The Internet has disrupted many businesses, including college counseling. Using e-mail and Zoom, it is now possible to hire a counselor who does not live and work in Tucson.
But is that a good idea? If you are a Tucson parent considering hiring an out-of-town counselor, here are a few things you should know.
Understand your local options
When you search the Internet for college counselors in Tucson, you may find several national firms in the results. At least one national firm lists local high schools and wealthier suburbs on the website that Google serves up to prospective Tucson customers – too bad that the firm is in Atlanta (its telephone number is one clue). This firm has similar websites for a dozen other cities.
Ask prospective counselors where they live and work.
Will national counselors do a better job?
Don’t bet on it.
As Mark Twain once said, “[a]n expert is an ordinary fellow from another town.” Similarly, without more information, an out-of-area counselor is merely another counselor with an Internet connection.
Here are some questions to ask when evaluating the suitability of a national college counseling firm.
Which counselor will assist my family?
Most national firms have more than one counselor on staff. Identify the counselor who will work with your family; it may not be the supposedly well-known counselor listed on their website.
Be particularly wary if you are offered a “team” of counselors; it takes a long time to get to know students and earn their trust – this is not a task easily divided.
How much effort will the counselor devote to my family?
Ask how many clients the counselor will handle in the coming college application season. Here is one national firm’s promise:
At [our company], counselors limit their practice to 30 students per grade level, despite the fact that we receive far more requests, and because taking on additional students would compromise the quality and responsiveness of our service.
Let’s do the math. Even if we assume that most of their clients are high school juniors and seniors, that means each counselor is expected to handle up to sixty students. After deducting time for administrative tasks, attending conferences, and touring colleges, each counselor has at most 2,000 hours of time to devote to students. Here’s your result: your student will receive about 35 hours of the counselor’s time.
You and your student need – and deserve – more effort. I spend at least 100 hours per student. See Why Hire Me? for a more detailed explanation of why I believe this time is well spent.
How do I know whether the counselor who will assist our family is skilled?
There are no required degrees or certificates required to be a college counselor. This means that counselors come from all walks of life and have varying experience and ability.
The best counselors do several things well. We interview parents and students about students’ interests, academic strengths and weaknesses, and extra-curricular activities. We conduct extensive research and recommend “best fit” colleges for a student. Finally, we help students craft a successful application, including editing (but not writing) essays.
Some counselors will point to their experience as admissions officers, on the theory that only a former applications “judge” can create a winning application. But judging is not the same as “doing.” Former admissions officers may know how student applicants at their colleges were evaluated, but they may not have experience in helping students create accurate, complete, and compelling portraits that will win them admission.
Over my 27-year career as a white-collar crime prosecutor, I interviewed countless numbers of victims, witnesses, and experts, conducted extensive Internet research (see the posts on this blog for examples), and persuaded untold decision-makers of the merits of my cases. Those skills transfer very well to my college counseling practice.
Hiring an affordable counselor
Most college counselors do not reveal their fees. I am not like most counselors, so let’s compare.
As of this writing, I charge $4,000 per client for the full range of my services. As mentioned previously, I spend at least 100 hours working for each client.
I accept a maximum of five clients each season so that I can spend the time needed to obtain a high-quality result for each. Because I approach this as an “encore career” (see About Me), I can charge much less than my competitors.
National firms are unlikely to devote that amount of time. Go ahead and ask them – I’d like to become acquainted with counselors who match my services and fees!
National firms typically charge more than I do – often a whole lot more. Consider this article in the New York Times about the 2018 admissions season. See https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/reader-center/unvarnished-tales-of-getting-into-college-in-the-us.html. Note the student (Ms. Hamel), whose counselor collected $8,000.
Fees have soared since then. At the pinnacle of pricing, we have national firms that charge about $1,000 per hour. For a recent glimpse into the world of extreme fees, consider How College Consultants Invent Perfect Ivy League Applicants (nymag.com). Finally, while newspapers gravitate toward the sensational, the following paragraph from a story about a counselor who charged one family $1.5 million (!) contains usable data.
The fee charged [client] is exponentially higher than the industry norm, where independent counselors charge anywhere from $85 to $350 an hour and comprehensive packages range from $850 to $10,000, according to a January survey by the Independent Education Counselors Association.
https://nypost.com/2018/02/10/mom-agreed-to-give-counselor-1-5m-to-help-kids-college-admissions-suit
As you can see, my fees are at the very low end of that range.
You can — and should — hire a Tucson college counselor.