Absolutely unnecessary and waste of money, especially if DC a good writer. The private school is enough. Threw times junior year seems like a lot to me. My DC from top NJ private didn’t meet that much. Don’t get hysterical. DC will be fine.

Lots of good advice here.
Major matters - what’s the major?

A private counselor can help you with packaging the student if you don’t know how to do that. Sometimes they also have good essay coaches on staff, but that is usually an extra charge just so you know.

DC is at a top private school in nyc and I know more kids who have private counselors in the good public schools than our school. I'm sure some of the super wealthy families have them, but our school counselors are really good. Also, the super wealthy have legacy plus donor status and got in early. Not sure why they need more help than that

Anonymous wrote:OP Top private outside DMV, gets kids accepted to top 20 schools every year. 3.85 (school grade deflate), 1550. Hoping for Penn, Rice, Washington U, Pomona. Great writer. Average ECs.

Do you know families whose kids have gotten into any of these schools early in the past few years from your HS? I would ask them about stats and intel. Older families are your best source of intel for your school community.

An ED1 to Rice and ED2 to WashU would get into at least one of those schools early from our rigorous non-DMV private, with those stats. Especially if non-stem major (go with arts & sciences and pick something nichey and build a story around it).

As for ECs, given you are at a private, it's easy to add on activities. Even create a group if needed to lead. Writing ECs (school paper or literary magazine)? If not, have the kid write a few articles to be published elsewhere (online, editorials etc). Can a kid do a senior year independent study at your private? In the niche area of study?

Our non-DMV private has a lot of full-pay students who get in with these stats. Our ECs are generally VERY easy to join at school and easy to get a senior year "leadership" role. Have kid look into just one thing? What is kid interested in majoring in? Any unique interests or hobbies?

Example of a nichey sub-major at Rice: https://history.rice.edu/spatial-and-digital-humanities
And WashU: https://hdw.wustl.edu/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools have excellent individual counseling from the college staff. No one we know used a private counselor. Though the peer group is almost all high achieving cum laude/top10% crew who wouldn’t need it

Almost no one relies on school college staff. Top 10%: that's where the value would come from getting someone from the outside. I think the peer group is just not telling you.

There is a vast difference in private schools. I would bet 85% of say SJC parents don't hire private counselors...while probably 50%+ of Sidwell parents do.

A friend at a top NYC private said that easily 75%+ of the kids have private counselors.

Anonymous wrote:Private schools have excellent individual counseling from the college staff. No one we know used a private counselor. Though the peer group is almost all high achieving cum laude/top10% crew who wouldn’t need it

Almost no one relies on school college staff. Top 10%: that's where the value would come from getting someone from the outside. I think the peer group is just not telling you.

Are private counselors worth it if you're applying outside of the US? I get the sense that there may not be many who would have that expertise. Does it make a difference?

Anonymous wrote:IU
Purdue
Bowdoin
UC Davis
SMU

Maybe you need some advice specific to Bowdoin…but the others are straightforward admissions that will 90% just be grades, rigor and test scores.

IU and UC Davis won’t care if you did a single EC. You might as well just check the boxes for some other UCs since it’s one application.

Purdue will care more if you are applying STeM, but outside STEMots straightforward.

Anonymous wrote:IU
Purdue
Bowdoin
UC Davis
SMU

? those colleges are not worth private cc for $$$$$.

Depends on who your counselor is? My kids ended up at lower tier Ivies from a local private and don't think they would have made it without additional counseling.

Of course families at privates do. This is already a group that is willing to pay to get a leg up. Yes, a high percentage at privates (especially at the independent schools not so much the religious schools) also hire private counselors.

That said, there are plenty of reasons that are understandable. 8:06 listed them above.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If a family can afford one comfortably, is it always better to hire a private counsellor than to rely solely on school counsellor?

DC is supposed to see their school’s CC 3 times in junior year. That’s not enough, right?

I wouldn’t do it just because - have an idea of what you would get from the outside counselor that isn’t covered by you or the school counselor.

- if you engage with an outside counselor freshman/sophomore year they can help with course selection, summer programs, and EC’s. I definitely wasn’t sure if a certain choice would help/not help down the road. There might be times when you don’t know if the school has their own best interest in mind or your kid’s best interest for example recommending taking an easier class.

- along those lines, sometimes the college list can be too aspirational or not enough for whatever reason - having that second opinion/source of ideas can help especially if you aren’t going to do lots of research on your own

- essays - the high school counselor might review a draft but unless it’s an English assignment to draft the college essays, your kid is own their own to come up with topics and that first draft

- managing all the deadlines - it can be a lot staying on top of all the deadline and requirements and looking for overlap essay potential - it’s nice having someone that can help organize this

If parents are reasonably well educated they can do all of this to help their student. My pubic school counselor was absolutely wonderful in guiding my kid, but we engaged with him when my kid was a rising 9th grader.

Make sense to play and take advantage of the bullshit system

Things get tense. The private CC is the middle man/woman between you and DC. It’s worth it.

Anonymous wrote:If a family can afford one comfortably, is it always better to hire a private counsellor than to rely solely on school counsellor?

DC is supposed to see their school’s CC 3 times in junior year. That’s not enough, right?

I wouldn’t do it just because - have an idea of what you would get from the outside counselor that isn’t covered by you or the school counselor.

- if you engage with an outside counselor freshman/sophomore year they can help with course selection, summer programs, and EC’s. I definitely wasn’t sure if a certain choice would help/not help down the road. There might be times when you don’t know if the school has their own best interest in mind or your kid’s best interest for example recommending taking an easier class.

- along those lines, sometimes the college list can be too aspirational or not enough for whatever reason - having that second opinion/source of ideas can help especially if you aren’t going to do lots of research on your own

- essays - the high school counselor might review a draft but unless it’s an English assignment to draft the college essays, your kid is own their own to come up with topics and that first draft

- managing all the deadlines - it can be a lot staying on top of all the deadline and requirements and looking for overlap essay potential - it’s nice having someone that can help organize this