<p>I am seriously considering hiring a private college counselor for my daughter. Does anyone know of any good counselors? Do private counselors actually help?</p>
<p>I came across the "Road To College" Company, but I can't find any reviews for them. Does anyone know if they are good? Thanks.</p>
<p>the company which runs this site has college counseling. I’ve read some posters who have had a good experience. Just go to the home page of CC and you can probably find out what you need to find out.</p>
<p>We found that involved parents, a few books, and CC were all our kids needed.</p>
<p>In hindsight I wish I had done it. While my son is happily enscounced in a top LAC, it wasn’t in his top 3-4 choices. … " Did we miss something " weighed heavily on my mind. It may have been another tool in the toolbox. Whether it would have made a difference is unknown.</p>
<p>I think it may be helpful when the parent is unfamiliar with the college admissions system or the choices that may be available to their child (perhaps because the parent did not go to college or was educated in another country). It may also help if the student has unusual needs.</p>
<p>My kids had very routine needs, and we were familiar with the system. I’m glad we didn’t spend time and money on private counseling.</p>
<p>I would try to get recommendations from people you know in your area. Word of mouth is usually the best resource.</p>
<p>I think it gets down to how much time you want to spend doing the researching and emailing colleges yourself. Without CC, it would be very difficult as I have found this board to be an invaluable source of information.</p>
<p>If you don’t have or want to spend the time then consider it. For myself, I have found, as happens in many situations, that because I care the most about the outcome, I do a better job but I have had the time available to me to do it.</p>
<p>We did it because son was really floundering in zeroing in on what type of school he wanted and we felt at a loss to guide him. It was beneficial. The counselor did testing, had us look at certain schools, listed the pros and cons of each school, etc. But it wasn’t the case of ‘we’ll help your child get into their dream college.’ It was really about having someone knowledgeable help us sort through the options and figure out what would be a good fit for our son. It helped us get us away from having to nag, push and cajoling son to some degree.</p>
<p>Our counselor was a member of this organization. You might find someone local to your area:</p>
<p>[Parent</a> & Student Advice on Hiring an IEC](<a href=“http://www.iecaonline.com/parents.html]Parent”>http://www.iecaonline.com/parents.html)</p>
<p>We didn’t have a private counselor for D1, but worked with one for D2. The reason for hiring a private counselor for D2 was because we moved to a new school (due to job relocation) and the school didn’t have very good college counseloring.</p>
<p>The college counselor kept D2 on track with her testings, advised us what tests she needed to take and when she she should take them. They helped D2 in choosing her ED/EA schools by breaking it down for her of her probability in getting into her top choices. People who looked at her profile were experienced people, they didn’t just look at her stats to come up with the college list, they took her experience, ECs, life-after-college, and important factors (location, finance, prestige, size…) to both parents and student into consideration. We feel the list was looked at with realistic eyes, instead of gut and emotion. They kept on D2 with her essays and application since July of her junior summer. D2 did all of her ECs by herself :), but the college counselor did advise her on how to put them in the application. The also helped her with her essay topics and edited them when she was done, but she was the one who did all the re-writes. By beginning of Oct, she already had her applications (EA/ED and most of her essays for RD schools) done. </p>
<p>I think the myth that by working with a college counselor could guarantee acceptance to top tier schools is wishful thinking. In my kid’s case, she did all the hard work, including her essays and application. She is the one who got good grades in school, good testing scores, and invested 15+ years on her major EC. </p>
<p>We don’t know what the outcome will be for D2 yet, but no matter what, for us in having a private counselor has made it easier for D2 and us. It has taken away a lot of axiety away because there was someone else to bounce ideas off. This is the case because we trust the counselor and have a good working relationship.</p>
<p>The service isn’t inexpensive, but not as much as what people have posted, and relative to 200+K college cost it is a drop in the bucket.</p>
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<p>Exactly why we did it. Not sure that it changed the outcome for son (he ended up in the honors college at our flagship) but it made our life a lot easier. We paid about $1,500 for the service and started summer after junior year. I think it was money well spent in our case.</p>
<p>The private counselor, for us, was the voice of reason in a sea of overwhelming information and misinformation–we got good inputs against our own research and solid answers to questions and for that was worth it. For D, it was a way to stay on top of all the requirements (lots of work summer before sr. year) and to help her be informed, as others have said. IMO, however, you get the most value out of the counselor if you work with them earlier (to get advice on courses, testing schedules, EC choices, etc) rather than to have them swoop in sr. year.</p>
<p>^I agree…wished we had started with the private counselor earlier.</p>
<p>I am going to interject one thought especially about starting early with someone to help. When I began doing the college searching, my son had interest in two majors he no longer is planning on doing, he thought he would want to go to school farther away and no longer does, he could not have told you what size of a school he wanted until he had done a few visits then knew he wanted a medium to small medium size school so I X’d off the ones that were bigger.</p>
<p>So besides planning the timing of test taking since Jr year is so packed and suggesting your student do ECs, volunteer work and other areas of interest, starting early may not be as helpful.</p>
<p>I can tell you all about the two majors, the best schools and the types of programs that he isn’t going to go to. He didn’t firm up his current intended major until end of spring Jr. year.</p>
<p>Not all kids are in the head space to do it earlier, he wasn’t. I had to wait untll more grew on him and he was more ready.</p>
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<p>I do agree with you on this even though I wish we had put son in touch with a counselor earlier. A lot changes even from spring junior year to fall senior year and then again when it’s time to make a decision. All my son’s friends swore they are going outside the state to college, only a few did. My son was the king of indecision…he applied to 12+ schools to cover all his bases. Now as a college sophomore, the kid can’t decide on a major (though he’s thinking about med school). Sigh.</p>
<p>MomLive, Med school is really for those who have passion for medicine/healthcare. The schooling is long arduous and brutal, not one for those who are indecisive. Perhaps some other area of healthcare would interest him.</p>
<p>^I agree and have told him that. OTOH, have seen several young people who dithered about medical school - one got a law degree first and one got an MBA and then went on to medical school and have done wonderfully. Both in residency programs at the moment.</p>
<p>We recently stopped by the pre-med advising office with son while we were there for parent’s weekend and had a long talk with one of the advisers about this. She indicated that they’ve had many students who didn’t decide on medical school until Jr or even Sr year. Some of them had to fulfill their science requirements post-baccalaureate. OTOH, there are many kids who go in thinking they’re going to go to medical school and then end up nixing that idea after the first or second round of science classes. Guess they weren’t quite passionate enough.</p>
<p>He actually loves science and researching medical related things and is quite good at it. I think his hesitation is the long time commitment. It’s definitely something people need to consider.</p>
<p>We used a private counselor for something called a Stats Eval and then one additional hour of essay review. Total cost was $300 and it was worth every penny.</p>
<p>In our case, my son’s high school guidance counselor had a lot of students to look after and while she is an absolute expert in Texas colleges, she did not have that much experience with New England, which is where our son wanted to go. </p>
<p>The stats eval was so helpful. Basically, the person we hired reviewed all of son’s college choices (& she was dead on with where he would get in and where he would likely not) plus she also offered some college we had not considered. The report was very detailed, personalized and she answered follow-up questions. </p>
<p>As for the essay review, she asked my son some really good questions to consider and gave us the peace of mind that his essays were of the caliber that they needed to be. </p>
<p>I suppose peace of mind is really what we bought and it was well worth it.</p>
<p>MomLive, has he considered biomedical engineering?</p>
<p>^Funny you should mention that…we were talking about it yesterday. I’ve told him he needs to have a plan B to medical school in case either he doesn’t get in or he decides against it.</p>
<p>Some premeds become engineers first, that is their back up plan incase they don’t get into medical school. Engineering does take 4 years, because the classes build on each other and there are very little fill type courses, it is all versions of math and physics but many programs have biomed as a major or you can minor in biomed with another engineering degree.</p>
<p>Have him take a tour of the bioengineering dept at his or another school. My son and husband were up at Univ of Rochester and shown something about DNA research they were doing in the bioengineering dept.</p>