Is College Consulting Worth It?
The price tag alone makes you think there must be something to it. A service charging upwards of $100,000 must know something you don't, right? That's the assumption most families make when they hear about a student spending the equivalent of a year's tuition just to get into an Ivy. They scrutinize everything about the student, especially when the student seems pretty mid. Conclusion: some kind of dark magic must have been at work. Some magical formula that shaped their application into something compelling. That confirmation bias is what perpetuates the college consulting racket, even in an era of increased data and transparency. At elite international schools here, from my experience, at least 90% of students use a consulting service. These families can afford it, so what could it hurt? If a student did it their application on their own and failed, there’s always going to a sense of guilt and self-recrimination.
Still, for the vast majority of students who use these services, it amounts to nothing more than an expensive placebo. What they're actually paying for is someone to Google things on their behalf. The summer programs, extracurricular lists, and tailored timelines come courtesy of two minutes on ChatGPT. The deep insider knowledge these consultants claim to have isn't what you're paying for. You're really just paying for the firm's high rents, tasteful office furniture, and Ivy League staff who couldn't get into McKinsey or Goldman Sachs.
If you do decide to go with a consultancy, choose one with a long track record, ten years or more. These places have a database of past students whose profiles and outcomes you can compare against your own, and that's legitimately useful. But you can replicate this yourself if you're willing to be brutally honest. Who were the best students from last year? Where did they get in? Now ask yourself whether you compare favorably. Next, what about your classmates? Are you the best writer in your cohort? The best physics student? The most charismatic leader? If you can honestly say yes to these difficult questions, aim high. But if you’re unsure, you already have your answer, and though your pride might be hurt, at least you saved yourself a lot of money.
You've now done the core analytical work that most of these firms sell as their primary value. The rest—programs, activities, and test prep strategy—is publicly available, and none of it requires a specialist to decode. An afternoon on the right forums and talking with your college counselor will get you most of the way there.
There is, however, one thing these consultancies genuinely cannot deliver, even the good ones: real writing help. Actual, skilled editing by someone who understands how a voice works on the page is not easy to find. What’s more, many consultancies now rely on AI for feedback and will even edit using AI, making you sound generically good. You probably already have most of the application figured out. The one area I wouldn’t take any chances on is your essays. I’m here to help.
