private college counseling

[Anonymous]

Parent of current 10th grader (at DMV private, not BIG3) here - for those of you that have BTDT and hired a private college counselor could you please share your experience - why did you feel the need, what part of the process you liked or didn't like, was it worth it, what you would do differently, the good/bad/ugly, what questions we should ask before we hire one? We are debating getting one.
Our child is unhooked, interested in STEM and/or history, has solid GPA and extracurriculars, has not taken any standardized tests yet. TIA !

[Anonymous]

Is your child looking at top ten colleges? I would say if they are, then a CC is possibly going to be helpful.

We used one when our kid was in 10th grade. Our concerns were - class choices for 11th and 12th, EC's and application essays.

The counselor was helpful on all these fronts.

Its really going to depend on what you need.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks for your reply.
At this point, our child might try for 1-3 top 25 schools. In the process of setting up virtual and in person visits for this year.

[Anonymous]

Save your money. If you aren't pushing for top 15 or so there is so much info out there that it is not worth it. Worst money we have ever spent. Read a couple books. Listen to some podcasts and you will get all the same information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Save your money. If you aren't pushing for top 15 or so there is so much info out there that it is not worth it. Worst money we have ever spent. Read a couple books. Listen to some podcasts and you will get all the same information.

You don't get advice tailored to your kid this way, only generic advice. That is what you pay for. And I agree, it can be a massive waste of money. No one needs to pay out thousands, but a few hundred dollars for an hour or two of advice is definitely worth it.

[Anonymous]

I have so many regrets. I would not do it again. Ask them if they work on finding “fit” or help package your kid for more reach schools? That’s a major consideration. Most counselors guide parents away from reach schools. They prefer easy happy “best fit” results. But you don’t need a counselor for that. It’s not brain surgery. After going through it with a well known counselor, my feeling is that it’s a complete racket.

[Anonymous]

Our counselor does virtual visits but doesn’t do any leg work before them. My kid gets no tailored advice. No recommendations done on specific research. They use their accumulated knowledge to advise my son, but that’s all. I suspect time is money and these folks have their plans dialed down where they try to do the least amount of work.

Nothing will beat the research you can do on your own.

[Anonymous]

OP- we are at a private (not big3 either), unhooked. Similar type of kid.

We did NOT hire one. Kid took advantage of mock ACT and mock SAT offered at school sophomore year. They had an outside company--get a free meeting with test administrator. Determined ACT was best fit.

They wrote their common app essay in English class end of Junior year (very rough).

Starting point for ACT was fairly high--we just did a month or so of 1-v-1 test prep with a tutor before the first test. Essay --I helped my kid through several additional drafts.

No counselor. I mean, I'm not sure exactly what parents need help with course selection---obvs. APs in core courses. Recommended # thru school counselor.

Kid did really, really well last year. The HS counselor was enough. We met once or twice with specific questions--one about EA vs ED, one after a deferrment--strategy. Kid was accepted to 15 out of 16 schools and at an Ivy unhooked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have so many regrets. I would not do it again. Ask them if they work on finding “fit” or help package your kid for more reach schools? That’s a major consideration. Most counselors guide parents away from reach schools. They prefer easy happy “best fit” results. But you don’t need a counselor for that. It’s not brain surgery. After going through it with a well known counselor, my feeling is that it’s a complete racket.

Not the OP, but a parent with 2 high schoolers and a middle schooler here. Would you mind elaborating? Were you unhappy with the cost, service, outcome or ??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have so many regrets. I would not do it again. Ask them if they work on finding “fit” or help package your kid for more reach schools? That’s a major consideration. Most counselors guide parents away from reach schools. They prefer easy happy “best fit” results. But you don’t need a counselor for that. It’s not brain surgery. After going through it with a well known counselor, my feeling is that it’s a complete racket.

Not the OP, but a parent with 2 high schoolers and a middle schooler here. Would you mind elaborating? Were you unhappy with the cost, service, outcome or ??

The outcome was good, but it’s because of my research and advice. Not the counselor. I ended up disregarding his advice, which caused friction. Who wants to deal with that? In the end, I felt I had an interloper in the process who had their own interests/philosophy in mind not ours. My recommendation is to hire someone for essays only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have so many regrets. I would not do it again. Ask them if they work on finding “fit” or help package your kid for more reach schools? That’s a major consideration. Most counselors guide parents away from reach schools. They prefer easy happy “best fit” results. But you don’t need a counselor for that. It’s not brain surgery. After going through it with a well known counselor, my feeling is that it’s a complete racket.

Not the OP, but a parent with 2 high schoolers and a middle schooler here. Would you mind elaborating? Were you unhappy with the cost, service, outcome or ??

The outcome was good, but it’s because of my research and advice. Not the counselor. I ended up disregarding his advice, which caused friction. Who wants to deal with that? In the end, I felt I had an interloper in the process who had their own interests/philosophy in mind not ours. My recommendation is to hire someone for essays only.

Agree. I spent hours watching CC videos online and reading. Best advice I found was about essays and how to best write the EC activities.

[Anonymous]

We hired a college counselor because DH and I have no extra bandwidth to research and help DC, who is a junior. College counselor is excellent and we are hoping that having them as a resource will help calm the frenzy during the application process. Since DH by nature would be completely hands-off and I am high strung, we would not be the best resources for DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP- we are at a private (not big3 either), unhooked. Similar type of kid.

We did NOT hire one. Kid took advantage of mock ACT and mock SAT offered at school sophomore year. They had an outside company--get a free meeting with test administrator. Determined ACT was best fit.

They wrote their common app essay in English class end of Junior year (very rough).

Starting point for ACT was fairly high--we just did a month or so of 1-v-1 test prep with a tutor before the first test. Essay --I helped my kid through several additional drafts.

No counselor. I mean, I'm not sure exactly what parents need help with course selection---obvs. APs in core courses. Recommended # thru school counselor.

Kid did really, really well last year. The HS counselor was enough. We met once or twice with specific questions--one about EA vs ED, one after a deferrment--strategy. Kid was accepted to 15 out of 16 schools and at an Ivy unhooked.

You don't know why anyone would need this advice because your kid is just a bog standard kid, I expect. We were trying to navigate core subjects around my DD taking AP Chinese and AP French, while also not failing to take the required Arts, CompSci and health options (some taken online) and all the AP's she could choose in Humanities and STEM. She was very much an Ivy candidate.

[Anonymous]

We hired one because I knew questions would come up throughout the process and I wanted someone to go to for answers who was knowledgeable and responsive (DS's public high school counselor was neither).

We didn't need tons of help. Just wanted some guidance on the college list and to make sure things were on the right track. Maybe what a good high school counselor would actually do? Totally worth it for the peace of mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have so many regrets. I would not do it again. Ask them if they work on finding “fit” or help package your kid for more reach schools? That’s a major consideration. Most counselors guide parents away from reach schools. They prefer easy happy “best fit” results. But you don’t need a counselor for that. It’s not brain surgery. After going through it with a well known counselor, my feeling is that it’s a complete racket.

Not the OP, but a parent with 2 high schoolers and a middle schooler here. Would you mind elaborating? Were you unhappy with the cost, service, outcome or ??

The outcome was good, but it’s because of my research and advice. Not the counselor. I ended up disregarding his advice, which caused friction. Who wants to deal with that? In the end, I felt I had an interloper in the process who had their own interests/philosophy in mind not ours. My recommendation is to hire someone for essays only.

Agree. I spent hours watching CC videos online and reading. Best advice I found was about essays and how to best write the EC activities.

Any tips? Should it be “impact” based? Or not?