College Counsellor for a college consulting and prep

Yes, private college counselors are expensive. If you're looking for "free", I highly recommend the podcast Your College Bound Kid. It really takes some deep dives into aspects of the admissions process. Authors Jeff Selingo & Ron Lieber also have some fantastic books on the subject.

I think the College Essay Guy website is pretty great, extremely thorough, and free. He also offers one-on-one consulting for a fee, as well as workshops— but there’s so much information there. Good luck!

OK, long answer as we have been going through just this: I would suggest understanding all the potential elements that your child may want to consider in applying to college-some examples below, and these are what a good counselor can help with:
1) what types of HS classes (and what level) would position them well for college interests and studies

2) what types of schools may make their list for applying to-programs, location, size, etc.

3) resources for financial aid, how to approach and optimize tours, and other random things to consider along the way

4) specific assistance with essay writing, and applications tracking and submission

There seem to be many recommendations for specific individuals if you search the archives, but suggest you think about what your child would benefit from most, what type of personality they (and you!) have, and what you believe their school counselor could already help with. And then what do you see necessary, if anything, beyond that? From a business standpoint I don’t know how many college consultants want to work with just one piece of the process vs. taking the student as a client for everything. I think that drives at least some of the cost, I hope it makes for better connections between the consultant and student.

It’s true that there are many books, podcasts and web blogs in this day that provide information for those who want to and can research on their own. In that case I recommend to search and triangulate some resources to see what you consider credible and matches your philosophy. To add I recommend books by Edward Fiske.

We found personally it was invaluable for our child to have an independent counselor, who was a more expert neutral party to help them navigate all these pieces over most of their high school career. It also felt like a first step of adulthood where they really had the relationship with the consultant and we parents were not involved (of course knowing the list of schools, and setting financial parameters up front).  

It all is a privileged system and easy to feel cynical about what may seem like “gaming the system” or trying to get into certain schools, but at best it is hopefully exciting to help prompt your child’s interests and support them moving into their next life phase, however you decide to proceed.

I guess my first question is, what is 'exorbitant' to your family? I'm not trying to be snarky - for some people this means a thousand dollars, for others, ten thousand. The college counselors who are professionals (trained and certified) are working for a living like every other consultant. As a ballpark, $1,000-$3,000 is a reasonable amount to pay for some general college counseling, and there are MANY excellent professionals that can help you. There are also people that charge upwards of $10-$15k, but I don't think there is any reason to pay that much. What is uncontested is that college admissions are more complicated than ever, and having an expert to help guide you is a huge benefit if affordable.

BPN has a great listing of college counselors, and you can search the archives for more. Most have their fees transparently listed on their websites, and you can ask for references. You can also check out sites like College Confidential where you can get plenty of guidance and free advice from parents who have gone though it. Most counselors are in the process of helping students compare offers at this time, you may want to wait until after May 1 (college decision day) to reach out. Good luck!

In the east bay area, most great college counselors take kids starting in at least sophomore year and charge about $5-6000 total. Amazingly, I think they're worth it if your kid is in public school and has weak advising, as was the case for my kid. But if you're not focused on top tier schools (including UCB and UCLA), then I think great info can be found online if you and your child are super disciplined and motivated. College Essay Guy site is excellent and so is Ask Ms Sun. I also really liked Shemmassian Academic Consulting. Those sites all had great advice for the UCs and common app. The challenge is that it's SO MUCH WORK to submit 12+ applications, which is the norm these days, and to understand which colleges really make sense to apply to. College advisors can be very helpful in creating a smart target list (that you can afford). And they take all the stress away from the parents, which does really help maintain a happy teen-parent relationship during a very stressful time. If you just start calling names that your friends have worked with and asking questions, you'll get solid info to start.

Like others on this thread, we're just finishing up the college application process.  We knew nothing about college counselors AT ALL until my nephew applied to colleges a couple of years ago and didn't get into many of his top choices despite his grades/SAT scores and life experiences.  His school counselors were also surprised.  He did get on the waitlist to a school  he loved and that's when someone recommended a professional who told him to write a LOCI (letter of continued interest) -- we had no idea he could even contact the school -- and have a teacher write another letter.  He got into the school, is attending now and it is a great match.

So, when it was my kiddo's turn to apply this year, I reached out to two coaches (Ivy Coaches -- upwards of $150,000 -- yes -- $150,000!) and Koppelman Group (more reasonable, but still more than we could afford).  I looked at some local folks (and perused BPN), but I just didn't see anyone who clicked for us.  We were going to forgo the counselor route and just do the best we could doing our own research (which we did).  But, we were also lucky enough to find Ilene Abrams (a former counselor at Berkeley High School) who was EVERYTHING -- organized, gentle, strong deadleins, supportive, caring, funny and stress-free.  I'd highly recommend her and, more importantly, so would my kiddo: ilene.abrams1704 [at] gmail.com.

Good luck!

I'd recommend Vivian Jensen, she's in the north bay but very knowledgeable, reasonably priced and has worked with both my kids (one a senior and one a junior). Best of luck! https://yourcollegepathca.com/