Hi, I am a father of a G7 girl who is going to apply the top boarding high schools in the northeast of the U.S. this fall. Does anyone ever worked with any reliable admission consultant that can be referred? My daughter is the top 5% of her current school (school ranking top 10 in my state). She has lots of extracurricular activities (swimming, piano, choir, theatre, etc.). However she never had any credentials at or above city/state levels. She is still at her last stage to try different interests before concentrating on one or two. We lack the experience to help her in the fields such as essay editing, interview coaching, and how to best present her. We think a good admission consultant could better help her in the above fields. However we do find that on Google search, the results are quite unreliable. Part of the reason, I believe, is that admission consulting can not be a mass business. The companies using SEO to list on the top pages are very likely to be the customer dumping machines with poor services. The really good consultants never need to SEO on google as they have already had enough customers. As first generation immigrants to North America, we do feel weak in helping our daughter to pursue her dream. Any advice or referral is appreciated!
Hard to know which BS consultants are really talented. Many international kids use a consultant. Few American kids do ( that we know of at least). What we learned from BS admissions is that every student applying is in the top standing grade-wise, many have very high test scores and all bring some unique talent or perspective. What is really important is the interview and essays. Also, what you may think of as top BS, may/may not be the best fit for your child. There tend to be many parents and kids on this board who focus solely on PEA or PA.
If you do your own homework, I think you will be able to figure out what is important to your daughter based on her personality and a fit with her and your family. Some schools were great but didn’t fit our kids/family at all. Other schools when we looked under the covers a little bit were lacking ( academically, socially, athletically or in other ways).
It takes a long time to find a couple of good fits. I’m not sure one can hire out and get it done. Maybe someone here has had a great experience hiring someone and can add some pointers for how they chose a consultant.
We spoke to friends who had kids at BS and asked a lot of questions.
I know 2 very good consultants, one of whom worked with very prominent foreign families. Neither saw their job as getting “Prince A” into “top” school x. Instead, they worked to find the best fit and to make sure the application demonstrated that. I mention this because the most reputable consultants are more like great matchmakers than anything else.
Look at the IECA website and they will have a directory of boarding school consultants. Due diligence and interview them before giving them your business. Also, I would look for a consultant that has been in the business for at least 5 years and specializes in boarding school only. Like @gardenstategal stated - a good consultant is a match maker and most likely will expand your list with right fit schools for your child.
I am a first generation student too! I understand all your passion to help your daughter, but so many students are going to have similar stats and it really will be random on who gets in or not. (FA is a huge thing!) I would recommend looking into less prestigious schools that would similarly fit her purpose (something like Miss Porters). Boarding school consultants can only do so much, so always have a backup plan that will also match her wants and needs in a school.
Thank you all for your input. It looks like we need to do lots of job to understand the schools first.
@leo can – if you do use a consultant, building the list can be where they are most helpful.
We never hired any one and do not have first hand experience. But my son’s friend at college works for someone who has helped folks getting into top boarding schools and elite colleges.