Hired Help: The College Application Business
By Denise Estefan
October 1, 2008
The college search process is overwhelming for most parents, and time-strapped high school guidance counselors can only offer so much help. According to Ann Evans, a college consultant with 29 years of experience as a counselor at Chapparal High School in Scottsdale, the ratio of students to counselors at public high schools is currently about 450 to one. Not surprisingly, many students need more individualized attention than they get at school as they navigate the application process.
What can professional college consultants provide, and at what cost? Trey Chappell is the director of College X-ing in Scottsdale (collegexing.com). He conducts exit interviews with families he’s counseled and finds they consistently appreciate three aspects of his involvement:
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Keeping communications between parent, student and school open and clear.
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Taking things one step at a time in what is a complicated and daunting process.
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Opening minds to consider colleges that were not in the original plan.
Chappell offers a free initial consultation; fees for his college advising plan begin at $4,000 and he accepts students as young as freshmen. Most of his work involves juniors and seniors who are in the process of test taking, writing essays for their applications and building their resumes.
Chappell also provides a short-term package for $485. Called a Disk Assessment, the service involves a phone consultation, online test and a 26-page report designed to help students select majors, define communication styles and come up with appropriate school matches.
When she retired from Chapparal, Evans began a consulting partnership with Shannon Barth (author of Show! Don’t Tell!: How to Personalize College Applications). Her philosophy is to assist parents, students, teachers, employers and counselors throughout the discernment and application process.
“I see kids face-to-face and estimate that I spend between 18 and 25 hours with each student, from start to finish,” she says. Her fee is $3,000 for a package that includes “whatever is needed.” She does not consider her job over until each student she works with is placed into an appropriate college. (Reach her at 480-518-6830.)
Several Internet-based companies offer college admissions consulting. Ryan Leer, senior manager of client service for Massachusetts-based College Coach (getintocollege.com) says his company "teaches students how to make themselves stand out, beyond test scores and academic and extracurricular activities. We teach them how to advocate on behalf of themselves."
By offering an admissions-office perspective, College Coach offers parents valuable input on the best ways to communicate with colleges and universities. College Coach works with families by telephone, email and fax and charges an hourly fee once a determination is made about what is needed. Some students may just require help with an essay or preparing for an interview. The Private Premier Service package costs $4,199 and individualizes the planning process based on the student's needs.
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