Our son, 16, studies at a private school in Singapore completing his IB program. He is a US citizen. Any recommendations on private counsellors for him to consult with before he starts his application and selection process. Many thanks.
what grade is he currently in?
Grade 10, rising junior
If you stick long enough on cc and willing to do a work yourself, you don’t need a private college counselor. All information is out there.
Is this an international school?
I would see if any parents of older students at the school have a suggestion. Talk to,the American expat parents.
Also, you can post questions about the college search on this forum, and I’m sure you will get lots of suggestions.
What Ballerina says is the truth.
My DS went to a private college with many college counselors, but I received better advise from CC [ this was 11 years ago] than any counselor could provide.
The only thing that an experienced, knowledgeable , successful outside counselor can provide is to be the “nag” , instead of his parents, when it comes to keeping him on tract regarding completing his applications, and to be a “second pair of eyes” to review his essays.
Otherwise CC 's experienced parents can pretty much tell you what you need to know and do.
Check to see if he can take the PSAT in Singapore during his Jr yr.
If he scores well on that test it can “elevate” his application above 97% of all applicants
https://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/international/psat
Does it help in the collegae application process to be an International student with a US citizenship?
If he was NOT a US citizen he would be at a huge disadvantage applying to private US colleges. but since he IS it has essentially no effect- edit- for PRIVATE colleges that is.
He WILL be OOS for all public U’s- UBC, UCLA, Michigan etc, etc and would have to pay full tuition if accepted.
Well…maybe. His application will be reviewed with others from the area in which you live.
Because you live abroad, it is not likely that you have instate status at any public university. some schools like University of Virginia, and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill have much higher admissions standards for OOS students. Of course, these aren’t exactly easy admits for instate students.
What sorts of colleges do you hope to target?
I don’t think you can receive private messages yet, or I would send you one. When we were overseas D2 did work with a private counselor who did a lot of work with Asian international students. D2 did test tutoring, essay writing and advising over skype.
I agree with Thumper1 that you should ask other parents for recommendations.
If you hire someone, make sure he/she is good and follows through! There are so many lousy counselors out there.
I’m guiding a young lady through the college application process whose father spent a couple thousand dollars for a private counselor. Said counselor has done nothing except pontificate. She missed payment deadlines for the SAT, had no clue that her ACT scores were well below average for the state flagship and along the way got very bizarre advice (University of Hawaii for a kiddo on a budget!) Yikes.
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We moved to Germany during my daughter’s HS years. She graduated with an IB Diploma.
Her school offered PSAT and SAT. We had to go to an Army Base to take the ACT.
Does it help to be an expat? It certainly gives the student a more varied view of the world. That may be of interest to colleges.
The downside of being an expat applicant is
- If you take the PSAT, your score to become a National Merit Scholar is the highest cutoff (as you don’t live in a state)
- You are not “in-state” anywhere.
- It may be more difficult to do in-school extracurriculars
Make sure you take the SAT/ACT Junior year so you can get an idea of your scores so you can use it to choose colleges.
Apply as a domestic applicant…but make sure to talk to your guidance counselor about what is expected re: recommendations, school profile, timing, etc. They may not be as familiar with the US College application process.
My daughter graduated from an International School in Germany and had no issues.
I would suggest visiting colleges either before or after admissions so you get an idea of the US college life. The student may be used to being more independent! We visited during spring break Junior year.
Also I would recommend looking at schools that give many credits for IB Diploma…my daughter went to SUNY Binghamton, She was able to graduate early (and save money) and go onto a Master’s program. Or she could have done an internship or taken more courses of interest.
This is their IB policy: https://binghamton.edu/harpur/advising/transfer/ib-credits.html
There’s a poster here on CC who is a private counselor who can probably work with your child via Skype. Her CC name is @Hanna.
I would second that about @hanna she is very smart. I don’t know if @gibby is a college counselor but she is brilliant also
I hired a college counselor for my senior. I really regret it. I get much better advice on cc. The only thing she has been good at is setting deadlines. That has kept the process moving.
There is a whole series about expat kids and college admissions on the Wall Street Journal website. The author is a former college admissions counselor at the American School in Japan. Here is a link to one of the articles and you can find the others from there: http://blogs.wsj.com/expat/2015/02/24/do-expats-kids-have-a-better-chance-of-admission-college-entrance-tip-no-7/
I’m looking for a college counselor for D2. We went through the whole thing with D1 year ago and it was kind of hectic, doing it for the first time without private counselor. D2 (junior now) wants to major in different area. Any recommendations for counselors in midwest
@wetfeet. Where in the Midwest?