College Counselors Should Not Interact with Colleges

A prospective client recently sent us a laundry list of questions in advance of the free consultation that we offer via phone — a free consultation that is designed specifically to answer questions about our service offerings. So, yes, as students of the 80/20 principle of good business, we deeply suspect we’re not the right fit for this particular prospective client. But, more importantly, her questions reflect a know-it-all attitude that will not serve her child’s case for admission and who wants to deal with such people? Shall we explain? We shall, we shall!

Some Prospective Clients Seek College Counselors Who Interface with Colleges

In one of about a dozen questions posed, the prospective client asked, “What specific universities do you engage with regularly?” It seems she’s seeking to enlist a private college counselor who regularly engages with our nation’s elite universities. She wants a private college counselor who regularly interfaces with college admissions officers. Maybe she envisions her college counselor having tea and biscuits with an admissions officer from Yale. Well, we dashed her hopes. After all, we do not interact with any current admissions officers — not at Yale or any Ivy League or highly selective college. Heck, we don’t interact with current admissions officers at any college whatsoever. We do, however, interact with former admissions officers at our nation’s elite universities — often when we hire them to work with us at Ivy Coach!

But Any College Counselor Worth Their Salt Never Interfaces with Colleges

If a college counselor suggests they do interact with admissions officers, we ever so strongly encourage you to run, run fast, and run for the nearest hills because no college counselor worth their salt interacts with current admissions officers. No college counselor worth their salt engages with universities. We at Ivy Coach work exclusively behind the scenes. Admissions officers evaluating the applications of our students do not know our students had the assistance of a college counselor — nor should they. That would render them unlikeable, which is the exact opposite of the objective of our work. So while it seems we couldn’t give this prospective client the answer she was looking for and so she’ll probably seek out another college counselor, the joke indeed is on her. Yikes is right!