<p>My son is 13 (grade 8), twice exceptional (ADHD/dyslexia), doing very well academically and socially at a junior boarding school. Very active in all aspects of school (downhill and xc skiing, rock climbing, theater tech, shop, work jobs, soccer, an accomplished hiker inside and outside of school) Strong science and math interest and success. Just took the SSATs cold-- um, not great. But he will stay where he is through graduation in Grade 9, so we have 2 more shots at those, with test prep, and will be applying for admission for 2014-15 as a sophomore or repeat freshman. </p>
<p>Current junior boarding school tuition for two kids is tapping me out. SO I'd like to know-- what does a consultant run? Can you select particular services? Do you really get what you pay for? Did you wish you had not bothered? Do you know you could have not done it without the consultant? Fill me in. If I can't justify it, I can't afford it.</p>
<p>Does your son’s current boarding school have a guidance counselor who can give advice? Possibly the school has some ideas of what would be a successful next step for him.</p>
<p>DC attended junior boarding school as well, and we didn’t feel the need for a consultant. The jr boarding schools that I am familiar with all have placement directors who take on much of the task of working with the student and parents, and formulating a list of prospective schools for the next step. While we also did our own research and we worked with the director to refine the list, adding and subtracting schools depending on what we were looking for, I never felt that adding a consultant was needed. That said, when we were on our own and choosing junior boarding schools, we did use an educational consultant, and that was invaluable, mostly because we knew nothing about boarding schools when we started.</p>
<p>We used a consultant for our oldest child. It was well worthwhile; there were 2 levels of service: 1) consultant talks with child about interests and so forth–actually like a BS interview as our consultant was a former AO. Assesses quality of current school, grades, discusses with parents the likelihood of good recommendations, offers some strategic tips on when to take SSAT and what to emphasize, and finally, draws up a list of 10-12 schools that represent a range from reach to fit to safety for your child. Stage 2) consultant gives you feedback on your kid’s essays, follows the applications through contacts at the different schools, and although they won’t give you specific information about what’s going on at individual schools, in late Feb/early Mrch they will tell you things like “I think your child is going to have some choices.”</p>
<p>We did both stages with first child and probably will not again. First stage was not expensive and well worth it; second stage was as expensive and seemed to have less tangible benefit, although DC got into 4 out of 5 schools he applied to & so indeed did have some choices.</p>
<p>Child #2 is at JBS and the school is all about placement into boarding high schools, so I think part of the tuition value there is even closer tutelage than a consultant could give.</p>
<p>Hope this helps; if you are contemplating paying the full tuition for 3 or 4 years out of pocket, I think it’s money well spent to get the outside opinion of someone with significant experience in the BS arena who can help you both with locating “fit” schools, and who will advocate for your child with people in roles they are intimately familiar with themselves.</p>
<p>We used a consultant for our DS, and I echo what PelicanDad has to say. Going rate is around $150/hour (I expect there are some consultants who charge more, some less). Expect about 20 hours for Stage 1, or around $3,000. Not sure how to figure how many hours Stage 2 might take - maybe 4-5 hours per school application? (Just a wild guess on my part.)</p>