Did Private College Counseling workout for your DC in the early rounds (2022-2023 applicants)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sara Harberson's methodology is right on, and not expensive. Highly recommend vs private counselors.
We have fantastic results

This is what we did but with mixed results so far. Some of her advice contradicts what HS counselors say. For example, Sara says to never report at 4 to a reach school (i.e. Ivy). School counselor said that was ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looks like most of the posters had/have high performing kids and you are targeting top schools. Anyone with an average kid (who may end with a 3.8+/3.3+ (weighted/unweighted) GPA but challenging coursework, 1450-1500 SAT and ECs unrelated to academics (think Art, Theatre)? Kid does not know what they want to do and is open to suggestion.

So we'll need help with:
- Identifying schools that accepts kids in his academic range and can blend his interests (CS, Art and Theater)
- that provide support for focus-challenged kids
- Essay strategy to combine his interests
- EC optimization
- We likely won't need essay review help.

If anyone had kids like mine and successfully used a counselor I'd love to hear about them.

The answer is going to be a combo of your instate public (wide range of majors, disability support) and less competitive LACS with theatre like Ithaca or Muhlenberg. Its not that hard to get kids into the less selective schools—you don’t have to optimize everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sara Harberson's methodology is right on, and not expensive. Highly recommend vs private counselors.
We have fantastic results

This is what we did but with mixed results so far. Some of her advice contradicts what HS counselors say. For example, Sara says to never report at 4 to a reach school (i.e. Ivy). School counselor said that was ridiculous.

What do you think of her advice regarding BC Calc as a must for business candidates? My kids is trying to decide between AB and BC for 12th and honestly I think they should take the easier one. Is there really an appreciable difference in the eyes of, say, Villanova?

[Anonymous]

Anyone that thinks getting rid of SAT/ACT moves the equity needle should read this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sara Harberson's methodology is right on, and not expensive. Highly recommend vs private counselors.
We have fantastic results

This is what we did but with mixed results so far. Some of her advice contradicts what HS counselors say. For example, Sara says to never report at 4 to a reach school (i.e. Ivy). School counselor said that was ridiculous.

What do you think of her advice regarding BC Calc as a must for business candidates? My kids is trying to decide between AB and BC for 12th and honestly I think they should take the easier one. Is there really an appreciable difference in the eyes of, say, Villanova?

Not sure. My kid took BC Calc before senior year, so that wasn't an issue. She will always tell kids to take the hardest classes. There were some parts of her advice we could not follow like taking a foreign language all 4 years. This was another thing the school counselor disagreed with and said that was not necessary. We will never know who was right.

From what I could tell, Villanova was a tough one this year on EA. There was at least one girl deferred with 35 ACT and 4.0 in an IB diploma program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sara Harberson's methodology is right on, and not expensive. Highly recommend vs private counselors.
We have fantastic results

This is what we did but with mixed results so far. Some of her advice contradicts what HS counselors say. For example, Sara says to never report at 4 to a reach school (i.e. Ivy). School counselor said that was ridiculous.

What do you think of her advice regarding BC Calc as a must for business candidates? My kids is trying to decide between AB and BC for 12th and honestly I think they should take the easier one. Is there really an appreciable difference in the eyes of, say, Villanova?

Not sure. My kid took BC Calc before senior year, so that wasn't an issue. She will always tell kids to take the hardest classes. There were some parts of her advice we could not follow like taking a foreign language all 4 years. This was another thing the school counselor disagreed with and said that was not necessary. We will never know who was right. [b]

From what I could tell, Villanova was a tough one this year on EA. There was at least one girl deferred with 35 ACT and 4.0 in an IB diploma program.

Meaning she said it was necessary to have 4 years of FL and your school counselor said it wasn't?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sara Harberson's methodology is right on, and not expensive. Highly recommend vs private counselors.
We have fantastic results

I have found it to be very general. Each school is different so I'm not sure that her methodology is nearly as effective as a private counselor that really gets to know and advises one's child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sara Harberson's methodology is right on, and not expensive. Highly recommend vs private counselors.
We have fantastic results

This is what we did but with mixed results so far. Some of her advice contradicts what HS counselors say. For example, Sara says to never report at 4 to a reach school (i.e. Ivy). School counselor said that was ridiculous.

What do you think of her advice regarding BC Calc as a must for business candidates? My kids is trying to decide between AB and BC for 12th and honestly I think they should take the easier one. Is there really an appreciable difference in the eyes of, say, Villanova?

Not sure. My kid took BC Calc before senior year, so that wasn't an issue. She will always tell kids to take the hardest classes. There were some parts of her advice we could not follow like taking a foreign language all 4 years. This was another thing the school counselor disagreed with and said that was not necessary. We will never know who was right. [b]

From what I could tell, Villanova was a tough one this year on EA. There was at least one girl deferred with 35 ACT and 4.0 in an IB diploma program.

Meaning she said it was necessary to have 4 years of FL and your school counselor said it wasn't?

Yes. This was one of many things we got conflicting advice on. This added to the stress of the process tbh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sara Harberson's methodology is right on, and not expensive. Highly recommend vs private counselors.
We have fantastic results

This is what we did but with mixed results so far. Some of her advice contradicts what HS counselors say. For example, Sara says to never report at 4 to a reach school (i.e. Ivy). School counselor said that was ridiculous.

What do you think of her advice regarding BC Calc as a must for business candidates? My kids is trying to decide between AB and BC for 12th and honestly I think they should take the easier one. Is there really an appreciable difference in the eyes of, say, Villanova?

Not sure. My kid took BC Calc before senior year, so that wasn't an issue. She will always tell kids to take the hardest classes. There were some parts of her advice we could not follow like taking a foreign language all 4 years. This was another thing the school counselor disagreed with and said that was not necessary. We will never know who was right.

From what I could tell, Villanova was a tough one this year on EA. There was at least one girl deferred with 35 ACT and 4.0 in an IB diploma program.

I literally haven't heard of ANYONE (save one legacy) getting in so far. We know a kid who got into UPenn ED this year (not Wharton) who was deferred at Villanova.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sara Harberson's methodology is right on, and not expensive. Highly recommend vs private counselors.
We have fantastic results

This is what we did but with mixed results so far. Some of her advice contradicts what HS counselors say. For example, Sara says to never report at 4 to a reach school (i.e. Ivy). School counselor said that was ridiculous.

What do you think of her advice regarding BC Calc as a must for business candidates? My kids is trying to decide between AB and BC for 12th and honestly I think they should take the easier one. Is there really an appreciable difference in the eyes of, say, Villanova?

Not sure. My kid took BC Calc before senior year, so that wasn't an issue. She will always tell kids to take the hardest classes. There were some parts of her advice we could not follow like taking a foreign language all 4 years. This was another thing the school counselor disagreed with and said that was not necessary. We will never know who was right.

From what I could tell, Villanova was a tough one this year on EA. There was at least one girl deferred with 35 ACT and 4.0 in an IB diploma program.

I literally haven't heard of ANYONE (save one legacy) getting in so far. We know a kid who got into UPenn ED this year (not Wharton) who was deferred at Villanova.

Did that kid not withdraw from Villanova when they were accepted ED at Penn? Villanova EA not released until 1/20 while Upenn ED was announced 12/15...that is really not a cool thing to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We hired one for DS. It cost about 2500. It did force him to be disciplined. I feel like the school choices were random but I think that was DS’s fault as he was not emotionally prepared to make decisions. He is in at 8 and deferred at 3. I think that was predictable based on stats.

Hired a different one for DD20. Hers was $500 an hour, spent close to $20k. They really clicked but not worth the $$. Private counselor and school counselor came up with basically the same list. Her essay was decent but spent a ton of time online with the counselor brainstorming. She was going for higher ranked schools than DS. Got into 7 of 9.

I think they can be good for helping with the list (neither of ours were great for that), getting the CA essay done early, helping with/encouraging time management, and keeping expectations real (like not applying to all reaches).

You could easily do this process without, but it does help.

Not trying to be snarky, but why do people need to hire a college counselor to come up with a list of colleges to apply to? College info is easily accessible, and kids obviously know what their preferences are as far as location/size/ greek life, etc.

Maybe your kids know their preferences. Ours did not. Also, some students want unique programs that may be uncommon. There also is the temperament of the child and the college. Finally, some parents don't have the time to do that research and don't want to put their children completely in charge of a $300,000+ expenditure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sara Harberson's methodology is right on, and not expensive. Highly recommend vs private counselors.
We have fantastic results

This is what we did but with mixed results so far. Some of her advice contradicts what HS counselors say. For example, Sara says to never report at 4 to a reach school (i.e. Ivy). School counselor said that was ridiculous.

What do you think of her advice regarding BC Calc as a must for business candidates? My kids is trying to decide between AB and BC for 12th and honestly I think they should take the easier one. Is there really an appreciable difference in the eyes of, say, Villanova?

Not sure. My kid took BC Calc before senior year, so that wasn't an issue. She will always tell kids to take the hardest classes. There were some parts of her advice we could not follow like taking a foreign language all 4 years. This was another thing the school counselor disagreed with and said that was not necessary. We will never know who was right.

From what I could tell, Villanova was a tough one this year on EA. There was at least one girl deferred with 35 ACT and 4.0 in an IB diploma program.

I literally haven't heard of ANYONE (save one legacy) getting in so far. We know a kid who got into UPenn ED this year (not Wharton) who was deferred at Villanova.

Some colleges allow you to withdraw via a portal or common app but others require you to send a letter. I've heard of the colleges who require letters being very slow to process those so acceptances go out to kids who ED elsewhere.

Did that kid not withdraw from Villanova when they were accepted ED at Penn? Villanova EA not released until 1/20 while Upenn ED was announced 12/15...that is really not a cool thing to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Private Counselor had some completely idiotic schools on the list.

We already had done tons of research, visits and trust our kid’s opinion to what he liked more.

I get it for parents that are first Gen, or out of the loop, but most highly educated parents and a Princeton Review college guide will be enough. The only benefit from a college counselor would be the trends they say in a 3-year period, but you can see that on Naviance. Our school has a really good college counselor, so that helps too.

It sounds like your kids go to a private school. Public school counselors are too busy to work with every student at the school.

My spouse and I have eight degrees between us, so I'd consider us "highly educated." For such a big decision, we wanted an expert to provide advice, just like we would for any other major financial investment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sara Harberson's methodology is right on, and not expensive. Highly recommend vs private counselors.
We have fantastic results

This is what we did but with mixed results so far. Some of her advice contradicts what HS counselors say. For example, Sara says to never report at 4 to a reach school (i.e. Ivy). School counselor said that was ridiculous.

What do you think of her advice regarding BC Calc as a must for business candidates? My kids is trying to decide between AB and BC for 12th and honestly I think they should take the easier one. Is there really an appreciable difference in the eyes of, say, Villanova?

Not sure. My kid took BC Calc before senior year, so that wasn't an issue. She will always tell kids to take the hardest classes. There were some parts of her advice we could not follow like taking a foreign language all 4 years. This was another thing the school counselor disagreed with and said that was not necessary. We will never know who was right.

From what I could tell, Villanova was a tough one this year on EA. There was at least one girl deferred with 35 ACT and 4.0 in an IB diploma program.

I literally haven't heard of ANYONE (save one legacy) getting in so far. We know a kid who got into UPenn ED this year (not Wharton) who was deferred at Villanova.

Probably have to ED. Seems plenty of schools that have both EA and ED are holding the EA kids to an extremely high standard and/or there is yield protection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sara Harberson's methodology is right on, and not expensive. Highly recommend vs private counselors.
We have fantastic results

This is what we did but with mixed results so far. Some of her advice contradicts what HS counselors say. For example, Sara says to never report at 4 to a reach school (i.e. Ivy). School counselor said that was ridiculous.

Same here. Our CC insisted reporting all 4s when our student said she would not based on SH.