I am surprised that my thread was deleted and I was tagged spammer. I am seeking advice here being a faculty myself. I have counseling service guaranteeing my daughter in 10th grade that they will give admission in top 10 universities of my choice else money back. Should I believe them? The name of the company is in the name of one of the groups here in collegeconfidential. I will not write it since the moderators may delete my question. Please help and provide suggestions.
Referrals of specific consultants or organizations is not allowed. Please keep comments general in nature. Any specifics should be communicated by PM.
For the OP, I’d be highly suspect of any service offering that guarantee.
ETA: OP edited to remove details not appropriate for the public forum.
1 Like
It is really up to you to understand the guarantee. If it was me, I would first want to understand what my child’s school offers for counseling and my child’s school profile to understand where students from their school gain admittance. Is this group local to you and your region? Your child’s HS matters and working with someone that understands your specifics is key, imo. If your HS does not offer robust college counseling, can you speak with the school and see if they have recommendations for an outside counselor.
I would also dig deeper into the cost - $$$ guarantee for 1 acceptance - is the list 100% of your making or are they making sure it is balanced - which should lead to acceptance. It may be your child’s least fav school on the list - but an acceptance is an acceptance. Are there add on costs - ie: more costs for additional services that are not included in the guarantee. Are these college consultants members of any of the professional associations and do they tour colleges on a regular basis?
Do you have references from friends or colleagues or are you just going off a website?
Personally, I would avoid any company making a guarantee - my kids attended a very well regarded independent prep school and there is no way the very experienced and knowledgeable counselors that knew the students well would ever make a guarantee - they would create a balanced list based on each individual student that would offer choice.
2 Likes
I personally have found the opinions here on CC to be very helpful in getting S24 accepted. Anyone here can probably put up a sign and start a consulting service and get your kid in their “top 10” choices.
Basically any question you may have regarding the process, you will be able to find here. In fact, almost everyone I know who hired an advisor or consultant this and previous years have probably done less well than my kid this year, on our own using nothing more than the things I learned here.
There are no additional costs and I asked this question to them too. They are in California and we are in West Virginia. Now they have offered $200 to try and if I like their advice the money will be credited towards $2000. They have linkedin profiles but I did not ask membership. I will surely include ivies and other top universities in the top 10 list and I will not provide the safe university list. They want monthly checkin, names of universities by certain date, 3 days to sit for completing applications. Only this is mandatory. I have no recommendations from anyone else I wouldnt have asked here. This entire counseling thing is so difficult. School high schoolers are not much help.
(Moderator note: name of counseling company edited out to comply with forum rules).
It should read school counselors are not of much help
Up to you how to spend your money but given that someone doesn’t know your student’s academic prowess, study habits, test taking ability or anything else, I find it a ridiculous statement.
I’m sure your daughter can get into your choice of the 10 schools you want - if they are reasonable for someone with her profile.
Personally, a guarantee would turn me off.
That’s me - I’m cynical - and no one can guarantee anything.
3 Likes
The “guarantee” sounds sketchy and the high pressure selling sounds worse. People like this are just monetizing parental anxiety. It’s your money but I wouldn’t use a hard-sell, high-volume business like this. My bet is that once they get you hooked, they start up-selling more services like test prep, etc.
3 Likes
I don’t know if this particular company is a scam, but this type of money back guarantee is often used in scams. Here’s an example of how it works:
I could set up a Dating Magic Company that would promise a money-back-guarantee for getting accepted on a date. The terms of the deal would be that you would give me $2000 and a list of 10 single people you know in real life with whom you are interested in going on a date. In return, I would give you a “magic amulet.” You would be instructed to hold the magic amulet in your hand while you asked each of these 10 single people out on a date. If all 10 turned you down, I would give you your $2,000 back. But if you get accepted on even 1 date, I get the $2,000. Let’s say I get 100 people to sign up for my Dating Magic Company. Even if 90 of these people fail to get a single date,and I have to return their money, I make $20K for nothing more than a “magic amulet” that cost me 50 cents!
So to avoid this sort of scam, find out what the company plans to do for you. Are they providing a real service (e.g. test prep, essay editing, application editing, activity advising etc) or are they selling the equivalent of a “magic amulet” which actually does nothing and they are banking on a certain percentage of their customers getting accepted all on their own?
1 Like
Are you a faculty member at a college that participates on a Tuition exchange program? Can you find out who the college consulting company employs? Can you get references or do some research and find out more about the company on places like linked in?
You could simply donate a few million and bribe a school directly.
Of course it’s a scam.
What could they possibly be “guaranteeing” that is a legit service?
1 Like
I keep thinking 2 things:
#1: Money back - well that is years away, will they even be around to give you the money back?
#2: Get in to one of your 10 choices - there is no way there is not something in the contract that has a disclaimer or that one of the schools must be your state flagship or meeting safety requirements - otherwise everyone would put all Ivys + Stanford etc…and we know how that works out for the majority of kids.
Just plain kooky or way undercharging for the “magic”.
Reminder that CC is not a referral service. Do not post names of companies as they will be deleted. Thank you for understanding.
1 Like
I do not think the money back guarantee makes this a scam or not legit. I do think it makes them seem cheezy. Cheezy and scam are not the same thing.
Note that your daughter WILL get into one of your top 10… that you guys agree to.
Try hard to evaluate them like you would any other purchase at this price point.
If you alone pick the right 10 colleges including a sure thing…your daughter will get accepted to one of those colleges.
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. If you’d like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.