<p>i started with a college counselor and found them completely useless. my school guidance dept made it very clear about when we we needed all our informal recs, formal recs in and how we were to get transcripts sent out. they told us how to handle teacher recs etc etc. after i dropped my college counselor one of my family friends sons continued with them and his parents always commented on how it seemed as if i was so much more efficient in the process. </p>
<p>i found my guidance counselor was the most useful person when it came to making a college list, she made a preliminary list my junior year, by my senior year i had a list of 20 some odd colleges and she helped me eliminate some and add some. </p>
<p>i did however have someone help me with my essays and she also helped me make my activity sheet. i was very happy with the end results. while i wrote everything myself she gave me good advice on how i should reorganize my essay or how i should scrap the essay and refocus on something. she also gave me new ideas on how to interpret the questions and manipulate my already written answers so that they could apply to the question. so far it's turned out well i'm 4 for 4</p>
<p>It depends on how easily accessible your high school counselor is. If your high school counselor is even reasonably competent a private counselor is worthless. I go to a solid private school with a great counselor, yet it seems about a third of the students get a private counselor anyways. And guess what? They don't do any better in the process. You should have somebody knowledgable to help you. Make sure that person isn't at your high school before spending extra $ on a private counselor.</p>
<p>My counselor at a public school was a godsend to me (and she has 300+ other students 70-100 of them also seniors). During the full I spent on average 1-3 hours with her a week over college stuff, as well as a fair amount of time junior year. She even had me email her my u penn supplement, the only thing she hadn't reviewed yet, over winter break, spent time on it then and wrote detailed comments/phone call, and sent it back. </p>
<p>You counselor does have a lot of kids - but if you build a relationship with her first (you NEED to make the effort to do this and come in and talk to her) she can be just as helpful if not more than a private one. I don't think I could have asked for anything more.</p>
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You counselor does have a lot of kids - but if you build a relationship with her first (you NEED to make the effort to do this and come in and talk to her) she can be just as helpful if not more than a private one.
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<p>I agree with this absolutely. Your high school counselor is the one who will be writing that very important "Counselor Recommedation" to all of your colleges. Paid outside counselors are not allowed to do that. Isn't it worth your time to get to know your hs counselor and to let them know you? </p>
<p>I think people who hire outside counselors (and many people spend a bundle thinking this will give them inside information) sometimes are at a disadvantage. When students take advice from them, they are less likely to rely on and seek advice from their hs counselor, and this shallow relationship doesn't result in a strong letter of recommendation.</p>
<p>Make friends with your HS Counselor. Their letters are as important as your teacher recs!</p>
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Since everyone here is so invested in the college application process, does anyone here actually have a private college counselor? I do
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<p>testing for understanding</p>
<p>You paid for professional college counseling and you asked the people on CC
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Has anyone here ever heard of Amherst College? Its supposedly one of the best LACs... I have a question, why would anyone ever want to go to unknown colleges like Amherst or Vassar when they could go to top private universities like harvard, yale, etc
<p>Are you saying that your paid professional could not give you any information about the top 2 liberal arts college in the country? you deserve a refund</p>
<p>Almost all the top students at my school (NOT me) have the same private college counselor. I actually think it's sort of stupid, because the same guy is packaging/editing everyone's app, and I wonder if there are similarities between them. The guy charges $150/hr, and at this point, I have better acceptances than the students who had that private counselor. I think it really depends on the individual, and how qualified your counselor is. Use CC! If you dig hard enough, there's a ton of info on here, and it's free.</p>
<p>Check out Katherine Cohen - she is a private counselor who charges ~$25,000 for a 'comprehensive program' where she works with students from their freshman year, meeting with them weekly, and helping them basically plan their lives. She helps them develop extracurricular interests, keeps tabs on grades/scores, helps with class scheduling. If getting into an ivy league for undergrad education is worth $25K to you, then those high priced counselors will most likely get you in. I have a number of friends and friends of friends who did similar programs, and got into the top schools in the country. </p>
<p>Of course, there are less expensive college counselors who can help with putting together a successful application, and answer specific questions about individual schools and their applications.</p>
<p>A question - don't colleges look for diversity and students that have their own motivation and make their own choices? If a student goes to a private college counselor to basically have their high school lives mapped out for them, how are they going to be unique. </p>
<p>I would never suggest forking out $5,000 for private counselor services, much less $25,000. If a student wants to know what they should be doing, they can come onto CC for free and receive advice that typically far surpasses that of private counselors. In the end, an expensive private counselor cannot guarantee you admission to a top university and I think students would be better to enjoy their high school years, make their own decisions, and not place so much emphasis on getting into the top 10 or so colleges as there are many, many excellent options.</p>
<p>Because the private, expensive college counselors are going to find their patron's passions and work with them. It's not like they'll just steer all their kids in one direction...</p>
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Check out Katherine Cohen - she is a private counselor who charges ~$25,000 for a 'comprehensive program' where she works with students from their freshman year, meeting with them weekly, and helping them basically plan their lives. She helps them develop extracurricular interests, keeps tabs on grades/scores, helps with class scheduling. If getting into an ivy league for undergrad education is worth $25K to you, then those high priced counselors will most likely get you in.
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<p>And maybe she'll even get you a book deal like she did for Kaavya Viswanathan (this time I bet she'll check for plagariasm ;) )</p>
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Check out Katherine Cohen - she is a private counselor who charges ~$25,000 for a 'comprehensive program' where she works with students from their freshman year, meeting with them weekly, and helping them basically plan their lives. She helps them develop extracurricular interests, keeps tabs on grades/scores, helps with class scheduling. If getting into an ivy league for undergrad education is worth $25K to you, then those high priced counselors will most likely get you in. I have a number of friends and friends of friends who did similar programs, and got into the top schools in the country.
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yeah, since EVERYONE here is so interested in getting in ivy league, why not just fork over 25,000 and go to katherine? Ivy league alumni could pay that off real fast</p>
<p>fhimas, it's likely that those people were already very outstanding. Saying that college counseling helps is overlooking the confounding variable that these people are already very brilliant and would get in regardless.</p>
<p>^^ - well, we really don't know what they would have been without the college counselor. Remember, the college counselor I referenced met with them from before their freshman year, helping them plan out, and develo EVERYTHNG. That kind of assertion is nice, but can't exactly be confirmed. Of course, they had to be smart and assiduous to get the grades and the test scores, but keep in mind that most applicants to HYPS are smart too, even the ones who can't afford such counselors.</p>