<p>Disclaimer: I am a college counselor. :D</p>
<p>2b2, no, I do not think you SHOULD hire a college counselor. The reason to hire one should not be to give a student an "edge" or be seen as the counselor can get the kid into college. These are not reasons to hire a counselor, in my view. </p>
<p>I think frazzled hit on many reasons why some may desire to get help from an independent college counselor. </p>
<p>I think parents can do this fine on their own if they are resourceful and equip themselves with the knowledge to guide their child through this process. I see numerous parents on CC doing just that (CC's forums themselves are an excellent resource in that way). But for various reasons, some parents are not able to do all that.....whether it is lack of time, knowledge, background, health, other issues, etc. They find it helpful to have someone else who can do all of this with their student. That seems hard to imagine for some CCers because CCers are the type who are doing this themselves, but many out there are not.</p>
<p>Another thing that frazzled brought up is very common and that it some parents find it hard to work with their own kids. There is an emotional component there that an independent counselor doesn't have with the student like the parents do. I can't tell you how many times I have had a parent write me, "thanks for convincing D about that because she listens to you but wouldn't when I told her that very same thing!" An outside perspective who is not emotionally invested can really be helpful when working with teenagers. </p>
<p>Another reason that some hire a counselor is because the admissions process is so overwhelming that they feel less stressed by having someone guide them every step of the way and advise them and be able to answer questions and know what to do. It decreases the stress. Many families will say to me that they feel they could never have gone through this without me. They found the assistance invaluable and helpful and it made the process less overwhelming to have that guidance. </p>
<p>Another reason some may hire a private counselor is that their school counselor has too many students to give this level of individualized attention, and/or has to deal with many other aspects at school besides college admissions. Even those who go to private schools with excellent college counselors still feel a need for more individualized attention....a degree of which someone at a school could not give to each child in terms of time that someone like I can do. But some also have guidance counselors who really are not that helpful or knowledgeable about the kind of schools they are looking into. </p>
<p>Frazzled pointed out another reason I see some hiring a college counselor and that is because they have a specialized type of admissions process that would benefit from someone with expertise in that area since most school counselors are not familiar with that specialized admissions process and all that it entails, nor the schools that offer these areas. So, even those who have good guidance counselors, or who have even gone through this process with an older sibling, still hire a counselor to guide them if they have a child pursuing a more specialized path. I see this, for example, with those pursuing various arts programs or recruited athletes, and other specialties. Frazzled also mentioned that sometimes a student has special circumstances (ie., special needs, something on their record, other issues) and the college admissions path is not the typical smooth one and they need help in the process more than a typical student would need. </p>
<p>As frazzled explained and I would concur, a student and his/her family can be just as successful in this process without a college counselor. But there are many reasons where some find it to be very helpful to them. That reason is not to get an "edge" or not to get their kid into college but to be an individualized advisor that they will find just very helpful as they wade through the quagmire of college admissions. Can you do this on your own? Definitely. Many CCers here have equipped themselves very well to do just that. But not everyone is like that and they desire the guidance of someone with expertise who can work with their child. It is not a "must" or a "should" or an "advantage". But it is desirable for many and they find it helpful. Some don't need or want that help and that's OK too and their child's chances of admission to college are no different because of that. The typical CC parent is not necessarily indicative of the typical parent. The fact that all of you are on CC means you are equipping yourself with knowledge about the process. I can tell you that there are many out there who build very inappropriate college lists and who have no clue how to go about creating effective applications and all the rest. If you can learn about all of this on your own or by reading CC, that can work. Not all do that, however. It is very understandable to me that many who read CC wonder why anyone would hire an independent counselor. But you guys are not necessarily typical parents. Many really cannot do this for whatever reason, and/or just desire that support and guidance through the process from someone who knows what they are doing. It makes it less stressful for their family. As well, certain admissions processes are not typical ones and are quite specialized and would be a lot for a parent to research and figure out....almost like a part time job. Like with anything, some may want to hire someone who knows this stuff. :D</p>