College Consultants:
Charlatans or Essential Assistants?
By Katherine O’Brien, MA
CCPS
Founder and Chief College
Planning Specialist
Celtic College Consultants
This week’s online brouhaha between Tufts’ Dan
Grayson and the IECA and HECA, national organizations of professional education
consultants regarding the role independent consultants play in college
admissions left parents wondering whether independent higher education consultants
were a blessing or a curse. Independent
consultants, college planners, and the like work directly for and with students
and their families, not for high schools or colleges/universities. These consultants range from those who
promise admissions to certain schools, write essays for students, and/or give
financial planning advice which results in nice commissions for themselves and
little or no help for their clients to ethical, well trained and educated
professionals who provide invaluable assistance to students trying to find a
focus, find themselves, and find suitable colleges and programs as well as
offering sound financial aid and college funding advice which increases the
family’s ability to afford college.
Mr. Grayson rightly decries those consultants
promising admissions to particular schools/top schools and selling admissions
essays the students may never even see.
I join him in the stand for high ethical standards in this field. On the
financial side of things, I wrote The Ultimate Guide to Top Quality College
Planning (available through Amazon) earlier this year specifically to
provide parents a solid overview of the various training programs and
professional organizations for college planners/education consultants. I provide clarity for parents seeking help on
the financial side of things so parents know how to interview potential
consultants and find those without a conflict of interest or, at the very
least, have that bias understood by all from the beginning.
Mr. Grayson, the Assistant Director at Tufts University
wrote a letter to Mark Sklarow, the president of the Independent Education Consultants
Association this week and said, “I know there are a great many independent
counselors who are adept and thoughtful. I'm grateful for the strong
professional and personal relationships I have with independent counselors, particularly
those working overseas…
“Further, in November, I'll be giving a panel at an
admissions conference offering a clear and explicit defense of the role that
ethical independent counselors play. …IECs, when they are ethical and
thoughtful, help families navigate an often eldritch and nearly always opaque
process marked with constantly shifting deadlines, requirements, and
expectations. I'll say in November, and I genuinely believe, that students need to have well-informed
guidance to be able to effectively understand US university admissions, and
that a family that seeks help from a well-informed independent counselor is
acting in their child's best interest. We, collectively, must
promote well-informed IECs …
or we risk ceding families to the group of actors who
are poorly informed and will lie and cheat to make a buck.” (emphasis added)
HECA, IECA, and NICCP all require their members to
adhere to a code of ethics. Those of us
who join these groups pledge to provide ethical guidance to our clients and to
represent ourselves accurately to prospective families and our colleagues. Members of the NICCP also have annual
continuing education credit requirements.
Good consultants in must constantly seek updated information since
requirements, trends, laws, and deadlines change often.
With his blog, page217.org and other writings, Eric J.
Furda, Dean of Admissions at the University of Pennsylvania, advocates “advice
on the college process which doesn’t try to give answers or false promises;
instead [he] embrace[s] guidance which provides an opportunity for
responsibility and growth.” Dean Furda’s
comments presuppose that students are receiving guidance. Given the incredibly high student to
counselor ratios, families are increasingly turning to independent college
consultants and planners for assistance.
Money Magazine supports this option saying, “School cutbacks have left
guidance counselors badly outnumbered…Consultants have begun to fill the void,
helping parents and kids to find the best schools for their money. Good consultants know college admission
trends and maintain significant ties in the field.”
In this
time when every dollar really counts, finding an education consultant/ college
planner to work with your college bound student and family is a critical part
of every college bound high school student’s life. Many planners offer a variety of services and
options which can be fine tuned to each family’s needs and budgets. Families seeking financial as well as
admissions/student preparation guidance would do well to consult the National
Institute of Certified College Planning Specialists’ online directory at
niccp.com.
Money Magazine quotation was found on IECAonline.com
10/23/13.
Dean Furda’s words were found in The Art of the Personal
Statement by Alex Thaler
Mr. Grayson’s words were found in his open letter to Mr.
Mark Sklarow, President of IECA and circulated by HECA.
