When deciding on a college admissions consultant or company, always ask about their background and what their track record has been. Talking with others who have used their services can also help you decide whether this person will be a good fit. You should also try to determine just how much “slick marketing” the consultant intends for your child, since such an approach may be less effective than helping a student to simply show off his or her best efforts.
Also understand that no matter how experienced a college admissions consultant is, and how successful he or she has been, if your child doesn’t have the high grades, impressive test scores and exceptional recommendations that are worthy of entrance to an Ivy League school, chances are that he or she will not be getting in. But even if your child isn’t top school material, a good consultant may, in fact, help him or her find a nice fit in a smaller, or less competitive, setting that makes more sense.
What You Can Expect to Spend
Even knowing that there is no guarantee that comes with the services, many parents decide it is worth it to take a chance and invest in the help of a private consultant.
You can expect to pay anywhere from a conservative $1,000 for some advice from such a professional, up to a whopping $40,000 for very intensive counseling and guidance over the course of several years.
For the top range, students can expect to receive lots of help with personal development and even some coddling; one consultant says that at this level she works closely with young clients to identify key outside interests and also provides detailed guidance on how they can take an effective leadership role in the school and community setting.
In addition to offering full package deals, some college admissions consultants are also willing to work at an hourly rate of anywhere from $100 to about $350 or more to provide specified services. Some consultants also have an a la carte menu, offering set prices for certain services—such as doing a general edit of a college essay, which starts at $100 and can go up to $700 or more from there. Those consultants who specialize in working on Ivy League placements generally fall at the higher end of the pricing scale.
Food for Thought
Whether you decide to hire a college admissions consultant or not for your child is up to you, of course. But keep in mind that the pressure to do so is rising as more and more students go this route. A recent survey found that approximately one million high school students (close to 10 percent of the total number of college students) relied on a private counselor’s help with the process. This means that if you forgo this service, your child will be competing with others who did buy the extra help. This being said, many students obviously do get accepted by their first-choice schools even without an expert’s assistance.
The fact is that there is just no science when it comes to what will appeal to most college admissions officers. Paying for help to second-guess the process just may—or may not—make a difference. And as one college faculty member explains, hiring a consultant can actually backfire in the end. This is because some of the polished applications that admissions consultants help students turn in are just too perfect and not enough of a true reflection of the student’s true, flawed self. Knowing this may offer a bit of relief for parents who decide to take the old-fashioned route, going along for the journey to explore college options with their own child and making the decision together as a family, without paying a penny for any outside help.