Independent College Counselors

Our business is helping students and their families through the maze of college admissions. We love our work.

There have been several recent web based articles about the relationships between families and independent college counselors. In this blog, I'll talk about why we believe families benefit from working with private admissions counselors and then highlight two additional pieces, one on how to find a consultant, and the other on how to evaluate the quality of a consultant. Lastly, I'll provide a link to the IECA list of suggested questions to ask a college consultant before you retain their services.

The success rate of college students in the United States shocks many people. The fact that 25% of all freshmen fail to return to the college where they enthusiastically enrolled as freshmen causes problems for students, families and for colleges. Top educational consultants eliminate the gap between what students expect at college, and what college is really like, therefore maximizing their success. Instead of just identifying colleges where a student can "get in", a good consultant finds colleges from which a student is likely to graduate.

Colleges differ from one another in many ways. Students and parents need factual information about those differences. The facts may not coincide with their assumptions. Finding colleges where students can thrive and succeed is key to student success and to a consultant's success.

A college education is a major financial investment. Few families make large financial investments without guidance from qualified, ethical professionals. Top educational consultants have experience, commitment to professional development, and membership in organizations that pride themselves on vetting top-notch, ethical professionals: IECA, HECA and AICEP.

The higher education correspondent at MPR recently provided guidance to families on how to go about locating an independent college counselor. Read what Alex Friedrich suggests.

Lynn O'Shaughnessy spoke with three prominent college consultants, members of IECA and HECA, recently and had this to say about how to select a college counselor.

Here's the list of questions IECA suggests you ask prospective consultants.

Beware

Whether someone's trying to scare you about the danger of the Ides of March or about charlatan College Advisors, you always need to do your own research and draw your own conclusions.

The author of a Smart Money article titled her section in a way that tries to make you leery of people in the business of helping families through the college admissions process.

However, readers of the article will likely conclude that if your high school counselor has a load of more than 40-50 students, you're likely to need help. Unless a student is in a selective college preparatory high school, it's likely that the counselor has a caseload 8-10 times that large.

Also, readers learn that consultants who belong to the Independent Educational Consultants Association agree to a set of ethical standards that prohibit us from the types of promises and false claims that the article warns about. Further, it details that Certified Educational Planners willingly allow themselves to be evaluated and reviewed every five years, it's a very selective process.

So, I can summarize the key points of the article: Students from high schools where counselors are overloaded with students and non-college advising workloads can benefit by working with IECA member consultants who maintain their credential as a CEP.

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