I think I have posted about this before, but we used a college consultant for both of our girls. In both cases she was extremely helpful in navigating them through high school and suggesting summer opportunities that would further their goals in the stem fields. Additionally, when it was time to write the essays she helped them “think” about different ways to approach the various prompts using experiences from their high school and growing up years, that, quite honestly, I never would have thought would be good essay topics. Both girls got into several top 20 schools with my first girl picking the school that offered a full ride. BTW neither of them were National Merit finalists, had any national recognition for science/math contests, or were URM. So for our family it was worth it and is definitely something to be considered.