Choosing an independent college counselor: did you go with a company or an individual?

[Anonymous]

DS is a rising junior and we are looking at hiring an independent college counselor.

We have come across companies that employ counselors (I guess the Meta algorithm figured out we're looking and has been targeting us with ads). My concern with companies is that they have one main counselor as the face of the company and we'd subsequently be delegated to a more junior counselor that we don't know anything about. These companies are also clearly spending money on ads and marketing and will probably be more expensive than an individual.

My concern with individuals is I don't know enough about them to hire them. People tend to be very secretive about who they hire and so it's very hard to go off personal recommendations.

Everyone seems to also require payment for the full package upfront.

Would love to hear your thoughts if you've gone one way or the other. Would also love to hear any specific recommendations for companies/individuals.

TIA

[Anonymous]

Spend some time looking at the many posts here about CC. Consensus is they are NOT worth it. In fact can do more harm than good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spend some time looking at the many posts here about CC. Consensus is they are NOT worth it. In fact can do more harm than good.

So just stick with the school college counselor?

[Anonymous]

I am wondering how much of it is true. Everyone says test prep is not needed, college counseling is a scam, tutoring is for the slow, blah blah.
The truth is in nyc even their nanny's contact information is confidential. They just don't share it with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am wondering how much of it is true. Everyone says test prep is not needed, college counseling is a scam, tutoring is for the slow, blah blah.
The truth is in nyc even their nanny's contact information is confidential. They just don't share it with you.

There’s some truth to this. People hoard information when they think there is scarcity around it.

I am in a different market, not in the DC metro area, but everyone has essay coaches and test prep. Most people start a lot earlier than you imagine.

However, there’s a large chunk of folks who don’t go beyond that and hire a full-fledged college counselor. They do use the private schools college counseling office (YCBK had a whole set of podcast sessions on the role of private college counselors for private high school student specifically this month) and things like application nation, plus an outside essay coach.

If you search counselor and essay coach on here, people have posted names countless times.

This site is not as active as it used to be a few years ago so I would highly recommend you use the search function.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Please stop with YCBK worship. The host is a laughing stock. Better off with Application Nation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please stop with YCBK worship. The host is a laughing stock. Better off with Application Nation.

I second this. Not from the DC area and have listened to YCBK. Found it awful! AN is better — still not the best advice, but better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please stop with YCBK worship. The host is a laughing stock. Better off with Application Nation.

I sometimes wonder if they plug themselves, looking for potential clients/listeners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spend some time looking at the many posts here about CC. Consensus is they are NOT worth it. In fact can do more harm than good.

So just stick with the school college counselor?

Every poster here swears that's what they did and their kid got into Ivy/multiple T20s.

Colleges want authenticity. By definition, hiring someone to craft your DC's story/essays makes them inauthentic.

And as others have mentioned, lots of information is out there for free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please stop with YCBK worship. The host is a laughing stock. Better off with Application Nation.

I sometimes wonder if they plug themselves, looking for potential clients/listeners.

Maybe they do, but I'm the one who first mentioned it upthread!
tbh, I learned about it on here about 4 years (or more ago). I am probably the guilty party who "plugs" them bc i found I have generally learned a lot from Susan (love her) and Julia, and find it educational (sorry!). I'm also the one who'd occasionally highlight/summarize something here if I thought it might be relevant to other parents. But I don't really listen to them regularly anymore.

I did see an update in my podcasts app earlier today, and mentioned it on the other thread re endowment tax. Whoops. And there was another new college app podcast, too, that I'm still listening to, but I guess there's no need for me to mention it here.

[Anonymous]

We hired an essay coach. I thought it would be helpful to have an extra (non-parent) set of eyes on the essays; I didn't think I could be objective about my DC's essays in a constructive way. But I hated her suggestions on the common app essay and that part was a total waste (she was somewhat more helpful for the "why us" and community essays).

As for the "package" companies or individuals, don't do it. Your DC will wind up with an ED commitment at school they could have gotten into regardless. BTDT.

[Anonymous]

If you spend the amount of time you spend here on FB groups, texting/emailing friends across the nation for recs for essay coaches and searching on here for old names and compiling your own list, you will have spent your time better.

There are a lot of great essay writers out there. Don't overthink it.

[Anonymous]

We went with a small company but have so far been disappointed. It was promised that the main counselor would be involved with all clients but that has not been our experience. We also haven’t been impressed with their efforts to help our kid develop a college list.

Just be careful and really think about what you hope to get out of the experience. And I would recommend speaking with several counselors before picking one. We went off a friend’s recommendation and in retrospect put too much weight on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising junior and we are looking at hiring an independent college counselor.

We have come across companies that employ counselors (I guess the Meta algorithm figured out we're looking and has been targeting us with ads). My concern with companies is that they have one main counselor as the face of the company and we'd subsequently be delegated to a more junior counselor that we don't know anything about. These companies are also clearly spending money on ads and marketing and will probably be more expensive than an individual.

My concern with individuals is I don't know enough about them to hire them. People tend to be very secretive about who they hire and so it's very hard to go off personal recommendations.

Everyone seems to also require payment for the full package upfront.

Would love to hear your thoughts if you've gone one way or the other. Would also love to hear any specific recommendations for companies/individuals.

TIA

People are secretive about who they hire if your child is seen as their kid's competition. So, you can avoid that by doing what I did, which is to ask parents whose kids are not in the same grades as your kids, and particularly parents who just had their last kid graduate from the same school (and parents were happy with their counselor). Word of mouth is so key. There's a huge range of choices out there, so you need to figure out what you need from a counselor and set appointments to talk to them about their approach and to find out about their fees. There are the $6-$10k counselors, the $25-30k counselors, and the $95k and up counselors and ones who are hourly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising junior and we are looking at hiring an independent college counselor.

We have come across companies that employ counselors (I guess the Meta algorithm figured out we're looking and has been targeting us with ads). My concern with companies is that they have one main counselor as the face of the company and we'd subsequently be delegated to a more junior counselor that we don't know anything about. These companies are also clearly spending money on ads and marketing and will probably be more expensive than an individual.

My concern with individuals is I don't know enough about them to hire them. People tend to be very secretive about who they hire and so it's very hard to go off personal recommendations.

Everyone seems to also require payment for the full package upfront.

Would love to hear your thoughts if you've gone one way or the other. Would also love to hear any specific recommendations for companies/individuals.

TIA

People are secretive about who they hire if your child is seen as their kid's competition. So, you can avoid that by doing what I did, which is to ask parents whose kids are not in the same grades as your kids, and particularly parents who just had their last kid graduate from the same school (and parents were happy with their counselor). Word of mouth is so key. There's a huge range of choices out there, so you need to figure out what you need from a counselor and set appointments to talk to them about their approach and to find out about their fees. There are the $6-$10k counselors, the $25-30k counselors, and the $95k and up counselors and ones who are hourly.

The good ones get clients by word of mouth, they are rarely on the market and don't advertise. They also tend to be picky, may turn down a client if doesn't meet certain minimum threshold. High rate.