The Difference Between College Counseling and College Consulting

Well, I did mention that there would be the occasional “self-indulgent fluff piece…” If this is the first blog post you’ve read on this site, I would probably recommend reading a different one. You’ve been warned. But it’s been a while since I’ve written anything and I did want to address this topic since I just finished my first semester at my new school. It’s been eye-opening how many families hire outside counselors even though they have a dedicated and experienced college counselor (not guidance counselor) at their disposal. In the past, I was annoyed at how many families hired out, but after consulting for a few years and now being back in the independent school world while finishing up with my current clients, it doesn’t bother me as much. I’ll share some insight into the difference between my work in both roles. I suppose my audience for this post is families who are part of independent schools who are considering hiring out.

Consulting is way easier overall

This is probably the biggest difference. When I consulted, I only had to worry about…consulting. I had no school responsibilities, no meetings, no chaperoning responsibilities, etc. I also didn’t have to write letters of recommendation, a process that I thoroughly enjoyed, but took up way too much time. I would occasionally help students write their “brag sheets” for their counselors and teachers, but otherwise, it was all about the bottom line—course selection, extracurricular activity discussions, college lists, and applications. It was pretty much a transactional process.

I will add that the quality of life was also a pretty big difference. Consulting gave me a more flexible schedule and I had the time to take on a fairly large number of clients without worrying about time being an issue. The work/life balance was amazing. If you’re considering hiring a consultant and they take you on as a client, assume that they will have the time for you.

But is consulting easier to do well?

The main challenge of working with a variety of students attending different high schools was my lack of institutional knowledge for each school. I had to do some research by looking at their high school profiles or even asking students if they knew their rank (most didn’t). I didn’t know what a “good” GPA was, the college application history or recent application trends, or what the competition among classmates looked like. As an independent school counselor, I had all of this information at my disposal. As a consultant, it felt like flying blind at times.

If you are familiar with Naviance, Scoir, or Maia, there is really no consulting online platform that really compares to these sites. There are sites that help with organization and billing (a big focus with consulting), but I didn’t find anything that actually helped me with college counseling. I had to rely on my own experience and research while also connecting with other independent school counselors turned consultants because that’s the only community I really trusted.

I have to add this fact. Not all consultants have the requisite knowledge to do this job. I’m not going to call out individuals, but if you’re thinking about hiring someone, ask about their experience. If they don’t have actual college admissions experience (Being only a UC reader does not count) or they’re not active with NACAC, then I really question how much they have to contribute outside of what you can Google yourself.

Consulting is more cutthroat

I would like to think that this website helped send potential clients that were a good fit with my educational and college counseling philosophy. I opted to be less sales-y and let word of mouth attract additional clientele. I suppose it didn’t hurt that I came from a school that carried some name recognition and many parents sent referrals my way. I didn’t do a huge sales pitch and that probably drove some clients away, but it also attracted families who were better fits to begin with. But overall, the consulting field felt really cutthroat. There were families who would actually hire multiple consultants just for essay reading. I saw firsthand consultants undermining other consultants and their advice through essay comments and even at counselor programs. Consulting feels more a part of the business world than the education world. It’s all about marketing and self-promotion, oftentimes making promises they can’t really keep. And in a post admissions scandal/emerging ChatGPT landscape, you have to be careful as ever to know what you’re getting into.

And if it has to be said, if a consultant criticizes the support you are receiving at an independent school or a school with strong counseling support, run away.

College counseling is far more relational

This is why I came back to the independent school setting. Having a community to be a part of and colleagues to bounce ideas off of, not to mention having a bigger purpose, is something that I missed the previous few years. Even though I’m back to having more responsibilities that are testing my bandwidth, it’s nice to be part of something again. There’s something that still feels a little off though, and I’ve realized that I’m a little behind in my post-COVID-adjusting-back-to-work stage and maybe there have already been a few days where I’ve missed having a more flexible schedule, but it’s worked out overall. In this position, I am able to get to know my students far better than I would as a consultant, but it’s also a different expectation with additional responsibilities from the counseling perspective. With rec writing back on the table, we’ll see how much I’m able to blog again, but I hope to do both.

My school requires group college counseling sessions, which are not “classes,” but serve a similar purpose. Even though families are still hiring out, maybe the culture will change as students realize that it can potentially complicate what is already a mysterious process.

Maybe independent school counseling and private consulting aren’t so different

Like I said before, my thoughts and feelings regarding consulting have changed recently. I’m back to an environment where despite my experience, families are hiring out anyway, and I’m at peace with that. As long as students continue to connect with me, I’m okay with them wanting additional support, as long as it’s the right person who has actual knowledge and experience, not a parent who had a kid attend a highly selective college and now thinks they can be a consultant.

Independent school counselors and private consultants pay the same fee to attend the NACAC conference. And the independent school environment is probably more transactional than we would readily admit, if we’re being honest. So are the two sides so far off? I’m not sure. As I’ve mentioned before and in previous posts, there is an emerging group of former independent school counselors who are now fully independent for a variety of reasons. Their work is not the same, but similar, and as more school counselors take this route, it’s going to make the consulting landscape a lot more interesting.

With peace comes clarity. Maybe I should keep the door open to continue consulting on the side. If some of my students are going to ignore me, then maybe I should work with other students who won’t.