<p>Sometimes – depending on the counselor – a 1 hour consultation can be worth the few hundred dollars just for the confidence and peace of mind that you are on the right track.</p>
<p>OP, when my son was a HS junior, I started attending free college seminars held by those private college consulting companies. From there I got basic ideas, then when summer came, I fully utilized the free one-on-one constitutions they offered and asked as many questions as possible. </p>
<p>It’s late August, but I think you can still find a couple of them that offer one time free consultations. Then You can decide if a private counselor is needed for your son or not after those meetings. Just my two cents.</p>
<p>Does this site still offer paid application help? I know people who did it in the past who were happy. (I don’t think it included reading essays, which in my opinion is the hardest part.) My older son hated writing - he got some good suggestions from his all-but-dissertation English major aunt. I remember she said to keep in mind that there’s the question, which you have to answer, but more important there’s the agenda behind the question. The ad coms are trying to imagine you as a real person, what makes you tick, you want to come off as a person they’d like to be around. That means this is not the time to show off your amazing vocabulary, or to be over earnest. Think about what you think is your best quality - perhaps your ability to enjoy little things, or your sense of humor, or to pick yourself up after setbacks, and then think of an example from your life that will illustrate that trait. Don’t be afraid to be a little bit light hearted. There’s good essay advice here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-essays/1044933-some-important-last-minute-advice-essays.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-essays/1044933-some-important-last-minute-advice-essays.html</a> and here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-essays/979752-easy-exercise-get-started-terrific-essay.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-essays/979752-easy-exercise-get-started-terrific-essay.html</a> (Digmedia also wrote a book on the subject which I haven’t seen, but I like his posts.)</p>
<p>Okay, as you can see, lots of different comments based on each poster’s perspective.<br>
Private counselors are mortal- many have no better insider edge worth the money. Every kid I personally know who made use of one (at far higher than $6k) ended up at far lower than the schools on your list- in fairness, because that’s where they belonged, in the first place. There are kids whose apps seem so polished, so on target, that you wonder- and, there isn’t enough time to fret over that. The bigger threat is a mediocre counselor who misses the very attributes the colleges truly seek.</p>
<p>The 2150 may not be too low- how do folks think you’ll get around reporting it? What matters is what the M and CR are. I’ll have to go look at the other thread.</p>
<p>Your son’s picture here is fine with one glaring issue, aside from the lack of true safeties: you have not listed any hs math-sci activities. Very hard to show legit understanding of- and enthusiasm for- engineering, with only Cosmos. Lots of kids found non-profits and plenty create mobile apps.</p>
<p>As for essays, mathmom is right, ime, but I usually caution this: many give advice on essays based on what they think adcoms want or after having read many essays. You want someone who knows.</p>
<p>I would love to hire a private counselor and seriously considered it a few times. The problem is picking a good one. I just can’t make a wrong pick and have no basis for selecting any given counsleor. Heck, I have trouble find someone to do our lawn, help with the house, a good lawyer, a good handy man, and college counseling gets more personal than that/ If I truly felt someone was very good and could make a difference, yes, I would go for it…</p>
<p>The best thing to do is to make sure he has schools on his list that are sure to take him and that you know you can afford. Happymom’s post gets right to the point. Everything else is gravy. </p>
<p>I live in an area where there are a number of families who use counselors and I see a number of kids each year with stats like your son’s. It’s going to be a rough go, to get him into the most selective schools, because he is not the top of the top, and he has nothing that schools are really looking to get. He is not in any category that gives him a special boost which puts him in the pool with an acceptance rate about half of what is overall reported. When you are in any lottery pool like that, you have to understand that though, yes, there is a chance, it’s a very small one. </p>
<p>Essays? Well, most kids have average essays for the top schools. To come up with a truly extraordinary essay calls for an extra ordinary person. I don’t think the essay is going to make or break this applicantion. His ECs are not what most top colleges find they need. Great that he is a scholar athlete and it will get a nice check mark that he has been an active high school student, but what does that do for the college? A recruited athlete for the NCAA team of there’s, now that is whole other issue. You see what I mean. So he meets the mark for acceptiability but it just isn’t there for the “gotta take him” group which is a tough barrier to break. I truly don’t see what difference packaging can make for him. He’s there already, but has nothing to bring him up to the next level.</p>
<p>There’s no need for a counselor unless the money is completely immaterial to you. You’ve already got the more important part - an accomplished student.</p>
<p>Find a few more schools that aren’t in the “reach for everyone” category, because there are no guarantees. Don’t send the SAT I scores. They’re perfectly good scores, but they stick out like a sore thumb given that the other scores are so excellent.</p>
<p>If concern is around essays then you should look at editing services.</p>
<p>If you want the piece of mind of having someone review the list and give you their professional opinion, that is your decision. Your son has excellent credentials. </p>
<p>One option is that you could apply early for Stanford and if not accepted early action, then hire consultant in December. At that point you will need to ensure everything is covered because of the short window.</p>
<p>Good luck and congratulations again.</p>
<p>I’ve got a few quotes from reliable sources and it’s not that horrendous. But I leave it up to my kid to let me know if she wants help. If she wants to there is help. Her counselor told her she will be able to read one or two essays but did warn her that she could be brutally honest.</p>
<p>In relative proportion to the ultimate sum of money parents will invest in their child’s college education & related expenses, the cost of hiring a private college counselor may be worth it to some families. Particularly if a more polished (yet still authentic) app results in merit scholarships or preferential FA packaging from colleges not usually on the parents’ radar. Full disclosure: this is my job field but my caseload of seniors & those of my closest colleagues is full or filling up fast. There are only so many students we can take and still do quality work/ produce satisfactory results for families during each app cycle. Hence the what is perceived to be pricey charges. You pay for the close attention to your child instead of a counselor (like guidance ones at school) having to split their attention among a large caseload.</p>
<p>Dec will be far too late. If you want to work with a good private counselor, & not just an essay editor, ask around friends/neighbors in your area, and try to hire one before Labor Day weekend. Good luck!</p>
<p>One other school that your S may be interested in, particularly if he is a NMF is University of Southern CA. They have many double-majors & also offer a lot of merit aid for students they want.</p>
<p>UCB017, perhaps you should make up your own thread…</p>
<p>OP, thinking about this further, and reviewing the posts, your kid looks to me like one who would appeal more to the kind of school that looks for leadership potential and across-the-board academic talent and engagement than the kind that looks for hardcore engineering involvement. For those schools, something like being the captain of the cross country team is good. Tech schools might not really care. He may fare better as a potential Econ double major at an Ivy or Ivy-like school than as a CS major at a place like CMU. That is just the feeling I get from what you have posted, and it might be off base. BTW, I would think that the less selective UCs on his list would be safe for him, but from what people say these days Berkeley and the other top UCs are now in the “not really safe for anyone” category. Particularly if the applicant is yet another aspiring CS major…</p>
<p>Admission Matters is a good book. It takes admissions seriously without going insane. For your peace of mind, you might want to buy a few hours of a counselor’s time. I doubt that $6K is warranted, though, unless that much money is immaterial to you.</p>
<p>If you want additional safeties and matches for your son, we can recommend them, but since you are a California resident it may be unlikely that you would find a school where the potential merit money brings the price down to a level that is worth it, compared to your in-state options. It partly depends on the kind of college experience he wants.</p>
<p>You may want to preserve privacy, but I am curious what the first non-profit was, what area of entertainment was involved in another non-profit, and what experiences led you son to be involved with disabilities. </p>
<p>I can understand your not revealing your financial situation. You probably know that Ivies and other top schools tend to offer amazing financial aid, but no merit aid at all.</p>
<p>Stats are fine but they really just get an applicant past initial screening and for Ivies etc. aren’t as all-important after that first stage as some think they are. In fact, I wouldn’t worry too much about the SAT’s, which are over 700 average for each of the three sections.</p>
<p>I think that top schools are looking for an interesting mix of students, and evaluate based on what an applicant can contribute to that mix. They need students who are top intellectuals or techies, they need musicians and artists, they need athletes, some go-getters and some meditative types…you get the picture. Tell your son that in that sense it isn’t about an individuals being evaluated, but the potential class.</p>
<p>I always wonder if I see a kid is applying to lots of Ivies and top schools. They are all so different. Does he have preferences or does he just want to get into a prestige school? If schools ask where else he is applying, I actually think it is better to apply to fewer schools, and show that he is really interested in the schools, and not just the name. I think 4-6 schools is a good number for applications, not that anyone does this anymore.</p>
<p>I have been working with students here on CC, mostly coming from families where English is not primary, when they are struggling with essays. These students did well with acceptances, for many reasons, and the essay may not have even been important. Anyway, I am trained as a “non-directive” tutor. To me, it is very important that students write their own essays and I am always surprised at the amount of coaching going on in schools everywhere (and with consultants). But if he wants to PM me at some point with an essay draft, that’s fine.</p>
<p>I do think it is okay to discuss ideas with him. As it turns out, my three kids, who are all attending or have attended great schools (including two on your son’s list), wrote essays about their childhoods. They had all written books in middle school about their growing up years, and looking at those, and at photo albums, seemed to inspire them somehow. At some point, they needed some validation that their topics were okay, versus some serious essay on world hunger or their experience helping disadvantaged kids or whatever.</p>
<p>“The problem is picking a good one. I just can’t make a wrong pick and have no basis for selecting any given counselor.”</p>
<p>It’s primarily a word-of-mouth business, like other personal services. But if you are concerned about this, choose someone who will discuss the service for free and then allow you to buy just an hour or two or counseling, so you can make your own judgment about the quality of the service. In all likelihood, you will have a strong intuition about whether the person is knowledgeable and helpful at that point, and if it isn’t a good match, then at worst, you’re out a few hundred dollars and a little bit of time.</p>
<p>@Consolation - you have a good point. Therefore CalTech and MIT are not in his list.</p>
<p>He is indeed thinking along your lines. He is not hard core techie and is looking at Engineering as a way to develop an analytical skill that can help him with Finance/Business grad. I arranged him to speak with few Lawyers and other professionals and general concensus was to get Engineering degree that provides analytical thinking and then get into business.</p>
<p>Please recommend additional safeties and matches so that they can be explored.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>@compmom.</p>
<p>My younger son has autism and that experience drove him to get involved with disabilities. He is almost a second dad for his younger brother.</p>
<p>We are not looking into financials at this point given our situation.</p>
<p>Thanks for your offer to review the essay. One of the things that helped him in his essays is a Writing Workshop that he took from CTY few years back. It totally changed his writing style and now he can be lot more descriptive using 5 senses. I would highly recommend that to any child or parent.</p>
<p>Would you be available for short call to validate the topics?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I just don’t understand the engineering degree. Does he want to be an engineer or in finance/business? Does he want to be recruited in IB as an engineering major or does he want a real engineering job after his Bachelors?</p>
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<p>Besides the concern of potential earning, what is his passion? Lots of successful people in business/finance have superior analytical skills but they are not engineers. I would like to think that most of us here have great analytical skills without math and science degrees. Why doesn’t he just get a business degree in finance from undergrad Berkeley or Wharton? It certainly would be less of a circuitous path.</p>
<p>Does he want to be in engineering management after his grad degree or strictly in finance such as consulting, IB and PE?</p>
<p>“Please recommend additional safeties and matches so that they can be explored.”</p>
<p>What about places like Duke, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Rice? Don’t all of these have engineering programs as well as strengths in his other areas of interest? And not totally “techie” except maybe Rice leans more techie, but I am less familiar with it. And maybe add Washington University (St. Louis)?</p>
<p>WashU would be a great addition.</p>
<p>Just looking at your college list and your son’s profile, I definitely think you need someone experienced, probably a college counselor, to help you with his list. Even something as simple as reviewing his resume or activities list and suggesting how to present himself in a way that reflects who his, as well as his true interests, can make a difference.</p>
<p>You have received a lot of advice on this board, but no one here has met or talked with your son. Personally, in your situation, I think your son would benefit by some professional advice. I agree with those that suggest finding someone who has hourly rates, and be specific about what you would like them to help you with, and see if you can negotiate something that works for you. Good luck!</p>
<p>Also, your son has taken the SAT only once? Get a study guide and have him take several practice tests, timed, on his own and see if he can improve. If it looks like he can do better (which I would expect), have him give it another go.</p>
<p>So not to burst your bubble but if your son is ORM male, add more private schools. My daughter said last year, there was this kid(ORM, male) that was amazing and was rejected everywhere. He is going to one of the UCs. Similar candidates with ECs,SAT/GPA but who are female ORM had better admission results. So I’m thinking male ORM applying to engineering is just as bad as female ORM applying to humanities.</p>