Why Use an Education Consultant?

An education Consultant is a skilled professional who provides counseling to help students and families choose a school, college, or other program that will foster the student’s academic and social growth. An education consultants can provide a student and family with individual attention, firsthand knowledge of hundreds of educational opportunities, and the time to explore all of the options.

With their extensive knowledge of schools and organizations, education consultants can broaden the potential choices, and provide vital help in weighing factors such as cost, location and curriculum. With an experienced educational consultant, students and families have the opportunity to explore a wider variety of options and discuss possibilities in a meaningful way.

What to Expect When You Work with an Education Consultant

Independent education consultants begin with an evaluation, to help your student identify strengths and weaknesses, as well as educational objectives, choices, and plans.

Testing: When appropriate, the consultant will recommend testing for purposes of psychological or academic assessment. Consultants may either administer these tests themselves, or make a referral to other professionals for testing.

Options: The Independent education consultant will work with your family to consider the full range of educational possibilities, and provide a broad selection of pertinent information for consideration.

Advice: Independent education consultants give students and families unbiased advice and recommendations based on their professional judgment of a student’s needs and abilities. Consultants are compensated directly by their clients and do not receive any compensation from educational institutions.

Most importantly, independent education consultants will develop a game plan for the student that will help him/her become as successful as possible in the college planning and admissions process.

One way to ensure that an independent education consultant is ethical is to hire an Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) member who has been vetted through IECA’s intense application process.

Here are two great resources put together by IECA:

12 Warning Signs that an Independent Educational Consultant is Not Worth Hiring

1. They promise to use their ‘pull’ or ‘connection’ to secure admission to a particular school or college.
2. They guarantee you’ll be accepted into one of your top choices.
3. They guarantee a certain dollar value in scholarships that are just waiting for you.
4. They have no formal training, and don’t attend workshops or conferences, but they “helped their own child” so they can help yours, too. (You should strive to be admitted based on who you are; admission directors can see through a slick package.)
5. They tell you not to worry about all the details on the application forms…they’ll take care of those for you.
6. They tell you that while they accept “finders fees” from certain schools and colleges, they would never let that influence their suggestions.
7. They don’t spell out exactly what services you get in exchange for their fee.
8. They indicate that their background, training, and years of experience are unimportant details not worth going into.
9. They do not visit college campuses, but admission representatives sometimes visit them and that’s just as good (or they do not visit campuses but review their catalogs and Web sites, which they falsely claim to be just as effective).
10. They indicate that they will significantly edit the essay to make sure it’s perfect, as if admission directors can be fooled.
11. They haven’t gone through a national vetting process of their background, education, experience, references, campus visits, and marketing materials