<p>counselors are arranged alphabetically here, plus 1 college counselor. Private counselors are a waste of money, no one gets accepted because they used a private counselor.</p>
<p>I've heard that colleges only really look at the scores on your transcript and use the official collegeboard score reports as confirmation or to check if there seems to be some discrepancy. However, yes, you are required to send the official score report through college board.</p>
<p>well basically you can say "fXXk you" to her</p>
<p>lol some of you guys counselors sound funny as hell, they put makeup on your transcripts lol thats nice</p>
<p>pebbles, if you let groups with money or any advantage bother you, you'll have a lot of disdain in your life.</p>
<p>I would be happy to be a counselor. The pays not great, but it's not bad, and they don't have to do anything. I should take over my counselor's spot. I know more then him about college.</p>
<p>lol .</p>
<p>Unfortunately, some counselors are not as competent as others. And there are bad counselors, just as there are "bad" in any profession. Often times, however, what makes a counselor "bad" is that he is detrimental to YOUR specific situation. I know of overworked counselors at large schools that are most helpful in getting kids into the flagship state schools and some of the local schools but are really not experienced or knowledgeable about any other schools. In cases like that you can still get much mileage from your counselor by writing a letter to him asking for his rep and including info YOU want in your rec. Chances are very good such a counselor will use your letter as a guide in writing the rec letter. It is not always good to have a hands on "good" counselor, particularly if you do not see eye to eye with him. </p>
<p>As for a private counselor, well, it's like hiring a private anything. Only as good as the match. You can spend a tremendous amount of time and money for little or no benefit. The advantage with hiring a private counselor is that he can pace you through the process at $$ per hour which can help out kids who have trouble doing the stuff themselves. When you are stuck for a period of time with a counselor who is going over the college stuff, you may get it done whereas you could end up eating up an evening that you had scheduled to do this stuff IM-ing your friends and other nonsense. A counselor experienced in elite school admissions can help you not only in pacing the app process but in packaging yourself for the schools. He may also have some useful information for you that you just did not find elsewhere. But I would not expect any counselor to get you into a college; you have to do that yourself.</p>
<p>College applications are something most people encounter only once. That fact alone is what drove me to hire a private counselor for my kids. Just as I seek a lawyer or accountant who specializes in what I know little about and have no experience with. For my kids, one at Princeton and one at Dartmouth, the counselor made a major contribution. Subtle, but major. She helped my kids choose essay topics that really set them apart. Helped them rethink what they wanted to say about themselves. Gave them interview tips. All things we didn't know we didn't know. Worth every penny.</p>
<p>you have to consider is your counselor really horendous enough that you have to hire a private counselor, while she may be bad, is she so terrible nothing will come in on time?</p>