some of my posts. If your CG at school is not fulfilling your needs, then definitely do research and hire an outside person. But don't do it because you think it will improve your odds simply because they charge 40k or have "connections." It's basically a lie most of the time. If they have a selection process, then the good results basically tell you that they take on students who are very strong anyway, who may not have needed their services in the first place. It's just something to think about.</p>
<p>Chiming in a little late here, but I have some thoughts. We retained a highly regarded counselor some years ago when my son was starting to consider college choices in the winter of his junior year. In retrospect, we could have easily come up with the colleges he recommended based on some decent research. He did help a bit with the essay, but again, you can find a lot of help on essay-writing in books and this forum. We were perfectly capable of making and keeping schedules, so we certainly didn't need him for that. So for this situation, hiring a counselor was pretty much a waste of money.</p>
<p>HOWEVER, one of my daughter's friends, now a rising senior, has been working with a counselor for several years, and I must say she's been well-packaged. He had her start her own service club; it doesn't do much that's different from many others, but she's the founder, it has a catchy name, they managed to get some newspaper publicity for it by doing some quirky activities. He found an obscure contest for her to enter that led to a paid summer internship with a nationally-known company. This girl is a B student, and her parents knew she needed some extras for her applications. I don't think they or most other parents could have come up with this stuff on their own.</p>
<p>Bottom line, I think using a counselor early in high school could be valuable for "packaging " purposes--class selection, EC's, summer choices, etc. But if it's junior year and you are merely looking for a college-picker/scheduler, only do it if you have money to burn.</p>