<p>Those who used a private counselor, did you use it to:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Find "hidden" gems and fits that you weren't apparent to you?</p></li>
<li><p>As a means to merit/need based aid?</p></li>
<li><p>To make a good student "great" on paper for the top schools?</p></li>
<li><p>To keep peace in the family with a 3rd party in the lead role?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>CC parents & students appear to me to be very hands on folks and very succesful at researching. Initially I thought most would have no need of a private counselor. After some lurking on CC it now seems to me more use a private counselor than I initially thought.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>No. We did fine finding the schools for my daughter. Didn’t need help in that regard. </p></li>
<li><p>No, don’t need help finding aid either. </p></li>
<li><p>Nope. My d has pretty strong credentials and didn’t really need help in that department. Her essays are pretty strong as is her resume. </p></li>
<li><p>YES. Having someone else nag her to get her essays/resume done is worth every cent. And having another set of eyes is priceless.</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li><p>Yes. There are so many colleges out there we were overwhelmed with choices. Don’t know yet where son will go but it has been nice to have some ‘outside the box’ choices.</p></li>
<li><p>No. Although we did get him to explain how merit aid works and he told us what to expect in terms of merit offers.</p></li>
<li><p>No. Although he has looked at son’s essays and made suggestions but his role is not to try and get you into a particular college. Just helps keep things on track and make suggestions for improvement.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes, yes, yes. The #1 reason we did this.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>It’s been very worth it to us. None of us (including son) had any idea where to start and with both of us working full-time, we really didn’t have the time to do a lot of research. The GC at school is very good but really didn’t know son very well. The private counselor met with son every week this summer and really got to know him. That led him to suggest schools we didn’t have on our radar. For example, the counselor suggested U of Chicago, Reed and Bates as good fits for son. We had never even heard of Reed or Bates.</p>
<p>We didn’t start until the summer before senior year. Much better if you start working with a counselor in at least junior year.</p>
<p>We used a counselor, but as I was very involved with the whole process her benefit to my D was mainly 2-fold: having someone to call any time a little question arose (D’s daughter went to a h.s. with a worthless college counselor) and REDUCING STRESS. I can’t emphasize enough how invaluable that was. The private counselor was organized, calm, and methodical and that rubbed off on both my D and me.</p>
<p>We used a counselor for my son, starting with his freshman year in high school. This was largely because his high school was so large, and had too few counselors. We were afraid he would fall through the cracks.</p>
<p>His private counselor met with us twice a year to review his curriculum and grades, and to discuss his plans and needs. As college drew nearer, she helped him build his list of schools to visit, as well as a backup list. She also helped guide him through the application process, essay writing, and was there by phone or email every time a question came up that we couldn’t answer.</p>
<p>As far as we’re concerned, it was well worth the investment and time. I think we were right about his HS counselors not having enough time to deal with their allotment of students.</p>
<p>Yes, we tried various services. The services we by far found most useful are guiding the essays (we really didn’t know what sells today) and bugging the kid to perfect draft after draft. We could never have gotten away with that!</p>
<p>Warning–there are many jokers calling themselves college counselors, my sister found a quack who looked like a bargain for her daughter locally and ended up paying twice to get the real deal. Get references!!</p>
<p>We had a flat rate of $1,400. which covered from August of junior year to end of senior year. I think she has since gone to an hourly charge of $80./hr. which is still pretty cheap by comparison.</p>
<p>We have a friend who is a private counselor, and she offered to help without pay–but we only turned to her for a couple of things, mostly taking a look at our son’s essays. I have to say that her suggestions really did improve the essays. I felt that quite a few of my son’s classmates could have used some better advice on the process.</p>
<p>Never used one, but have a friends who did. One friend told me it was $2,000 about 3 years ago (better economic times). I think that they used a counselor because the parents were getting divorced at the time and did not have time for the college process. I know that this included a limited number of consults, unlimited use of the counselor’s library stocked with resources and help with #4 (most important reason).</p>
<p>I’m starting to think #4 Keeping the Peace would be the most worthwhile reason if we go forward. A-type mom + procrastinator S=entire house miserable</p>
<p>I can only speak for myself, but we spent a couple of hours with a college counselor with my oldest. It was of extremely limited utility. He was an excellent student, and he got into a top ranked school.</p>
<p>My daughter did not use one at all, and she got into her dream school. </p>
<p>For us, it was completely not necessary.</p>
<p>However, my wife and I both write for a living (media director/attorney) and could help both children polish their essays. If neither parent has that professional experience, a counselor could be very helpful for that.</p>
<p>In my experience, think of this like any other consultant–you get what you pay for. H & R Block will do your taxes for next to nothing and they have a very high rate of mistakes. A good tax preparer will cost you. A good college counselor won’t come cheap, but many with not much to offer have low prices. You also don’t need to pay the ‘big guns’ multi thousand dollar prices to get high quality.</p>
<p>My sister got caught up with a friend of a friend costing $75/hr. She turned out to be a laid off high school counselor who was used to checking boxes and listing off state Universities. She kept a college guide by her side to reference the colleges my niece named. For $300 they ended up with essays that went in the garbage.</p>
<p>One big hint is to make sure your counselor is very familiar with the colleges your child is interested in.</p>
<p>At the time we hired a private GC, my son was “underachieving.” I hired a counselor for a considerable amount of money just so my son would not be able to look at me as rejection letters arrived in spring of his senior year and think I had not used every available resource to help and motivate him. (Petty, I know, but I could afford to be petty back then.) Well, I suppose it did motivate him a little bit because he started getting A’s, took a few college classes to explore schools and raise his GPA, and he ended up getting into every school he applied to, even the ones his private GC said he had no chance in he** of getting accepted to. I honestly cannot say what role the counselor played except maybe her advice on school selection, what to disclose in the application, and what essay material was acceptable rubbed my son the wrong way and forced him to come up with his own point of view and priorities. So, she guided him, but kind of like backwards day: “Oh, she says small LAC, I think I’ll go with huge public.” Anyways- it worked out in the end. I think anyone on this site can get all of the information they need to help their child get into any school. However, time, money, and individual parent-child relationship dynamics can make hiring a private GC a great decision that is well worth the cost. Money is not always an indication of quality so buyer beware: there are many very expensive consultants out there who may not be highly qualified or the right fit for your child.</p>
<p>I got swept up in the counselor mania and hired “the” counselor in the area to work with my D. What did she do for the $5000 we spent? Ummmm…not much of anything, frankly. She discouraged applying to reach schools, which we later realized would screw up her “admit rate” that she can show to prospective clients. She had inept essay editors who knew nothing about my D and gave very bad advice. She spent 40 of the 60 minutes my D met with her talking about all of her “kids” who got into top schools, then trotted out University of Arizona and Indiana as match schools for a 3.8/2000 student. Finally, we fired her at the beginning of senior year. My D went on to write an essay about that experience, which we wholeheartedly believe helped to get her into her school of choice, which of course the counselor said she’d never get into.</p>
<p>I am fortunate in that I work part time and was ableto devote many hours to helping her (and now my senior son). I don’t think all counselors are useless, but be careful! Ask how many students she/he works with and what is included in the fee. I fully believe the fact that my d’s counselor had 80+ seniors was a big problem.</p>
<p>What a great idea! That is just too funny!!! Wonderful for you daughter, elizabethh! Also, I read about your son! Congratulations on his first acceptance!</p>