College Admissions Consultants

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi,

Given our DC goes to MCPS, we do not anticipate the counselors will have sufficient time to help with the college planning process. As such. we are looking for someone who previously worked in college admissions to help guide our DC in choosing schools, filling out applications, and writing essays. What is the best way to find such a person?

Thanks in advance.

Did you check with your MCP high school? Each one has a person overlooking colleges and or career stuff. They could help. Or they could provide contacts of college counselors/advisors whom you can start contacting.

our public school didn't do this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the best way to find such a person?

Ask your friends and others. Ideally, ask people who already have a kid in college and people with kids at other schools as they may be more likely to admit they used a counselor and share the information. Ask work colleagues, friends, acquaintances, and parents in activities you or your kid are in.

They may or may not be willing to share the cost. So, I would not even ask. Instead, focus on asking what services they used the counselor for, were they happy with the outcome, etc. You can get the contact info and find out pricing on your own. This way you can narrow in on referrals that meet your needs (in your case you may be looking for full service). (And, you do not have to spend tens of thousands.)

Then start making calls. I would recommend finding one or two that you like and then have your child talk to them (a good counselor will probably not take the job without talking to you both). This also means your DC will have a stake in who they are working with.

Yes this is what I did. I emailed several, interviewed three, then had DC talk with the one I liked best before hiring. If DC said no, I would have kept looking.

[Anonymous]

One simple rule I would advice is: do not hire any college counseling service that has the word Ivy in it.

[Anonymous]

Also hire someone who knows the school system. That is incredibly helpful. They know the school curriculum, what is available, what students generally take, what top students in the schools look like, and also have specific knowledge of teachers who write good recommendation letters.

So we hired local and we are immensely pleased. A local google search would turn up the right people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also our consultant told DC to write common app essay about ECs. Create a montage. Even my high school kid knew that was a bad idea.

This is great idea for T20 and bad idea for schools outside of T20.

I totally understand where you are coming from and that is exactly what I thought for a long time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We used the company College Coach. They matched us with a counselor who had years of experience working at schools where DS was applying. We bought the gold package which was expensive but worth it.

The counselor managed our family’s expectations. We all think our kids are geniuses so it’s hard to be objective. Our coach also helped DS with getting 12 applications out the door well in advance. He got tons of advice about the schools that
Interested him and application strategies (TO etc).

How much for 12 schools? Where did kid end up?

[Anonymous]

I have a 10th grader in private school. Keep hearing how great the counselors are but based on limited exposure thus far have been underwhelmed. I like to think I am very smart about this process but I also know what I don't know. The school says we don't really have any interaction with them until junior year, while I feel like there should be some high level conversations late sophomore year.

We have a few names of people our friends with seniors are using now. At what point do you start working with the counselors to start shaping the narrative (I do not want a counselor completely reshaping my kid, but high level guidance could help)? And how do you navigate an external counselor with the school counselor, especially at a fairly small private school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - To add a little more information, our DC is difficult/challenging and does not want to listen to mom and dad. Mom and dad applied to college 30-40 years ago; work very busy jobs; and want to remove ourselves from what will be a stressful, time-consuming process. We also want this to be DC's choice, and not feel like we are unduly influencing her based on our college decisions and biases.

I realize this is not for everyone, but I am looking for helpful feedback.

If you had enough time to post and look on a message board, then look over the application after your kid filled it out. It isn't stressful. Don't overthink it, you aren't performing rocket surgery.

[Anonymous]

Read this to see what is coming up for a senior who applies to colleges. Could a consultant help?:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/45/1301752.page

[Anonymous]

We hired one after watching friends for 2 years. Those that had an easier family experience used a counselor. We interviewed their recommendations and picked from those counselors. We didn't have faith that our school college counselor would be able to provide guidance, basically everyone we knew had a counselor and most parents talked about the benefit of keeping the parent/child dynamics out of the process. It worked out great.

[Anonymous]

We asked around (started with our high school’s recs) and came up
With a list of six. Some, like those who want an up-front fee of $30k, were immediately scratched off the list. We then started reading up on them. If they had written books on admissions, we scanned them. We narrowed down to three and then had DD interview and pick. She chose Richard Montauk, who did an excellent job, both for undergraduate and for law school. I thought his bills were very reasonable

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We asked around (started with our high school’s recs) and came up
With a list of six. Some, like those who want an up-front fee of $30k, were immediately scratched off the list. We then started reading up on them. If they had written books on admissions, we scanned them. We narrowed down to three and then had DD interview and pick. She chose Richard Montauk, who did an excellent job, both for undergraduate and for law school. I thought his bills were very reasonable

We used him in a very minor capacity. It was certainly really helpful to get his perspective on various things, but we didn't need him for the whole hurdle. Both my kids spoke to him and each of them ended up in a top 10 with their preferred majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - To add a little more information, our DC is difficult/challenging and does not want to listen to mom and dad. Mom and dad applied to college 30-40 years ago; work very busy jobs; and want to remove ourselves from what will be a stressful, time-consuming process. We also want this to be DC's choice, and not feel like we are unduly influencing her based on our college decisions and biases.

I realize this is not for everyone, but I am looking for helpful feedback.

If you had enough time to post and look on a message board, then look over the application after your kid filled it out. It isn't stressful. Don't overthink it, you aren't performing rocket surgery.

That's a new one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also hire someone who knows the school system. That is incredibly helpful. They know the school curriculum, what is available, what students generally take, what top students in the schools look like, and also have specific knowledge of teachers who write good recommendation letters.

So we hired local and we are immensely pleased. A local google search would turn up the right people.

+1

Find someone who knows your school. So many people miss this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^Also, be direct about your budget. You can find consultancies that charge 20-30K. In my opinion they are the types that work to make kinds into who they are not. We were looking for someone to spend time with our kid who is who they are, advising about choices and materials.

I disagree, most consultancies who do not use actual former college admissions professionals charge very little but don't have the experience others who real former admissions directors do. It's more than just reading essays, it's about building a profile that's compelling to schools but also stays true to who the kid is. Sometimes you get what you pay for, and if you're going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on college then, IMO, you should invest in helping them get into the best school for them. We worked with a high-end company and it was an incredible experience all around - my DD got into a bunch of schools (with merit aid) and is very, very happy with her choice. She is thriving and I know this company helped.