Reply to Senior Parents: if you hired a private college counselor

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’m also looking for ideas.

Willing to pay significant $$$ but need help with curating a good applicant narrative; ideas for summer internship for my current junior and help getting junior’s research published in area of study. Also, need help with activities list to see what else might need to be supplemented.

Aiming for T25 privates. Full pay.

Are the names mentioned here reputable and will they help with all of this for a junior?[/quote]

OMG OMG

My Senior did none of that and he's in at 2 T10s (with 5-6% acceptance rates), a T20, UVA and waiting on Ivies.[/quote]
DP.. congrats, but you realize that some kids need more guidance?

My kid has super high stats, but had no guidance.  My spouse and I are immigrants; no clue how gamed the college admissions is.  In retrospect, they said they wished they had a college counselor.  [/quote]

It's not gamed. Get the highest scores and highest grades possible. Do 1-2 extracurriculars (ANYTHING they love and are doing because they WANT to be doing them), write a good essay (here if he/she isn't a good writer you might want an essay coach if you aren't good with that either).

I made the mistake of listening to everyone going on and on about how impossible admissions were and everything was rigged blah blah, blah---so my kid OVER applied and is getting in everywhere.  It was overkill.  [/quote]
My kid had all that (super high stats) but still got denied T10.  Your kid was lucky.  It's true. After a certain gpa/test score, it's a lottery.[/quote]

Yes, same for my kid. DC got denied T10 with super high stats, excellent ECs in the area of study with regional/national awards. And, we are also immigrants. DC basically took care of everything. In retrospect, we also felt we should have had a college counselor since the school counselor was of no use. [/quote]

Public or private high school?
Asian (sadly can cut against you in the app process)?[/quote]
dp.. then even more important to get a college counselor.  Many of these parents are immigrants who don't understand that even with high stats and great e.c.s, chances are still very very low.  College admissions is too opaque.  There's no rhyme or reason why two applicants with similar scores and ec's have different outcomes.  If the difference is the college essay, then a private counselor can help with that.

I'm actually disgusted that this is what it has come down to, though.  I really hate how college admissions works here.[/quote]

We are public NOVA, Asian, and did not use a counselor for first kid who applied mainly to state flagships.   That DC got into their first choice so no problem.

But for second kid who was interested in SLACs and Ivies, we hired a counselor to help with essays and focus on what AOs want. We treated this as a marketing exercise (which it is) for DC to learn from.  We've been happy with the results so far.

The process is a horrible game, and you have to pay one way or the other if you want to avoid rolling snake eyes with the loaded dice that is college admissions these days.
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