In some of the first gatherings with college counseling at my DC's school, they mentioned that some people have chosen to work with consultants in the past, but that we should consider it carefully because in their eyes, we don't need one. They mentioned if we did decide to work with one, consider checking with them first because some are not very good.

We ultimately told our counselor and explained that we used the consultant with our older son and it worked very well to keep him on track and keep stress levels down and peace in the home. She was fine with that. Lots of people in her school work with outside consultants, and I think the counselor appreciated our honesty.

The consultant actually encourages DD to check in with the counselor on certain issues. DD is in very good shape with her main essay and most of her supplementals done. Content for activities in common app also done. This would never be the case without the consultant. We also hired consultant in 10th grade, when DD had no access to counselor for guidance on course selection. It was nice to bounce ideas off an expert. It is annoying that her school doesn't let students contact counselors in second half of 10th grade.

We didn’t directly mention to the school counselor. We really depended on them for different things. On of my kids went to a large Catholic high school and we didn’t get a private college counselor until the summer before senior year (late in the game). Since we were looking for colleges that offered merit scholarship and our family was not considering ED, I figured an outside college counselor was not going to be as helpful coming up with the list. Maybe a suggestion or two but not the bulk. The outside counselor helped keep the application timeline and the essay process on track which was something the high school college counselor wasn’t responsible for doing and my kid needed help.

My other kid went to a smaller Catholic private school where college process workshops are built into their schedule starting late junior year. We didn’t really need someone to keep the process on track but did need outside essay help. Helping to brainstorm topics and keeping to a timeline for having them write each essay and discuss comments/revisions - that was on the family. The high school counselor would review an essay so we did have them help when it came to the later drafts. This helped make sure the essays were consistent with what they knew about my kid or what a specific college might be looking for and kept us within 2-3 revisions with the outside essay coach.

Anonymous wrote:DD is a rising junior at a private school in the DMV and we are looking at independent college counselors. For those of you who went that route, how did you handle this with your school's college counselor? Did you tell your school counselor you are working with an outside counselor? How did your DC handle situations when they got different advice from each counselor? or do you totally not use your school counselor if you hire an outside counselor?

Navigating both a private counselor and a school-based counselor is not a great dynamic to be honest and I think we would have been treated better by the school-based counselor if we hadn't hired the independent counselor. We did not divulge it directly to the school that we hired a private CCO but our DS let it slip accidentally. I think it's hard for students not to be honest or authentic.

Anonymous wrote:We did not mention. Outside counselor always differed to school counselor, when an issue arose which it rarely did anyway.

They always differed, or always deferred?

If you mean the outside counselor always deferred to the school counselor, why did you have an outside counselor at all?

Anonymous wrote:We did not mention. Outside counselor always differed to school counselor, when an issue arose which it rarely did anyway.

differed or deferred?

We did not mention. Outside counselor always differed to school counselor, when an issue arose which it rarely did anyway.

Anonymous wrote:Keep your powder dry. Why tell them at all?

You can run their suggestions past your privately paid for counselor and see what they say. They may agree with some things and dismiss others.

Just benefit where you can.

Exactly, I’m struggling to see benefit in telling. At the end of day, school counselor writes letter so need to keep them happy and on your side.

Keep your powder dry. Why tell them at all?

You can run their suggestions past your privately paid for counselor and see what they say. They may agree with some things and dismiss others.

Just benefit where you can.

Anonymous wrote:Why would you go behind your counselor’s back? That could backfire big time.

Our school CC had an ego and it was clear they’d be offended and think unnecessary or be annoyed a student had a potential edge. They didn’t add much value anyway. The outside counselor mainly just reviewed essays. They didn’t need support on choosing school from either. Didn’t see point in brining up in our case.

No do not mention.

They are both professionals, they know how to handle it properly. Our school counselors would make sure you have safeties and targets. They will never tell you to drop a reach. If you asked, they will provide opinions, but no they will not force you to do anything other than safeties.

Why would you go behind your counselor’s back? That could backfire big time.

I’d keep it quiet.

DD is a rising junior at a private school in the DMV and we are looking at independent college counselors. For those of you who went that route, how did you handle this with your school's college counselor? Did you tell your school counselor you are working with an outside counselor? How did your DC handle situations when they got different advice from each counselor? or do you totally not use your school counselor if you hire an outside counselor?