Anonymous wrote:I spoke to a consultant in the fall and she basically talked me out of hiring her. My child was applying for 9th grade, and the consultant said that it's just really hard to get in anywhere these days, even with excellent grades, and implied that using a consultant wouldn't make a difference. She said that tutoring for the admissions exam was the best use of money. I think it's a different story if your child has social or learning differences. In those cases they can be really helpful in finding the right fit.

This. We hired a consultant, but doing so wasn't so much about hoping she'd persuade certain schools to accept us--it was more with an eye to wanting her help figuring which schools would be the best fit for our rising 6h grader (who is gifted with learning differences and ADHD). That is, we weren't paying for her to sell us to schools so much as we were paying her to take the time to get to know us and our kid well enough that she could help steer us toward schools that would actually WANT and be a good fit for him/family.

That strategy seems to have worked well, in that we got into all 3 schools we applied to, and all feel like genuinely good fits.

I spoke to a consultant in the fall and she basically talked me out of hiring her. My child was applying for 9th grade, and the consultant said that it's just really hard to get in anywhere these days, even with excellent grades, and implied that using a consultant wouldn't make a difference. She said that tutoring for the admissions exam was the best use of money. I think it's a different story if your child has social or learning differences. In those cases they can be really helpful in finding the right fit.

I actually got a lot of value out of our consultant. If you have two parents with differing opinions/approaches it can be worth the money just to have a neutral third party be the "bad guy" and say this is not what the schools like to see. And for the lower grades where the parents' essays and interviews carry more weight, it's valuable to have someone guiding you through that process too. I didn't grow up with money and have no familiarity at all with the private school world, so I appreciated the hand holding. Our kids got into GDS and Sidwell FWIW.

Deepseek

For anyone reading this - you don’t need a consultant when applying to private school - even for the “Big 3”

Anonymous wrote:What’s a big3 ?

Please
Refer to the pinned thread at the top of the forum.

We used a consultant who also provided test prep.

Waste of money imho.

The essay they worked on with my kid was awful. It was the classic approach they give kids on college essay thematic storytelling. Because we applied to catholic schools, I drew on my old school catholic approach and we ended up doing our own essays.

Test prep did nothing other than make my kid more comfortable with time management.

Kid got into the two schools they applied to, but I’m convinced it’s because we worked the Rolodex and got extra recommendations from prominent people affiliated with the school. Plus, we didn’t ask for FA. Lastly, my kid is outgoing and charming…and did something to distinguish themselves on shadow days (eg, actively participated in class and made a self-deprecating joke).

Private counselors are 100% not necessary if you go to a private K-8. You don’t even need one of public, just do a DCUM search and visit open houses. No private counselor is getting your kid into a private school here in DC. It is just not happening.

Anonymous wrote:What’s a big3 ?

Something DCUM made up to help them feel better about themselves

What’s a big3 ?

Prediction: no one is going to play the game in this thread (nor should they).

We did not use a consultant. What is their role and impact?

DC accepted to three schools not in big three, WL at one big three. We are proud of the effort DC put in, and really pleased with our options.

Anyone want to give context to their admissions results by naming what consultant you used in addition to where you got in/WL/grade level?

Especially if you also want to tell us what schools the consultant suggested that you otherwise wouldn't have applied to on your own.