Professional College Guidance Counselors - not as simple as one would think!

I looked in history, but didn't see any recent threads.  In speaking with professionals and parents so far, there seems to be three areas that may or may not be included and areas of expertise: (1) assisting the student with identifying majors and schools that may be a fit (2) financial aid piece (3) and then the test prep piece.  I'm interested to hear if you have someone you really liked and what about them made them helpful, or was there a piece that you thought might have been missing from the program or expertise?  Something that could have been done better or you wished you had?  Thank you in advance!!

I know Emily Wolper personally, though I haven't used her services. I gather she offers a high end type of service.

4) Completing essays/applications.

LuvThisTown said:

I looked in history, but didn't see any recent threads.  In speaking with professionals and parents so far, there seems to be three areas that may or may not be included and areas of expertise: (1) assisting the student with identifying majors and schools that may be a fit (2) financial aid piece (3) and then the test prep piece.  I'm interested to hear if you have someone you really liked and what about them made them helpful, or was there a piece that you thought might have been missing from the program or expertise?  Something that could have been done better or you wished you had?  Thank you in advance!!

We used Amanda Robertson, out of Breakawy Prep. I would highly recommend her. She helped with all aspects of the process: coming up with a balanced list of colleges, strategizing regarding testing and test prep, helping with a schedule for essay/application completion and submission, interviewing.

Although my daughter had some general ideas regarding areas of interest, she did not know what her major would be at the time that she was applying to schools (most students who "know" their major before beginning college, change their minds, so I wouldnt get too caught up with that...). Also, we really didn't use  Amanda for assistance with the financial aid piece of it.

One person (or class, or Khan Academy) for test prep.

One person for the application process, including identifying appropriate schools, creating a balanced list, assisting with the essay, and quarterbacking the process of filling out applications. There are also essay specialists who ONLY deal with the essays.

One person to help with financial aid. This really is not necessary if the parents are both W-2 workers. The forms are pretty straightforward. If you own a business, you might want to consider hiring someone.

Don't hire anyone who claims to be expert in more than one of these areas. They are completely different knowledge sets and skills.

Tom_Reingold said:

I know Emily Wolper personally, though I haven't used her services. I gather she offers a high end type of service.

Emily Wolper is for super-affluent families who have no qualms spending $15k or more.

shoshannah said:

Tom_Reingold said:

I know Emily Wolper personally, though I haven't used her services. I gather she offers a high end type of service.

Emily Wolper is for super-affluent families who have no qualms spending $15k or more.

I think I said something to that effect.

Everyone has different needs, but personally I couldn't see spending a lot of money on someone to identify schools. It can be overwhelming, but once you make decisions on geography, size of school, type of location (urban, rural etc.), types of extracurricular wants (sports, Greek life etc,), overall culture (conservative, quirky, intellectual), competitiveness and odds of being admitted, it doesn't seem particularly difficult to build a list with the help of books, websites and asking around. If you live in SOMa, for almost any school out there, it's not hard to find someone who attended it or who knows someone enrolled recently, and they can give some perspective. An exception might be a first generation college applicant who truly does not have family members and mentors who attended college or who themselves applied to a variety of schools beyond the local option, and/or if your budget for consulting and help is generous. My two cents.

I'd focus more on test prep and essay/interview prep. I have no experience with her, but I see Alisha Davlin's name here and there on posts, she might be someone to put on a list of people to interview. 

Also if the parent(s) or teachers aren't doing it, it probably also is helpful to have someone who can give the student a perspective on the overall process, which for many students will lead to a lot of rejection, unrealistic expectations or at least the possibility of not getting into their first or second choices - someone who can explain that it really can be an unfair and subjective process and to give the student a reality check on how the process works and doesn't work, a shoulder to cry on, figuratively and maybe literally.

For any of these private college counselors, you can pick their services á la carte. It doesn't take a lot of time (or cost a lot of money) for them to say, "Have you considered College ABC? I think it fits your criteria." Or for them to say, "Your entire list is all reach schools. There's a chance you might not get into any of them. May I suggest X, Y, and Z?"  Also, the process is not always as straightforward as you suggest, especially if the student is applying to highly selective colleges. For example, many highly selective colleges admit half the freshman class via early decision and leverge the "regular decision" phase to mostly fill out the class with diversity (geographic, economic, and ethnic/racial), gender balance, specified talents, etc. So the counselor can help decide whether early decision would be a good idea.

I should clarify some things re Amanda R. She does not do test prep but is great at helping the student to come up with a plan and strategy (when to take tests, which subject test, act vs sat and what kind of prep.) Breakaway has staff who do the tutoring. Amanda can also refer to someone who can help prepare the student for interviews. So, she's definitely not an expert in all areas, but knows the people who are.

She never tried to sell us a package, and in fact, was good about not scheduling more meetigns than what was really useful.

there's a parent to parent discussion at the maplewood library, baker street, to pass along what was learned in this college application cycle, on Jan. 18th, Thursday night, 7-9 pm.

One thing to keep in mind is that many college planners are financial planners who have added this lucrative area to their list of services.   They usually combine financial aid services with college selection/majors planning and also advise on financial products that could help.  Test prep is a separate animal from this and is literally, test prep.   

apple44 said:

Everyone has different needs, but personally I couldn't see spending a lot of money on someone to identify schools. It can be overwhelming, but once you make decisions on geography, size of school, type of location (urban, rural etc.), types of extracurricular wants (sports, Greek life etc,), overall culture (conservative, quirky, intellectual), competitiveness and odds of being admitted, it doesn't seem particularly difficult to build a list with the help of books, websites and asking around. If you live in SOMa, for almost any school out there, it's not hard to find someone who attended it or who knows someone enrolled recently, and they can give some perspective. An exception might be a first generation college applicant who truly does not have family members and mentors who attended college or who themselves applied to a variety of schools beyond the local option, and/or if your budget for consulting and help is generous. My two cents.

Shoshannah describes some of the reasons that we hired an adviser only to identify potential schools, with the faith that the adviser’s experience, authority and efficiency would be worth what we paid. Also, when parental motivation isn’t making a lot of headway, it’s hard to put a price on the attention that a teenager gives a pro who doesn’t always nag him.

shoshannah said:

For any of these private college counselors, you can pick their services á la carte. It doesn't take a lot of time (or cost a lot of money) for them to say, "Have you considered College ABC? I think it fits your criteria." Or for them to say, "Your entire list is all reach schools. There's a chance you might not get into any of them. May I suggest X, Y, and Z?"  Also, the process is not always as straightforward as you suggest, especially if the student is applying to highly selective colleges. For example, many highly selective colleges admit half the freshman class via early decision and leverge the "regular decision" phase to mostly fill out the class with diversity (geographic, economic, and ethnic/racial), gender balance, specified talents, etc. So the counselor can help decide whether early decision would be a good idea.

We would like to attend the parent meeting but we will be at CHS for the band concert.  All information though.  Thank you!

Anybody have a financial aid advisor they can recommend?

cubby said:

Anybody have a financial aid advisor they can recommend?

 I just responded to your other thread.