We have one on ad hoc since 9th grade. Reach out to the consultant whenever needed. I found that the very first two hours all the way back in the 9th grade is the most helpful. After that a lot of it is just routine Q&A (in retrospect we can skip). Then junior summer senior year essay review. This way you will have total control on the cost. The hourly rate is not low, but nowadays the hourly rate for an electrician/plumber in the city is $250 so be realistic.

Anonymous wrote:Figure out school list on your own unless not from this country, then I get the need for help.

Pay for a good person to edit essays.

The rest is a waste.,

Agreed.

NW 20+m. Hired no one for DC1, but then for specific reasons with this kid hired a 5k consultant when they decided to transfer, but in hindsight I think it was a waste.

For subsequent kids we’ll hire essay coaches and then use their school counselors as needed. I’m capable of managing this stuff with my kids.

I have a friend who owns a condo that they rent out. She was in AN and I think they have hired Sara on a 1:1 basis. They priced their condo at over $900k. Their next door neighbor put his condo (same exact plan) up for sale at $599k and had a bidding war within days. Sold at over $600k. My friends are now stuck — they don’t make that much money to be able to afford Sara 1:1, but they are just so desperate to get this second kid of theirs into a prestigious school that they wanted the money from the sale of their condo.

Why so desperate? Because their friends’ kids got into Ivies/MIT and they want bragging rights too. I have never seen a woman as desperate for prestige as this woman is. She is using another IEC as well and offered to pay me for advice as well. It’s quite sad to see how this matters so much to her!

Pp here. We are spending 30, not 40.

Our friends in nyc say 50k is normal and 100k+ not out of the ordinary.

We have a $2m HHI and spending around that.

High school counselor here. You’re wasting your money.

Figure out school list on your own unless not from this country, then I get the need for help.

Pay for a good person to edit essays.

The rest is a waste.,

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bro, what's on your info? For $10k, I can can be your consultant. Anyways I'll give you a free tip. Use Chatgpt.

It's not complicated. Have perfect SAT scores, max scores on AP calculus and physics, and an extracurricular activity that you really enjoy (I did fencing and was A-rated). International Math Olympics is also a great experience. I went to Stanford.

Right but you wouldn’t get in today. Not saying these consultants are worth anything but admissions is so crazy right now.

+1

Anonymous wrote:Bro, what's on your info? For $10k, I can can be your consultant. Anyways I'll give you a free tip. Use Chatgpt.

It's not complicated. Have perfect SAT scores, max scores on AP calculus and physics, and an extracurricular activity that you really enjoy (I did fencing and was A-rated). International Math Olympics is also a great experience. I went to Stanford.

Right but you wouldn’t get in today. Not saying these consultants are worth anything but admissions is so crazy right now.

Bro, what's on your info? For $10k, I can can be your consultant. Anyways I'll give you a free tip. Use Chatgpt.

It's not complicated. Have perfect SAT scores, max scores on AP calculus and physics, and an extracurricular activity that you really enjoy (I did fencing and was A-rated). International Math Olympics is also a great experience. I went to Stanford.

If you need to spend $40K for college consultant, your kid doesn't have the drive or capability to go to Ivy school or top school. The profile doesn't fit. 40K will not buy you a spot in IVY... Spending 10K in helping with essay seem more reasonable. If you want Ivy, 40K is not enough, you need $250K to profile your kid from grade 6 onward.

This is ridiculous. I charged $100 an hour for this 20 years ago. A 5k to the highest at 10k for a package is more than enough to pay.

Anonymous wrote:We’re at about 1.3M HHI and are paying slightly less, about 35K for 4 yrs. I make about 70% of that HHI. Yes, a ridiculous sum, but I consider it a luxury purchase for my benefit— to improve my own mental and emotional health by having a third party be the one to keep my kid and spouse on track instead of me badgering them. I know a lot of the information and could give the same advice, but the kid and spouse don’t believe it when I say things, but will listen when same things coming from the hired counselor. I don’t care for luxury cars, designer fashions, beauty treatments etc etc, but this is a luxury splurge for ME, not for the kid. And worth every penny in terms of relieving mental and emotional load.

I am the poster at 00:56 7/18 at $1.5M

We did pay a well respected counselor by the hour to review my kids list, do some schedule checks, and a bit of essay brainstorming. Maybe $1500 total for about 4 hours of work. It was money well spent on family harmony.

That's more than we are paying per year for tuition. You don't need a consultant.

Anonymous wrote:I have two friends who went to HYS undergrads and law schools and then got burnt out from big law and became high end college consultants. One changes 150k for the 4 years of high school.

What’s the name of the firm?