Most respectable college counselors will let you attend one of their initial counseling sessions for free where you can ask all of these important questions:
- what services will you provide me (e.g essay writing; prep to take the ACT/SAT again to get a higher score)?
- over what time period will you be providing me these services?
- the Ivies are all different types of colleges, which ones will the counselor be steering me towards?
- can we pay you hourly, not a lump sum for services?
- you claim to have a 90% success rate for the ivies, how are you doing it specifically?
- do you have 3 references for clients of yours?
- if you are so sure I will get into an ivy, how about I pay you 50% of your fees upon acceptance?
While I’m a big proponent of good college counselors I would never pay a flat fee but only have used ones that have an hourly rate. $13,000 seems VERY cost prohibitive, especially this late in the game but to be honest with you, if your parents want to spend their money on this counselor I see very little downside to you as long as YOU have a good list of reach, match, and safety colleges on your college list and let them know that the odds are against you to get into an ivy without some kind of hook.
Good luck to you and remember this should be a fun and exciting time in your life and you have worked very hard on your academics in HS! Try to stay positive and think what wonderful opportunities you will have in college no matter where you end up.