Becoming a Private College Admissions Counselor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t hire you OP, because you are not experienced, have no certificate, no shingle, no business license and have not worked as an admissions officer. I also don’t know if you are any good at evaluating essays. How can you be when you’ve never worked in admissions. You haven’t even worked as a contract reader for a college.

It looks like OP has already had a lot of interest and you aren't her target audience, which is a specific circle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In our circle, ppl hire multiple counselors (one for essays, one for college lists and process and maybe a hybrid for narrative/strategy).

It’s usually not one person.

Based on OP's earlier post, this is the group she is targeting and people have offered OP to become part of the team of counselors they are putting together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our circle, ppl hire multiple counselors (one for essays, one for college lists and process and maybe a hybrid for narrative/strategy).

It’s usually not one person.

Essay coach is different than college counselor and can be more expensive.

A lot of people hire someone to just help with planning and editing the common application essay in particular.

Yes multiple FB groups just for that.

Yes, and this is one piece a lot of parents are especially happy to outsource if they are high-earning people who hate things like essay writing. There are a lot of those.

True.

Sadly it’s the part I love the most and wanted to be most involved with - though my kids were reluctant at the beginning.

I did get to see them at least at the end and offer some feedback.

Good essays can definitely make an application imo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our circle, ppl hire multiple counselors (one for essays, one for college lists and process and maybe a hybrid for narrative/strategy).

It’s usually not one person.

Based on OP's earlier post, this is the group she is targeting and people have offered OP to become part of the team of counselors they are putting together.

Is OP doing essays or strategy ?

[Anonymous]

NP. I'm in the process of taking on this work professionally. My niche is college-ready 2e middle class kids.

I'm doing the UCI certificate -- rather then UCLA.

My clients are not typically T20-bound. They're hoping for state flagships, unsure what other affordable options they might have. They need advice. They don't have the capacity to spend hours and hours learning about how the college admissions landscape has changed in the past thirty years and are grateful for my insights.

They have neither time nor money to burn: They are price-sensitive and busy/stressed/overwhelmed. The parents want their children to get a solid education, The students might need accommodations or supports -- but more often it's more about finding a solid academic, social, and financial match -- and they don't really know where to start.

This thread is a perfect indication of why a very wide range of families can benefit from college counseling: They don't know what they don't know and good, timely advice can help them plan wisely and lead to having choices they feel good about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t hire you OP, because you are not experienced, have no certificate, no shingle, no business license and have not worked as an admissions officer. I also don’t know if you are any good at evaluating essays. How can you be when you’ve never worked in admissions. You haven’t even worked as a contract reader for a college.

It looks like OP has already had a lot of interest and you aren't her target audience, which is a specific circle.

She is on fire a real treat when that lack of credentials prevents little Johnny from getting to dream school. Especially is Johnny's mom paid OP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our circle, ppl hire multiple counselors (one for essays, one for college lists and process and maybe a hybrid for narrative/strategy).

It’s usually not one person.

Essay coach is different than college counselor and can be more expensive.

A lot of people hire someone to just help with planning and editing the common application essay in particular.

Yes multiple FB groups just for that.

Yes, and this is one piece a lot of parents are especially happy to outsource if they are high-earning people who hate things like essay writing. There are a lot of those.

True.

Sadly it’s the part I love the most and wanted to be most involved with - though my kids were reluctant at the beginning.

I did get to see them at least at the end and offer some feedback.

Good essays can definitely make an application imo.

Yes, there are definitely parents like you...but a lot of high-earning parents in finance and STEM jobs definitely hate the idea of writing essays, is what I've seen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t hire you OP, because you are not experienced, have no certificate, no shingle, no business license and have not worked as an admissions officer. I also don’t know if you are any good at evaluating essays. How can you be when you’ve never worked in admissions. You haven’t even worked as a contract reader for a college.

It looks like OP has already had a lot of interest and you aren't her target audience, which is a specific circle.

She is on fire a real treat when that lack of credentials prevents little Johnny from getting to dream school. Especially is Johnny's mom paid OP!

I can't imagine how you parent. I'm sure it's a lot of, "YOU? YOU want to be a singer/engineer/teacher? YOU? Oh, good luck with that honey"

[Anonymous]

I'm both an IEC and a school based counselor. Certificates aren't super helpful if you already have field experience but doing a reading season is a fantastic lesson.

I would highly suggest joining IECA or NACAC. NACAC has amazing resources and annual conferences where you can attend informative presentations and network with other IECs and admissions officers.

College advising is a luxury for sure, but I specialize in financial advising and optimizing merit and I can tell you that most of my families save far more than they spend on my services. Consider how many parents pay for "senior photos" despite the fact that we all have cameras in our phones? Relatedly, if you click on a thread titled "Becoming a Private College Admissions Counselor" just to trounce on the industry and announce how you did it on your own, you clearly have more free time than the parents who elect to seek help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you really want to deal with parents? Meeting with them, keeping them informed, juggling their sometimes conflicting ideas about what is “best,” and their feelings/blame when their kid doesn’t get into a school they think they should have?

When you help a kid for free, parents see it as upside and “bonus.” It’s an act of kindness and they feel grateful to have the extra help. (I’ve served this role a few times for friends’ kids, and it’s been really fun!)

Once there’s money involved, however, you work for them. They’re the client and you’re the service provider. Even if they’re friends-of-friends or otherwise well-vetted, the fee for service exchange changes the relationship.

My advice: Focus on volunteering to help low income kids who truly need the help. It sounds like that would be meaningful to you in addition to them.

Look for already established programs you can plug into. This way you can spend your time doing the student-facing part you enjoy, rather than the marketing hustle or the admin hassles.

+100 Don’t underestimate how insane people are about college. Whether they admit it or not, they are laying you to get their kid in, something you can’t actually guarantee. Good luck when they don’t get in a “safety”

Essentially, they’re paying to have someone to blame when it doesn’t work out. And, according to this thread, people are willing to pay $$$$ to take responsibility (blame?) off their hands.

Let’s be honest here. There’s a lot of variables at play, some you can manipulate and some you can’t. You’re about to take responsibility for all of them.

Ehhh. It’s not that big of a deal. Parents realize (too late) that they should have done more or hired better people. Happened to us. We realized we really need an essay coach and not a counselor.

Happens all the time. Counselors don’t care.

And some kids really aren’t that special. They don’t have it in them to write really special passionate essays. Are parents really upset that the counselor isn’t writing the essays for them?

You’re not spending the astronomical prices posted on this thread to simply get an essay coach.

You’re paying those prices so someone else will get your kid into college. That takes the responsibility off you and off your child.

Essay coaches are charging the prices quoted in this thread (1-2k for supplements with a min of 5-10 schools)….

I don’t think essay coaches (or at least the good ones) are cheap. And they are the real ones you want through word of mouth.