Anonymous wrote:I've been helping friends' kids with essay writing, preparing applications, interview preparation, selecting schools to apply to, and choosing schools for a few years and I find it really rewarding.

I also mentor undergrads through the college I attended (it's a HYPSM school), and I used to do admissions interviews (but stopped because of possible conflict of interest).

I have a full-time corporate job but this is something I truly enjoy and I think I am pretty good at (at this point, I've pretty much memorized the Virginia Tech essay prompts).

Does anyone have ideas on how to turn this into an organized side hustle? I'm not interested in charging tippy-top dollar or having employees but rather having a small client list each year that I would work with personally.

Anonymous wrote:we didn't use a private counselor, but I think there's a blank space in the market.

I would have paid 2500 for a barebones service to help with some strategy, lists, where we should visit, get kid thinking a little earlier and then resources for test prep and essay help which, if we wanted, we could have gone to for help with that stuff. I didn't want that (I'm good at that) so I didn't want to pay 10k for a package when I didn't need most of it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Reached out to some contacts who know my work and have my first payment and contract.

I'm charging a little less than the PP above, but in range.

I think you're only thinking about half the job - the application part. A good part of the work is putting together an appropriate list for a student and that can be hard, especially if the parents (and students) have outdated or unrealistic expectations.

You need a really expensive knowledge of colleges around the country. IECs spend some time on the road visiting colleges so they can advise clients about them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you really want to deal with parents? Meeting with them, keeping them informed, juggling their sometimes conflicting ideas about what is “best,” and their feelings/blame when their kid doesn’t get into a school they think they should have?

When you help a kid for free, parents see it as upside and “bonus.” It’s an act of kindness and they feel grateful to have the extra help. (I’ve served this role a few times for friends’ kids, and it’s been really fun!)

Once there’s money involved, however, you work for them. They’re the client and you’re the service provider. Even if they’re friends-of-friends or otherwise well-vetted, the fee for service exchange changes the relationship.

My advice: Focus on volunteering to help low income kids who truly need the help. It sounds like that would be meaningful to you in addition to them.

Look for already established programs you can plug into. This way you can spend your time doing the student-facing part you enjoy, rather than the marketing hustle or the admin hassles.

+100 Don’t underestimate how insane people are about college. Whether they admit it or not, they are laying you to get their kid in, something you can’t actually guarantee. Good luck when they don’t get in a “safety”

Essentially, they’re paying to have someone to blame when it doesn’t work out. And, according to this thread, people are willing to pay $$$$ to take responsibility (blame?) off their hands.

Let’s be honest here. There’s a lot of variables at play, some you can manipulate and some you can’t. You’re about to take responsibility for all of them.

Ehhh. It’s not that big of a deal. Parents realize (too late) that they should have done more or hired better people. Happened to us. We realized we really need an essay coach and not a counselor.

Happens all the time. Counselors don’t care.

And some kids really aren’t that special. They don’t have it in them to write really special passionate essays. Are parents really upset that the counselor isn’t writing the essays for them?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you really want to deal with parents? Meeting with them, keeping them informed, juggling their sometimes conflicting ideas about what is “best,” and their feelings/blame when their kid doesn’t get into a school they think they should have?

When you help a kid for free, parents see it as upside and “bonus.” It’s an act of kindness and they feel grateful to have the extra help. (I’ve served this role a few times for friends’ kids, and it’s been really fun!)

Once there’s money involved, however, you work for them. They’re the client and you’re the service provider. Even if they’re friends-of-friends or otherwise well-vetted, the fee for service exchange changes the relationship.

My advice: Focus on volunteering to help low income kids who truly need the help. It sounds like that would be meaningful to you in addition to them.

Look for already established programs you can plug into. This way you can spend your time doing the student-facing part you enjoy, rather than the marketing hustle or the admin hassles.

+100 Don’t underestimate how insane people are about college. Whether they admit it or not, they are laying you to get their kid in, something you can’t actually guarantee. Good luck when they don’t get in a “safety”

Essentially, they’re paying to have someone to blame when it doesn’t work out. And, according to this thread, people are willing to pay $$$$ to take responsibility (blame?) off their hands.

Let’s be honest here. There’s a lot of variables at play, some you can manipulate and some you can’t. You’re about to take responsibility for all of them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you really want to deal with parents? Meeting with them, keeping them informed, juggling their sometimes conflicting ideas about what is “best,” and their feelings/blame when their kid doesn’t get into a school they think they should have?

When you help a kid for free, parents see it as upside and “bonus.” It’s an act of kindness and they feel grateful to have the extra help. (I’ve served this role a few times for friends’ kids, and it’s been really fun!)

Once there’s money involved, however, you work for them. They’re the client and you’re the service provider. Even if they’re friends-of-friends or otherwise well-vetted, the fee for service exchange changes the relationship.

My advice: Focus on volunteering to help low income kids who truly need the help. It sounds like that would be meaningful to you in addition to them.

Look for already established programs you can plug into. This way you can spend your time doing the student-facing part you enjoy, rather than the marketing hustle or the admin hassles.

+100 Don’t underestimate how insane people are about college. Whether they admit it or not, they are laying you to get their kid in, something you can’t actually guarantee. Good luck when they don’t get in a “safety”

Anonymous wrote:Do you really want to deal with parents? Meeting with them, keeping them informed, juggling their sometimes conflicting ideas about what is “best,” and their feelings/blame when their kid doesn’t get into a school they think they should have?

When you help a kid for free, parents see it as upside and “bonus.” It’s an act of kindness and they feel grateful to have the extra help. (I’ve served this role a few times for friends’ kids, and it’s been really fun!)

Once there’s money involved, however, you work for them. They’re the client and you’re the service provider. Even if they’re friends-of-friends or otherwise well-vetted, the fee for service exchange changes the relationship.

My advice: Focus on volunteering to help low income kids who truly need the help. It sounds like that would be meaningful to you in addition to them.

Look for already established programs you can plug into. This way you can spend your time doing the student-facing part you enjoy, rather than the marketing hustle or the admin hassles.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m doing this now.

It’s word of mouth only. No advertising, no website. I got the UCLA certificate but honestly it was a waste.

I only do rising seniors.

$300/hr ad hoc in junior year

$5000 for ED/Early school (entire app)
Each subsequent set of supplements is $1-2.5k depending on length of supplements. My rec is to do 2-5 RD apps prior to late December (I won’t be available then - or if I am it’s 2-3x rates)….

Most kids the bill is btw $7500-10k. Some closer to $25k for a lot of handholding. If you change majors, entire common app will be redone.

It’s been a good year for my kids !!!! So proud of the outcomes.

Congrats. You are skillful at scamming rich,anxious parents out of a lot of money.

And I guess I don’t get it. Why pay $7500-$25K for something you (or more specifically, your child) can/should do on your own?

I have one off at college. The admissions process, while lengthy and burdensome, wasn’t actually that difficult to navigate. And when my kid had a question, she simply looked the answer up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m doing this now.

It’s word of mouth only. No advertising, no website. I got the UCLA certificate but honestly it was a waste.

I only do rising seniors.

$300/hr ad hoc in junior year

$5000 for ED/Early school (entire app)
Each subsequent set of supplements is $1-2.5k depending on length of supplements. My rec is to do 2-5 RD apps prior to late December (I won’t be available then - or if I am it’s 2-3x rates)….

Most kids the bill is btw $7500-10k. Some closer to $25k for a lot of handholding. If you change majors, entire common app will be redone.

It’s been a good year for my kids !!!! So proud of the outcomes.

Congrats. You are skillful at scamming rich,anxious parents out of a lot of money.

And I guess I don’t get it. Why pay $7500-$25K for something you (or more specifically, your child) can/should do on your own?

I have one off at college. The admissions process, while lengthy and burdensome, wasn’t actually that difficult to navigate. And when my kid had a question, she simply looked the answer up.

Some people want their handsheld? Why is this so difficult for people like you to understand? It’s the same reason people hire tour guides in a new city or hire a daily cleaning lady to make the bed and make coffee and clean the kitchen. The same reason you go to a car wash.

There are countless things you CAN do yourself but when your time and brain are valuable and you’re making millions of dollars a year? You have no time to think about this kind of stuff. And frankly, you don’t want to.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m doing this now.

It’s word of mouth only. No advertising, no website. I got the UCLA certificate but honestly it was a waste.

I only do rising seniors.

$300/hr ad hoc in junior year

$5000 for ED/Early school (entire app)
Each subsequent set of supplements is $1-2.5k depending on length of supplements. My rec is to do 2-5 RD apps prior to late December (I won’t be available then - or if I am it’s 2-3x rates)….

Most kids the bill is btw $7500-10k. Some closer to $25k for a lot of handholding. If you change majors, entire common app will be redone.

It’s been a good year for my kids !!!! So proud of the outcomes.

Congrats. You are skillful at scamming rich,anxious parents out of a lot of money.

And I guess I don’t get it. Why pay $7500-$25K for something you (or more specifically, your child) can/should do on your own?

I have one off at college. The admissions process, while lengthy and burdensome, wasn’t actually that difficult to navigate. And when my kid had a question, she simply looked the answer up.