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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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.[/quote]

https://thecollegeinvestor.com/43949/ivywise-review/[/quote]

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.

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