Finding Educational Consultants and Commercial Counseling Centers

Introduction

Today’s youth are faced with many educational options after graduation from secondary school and the process for sorting through those options can be confusing. 

Students and their families seek information and focus through the expertise, services and support of their school counselor.  School counselors provide strategies, resources and assist students with the process of understanding their options based on the student’s interests, academic abilities and future aspirations.

For some students and their families, the college selection process is seen as so complex, and the increasing use of technology so daunting, that they feel additional assistance is warranted.

A number of students and their parents have turned to resources outside the school environment to aid them in their search for appropriate colleges and universities and admission counseling information.  These resources may include educational consultants, commercial counseling centers or Internet counseling.

New services from outside the traditional school counselor model are available to students and families as they move through the college admission process.  In this brochure the term “educational consultant” is used to describe both independent counselors and educational consultants.

The first step in deciding whether to seek outside services is to assess your individual needs and evaluate the resources available in your own school.

• Does your school have counselors who spend a significant amount of time counseling students through the college admission process?  
• Have the school’s counselors received special training through regional or national workshops for college counseling?  
• Is there a college/career center where you can have access to books, applications, computer programs, and other materials for individual resources?

If the answer to these questions is yes, you may not feel the need to seek additional  assistance.

Educational Consultants

Educational consultants work outside the secondary school setting to provide individualized college admission and related services to students and parents.  Educational consultants charge a fee for these services.

The ideal educational consultant will have a minimum of five years experience working in a high school as a college counselor or for a college or university as an admission officer.  Many educational consultants work closely with the student’s high school counselor to provide the best possible assistance to students and their families.

Commercial Counseling Centers

Commercial college counseling centers are businesses offering a variety of services, from study skills to test preparation to individual college counseling and application review.  Just as in consulting an educational consultant, you should find out about fees, services, credentials, backgrounds, and professional affiliations of these counselors.

In addition to commercial college counseling centers that may exist in your local community, there are also new private commercial counseling sites emerging on the Internet.  Counseling in this new venue should meet the same criteria as if you were consulting an educational consultant or traditional commercial counseling center.