What Do Education Consultants Do

I’m an IEC (independent education consultant), though we are also known as independent college counselors sometimes. I have worked for 6+ years in the college counseling field, helping high school students across all disciplines navigate their academics, extracurriculars, and college search as they prepare for the college admissions process. I received my B.A. in Comparative Literature from Stanford University, where I was the head tutor of Stanford’s Hume Center for Writing and Speaking. Then, I received my College Counseling Certificate from UCLA, and am now an active member of HECA (Higher Education Consultants Association).

First off, I am self-employed so the responsibilities I have are the ones I set for myself. I work with 10-15 high school students per grade, starting with some as early as freshman year. Each student receives approximately 60-90 hours of college counseling over the course of their high school career, which includes:

• Helping students identify and research the schools on their college list, and ensuring that students apply to a balanced selection of colleges
• Pre-college planning, including class forecasting, applying to summer programs, and selecting extracurricular activities that fit their academic interests
• Drafting a resume that is professional and conveys the student’s unique qualities
• Selecting and connecting with teachers who will write the letters of recommendation
• Making a standardized testing strategic plan
• Successfully applying to all the schools on the college list, making sure students do not miss any deadlines/requirements, especially for scholarships
• Providing essay brainstorming and essay feedback; the college application process in the US requires significantly more personal writing than elsewhere in the world, and this is what I spend the majority of my time working with students on
• Making sure that students write to colleges to express continued interest after deferrals and waitlists in a timely manner
• Conducting a scholarship search and making sure all my students apply to the scholarships they’re eligible for

A typical day for me involves 4-8 hours of student meetings (seasonally dependent – I work much more during August-January when students are submitting their applications) and 2-4 hours of adding feedback to students’ essays. During the busy season, working with students on their application essays takes up the majority of my time, but student meetings are a close second. During the “off-season,” I visit 20-30 new colleges and universities, attend education conferences like HECA / NACAC, and keep myself up to date on the trends in the college admission landscape.

A day in the life for me would entail:

Early Morning: Catching up with national college admissions trends via HECA (Higher Education Consultants Association) webinars and other continuing education opportunities, like meeting with an admissions counselor to hear about a college’s new program.

Late Morning – Afternoon: Meeting with my students (some combination of high school students between 9th-12th grade) who are all at different points in their college application journey. With one senior, we might discuss different financial aid awards and how to compare them. My next student might be a sophomore passionate about studying architecture, and we discuss how to build his portfolio over the summer. My next student might be a high school junior who is struggling with a learning disability, and we discuss learning accommodations that her high school offers, and how to go about applying for those accommodations. The meeting after that might be a parent + student meeting in which the family wishes to discuss all the college decisions the student has received and how each school fits within their budget.

Evening: Providing feedback on essays, including resumes, college application essays, summer application essays, waitlist emails, teacher recommendation request letters, athlete-coach correspondence, scholarship essays, and high school essays. Taking calls from parents if any urgent issues have arisen with their child’s learning or college application goals (for example, this year the most common phone call I had was about parents who had lost their job during the pandemic and wanted to learn how to navigate the financial aid appeal process).

Ultimately, what I love about my work is that not only is each day different, but each student is different! I love going from working with my introspective poet/activist student to my concrete-thinker / future engineering student. Tailoring my college counseling to fit each student’s interests and personality is part of what makes my job fun, and perpetually engaging.

Pros

The best part of my job is working with students one-on-one and tailoring the college application process to fit their aspirations (and parents’ financial budgets). Building these student relationships is incredibly rewarding, and I stay in touch with all my students even after they graduate high school and college.

Cons

A potential “con” (or more accurately “challenge”) of the job would be dealing with student/parent anxiety about a college’s prestige. An important part of my philosophy is helping students to find “best fit” colleges. It is my favorite experience each year when former students call me as freshmen to say “Rachel, coming to this school is like finding a new family, a new home. These are my people!” High school can be extremely stressful if parents and students are exclusively focused on highly selective institutions. Alternatively, high school can feel like a wonderful exploration process, a time of academic discovery, if students feel that, by pursuing the activities and interests that make them excited, they are also setting themselves up for success as they apply to college. For example, if I have a student who loves video games and computer science, I don’t say “Stop wasting your time on video games,” instead I say, “You love video games? What kind? RPGs? Real-time Strategy (RTS)? How about we look into Animation programs this summer and see if that’s a good academic fit for you….” So I feel like it’s my responsibility to help parents and students put the focus on college “fit” rather than “prestige,” for not only will it help drain out the anxiety and stress of high school, but it will also make the process exciting for students!