If you don’t want to go the traditional consultant route, but still want access to experts, there’s a great subscription service through Grown & Flown that gives you access to a team of accredited college admissions experts for an affordable price. (Just google College Admissions Grown and Flown). I think it’s $27/month. You can ask your questions and have them answered during live Q&As (that you can also watch after the fact). There’s a members-only community where you can ask questions to the experts and a video library with past Q&As about everything from essays to paying for college to creating a college list.