Private Educational Consultants: What to Know

Our students’ schools are staffed with high school and college placement counselors who are capable, knowledgeable, and immensely important resources for your child as they navigate the high school and college admissions process. Use them!

Thinking about hiring a Private Educational Consultant?

Some of our families still decide to seek outside counsel during these often stressful moments of transition. Maybe your child is at a K-12 school where there is no high school placement counselor. Maybe your child is working with a counselor who makes them feel nervous, or you have an athlete or artist and you need tailored advice.

Whatever the case, if you do consider hiring someone privately, that person won’t be from TA! We are just here to support your child academically and with these awful tests--here’s what we think you should do first:

Pick One Who has the Right Resume:
We know many of the best consultants in the field, but some are pretty specialized (college only, high-school only, boarding-school-focused, day-school-focused, lots of experience with recruitment) and some have more experience or different experience. We always suggest speaking to multiple consultants and having some questions ready so that you can hire the right person for your child. 

Make Sure Everyone in the Family Clicks With the Counselor:
Ideally, both you and your child will be regularly talking to anyone you hire privately. You need to feel comfortable with how often and in what manner you’re updated, and you’ll need to trust the advice given to you. Your child also needs to have a rapport with the counselor, especially since he/she will work on interview skills and personal essays, both of which require vulnerability on the part of your son or daughter. 

Ask Us for References:
Consultants are expensive and do important work. Anyone we recommend to you comes highly recommended to our team directly from TA families and has a track record of success. We at TA are always happy to connect you to parents who can chat about their experiences--they know best what it’s like to work with these consultants and they can relate to the stressors of being a parent during these processes. 

For additional information about consultants who have worked with our families in the past send us an email or give us a call and we’d be happy to share our resources!