How to makeup for not having a college counselor/how to find a relatively cheap one?

Most of my friends are spending a LOT of money on college counselors, like 10k+, and I don’t really have that kind of money. What are the options for me if I still want to have a good application?

I only know a couple of people who’ve hired counselors, and their results weren’t any better than others. Use this site, use your guidance counselor, use a trusted teacher.

Ok, I was kinda worried because their counselors give them a lot of personalized advice and such, and I didn’t know how valuable that actually was

Below is my post from another thread about a similar question:

In my experience, hiring a college consultant can be very helpful for some families. We have just started using one on an hourly basis, as needed.

Below are some of the pros:

  • Knowledge: She lives and breathes college admissions on daily a basis, has been doing it for years, and the fact that she was a former admissions officer at an Ivy, gives her additional insight, knowledge and expertise, unlike 99% of the people on the internet who give second hand advice;
  • Individual Attention: She reviewed D20's entire HS transcript and EC's for the last couple of years, understood what type of college D is looking for and how best to create a schedule for successful admission to these type of colleges.
  • Authority Figure: D didn't fully understand the importance of taking a few additional classes not recommended by her HS counselor. For example, the private counselor highly recommended a 4th year of Spanish even though the targeted colleges didn't require or even recommend 3 years. Without my D hearing it from someone else other than her parents, she would not be taking that 4th year. She is a straight talker.
  • ACT/SAT Test Schedule: The private counselor administered a mock exam that showed D her strengths and weaknesses and showed us which exam was the one that D should study and take (i.e. ACT). She also set-up a study schedule for her, a timeline for test dates, and recommended back to back exams (1st one in Oct and 2nd in early Dec.) to be most effective for D.
  • Packaging: I know some here hate the word, but I have seen it used successfully if done correctly and genuinely. D's "body of work" will be tailored and specific to her field of study (business/marketing).
  • Essay Review: when the time comes, it will be helpful to have the counselor review D's essays and give critical feedback. To have an "insider" as part of the process is helpful.
  • Sounding Board: Since she knows D personally, we can text/call her with specific questions anytime.

Cons:

The only downside I see is the cost (she’s $250/hr) so we use her sparingly. With that said, with college costs ranging from 100-150K for public and 200-300K for private colleges, spending a few thousand dollars on private college admission advice and test prep seems very reasonable to me. Like it or not, we live in a world of specialization and a private consultant can be very helpful for college admissions. Just one dad’s experience…

Perhaps you can use a smaller amount of resources to focus on parts of the process. For example, I think the greatest value add for a counselor is helping you understand how to approach your college essays becausee sometimes the tendency is to focus on the wrong things or to make them too much of a rehash of your ECs.

If you can find someone who can help you unearth a good, authentic common app essay that reveals who you are that’s really helpful. Mom and Dad and the internet are not always very helpful with this. Then ask your fav English teacher to review it.

Remember: the vast majority of applicants don’t have counselors. Focus on what’s in your control to make the best applications you can by accessing free resources (like CC!). The rest is noise.

My kids went to school with many students whose parents were spending fortunes on private college consultants. I should add that this was at a prep school with far better college counseling services than at a typical high school. I think I basically filled the role of the private college consultant; undoubtedly not as well as a good one, but for only the cost of a few (mostly slightly outdated and thus cheap) college directories and guides. Maybe my children would have had different applications and different results if we used a private counselor, but as it is they are going to fine colleges where they are receiving generous (need-based) financial aid, the outcome we hoped for and needed. I recommend using this site a lot (adding a grain of salt where needed). The Fiske Guide was the best source for college info (but also do broader searches to make sure your student isn’t better served by colleges outside the 300+ of the Fiske Guide). There is a good book called “Admission Matters” that lays out the whole process. The Princeton Review book on financial aid is pretty good; suggest getting it early. Use the National Center for Education Statistics website; there is a LOT of info there. And I agree that if you pay for help, it should be targeted toward the essay and the “packaging,” but also be aware that your child can do fine on his or her own. I’m pretty sure that the families of many of my children’s college classmates would have been able to pay for college consultants and may have done so, but my children reached the same point without one. Best of luck!

We used this website heavily for second kid, and I don’t think she could have had better results. Admitted everyplace she applied, including her reaches. And in spite of a couple of soft spots in her application/stats.

For our first, D, We opted to hire a local consultant since W and I applied to colleges in the dark ages (my Smith Corona Selectric was on the leading edge of technology, lol). Our kids attended a large public with overworked GC’s with perhaps 2-4 kids applying to highly selectives in any one year. The vast majority of their classmates went to a state U or CC. She was also a recruitable athlete, so we felt some expert help would be in order.

Positives:

The consultant had a very accurate assessment test. It pretty much got D right on the number. This helped narrow the list. She ended up attending a LAC and majoring in an area that the assessment predicted. She has had a great outcome.

She got D and us on and kept us on schedule with the relevant to do’s.

Negatives:

She was initially pushing schools that I think she had a connection/more familiarity with. While they fit the “profile”, she missed some of the NE LAC’s that I put on her list.

I was not impressed with her guidance on the essays or “packaging” based on what I knew Yale was looking for as a long time interviewer. I am sure there are other paid consultants who “get the kid” and can better position them for particular schools.

Zero help in the recruiting process, although she was upfront and said she did not have experience in this area.

For kid 2, S, we opted to skip the consultant. We were familiar with the mechanics and the to do’s. We set up our own to do/deadline spreadsheet for each school. We were also much more familiar with the whole recruiting process for high academics. S’s packaging path was pretty clear based on his achievements and interests.

In hindsight, we probably could have done fine without the consultant for D. A little internet sleuthing and advice from friends who had just gone through the process could replicate everything the consultant did. The assessment was accurate but not a surprise. Its benefit was it was confirmatory. We did not find this site until after S was pretty much done with his applications. I would say this site is an excellent resource, but like anything on the internet, you have to pick and choose what advice you take and info you accept wisely. If you have some spare bucks, a paid consultant will likely help you get organized with less time and trouble than figuring it out yourself (assuming the school GC is not a good resource). Having a professional third party review and help redirect essays and packaging can be beneficial if the consultant is good. Here, you do kind of get what you pay for. You definitely will want to know if the consultant was a former AO, for how long, at what seniority for which school(s). References from friends you trust is a good way to screen.

We did not use college counselors for either kid and it was fine. What we did do was:

  1. Discuss any financial geographic limitations we had with the kids upfront.
  2. Our HS gave us a preliminary timetable of when to do things (ex. take PSAT, SAT/ACT, visit schools etc.) and the kids and I adjusted as needed (based on their activities etc.) and we agreed on a schedule.
  3. We invested in a couple of good college guide books (Princeton Review and Fiske were our choices) and spend time going through different options. We were realistic about where they belonged academically. We did go through the list of where they planned to apply with the guidance counselors and got their input.
  4. Visited a group of schools together.
  5. Kids lined up teachers for LORs at the end of their junior year of HS.
  6. Both kids wrote a solid draft of their common app essay over the summer before senior year and asked their favorite English teacher to review it (for grammar not content) early in the fall.
  7. They both got applications out pretty early in the process.
  8. We re-visited the top choices at an appropriate time to make a decision. For S it was in the spring (he applied EA/rolling but not ED anywhere so we waited until we had all the acceptances/financial information) and for D it was in the fall since she applied ED to her top choice school.

@BKSquared – I’m curious what you mean exactly when you said “packaging” for an applicant. I’ve heard it used b4 but have never really understood. We didn’t use a college consultant (except to help with essays) and my D pretty much just listed what she did on her application which was reflective of her varied interests (science, global health, newspaper & Model UN – nothing earth shattering or particularly unique). I mean she emphasized on the common app her role and outcomes – but there was no overarching narrative or ‘package’ I’d say.

I’ve got a younger kid who has fewer interests (so far) and I’m wondering if he needs to be thinking about how to package himself and what that actually means. Interested in the ‘components’ of the package, approach for figuring out what a kid’s ‘package’ should be, and goal.

Hopefully this will be helpful to OP too.

Thanks in advance!

Packaging typically just means having a consistent story & arc to your app. Your LORs, proposed major, grades & test scores, and essays should be fairly well matched. And you want to present your most interesting self to the AOs. You don’t want to be the kid who wants to major in engineering, but has poor math scores and no ECs in that area at all. Or to present yourself as having an intellectual bent, but have your LORs tell a different story.

@intparent - That’s helpful. Thank you!

Agree with @intparent . It means the essays, EC’s, other achievements (academic and EC) and hopefully LoR’s provide a consistent narrative. It may or may not be focused on a specific major, EC or talent, although often it will. Other interwoven themes could be based on desirable qualities such as humor, empathy, persistence, leadership. I think a good idea is to get a trusted friend, teacher (ideally an LoR writer), relative to review the app as a whole to get their opinion on whether the pieces come together to represent the applicant well and in the most favorable light. A good consultant who “gets the kid” can also help. I am not sure how many rise to this level.

Packaged also includes no typos.

They do not need to be one consistent narrative. Not as in, eg, “I’m all stem, all the time.” Nor, “I’m number one boss-president, leader, Midas in everything.” And ECs should include what’s relevant to the major, but top colleges are not looking for unilateral. It’s depth and breadth, a willingness to try other things.

OP, learn as much as you can about your target colleges, from them, what they write and show, the sorts of kids they tout. Try to understand your “match” to what they look for, which is NOT just stats. Understand this is about your four years there, your academic and other contributions, some of which may be activities, some is how you interact, are open, flexible, etc. And know that, “Show, not just tell” is very important. Eg, to show compassion/empathy, you need it to be in your record, somehow. Not just saying so. Not just random hours or shelving books at the library.

Get a Fiske Guide to Colleges.

It doesn’t have to be a completely consistent narrative, I agree. But glaring inconsistencies or gaps will stand out.

Wow ok this thread has been really helpful. Based on what I’m getting, creating a consistent flow and developing a character are really important, and having a well rounded app.

@BillardBall: I do not think that “having a well rounded app” is important.

Packaging can mean different things based upon the applicant’s background and target schools. Nevertheless, I think that it is safe to say that packaging means, at the very least, establishing a dominant theme.

You are not at a disadvantage at all. As stated having someone read your essays with suggestions is really all you need, if even that. If your teachers can’t help sometimes local colleges have students for this for a low fee since their college students. After that usually your high school counselor can be helpful. Don’t be afraid to talk to your principal or another teacher about your college choices. They sometimes have much better insight then your high school counselor does. Yes, this site is very valuable but take with a lot of grain of salt also. But we all mean well…

We have a friend that is a paid college counselor and being a friend we got free advice. It really was not anything earth shattering and most was obvious. She is at an elite school with very wealthy families. I would of been disappointed if I paid for the advice but having her make a few Grammer suggestions on the essays was good.

Write a great essay being unique, personal and interesting and you will be fine. Look over for errors.

“Grammer suggestions”

Especially helpful for those of us who can’t spell grammar. (Trust me, I’m in that category as well. I’m often typing on my teeny tiny phone. Sometimes when I go back and re-read what I “wrote” I wonder if I was drinking, if my phone was hacked or if I truly am going blind.)