College applications - Did you use a counselor / coach

[sju]

Thanks to those with experience and expertise in this area for always sharing great information when these posts come up.

OP, we didn’t hire a consultant. My senior has good stats but is applying undeclared so it doesn’t make sense to try to go to expensive out of state schools.

So, he applied to 4 in-state schools through early decision. His HS has a person dedicated to career and college counseling but with 700+ seniors, the time is very limited. She quickly read the common app essay and provided good feedback.

H and I proofread the essay and helped double check the self reported grade reports DS had filled out.

[W.T.Faulkner]

Nov 15, 2024 9:57:35 GMT -5 sunshineandpinot said:

How does the playing field stay even remotely even? 

It doesn't, and it never has been. 

I've now done this work in two schools at either end of the spectrum: a decade at one in which my students were mostly first-generation and largely from financially disadvantaged homes, and now two years at a school with more socioeconomic diversity (i.e., a full Pell Grant recipient and a student whose grandfather sat on the board of a super selective college are both on my caseload this year). I always knew my former (and some current) students were disadvantaged, and tried my best to advocate for them, but the inequity runs just as deep in college admissions as it does in all other areas of life.

It shows up in:
- course selection: not a thing at many under-resourced schools with teacher shortages
- personal connections that can help with admissions (i.e., you know somebody in the admissions office or an alumni with pull)
- test-prep ($$$$$$)
- independent college counselors
- parents who have time to help with Common App
- athletics: if your parents have the money and time for club sports and tournaments or bougie sports like rowing, that opens lots of doors even for D2 and D3
- available extracurricular activities 

Colleges know this, too. Some of them care more than others. I've had wonderful experiences with Penn as a counselor, and there are many tiny liberal-arts colleges across the country that truly change students' lives. Dartmouth actually re-instated their standardized testing requirement after they concluded that talented students from less-resourced schools are hurt by a test-optional policy, rather than helped, and I think others will follow suit in the coming years.  

[intheden]

DD is a senior this year. We hired a service last spring/summer because I genuinely had no idea what to do for my kid with college anything. No clue what the Common App was, no idea where to find scholarships, which school(s) she should be looking at, etc. I had a lot of anxiety about the whole process and DD of course was worse than me. 

She finished her applications on Tuesday and told me how relieved she was to have that done and over with so she could enjoy the rest of senior year. For us, it was 100% worth it. 

[chedifuen]

No, we didn't because my kid had two criteria:

1) In state but away from home
2) Large public university

That narrowed his options to two schools (UofO and OSU). With his grades, he'll get into both schools without any trouble. I'm so grateful that he isn't interested in any of the super competitive schools, despite his near perfect GPA. I'm not cut out for that competitive process, and neither is he.

[melmaria]

We used a writing tutor for a couple sessions to give constructive feedback on my SD’s essays/personal statements. Otherwise, no.

The independent/third party feedback was key, as her emotions were all over the place senior fall and she seemed to feel personally attacked when it was her parents trying to make suggestions (or even just grammar/proofreading corrections!)

[themoneytree]

We used one because SD’s anxiety was in high gear and she needed the guidance.
He was actually really good and talked a lot about the benefits of a good value college as opposed to going to some of the big name schools.
Really we used him to assuage the anxiety and it helped a lot.

That said it’s really expensive and I hope we can do without when it’s DD’s time. I feel like I understand the process a lot more now which helps. It was all overwhelming with SD.

[rooster222]

We did not use one, but my dd isn't applying to any schools that are extremely competitive. There is only one that I'm a tiny bit nervous about but it's not a tip choice for her anyhow.

I do have a contact to use for essay writing help and we may enlist her as dd applies for specific college scholarships. Her #1 choice (which she has not yet been admitted to) is an out of state public school and unless she can get significant scholarships it's not going to work.