College Admissions Counseling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I interviewed a whole bunch of admission counseling folks that are talked about in this forum. I found -
- I can do it better myself. There are enough books, seminars, newsletters, parent workshops available. You need to put in the time.
- It is useful of parents who have not educated themselves in their kids K-12 journey.
- No counselor can get your kid to Ivy or top colleges. The kid who gets in will already have the hooks and the profile that colleges are looking for.

I would certainly not try and help out a parent who has a rising Junior kid or a kid who is already a Junior. The correct time to have a plan for the academic trajectory is in Middle School in IMHO. Of course, it goes without saying that K-5 is to make sure that kid has good study habits and also doing very well at school. Hopefully parents are not relying entirely on the school to educate their kids.

I entirely agree and this is what I did with my senior.

However, I did freak out last year when he was in junior year and TOTALLY UNINTERESTED! And I knew it was too late for a college counselor!

Let me reassure you, OP. He's my oldest, and just couldn't imagine what the whole deal with college was. So the summer before senior year, instead of going on our usual vacation, we went on a college tour in the northeast and Canada. Actually walking on campus, listening to the tour guide, seeing the dorms, woke him up pretty quickly. He'd already sat for the ACT, but his score increased significantly after the college tours. He started visualizing where he saw himself (urban or semi-urban campus, smaller-sized college or university), and he even picked a major. It all clicked in August before senior year.

So don't despair. At this point, college counselors will charge an arm and a leg to help you. You might as well immerse yourself in the process, and if you bring your kid to tour colleges, I guarantee he'll be more amenable.

Now if your kid was younger, I'd recommend a local college counselor. You could still ask them, of course. But even if get someone to say yes, you'll pay through the nose for an emergency end of junior year intervention.

There are many who will take on 11th graders.

Well, sure, if price is no object. Or you'll get bottom of the barrel counselors, and might as well throw your money away.

[Anonymous]

Bumping up to see if anyone has selected (as OP suggested) a counseling service outside the DMV area like the big ones in New York or NJ.

Or if you looked into any, which ones were they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I interviewed a whole bunch of admission counseling folks that are talked about in this forum. I found -
- I can do it better myself. There are enough books, seminars, newsletters, parent workshops available. You need to put in the time.
- It is useful of parents who have not educated themselves in their kids K-12 journey.
- No counselor can get your kid to Ivy or top colleges. The kid who gets in will already have the hooks and the profile that colleges are looking for.

I would certainly not try and help out a parent who has a rising Junior kid or a kid who is already a Junior. The correct time to have a plan for the academic trajectory is in Middle School in IMHO. Of course, it goes without saying that K-5 is to make sure that kid has good study habits and also doing very well at school. Hopefully parents are not relying entirely on the school to educate their kids.

+1 Nice post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I interviewed a whole bunch of admission counseling folks that are talked about in this forum. I found -
- I can do it better myself. There are enough books, seminars, newsletters, parent workshops available. You need to put in the time.
- It is useful of parents who have not educated themselves in their kids K-12 journey.
- No counselor can get your kid to Ivy or top colleges. The kid who gets in will already have the hooks and the profile that colleges are looking for.

I would certainly not try and help out a parent who has a rising Junior kid or a kid who is already a Junior. The correct time to have a plan for the academic trajectory is in Middle School in IMHO. Of course, it goes without saying that K-5 is to make sure that kid has good study habits and also doing very well at school. Hopefully parents are not relying entirely on the school to educate their kids.

Ditto! If your kid won't listen to you, they definitely won't take outsider opinion.

That simply isn’t true. I have a well behaved, low kid kid…but he most definitely will take guidance from coaches, teachers, and random dudes on TikTok more easily than he’ll take mine.

This 100%!! I am highly organized, have all the books, have done all my research and we are lightyears ahead of where we need to be in this process (DS is a junior) but we went ahead and hired a local consultant anyway so that DH and I do not have to be the naggers and we know he will listen to her over us. They have been meeting monthly since September and will be weekly all summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bumping up to see if anyone has selected (as OP suggested) a counseling service outside the DMV area like the big ones in New York or NJ.

Or if you looked into any, which ones were they?

I looked into some. I’m not ready to commit yet because my DC is 13 and doesn’t know what they want to do.
I got impression that Solomon is a better option for Ivys or med schools but their package is 30K and for this you get 40 hours of counselling.

I’m getting a session with Collegeise to help my DC decide what to pursue.