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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Frankly the only counselors who can truly move the needle are the ones who are planning things from at least grade 9 on.  If you simply hire someone when your kid is a junior or senior then it's too late.

But the kid also has to be doing exceptionally well in school. I would imagine that most families who have money for this type of counseling are private school kids and it's not easy to do well at many top privates. In our experience at a Big3 school, the unhooked Ivy admits (aside from Cornell) are all from the top of the class. I had one of these kids and they got into an Ivy with their own random assortment of extracurriculars and our haphazard attempt at guiding a narrative in the 11th hour.  So no 4-5 years of packaging is needed if the grades are there. And no packaging will help if the grades are not there.  So honestly, I don't see the point of it.

Maybe it's more helpful in the public realm where there are large classes and many kids with top grades and so it's important for kids to have very built-out narratives to separate them from their academically identical peers. [/quote]

To this end, can anyone recommend a counselor who can help with long range planning in 9th or 10th grade. Not looking to invest in a four year package but rather someone who can suggest how to be proactive early on in terms of course selection, 
extracurriculars, etc?[/quote]

-1. I just would not do that - if you do, and the kid follows along, thinking the only/best way to get into a good college is to do the plan, then they may be disappointed when all their 4 years of doing what they were told results in mediocre results.

That's not the message to give to kids - sure you can give advice but if you want your kids to be successful adults, they need to be following their own interests, making their own mistakes and getting into schools they decide later they want - when they are old enough to decide.

-mom of two kids with really happy and productive college experiences and who graduated and is successful in his field.[/quote]

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