In hindsight, was your college counselor worth it? If so, can you share who it was?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This seems affordable
https://www.crimsoneducation.org/sg/resources/essay-review/

Crimson is hit or miss, mostly miss. They are a large organization and have an application template, if you kids fits into their model, it works. Most don’t. If you are looking for personal essay coach, I think Wyzant or a college kid would be much better.

We tried Crimson and bailed. We mostly did it ourselves but did a 90-minute strategy session with a local college counselor to review our list, common app answers, essay and think about overall narrative/ED strategy. That was very helpful. She had insight on schools on our list, where DC would most likely be successful in ED and why, different strategies for applying to reach schools, how to tighten up narrative.

But this is for 2025 so I can’t if it’s successful yet.

Once you decided to bail on Crimson, were you able to get any of your money back from them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This seems affordable
https://www.crimsoneducation.org/sg/resources/essay-review/

Crimson is hit or miss, mostly miss. They are a large organization and have an application template, if you kids fits into their model, it works. Most don’t. If you are looking for personal essay coach, I think Wyzant or a college kid would be much better.

We tried Crimson and bailed. We mostly did it ourselves but did a 90-minute strategy session with a local college counselor to review our list, common app answers, essay and think about overall narrative/ED strategy. That was very helpful. She had insight on schools on our list, where DC would most likely be successful in ED and why, different strategies for applying to reach schools, how to tighten up narrative.

But this is for 2025 so I can’t if it’s successful yet.

Once you decided to bail on Crimson, were you able to get any of your money back from them?

Nope. My only recourse is sharing my negative experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Big NO! no only it was a waste of money, it wasted dc lots of time by giving bad suggestions. counselors have no incentive to put a lot of effort in helping the clients. They got paid regardless. Plus, word of mouth is useless as no one knows for sure if the counselor moved a needle. People often attribute positive admission outcome to counselors only because they don't care no more once the application is over.

We’re in the midst of this now. I have so many regrets about using our counselor. I feel quite trapped! Our counselor does not have a good feel for my son despite many meetings and conversations. The list she has cultivated is populated by schools he could get into blind. If you try to correct her, she won’t hear of it. There is a large gulf between what parents have in mind when we hire a counselor, and what counselors see as their objective. It’s simply not worth the money for most. I suggest it only for parents who have no idea what they’re doing, such as international and first gen, or those too busy to help.

Both my child and myself have been frustrated by the whole process. A complete waste!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking for a private counselor with experience with private prep school kids.

Please advise!

Does counselor need to be in the DMV? Kate Peltz in Concord Mass was very effusively recommended by some prep school families we know. Didn’t hire, but not for any reason having to do with her — our kid just had a different profile than what sounded like her norm.

What type of profile does well with her?

To be honest, higher achievers than my DC was.

But thinking about it, they were high achievers who were also pretty intellectual, the kind of kids who love learning. So the rank/fit sweet spot, maybe? That’s my sense.

[Anonymous]

Both my kids were recruited.
We didn’t use counselors because quite frankly, it depends a lot on their athletic level.
Coaches had no clue, and high school counselor had even less of an idea.
Recruiting was a delicate dance that required a spreadsheet or two or three, and telling the kids to blame everything on the parents, e.g. during visits when pressure was exerted.
Also take everything with a grain of salt that a college coach will tell you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ours wasn't worth it, or at least not for a "full package." They are a local (DC area) highly regarded counselor. I don't want to post their name because they didn't do anything wrong, they just didn't do anything uniquely useful either, so it just wasn't worth even close to the $8,000 we spent.

The areas that we were least dissatisfied with their services were (1) coming up with college lists, and (2) analyzing DC's chances at colleges. As far as the lists, the counselor came up with a generic list of about 40 colleges that I could have easily, easily done myself - the only colleges on the list that I wouldn't have put on the list are ones that we all scratched our heads and crossed off immediately anyway. They basically then left it to DC to research and self-narrow the list. As far as analyzing chances, of course we did not expect the counselor to have a crystal or even opaque ball. But we did expect to receive some market and historical insights that we wouldn't know on our own. Also the counselor was aggressively conservative with chances, to the point that I believe that DC undershot because they were psyched out by their chances many places that they really didn't need to be. I know that ultimately the call as to where to apply was on DC and we the parents, but we were using the counselor for advice in these regards.

The area which was most helpful was time deadlines and the counselor being the nudge about the due dates with DC. That having been said, as another posted pointed out, the counselor can't make their students comply with deadlines, so there often were times that I as a parent had to get involved so it wasn't like it removed all angst between us, and also against weighing against the $8k counselor fee I would have accepted dealing with some more strife between DC and me.

For my next kid, I plan to hire an essay coach and that is it.

NP here. I feel like I could have written this. I wonder if we used the same person/group.

I have a friend who had a similar experience with even higher price tag. What I really don’t get is that he used the counselor for BOTH of his kids. They both got into great schools but transferred after a year because they were a bad fit. Then, he used the counselor again to help with transfer apps. Prob $30k all in. What a waste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you aren't willing to dedicate the time to research the schools your kid is probably just fine somewhere outside of the top 50. Take the toughest course load available from the HS and get good grades. Take the SAT three times to take advantage of super scoring. Don't over stress about the essay, just check for spelling and grammar. Use the published info from the school to know the target GPA and test scores. Visit the school and show interest.

You can Venmo me $300.

Cmon- you know you up that price for DCUM

[Anonymous]

[e-mail]

Newish, very affordable (not as much of a track record as others, but great results for '22 and later). Focuses on individual student's narrative/fit, also: college search, strategy, apps, essay feedback, supplements (theatre and music in particular) w/rates per session or hour depending on service.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[e-mail]

Newish, very affordable (not as much of a track record as others, but great results for '22 and later). Focuses on individual student's narrative/fit, also: college search, strategy, apps, essay feedback, supplements (theatre and music in particular) w/rates per session or hour depending on service.

How detailed is essay feedback?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ours wasn't worth it, or at least not for a "full package." They are a local (DC area) highly regarded counselor. I don't want to post their name because they didn't do anything wrong, they just didn't do anything uniquely useful either, so it just wasn't worth even close to the $8,000 we spent.

The areas that we were least dissatisfied with their services were (1) coming up with college lists, and (2) analyzing DC's chances at colleges. As far as the lists, the counselor came up with a generic list of about 40 colleges that I could have easily, easily done myself - the only colleges on the list that I wouldn't have put on the list are ones that we all scratched our heads and crossed off immediately anyway. They basically then left it to DC to research and self-narrow the list. As far as analyzing chances, of course we did not expect the counselor to have a crystal or even opaque ball. But we did expect to receive some market and historical insights that we wouldn't know on our own. Also the counselor was aggressively conservative with chances, to the point that I believe that DC undershot because they were psyched out by their chances many places that they really didn't need to be. I know that ultimately the call as to where to apply was on DC and we the parents, but we were using the counselor for advice in these regards.

The area which was most helpful was time deadlines and the counselor being the nudge about the due dates with DC. That having been said, as another posted pointed out, the counselor can't make their students comply with deadlines, so there often were times that I as a parent had to get involved so it wasn't like it removed all angst between us, and also against weighing against the $8k counselor fee I would have accepted dealing with some more strife between DC and me.

For my next kid, I plan to hire an essay coach and that is it.

This sounds a lot like our experience. I had expected more insider perspective than we got. Our counselor did help with the decisions about reporting test scores and our kid listened to her on essays. Our kid did say that having someone other than parents set up the schedule and deadlines was helpful. From our perspective that was worth a lot because it kept us from worrying too much and kept the family peace during a stressful time. But next time I will pay by the hour, rather than buying an unlimited package. We would have saved a lot of money and our second kid won’t need as much nagging anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Big NO! no only it was a waste of money, it wasted dc lots of time by giving bad suggestions. counselors have no incentive to put a lot of effort in helping the clients. They got paid regardless. Plus, word of mouth is useless as no one knows for sure if the counselor moved a needle. People often attribute positive admission outcome to counselors only because they don't care no more once the application is over.

We’re in the midst of this now. I have so many regrets about using our counselor. I feel quite trapped! Our counselor does not have a good feel for my son despite many meetings and conversations. The list she has cultivated is populated by schools he could get into blind. If you try to correct her, she won’t hear of it. There is a large gulf between what parents have in mind when we hire a counselor, and what counselors see as their objective. It’s simply not worth the money for most. I suggest it only for parents who have no idea what they’re doing, such as international and first gen, or those too busy to help.

Both my child and myself have been frustrated by the whole process. A complete waste!

Some of us "internationals" have a much better idea of what we're doing than most of you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This seems affordable
https://www.crimsoneducation.org/sg/resources/essay-review/

Crimson is hit or miss, mostly miss. They are a large organization and have an application template, if you kids fits into their model, it works. Most don’t. If you are looking for personal essay coach, I think Wyzant or a college kid would be much better.

We tried Crimson and bailed. We mostly did it ourselves but did a 90-minute strategy session with a local college counselor to review our list, common app answers, essay and think about overall narrative/ED strategy. That was very helpful. She had insight on schools on our list, where DC would most likely be successful in ED and why, different strategies for applying to reach schools, how to tighten up narrative.

But this is for 2025 so I can’t if it’s successful yet.

Has anyone used Crimson for essay review?
20 essays for $1500?

[Anonymous]

Not worth the money at all. But it was our first kid so we were all nervous. Definitely will not hire again.

[Anonymous]

At the time, the process seemed so overwhelming amd the college counselor did help us manage it. In hindsight, though, no, it wasn't worth it. I think ultimately my DC would have gotten in to the same schools and that we completely overpaided for our college counseling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not worth it if you are smart and knowledgeable.

Get an essay editor - just one so voice doesn’t get confusing - for all essays.

Ycch.

I would say you have to be committed. It takes time to visit schools, find online reviews. Help your kid brainstorm about essay topics and organize the many steps they have to take in the application process .

It is sad to me how many parents want to delegate their job with older kids, or who can’t put their paid work second for a little longer. Your kid is almost gone , but they still need you.