Cost of private counselor?
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Anonymous
*Some schools are known to put a lot of weight on the essays. Know your schools & don't just accept blanket advice. |
Anonymous
Totally agree. We did the research and DC tailored appropriately. This is where a counselor might come in handy if you don't have the time. But its totally doable by a parent. Start all that research now. Create a different google doc for each RD school with the scoring rubrics, admissions priorities on the admissions page, watch AO videos on YouTube, and find former AO webinars. There is sooo much info and data out there. Use AI to help you compare your data to your DC's applicant data to figure out where the weaknesses are. All IEC are using AI now anyway. |
Anonymous
| Our boys didn't apply to top 20 schools. They were average students. We did get each of them help with their common app essay. It was under a thousand, don't remember exactly how much, for three sessions. Well worth the cost because I wasn't involved at all. |
Anonymous
+1 I’d get off of this site if you’re a junior parent and spend your time doing this if DC aiming for T25…. |
Anonymous
How would you do this (“ Use AI to help you compare your data to your DC's applicant data to figure out where the weaknesses are.”)? Can you suggest some queries? |
Anonymous
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I know essays aren't a major deal for all schools, but they are at some schools. It makes no sense to write a mediocre one and a great one.
There are also few things that can move the needle in August-September Senior year except write the best essay and supps you can. So do that. I do think AI can help a lot of kids see connections, refine structures, build a strong second draft in a 5 or 8-draft process. |
Anonymous
Not the PP, but we did something similar based on older posts here (you might find them)? Using the paid version of GPT or Claude or whatever AI you pay for to protect your kid's data? Copying 10+ r/collegeresults and r/ApplyingtoCollege posts where kids have similar background/major/stats/ECs to your kid, along with posts from kids who've reviewed their app at their school (so you can teach AI how an AO thinks/reviews). The more info the better. The paid version can organize it by school, so you don't have to. I dumped hundreds of data points in - including transcripts from podcasts with former AO who did roundtable reviews about applicants, transcripts from The Game podcast, YCBK, and more..... I think I input more tbh, but can't remember now. Then offered my own sets of data for (1) high school - manually created docs for last 2-3 cycles for matriculation and admissions, including Naviance data for 8 reaches, and (2) added in personal data about the current high school class (legacy info that I knew, ED admits, recruits, natl awards or spikes in class) and (3) personal background info about family not in common app (legacy, number of campus visits, outreach to AO and school relationship with a T25 that's not evident from matriculation lists (e.g., 4 kids pulled from WL last year based on advocacy calls, former school CCO used to be AO at this T25, etc)). Finally inputted final common app for each RD reach one at a time and asked for a nuanced analysis and review of strengths and weaknesses for each RD reach school. For each RD, I input the CDS and copying mission statement, priorities from the AO website, and a list of what we look for (if published on the website) - some schools have more info than others. I also copied some rubrics posted here that you can search and find for certain T20... As decisions have come in early (and merit awards), it updates the chances for the remaining RD reach applications - it is a TON of info. |