Senior Parents: if you hired a private college counselor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m also looking for ideas.

Willing to pay significant $$$ but need help with curating a good applicant narrative; ideas for summer internship for my current junior and help getting junior’s research published in area of study. Also, need help with activities list to see what else might need to be supplemented.

Aiming for T25 privates. Full pay.

Are the names mentioned here reputable and will they help with all of this for a junior?

OMG OMG

My Senior did none of that and he's in at 2 T10s (with 5-6% acceptance rates), a T20, UVA and waiting on Ivies.

[Anonymous]

The Today Show did a story about them this morning and pointed out that no one can verify their claims about success rates.

And those who hire consultants have no way of knowing if their kid would have gotten into the same schools without them. It's all based on feelings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m also looking for ideas.

Willing to pay significant $$$ but need help with curating a good applicant narrative; ideas for summer internship for my current junior and help getting junior’s research published in area of study. Also, need help with activities list to see what else might need to be supplemented.

Aiming for T25 privates. Full pay.

Are the names mentioned here reputable and will they help with all of this for a junior?

OMG OMG

My Senior did none of that and he's in at 2 T10s (with 5-6% acceptance rates), a T20, UVA and waiting on Ivies.

DP.. congrats, but you realize that some kids need more guidance?

My kid has super high stats, but had no guidance. My spouse and I are immigrants; no clue how gamed the college admissions is. In retrospect, they said they wished they had a college counselor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not as easy to say if it is worth it or not - even with school results. What if they accepted your student based on something having nothing to do with the counselor's work? We hired a counselor once, not a high end one, and it helped us and our student. Since we have three kids, I can make a decent case that paying the first time helped across all three kids.

You hire a counselor to do one or more of the following:

1. College prospect selection without parent/high school bias
2. Set and manage a process
3. Overall story of the student and making sure it comes through the app
4. Additional eyes on essays and ideas for same
5. How to complete the common app
6. Any secret sauce on differentiation, how different colleges work, etc.
7. Maybe most important - you don't have to be the task master and sour your relationship with your student, the counselor does that (in a nice way).

For a family making a lot of money, spending 5k-10k won't matter. For the rest of us, I would say you can do a lot of this on your own for less. Or hire for specific areas of need, for example essay review.

I agree with this assessment. I would add that the college counselor is going to help manage expectations (esp. parent expectations).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m also looking for ideas.

Willing to pay significant $$$ but need help with curating a good applicant narrative; ideas for summer internship for my current junior and help getting junior’s research published in area of study. Also, need help with activities list to see what else might need to be supplemented.

Aiming for T25 privates. Full pay.

Are the names mentioned here reputable and will they help with all of this for a junior?

OMG OMG

My Senior did none of that and he's in at 2 T10s (with 5-6% acceptance rates), a T20, UVA and waiting on Ivies.

DP.. congrats, but you realize that some kids need more guidance?

My kid has super high stats, but had no guidance. My spouse and I are immigrants; no clue how gamed the college admissions is. In retrospect, they said they wished they had a college counselor.

It's not gamed. Get the highest scores and highest grades possible. Do 1-2 extracurriculars (ANYTHING they love and are doing because they WANT to be doing them), write a good essay (here if he/she isn't a good writer you might want an essay coach if you aren't good with that either).

I made the mistake of listening to everyone going on and on about how impossible admissions were and everything was rigged blah blah, blah---so my kid OVER applied and is getting in everywhere. It was overkill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m also looking for ideas.

Willing to pay significant $$$ but need help with curating a good applicant narrative; ideas for summer internship for my current junior and help getting junior’s research published in area of study. Also, need help with activities list to see what else might need to be supplemented.

Aiming for T25 privates. Full pay.

Are the names mentioned here reputable and will they help with all of this for a junior?

OMG OMG

My Senior did none of that and he's in at 2 T10s (with 5-6% acceptance rates), a T20, UVA and waiting on Ivies.

DP.. congrats, but you realize that some kids need more guidance?

My kid has super high stats, but had no guidance. My spouse and I are immigrants; no clue how gamed the college admissions is. In retrospect, they said they wished they had a college counselor.

It's not gamed. Get the highest scores and highest grades possible. Do 1-2 extracurriculars (ANYTHING they love and are doing because they WANT to be doing them), write a good essay (here if he/she isn't a good writer you might want an essay coach if you aren't good with that either).

I made the mistake of listening to everyone going on and on about how impossible admissions were and everything was rigged blah blah, blah---so my kid OVER applied and is getting in everywhere. It was overkill.

My kid had all that (super high stats) but still got denied T10. Your kid was lucky. It's true. After a certain gpa/test score, it's a lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m also looking for ideas.

Willing to pay significant $$$ but need help with curating a good applicant narrative; ideas for summer internship for my current junior and help getting junior’s research published in area of study. Also, need help with activities list to see what else might need to be supplemented.

Aiming for T25 privates. Full pay.

Are the names mentioned here reputable and will they help with all of this for a junior?

OMG OMG

My Senior did none of that and he's in at 2 T10s (with 5-6% acceptance rates), a T20, UVA and waiting on Ivies.

k


Congrats…quick question….
Major?
URM/Hispanic?
What were the Ecs (generally)?

[Anonymous]

We hired on that was recommended by my spouse's colleague. We didn't find it all that helpful. The child we hired it for is pretty self-directed, but gets really irritated when we try to give suggestions or manage their time, so we hoped a college counselor could be intermediary. Kid didn't really use the counselor very much. Counselor gave a bunch of suggestions for "target" or safety schools that we didn't think we very specific for our kid, and didn't really have a lot of knowledge that we lacked or couldn't easily get on the internet (e.g., we had a specific question about which schools have good CS programs that are not direct admit, and they really didn't know). Counselor seemed to think a big part of the job was managing our anxiety and kid's anxiety, but we really didn't need a counselor for that -- they spent a lot of time saying that everyone finds a good fit, lots of good schools out there, etc., etc., which just made me think "then why are we paying you?"

Counselor did review the essays before they went out, but I don't know how much guidance they gave -- my kid declined to let me see their essays and I don't even know what they were about. Highly doubt my kid took much direction from the counselor. My spouse writes/edits for a living and probably could have done a much better job editing, but no way my child would have let them do that.

Anyway, my kid got in ED at their first choice.

We had also hired a by-the-hour SAT tutor to spend a few hours with my kid after their first SAT test to focus just on the questions they missed -- it turned out they were all math questions from the topics that were skipped during the pandemic, and neither my kid nor we had realized that the teacher had skipped so much material. So that was money well spent, if only because the kid learned the actual math they should have learned. The score went up about 50 points the second time around, so not a huge jump but maybe made a difference at that level.

My next kid is very NOT self directed, so we may want to find someone that is not me to put them on a strict schedule -- it would be worth paying someone just to avoid those fights.

[Anonymous]

- People who hire a counselor to help their kids develop a solid list with a good mix of schools and get them through the process (and avoid the inevitable parent/child conflicts that will happen if parents drive the process) will likely be satisfied.

- People who hire a counselor to get a particular outcome--especially if it's getting into a reach school--will likely be disappointed.

-People who hire a counselor in 9th grade to create "passion projects" and curate their child's interests are asking for mental health issues down the road.

[Anonymous]

I contacted Ivywise.
Will let folks know how that goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do I find reputable ones? Witg good track records?

I’m also hearing the “good ones” are about 50-75,000 a year. Ones like IvyWise; IvyCoach; Crimson etc.

https://thecollegeinvestor.com/43949/ivywise-review/

I'll share our experience with Crimson. We hired them before 9th grade as we lived in a rural area, with limited ECs/resources, and most kids applying to college were going to the local state university. So we were looking for someone to help us map out a plan for a T25-50.

Crimson was very affordable - maybe $15k total for 4 years and that included a strategist, EC advisor, essay tutor, SAT tutor.

Our first strategist was great - a Harvard grad, was able to articulate clearly to DC (and us) the path to highly selective schools, including grades, SATs, and creating a consistent narrative through 4 years. But that strategist left after a few months. Then we had another, and another, and another. So instead of building a relationship with one person, we were starting over again every 6-8 months.

We ended up moving to Arlington unexpectedly, which allowed DC to expand their activities and interests, building out a solid student profile. I did learn a lot from Crimson (was it $15k worth? no), as well as this forum, podcasts, etc, so I was able to help DC in the home stretch.

We didn't use Crimson for the final application process, as they were flaky/inconsistent and we didn't trust them. I think Crimson's business model is flawed, in that they are venture-backed, and hire very part-time "strategists" who have other jobs/go on to do different things career-wise. It just feels super messy and disorganized, from the high staff turnover, their communications (only through their very buggy app), slow response times, to conflicting information from different team members (EC advisor recommended one path, Strategist disagreed).

Ultimately, we are happy with the results, there were no surprises. ED to a top 25.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:- People who hire a counselor to help their kids develop a solid list with a good mix of schools and get them through the process (and avoid the inevitable parent/child conflicts that will happen if parents drive the process) will likely be satisfied.

- People who hire a counselor to get a particular outcome--especially if it's getting into a reach school--will likely be disappointed.

-People who hire a counselor in 9th grade to create "passion projects" and curate their child's interests are asking for mental health issues down the road.

I basically agree with this assessment. A LOT of kids are not ready to focus on college stuff in 9th grade. I also think that you need a kid who is really invested in the process if you're going to start that early. Some are really into the process and enjoy it. I had a kid like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, I'll name names. We used Kelly Fraser at Green Apple. We thought it was worth it. I don't have experience with the others at her company so can't comment. The essay help was critical. With her and the essay counselor's guidance, our DS, who was kind of middle of the road at a Big 3, was able to think hard about the Common app essays and the supplementals write some really strong essays that highlighted some of his interesting and unusual EC's. The coached him to think about it in ways he wouldn't have and had insights we did not.

He was miraculously accepted everywhere (except one safety). For his younger sibling - they probably would have been ok without a college counselor, but it was enormously helpful in deciding strategy for ED/EA.

It's pricey, but the CO at our school is not great (yes, I know, what are we paying for at private but that is neither here nor there).

I thought GA is huge on ED, did that not work out for DS1? Or did they not push that then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m also looking for ideas.

Willing to pay significant $$$ but need help with curating a good applicant narrative; ideas for summer internship for my current junior and help getting junior’s research published in area of study. Also, need help with activities list to see what else might need to be supplemented.

Aiming for T25 privates. Full pay.

Are the names mentioned here reputable and will they help with all of this for a junior?

OMG OMG

My Senior did none of that and he's in at 2 T10s (with 5-6% acceptance rates), a T20, UVA and waiting on Ivies.

DP.. congrats, but you realize that some kids need more guidance?

My kid has super high stats, but had no guidance. My spouse and I are immigrants; no clue how gamed the college admissions is. In retrospect, they said they wished they had a college counselor.

It's not gamed. Get the highest scores and highest grades possible. Do 1-2 extracurriculars (ANYTHING they love and are doing because they WANT to be doing them), write a good essay (here if he/she isn't a good writer you might want an essay coach if you aren't good with that either).

I made the mistake of listening to everyone going on and on about how impossible admissions were and everything was rigged blah blah, blah---so my kid OVER applied and is getting in everywhere. It was overkill.

My kid had all that (super high stats) but still got denied T10. Your kid was lucky. It's true. After a certain gpa/test score, it's a lottery.

Yes, same for my kid. DC got denied T10 with super high stats, excellent ECs in the area of study with regional/national awards. And, we are also immigrants. DC basically took care of everything. In retrospect, we also felt we should have had a college counselor since the school counselor was of no use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m also looking for ideas.

Willing to pay significant $$$ but need help with curating a good applicant narrative; ideas for summer internship for my current junior and help getting junior’s research published in area of study. Also, need help with activities list to see what else might need to be supplemented.

Aiming for T25 privates. Full pay.

Are the names mentioned here reputable and will they help with all of this for a junior?

OMG OMG

My Senior did none of that and he's in at 2 T10s (with 5-6% acceptance rates), a T20, UVA and waiting on Ivies.

DP.. congrats, but you realize that some kids need more guidance?

My kid has super high stats, but had no guidance. My spouse and I are immigrants; no clue how gamed the college admissions is. In retrospect, they said they wished they had a college counselor.

It's not gamed. Get the highest scores and highest grades possible. Do 1-2 extracurriculars (ANYTHING they love and are doing because they WANT to be doing them), write a good essay (here if he/she isn't a good writer you might want an essay coach if you aren't good with that either).

I made the mistake of listening to everyone going on and on about how impossible admissions were and everything was rigged blah blah, blah---so my kid OVER applied and is getting in everywhere. It was overkill.

My kid had all that (super high stats) but still got denied T10. Your kid was lucky. It's true. After a certain gpa/test score, it's a lottery.

Yes, same for my kid. DC got denied T10 with super high stats, excellent ECs in the area of study with regional/national awards. And, we are also immigrants. DC basically took care of everything. In retrospect, we also felt we should have had a college counselor since the school counselor was of no use.

Public or private high school?
Asian (sadly can cut against you in the app process)?