Wake up call about private counseling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many parents pay 25-50k for private college counseling and the kids aren’t getting into Michigan. Or Wisconsin.

A friend showed me her DC app. Whoa.
The major choice sucks.
The essays are not distinguishing enough.
The activity lists are generally blah.

Why are people paying this?!? For these results? Is this year an anomaly?

It’s shocking.

I haven’t paid a stand-alone counselor and DC has gotten into both OOS.

So I'm going to call this as baiting by a bored kid. This is silly.

Nope.
A parent.

When you look at the class choice and the activities and the major is out of left field and does not match anything there. It makes you wonder if the counselor was just asleep at the wheel?

Sometimes I think kids pick these majors aspirationally? Almost like what they hope to study one day, not realizing they need evidence for it.

What a good counselor should have said no. You absolutely cannot do that because there is no good story.

College counselor here. How do you know this counselor didn't tell the student and family you shouldn't choose the major but the student still chose to make that choice with their application? You are assuming that an ethical counselor has more control than they do. They advise but the student and family make the choice.

[Anonymous]

Do not hire a college counselor with the expectation that they will "get your kid" into a better college than they otherwise would have.

Do hire one (if it's worth it to you) to facilitate the process, provide insight into different schools/build a balanced list, and to keep you from having to nag your kid during their last year home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many parents pay 25-50k for private college counseling and the kids aren’t getting into Michigan. Or Wisconsin.

A friend showed me her DC app. Whoa.
The major choice sucks.
The essays are not distinguishing enough.
The activity lists are generally blah.

Why are people paying this?!? For these results? Is this year an anomaly?

It’s shocking.

I haven’t paid a stand-alone counselor and DC has gotten into both OOS.

I thought the whole point of a college counselor was to avoid having to send a kid to Michigan.

[Anonymous]

We used a counselor for DS. Spent about $12k from beg of Soph year to the end and she managed to get him into UVA and W&M with a 1300 SAT and ok GPA.. his ECs were non existent at the time. Crafted a whole plan for ECs, projects, etc….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many parents pay 25-50k for private college counseling and the kids aren’t getting into Michigan. Or Wisconsin.

A friend showed me her DC app. Whoa.
The major choice sucks.
The essays are not distinguishing enough.
The activity lists are generally blah.

Why are people paying this?!? For these results? Is this year an anomaly?

It’s shocking.

I haven’t paid a stand-alone counselor and DC has gotten into both OOS.

I thought the whole point of a college counselor was to avoid having to send a kid to Michigan.

Michigan has gotten very hard to get into. Plus they now have things they look for in the essays etc.
Not a sure thing.

[Anonymous]

^^^Ummm…Michigan has always been among the elite publics for decades. OOS requires Ivy level stats to avoid deferral. As the Victors says “ the leaders and the best”, Go Blue!

[Anonymous]

Your friend showed you her child's COLLEGE APPLICATION? That's bonkers. These poor children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your friend showed you her child's COLLEGE APPLICATION? That's bonkers. These poor children.

+1. What an invasion of privacy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We used a counselor for DS. Spent about $12k from beg of Soph year to the end and she managed to get him into UVA and W&M with a 1300 SAT and ok GPA.. his ECs were non existent at the time. Crafted a whole plan for ECs, projects, etc….

Your DS got himself in. Be proud of him. You don’t really need a college counselor. Your money is better spent on other things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We used a counselor for DS. Spent about $12k from beg of Soph year to the end and she managed to get him into UVA and W&M with a 1300 SAT and ok GPA.. his ECs were non existent at the time. Crafted a whole plan for ECs, projects, etc….

Your DS got himself in. Be proud of him. You don’t really need a college counselor. Your money is better spent on other things.

Maybe she’s saying, the counselor gave the kid the ideas and what activities to do and without them the kid would not have been involved or would not have had projects or a plan? There’s nothing wrong with admitting that? Some kids need more direction than others and once they have ideas, they’re often running.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your friend showed you her child's COLLEGE APPLICATION? That's bonkers. These poor children.

+1. What an invasion of privacy.

OP here. My friend shared it with me. She's shocked by the subpar results so far and my kid (without a counselor but I do hang out here, subscribe to App Nation, and listen to a TON of podcasts) has had incredible results, given test optional.

It's one of my closest friends. I adore her kids. The positioning was just all off.
It's almost like the counselor just let the kids do what they wanted.
She's paying A LOT (higher end for what was quoted here). She had no idea the common app was poorly done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We used a counselor for DS. Spent about $12k from beg of Soph year to the end and she managed to get him into UVA and W&M with a 1300 SAT and ok GPA.. his ECs were non existent at the time. Crafted a whole plan for ECs, projects, etc….

Was this a local person or someone from a national company? Either way, would you mind sharing the contact?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there’s a wide range in quality and price (and not necessarily correlated). I posted in another thread about DC’s independent education consultant who helped them get into HYPSM early this cycle plus multiple fully funded scholarship/research opportunities throughout high school. We paid the IEC 22.5K over the course of 4 years, and it was well worth it for our family. I’ve heard of others that cost hundreds of thousands or even 1MM+!

Did you post the name?

I did not, as I don’t wish for my posts to be misconstrued as advertisements.

I know DCUM can be quick to make that claim, but there are some of us who would really like to know about good college consultants so please consider posting who you worked with.

[Anonymous]

HYPSM independent education consultant scholarship research

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your friend showed you her child's COLLEGE APPLICATION? That's bonkers. These poor children.

+1. What an invasion of privacy.

OP here. My friend shared it with me. She's shocked by the subpar results so far and my kid (without a counselor but I do hang out here, subscribe to App Nation, and listen to a TON of podcasts) has had incredible results, given test optional.

It's one of my closest friends. I adore her kids. The positioning was just all off.
It's almost like the counselor just let the kids do what they wanted.
She's paying A LOT (higher end for what was quoted here). She had no idea the common app was poorly done.

WHAT ABOUT PARENTING? "Let the kids so what they want" How about the parent steps in and says - this list may be over ambitious. This is blaming a consultant for parents being uninvolved.

Also your self-congratulatory tone is gross. Because YOU read some articles and listened to podcasts you are suddenly an expert? Your daughter did great because of YOU? Check yourself, lady.

Kids need help with applications for varying reasons - ADHD, dyslexia and other L.D's among them. One of my kids needed help for that reason and I didn't blame the counselor if he did not get into school X or Y.

ALSO Counselors can only do so much with delusional kids and parents. You seem to be under the impression the counselor gets kids in. This is not the case. They are there to advise and yes, help their application shine. But I know for a fact, from having three kids of my own go through the process- the ultimate results are often random. Some of the best applicants don't succeed and some weird acceptances work out.