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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Who the hell needs a counselor to curate a list?[/quote]

Because if you are not just looking at DC/MD/VA area schools, a great counselor will help you identify some hidden gems. I know how to do the process and did it for first kid.  They applied to 10 and got into 10 with merit at all of the private schools (OOS publics don't typically offer much merit if any at all)---but this was a kid with a 25 ACT and 3.5 UW gpa and no AP classes---so more targeting schools ranked 80+ where acceptance rates are typically over 40%.

2nd kid had scores for elite colleges (1520/3.99UW, 10+ AP and good ECs) and wanted to apply to a few.  Counselor helped us curate a great list of colleges---about 75% were on my original list (I'm good at doing the research).  But the top Safety and where my kid ultimately ended up were not on my radar initially during junior year. my kid ultimately had 3 final choices, including the top safety, where they are and one other that I had heard of but my kid had said no due to location.  Well guess what, those 3 were my kid's ultimate final 3 choices and my kid would have been happy at any of them.  Counselor also helped a procrastinator stay on schedule without me having to nag and definately helped brainstorm the essays---my kid did it all themselves, but the counselor pushed them to think of topics, revise and edit and help them target the supplmentals accordingly. 
Note: my kid was not targeting schools anywhere near our home---most were 2-3K miles from home.  The safety she assisted with finding is a true gem and the defination of a true safety---my kid seriously considered attending they liked it that much.  I never would have found that safety from 3K miles away for a school many have not heard of on the other coast.

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Also, most counselors charge by the hour or you can sign up for the comprehensive fixed-price service.  The fixed-price usually works out to a lower hourly rate if you are hiring a counselor to "outsource" the entire college application process.

I don't think may people are paying a counselor hourly for college curation (usually you pay hourly to help with essays and other targeted things)...but if you already signed up for the fixed price, why the heck not.[/quote]

RIght---it's part of the package.  We paid $4k for the entire package for all of HS.  Didn't start until Spring junior year---due to covid and not realizing the benefits since we were totally capable of planning course schedule in HS and ECs (I let my kid pick what they wanted to focus on and they did that for 20-25+hours per week).  But we easily had 40 hours of working with our counselor in just 9 months.  It would have been an even better deal had we started in freshman year.  But at a charge of $150/hr for independent use, it was cheaper to pay for the package and with the package it is easier to get scheduled with the counselor (hourly clients typically are 2nd tiered--which makes sense) 
Best part: I didn't have to nag the procrastinator.  Counselor set schedule and makes kid stick to it, keeping everything on track so that by early Nov they are done with 90-95% of applications and just working on the few RD (where EA is not a choice at the school) in case they don't get in ED1.  Then you have your Holidays without stress (ok, with less, cause with a teenager/senior in HS there is always a bit of stress )[/quote]

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