Six Things You Need to Ask a College Admissions Consultant

I’ve been an independent college consultant for fourteen years. I’m very good at what I do, but I will be the first to admit that I am not an expert in everything and I am not the best fit for every family. For example, I am not a good fit for families looking at boarding schools or for students with special needs. When I’m not the best fit for a family, I try to refer them to someone who might.

I often encourage families to research many independent college consultants – one size does NOT fit all. Families should make a decision about a private college consultant based on answers to these six questions:

1. “Name the last three colleges you toured and tell me about them.”

I think this is a very important question to ask because what you’re really asking the college consultant is how much money they spend to keep up with current trends in higher education. Many consultants spend quite a bit of money traveling around the country to personally visit colleges and universities. Unfortunately quite a few have not visited a college campus outside their immediate area in many, many years. Ideally, the college consultant should name three colleges outside your state, and preferably schools that are highly selective and generate many applications from students in your area.

2. “What professional organizations do you belong to?”

One thing about independent college consulting that makes it different from other professions is that there is no licensing agency. Literally anyone can claim to be an private college admissions consultant. Therefore the quality differs tremendously from consultant to consultant. The closest thing that the profession has are a number of professional organizations where members agree to uphold the highest ethical principles in the field. The two most prominent ones are IECA ([url=http://www.iecaonline.com]http://www.iecaonline.com[/url]) and HECA ([url=http://www.hecaonline.org]http://www.hecaonline.org[/url]). Universities such as UCLA and UC Irvine offer degree programs for private college consultants. The consultant that you hire doesn’t have to have all of these accolades, but I would be very suspicious if the consultant you work with belongs to none.

3. “Where did you go to college? Where did you go to graduate school? Why did you choose these schools?”

It often amazes me that there are some education consultants who have never gone to law school or medical school who feel as though they have the expertise to advise students applying to law school or medical school. To me it is the equivalent of someone who is a baseball player recommending good football programs for a young person. I’ll use myself as an example: I went to graduate school in government and I went to law school. I did not go to dentistry school nor did I obtain a masters in fine arts. If a potential client asks for admission advice to dentistry or fine arts programs, I refer them to someone who completed programs in these fields. I don’t advise students who apply to programs that I have no background in – and any respectable consultant would do the same thing.

Keep in mind that your consultant does not have to have attended a program your son/daughter is considering. For example, I do work with students that apply to medical school, but when I do so I work closely with my physician brother who graduated from medical school. Think of it this way: you wouldn’t have open heart surgery done by a dermatologist, so therefore you should make sure that if you are applying to a top-tier college program that your consultant have some reasonable background in that area to justify their expertise. Also, if your son or daughter is applying to hyper selective schools such as Harvard, Stanford, or Yale, it makes sense to work with someone who has actually attended these schools (or schools with similar acceptance numbers) and preferably also worked in their admissions offices.

4. “Who will actually be working with our family?”

Many independent education consultants today have set up offices containing as many as five to ten associates – all with varying degrees of expertise in the area of college counseling. Typically, when you meet with the consultant, the person who is the lead consultant or president of the organization will meet with the family. Sometimes that will be the person who you will meet with every time you have a conversation about college admissions. In many cases when you call the office that may be the person who ultimately gets your call and gives you advice. But that does not always happen. Be very specific about exactly who will be working on your file, and who will be your primary contact person with any phone calls or emails. It may be perfectly fine to have a number of different people who have access to your file and for many parents it’s not a big deal talking to different people every time you have a quick question about the college application process. However, my feeling is that most families prefer to have contact with just one person not only for simplicity’s sake but also for accountability. It’s your decision, and there is no right or wrong answer here, but at least know exactly who is the person or persons in charge of your file.

5. “Do you outsource any part of what you do?”

You might think that the consultant does all the work for your family – but you need to ask this vital question. You will probably meet with a consultant face-to-face or via Skype for the first meeting. You will also likely assume that any work that’s done for your son or daughter, including the college list, essay revisions, and help with the activity list will be done by that consultant. However, my experience has been that many consultants do not do this and actually outsource these extremely important responsibilities to coworkers or sometimes even to college students or high school students. There is nothing inherently wrong with a consultant using colleagues or using students to help them. But college consultants need to be upfront about that and as a parent you have every right to know exactly who is working on your son or daughter’s materials and the scope of the work that others are doing. Also be sure to ask about any oversight that is done regarding work done by people other than the consultant. You might want to also ask why you will be paying, in many cases, $200 to $300 an hour for a college or high school student to be doing the consultant’s work.

6. “Do you guarantee admission to a top school?”

Of all the questions to ask this is probably the most important one. I would strongly, strongly urge any family to avoid working with any consultant who promises admission to any college or university. Here’s the reason why: I attended and used to work in the Harvard admissions office and even I won’t guarantee admission to Harvard University. That being said, I find it remarkably hard to believe how any college admissions consultant who adheres to the highest ethical standards of the industry can guarantee admission to schools like Harvard and Stanford which have had approximately 5% admission rates in recent years. I think every consultant should guarantee that they will do their best, and that they will be a zealous advocate for you in the application process. However, any time a consultant starts to promise admission to a student’s top two or three schools, I start to have severe reservations about the expertise of the consultant. Generally, you see this done by private college consultants who are desperate to attract new business.

Be sure to arm yourself with plenty of information before you commit to a private education consultant – because you will be spending plenty of time with him or her in the months and/or years ahead. A quality college admissions consultant will make life considerably easier for a family, if that consultant is chosen wisely.

Good luck – choose the best counselor for you and give yourself the best chance of getting into a college that is a great fit for your son or daughter!