Wondering how to choose the right college advisor? We’ve broken it down for you.
Independent admissions consulting, despite our twenty plus years in the industry still feels, on many days, like the unregulated Wild West. Take the different approaches as evidence. Some follow the one-counselor-per-student model while others assign each student a support team. Sometimes there is coordination within this team; often, there is not. Some offer a package fee structure; others charge by the hour. Some offer guarantees; most don’t (and, realistically, none can). Some insist on every student doing a passion project; others just do essay support. Some integrate test prep and tutoring; others insist on a clear division of labor. You won’t be surprised that we have opinions on many of these models, but mostly, the diversity of approaches underscores how overwhelming families must find the process of picking an advisor.
To start, let’s consider our ingredients: one of the people you love most in the world (your child!), the high-stakes question of that person’s future, and the not-insignificant financial expenditure of admissions consulting. What results? Anxiety, uncertainty, and sometimes, an opportunity for unprincipled players to take advantage of vulnerable families.
How can we calibrate services so that each student is supported in a way that fits their, and their family’s, needs? How can we ensure that they are working with an actual human looking through the lens of the individual student’s life context and circumstances, while also holistically, professionally, and expertly evaluating the national landscape? We believe: think nationally; advise locally.
Current Adviser Models: Your Options
Let’s look at the three main models in the independent admissions industry: sole proprietors, midsize boutique practices, and major national companies. Each has its strengths, and its vulnerabilities.
Sole proprietors usually only take a caseload of 20–25 students per cycle, maximum. They offer a highly personal experience, but can’t fall back on a teammate for a second opinion. Their pool of collective expertise is necessarily smaller, and sounding boards are limited. Having your pulse on the national landscape is important, and while professional organizations and networking help, sometimes having a team is the best way to get this. Not to mention that the (editing, brainstorming, strategizing, organizational, interpersonal, recall, and more!) skills required of an effective advisor are sometimes best cultivated through teamwork.
Midsize boutique practices get around this issue by offering individualized support with the collective expertise of a team. You can seek a second opinion or the experience of someone who has worked with a design applicant, soccer recruit, or saxophonist when you haven’t personally. But most midsize boutiques skew selective, so you run into issues of assuming that every applicant wants to go after the most sought-after schools, and frequently the prices match.
Large national practices are good at reaching a wider swath of students, often at more variable price points. But, the oversight and training can be limited. How experienced, or how passionate, your advisor is about your child’s future — and their work — can be luck of the draw. Families usually work with advisors outside of their communities, so the extent to which an advisor can tailor their recommendations to the student’s school, region, or community is limited. In short, the advising can be generic and the quality only as good as the person providing services.
Think nationally; advise locally. Our strategy aims to mitigate these vulnerabilities in an approach that somehow simultaneously looks like it’s from both now and the 1950s. We have identified experts in communities nationwide and given them both the support, resources, and culture of a team and the flexibility to adapt their approach to fit the needs of the young people they serve. In other words, we are leveraging human capital. By empowering advisors in this way, we give them an opportunity to do their best, most fulfilling, most impactful work in partnership with families in their communities who are invested in the student’s outcome. When it comes down to hiring an advisor for your child, we understand that you want to work with someone you know and trust without compromising quality, circumscribing scope, or thinking too small.
