myUsearch blog

With college applications at an all-time high and fierce competition for top-ranked schools, many students are turning to admissions consultants to gain a competitive edge. But before you pull out your checkbook, make sure you understand what an admissions consultant does …..or should be doing.

A true admissions consultant’s primary focus should be helping their clients leverage their accomplishments to get into the school of their choice. There’s no “reinventing” someone or misrepresenting who the student is, it’s looking over each individual, seeing who they are and what they have to offer, and helping them to best present themselves to college admissions committees. In most cases, an admissions consultant will also help their client look for their “best fit” school, one that will provide the right type of education for themselves as well as their future.

So when surveying the consultant landscape, how do you choose a good company that has your best interests in mind? Here is a list of tips to help you hire an admissions consultant:

1. Ask questions about the one-on-one advising you will receive from your consultant. You should require someone who will be honest in assessing your academic and extracurricular record. An effective consultant will not only be knowledgeable of a range of schools, but will also work closely with you from start to finish and not “hand you off” to an assistant. Remember, a competent consultant is not solely focused on getting clients into their dream schools; it’s also about making sure that clients are applying to the best schools to commit years of their time at an enormous financial cost.
2. Ask how the consultant will help you deal with any grades or scores that don’t reflect your abilities or potential. Most bright and accomplished applicants have a “mistake” or two, but a skilled consultant knows the nature of academic anomalies and how they can be successfully mitigated.
3. A successful consultant will be skilled at managing the highly stressful application process. The application process involves a lot of self-assessment and other exercises typically outside anyone’s comfort zone. You will want someone who knows how much time to allot for various application tasks and will help you create – and stick to! - a timeframe to finish the application on time.
4. Do they have the background experience you need? A consultant worth your time and money should have considerable experience working as an admissions officer at one or more schools on par with the one you are applying to. Ask how many applications they read on a weekly basis during the admissions cycle. It can be helpful if the consultant attended a school similar to those on your target list, but what’s more important is the professional admissions experience earned on campus.
5. Successful consultants respect the admissions process. They know that competitive, highly-ranked schools consistently work hard to accept those who will be successful in carrying the academic load ahead and will contribute to the school’s environment. Ethical consultants will not view admissions officers as adversaries, nor will they view admissions as a process to be “gamed.”

While a good consultant will work hard to understand your potential, he or she will also value who you really are at this time in your life, knowing that with enough focus on school selection and applications, you will earn a slot at a school where you will have productive and rewarding years of learning, creating, researching and launching the next phase of your life.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us, Admissions Consultants. You can email our consultants or call our offices at 703.242.5885 and we’ll be happy to answer all your questions.