I’m not looking for a referral, but would love to know what channels you’ve found your CAC’s through, particularly independent ones. I’ve been trying to find one for my daughter, but Google seems to pull up the same big companies each time I look (IvyWise, Empowerly, etc). Where do you find good, independent CAC’s that don’t have massive marketing budgets? I know word of mouth is a big one, but that sadly hasn’t worked for me yet. Would love to hear more about your experiences!
You can look on the IECA association website for some names, either locally to you or remote. You should choose some one who is affiliated with professional associations, like IECA, HECA, NACAC.
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Good. Because to be clear, that’s not allowed here.
The best way is by personal referral. If you know any folks who have used consultants…and have liked them, ask for the names.
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And do the reverse- ask around for people who have used consultants and did NOT like working with them. And find out why. That can help.
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In some communities it can be tricky to ask for recommendations for college counselors for several reasons. As we all know college admissions has become quite competitive and people might not want to share that they did hire or intend to hire a counselor. That’s how the community we lived in when we were raising kids behaved…best case people would only ask their closest friends for a referral. Even then, most people would not talk about the fact they were usually a counselor, even though a high proportion of students were. Some HS counseling teams are also not accepting of students working with outside counselors, so people tend keep that fact quiet. And lastly, getting to the competitive issue, in some markets, the best counselors often fill up their rosters with 9th graders.
And perhaps sometimes a family has been unrealistic and didn’t like the feedback by a very competent or qualified counselor so that family might not give a positive review to a friend. It’s a delicate cakewalk.
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