Our college counseling services advise students on how to prepare themselves during high school for the college admissions process. We also provide insights on what the right college list looks like for a particular student, help with stress management, and help students create the best, most competitive college applications.

Ideally, one should start with a college consultant early in high school, enabling students to be most successful in the college admissions process. This is because students often need more than parental counseling to maximize their potential. Substantial guidance throughout high school can be useful starting in ninth grade in order to reduce stress and help students increase their success in the college admissions process.

Do I really need help applying to college?

A generation ago, applying to college was simple. You filled out a form, your high school sent your class rank and standardized test scores, maybe you wrote a brief essay, and you heard back in the spring. Nowadays, of course, there’s a lot more to it than that. Here are five reasons that you might strongly consider getting some assistance in your college applications so that you can better your chances of attending your dream school:

• Schools get more and more competitive every year.

If you’re reading this, you probably have an inkling of this fact. The reasons are two-fold: more students applying to college, and more college applications per student, thanks to the ease of submitting multiple applications through online interfaces like the Common Application.

With this inundation of applications, it’s harder than ever to stand out from the pack. Having an experienced college admissions consultant on your side can help you understand exactly what colleges are looking for and how to present yourself in the most advantageous way. Knowing what works is the best way to gain admission to a highly selective college.

• High School Guidance counselors are overwhelmed.

Many parents of high school students ask what makes an admissions consultant different than a guidance counselor. The truth is that while high school guidance counselors work extremely hard and are essential to their schools, they cannot prioritize helping good students navigate the college admissions process or become more competitive applicants. No matter how good their public school or private school, counselors just don’t have the time or expertise to guide students on how to become more competitive in the admissions process.

Even college counselors at private schools really only help rising seniors, and they don’t make recommendations about extracurriculars, summer activities, or strategy. If you want someone who’s going to improve your overall applicant profile, you need to look outside of school.

• It’s an extremely involved process with lots of small details.

What are your child’s summer plans for each year of high school? Are they taking the right classes? Are they spending their extracurricular time wisely? How is test prep going (or has it even started)? Have they thought about what they want to study in college? Do they have leadership experience? What sets them apart from their peers? The list of questions goes on.

Even putting deadlines aside, it can be impossible for students and parents who are busy with a hundred other things to keep track of creating and updating a college list, figuring out the essays for each school, knowing which schools to visit, sending standardized test scores, and so on. Really, it’s a full-time job—so why not get help from an expert.

So, what does an admissions consultant do, exactly?

There are four crucial things a good college consultant will provide you and your child:

• An Enriching High School Experience

College admissions consulting also helps students get the most out of high school. The open secret about college admissions is that the things college love to see—engaged extracurricular involvement, evidence of strong leadership and interpersonal skills, great grades in hard classes, meaningful volunteering—are also the things that make high school more fun and enriching for students. A good college admissions consultant will expose you to all kinds of opportunities, help you to develop your interests and improve your overall high school experience.

• A Clear, Actionable Road Map

A good college admissions consultant will help you become a more competitive candidate. The earlier you start, the better, as students will have more time to ameliorate weaknesses and improve their stories. The college admissions landscape is highly competitive for colleges, and often it’s not easy to understand how to get from where you are to where you want to be. Having a knowledgeable admissions consultant will provide that road map.

• The Right-Fit College

An admissions consultant can also help students find the exact right program. It can be easy to fixate on a particular course of study or one or two schools, but are they really the places that are going to provide the best education, in the right-fit environment, and prepare you for where you want to go afterward? Good admissions consultants know the landscape better than anyone and can point you toward the perfect schools and programs for you.

• Lifelong Skills

Finally, an admissions consultant can also help students prepare for college and beyond. Many of the skills students develop while working with an admissions consultant—deciding on a major, writing a personal statement or college essay, creating a resume, practicing for an interview—will come in handy later in life. Working with an admissions consultant can set students on the right track, academically and professionally, and give them the confidence to succeed in college and beyond.