A College Prep Counselor's Top Ten List

College prep counseling is a large and growing industry with many counselors charging anywhere from $95 to $375 for their advice. But SmartMoney.com suggests that parents and their high school age children consider a few key points before shelling out money for the services these counselors offer.

In an article headlined, 10 Things College-Prep Advisors Won’t Tell You the personal finance magazine, warns that many college prep counselors have no special credentials. While there are two major national associations for independent college counselors, neither offers formal accreditation. One of them, the IECA, questions the qualifications of many of those offering college prep advice.

“There are thousands of people calling themselves educational consultants. Most of them don’t have educational training or commitment to ethical practice,” says Mark Sklarow, executive director of IECA. “I hear almost every day from someone who says, ‘I got my daughter into Swarthmore, so now I want to help others do this.”

Since SAT scores and sophomore and junior year GPAs are often the two key deciding factors in college admissions decisions, parents who hire a counselor when their student is a junior in high school may be too late. And as for the all-important essay, hiring a college counselor to help may actually work against an applicant. Dan Saracino, assistant provost of admissions at Notre Dame, told the magazine he can spot a professionally-edited essay a mile away. “The essays that are not done in the authentic voice of the student are readily apparent,” he says.

But there’s no need to be discouraged. The magazine also points out that most high school counselors will do the same job as a professional counselor for free. “In many cases, paying for advice might be unnecessary, since the counselor at your teenager’s high school probably provides similar counsel–free of charge.” The only exception would be high schools where guidance counselors are assigned more than 50 or 60 students each.