In terms of popularity, educational consultants rank right up there with real estate agents and personal injury lawyers. Posters on UrbanBaby routinely refer to educational consultants as rip-off artists selling a service that any semi-competent adult can perform on their own.
Manhattan private school admissions directors also like to deride the profession–that is, before they retire from admissions directing and go into the business themselves. One very prominent admissions director has claimed in print that she can easily spot applicants who use educational consultants, a remark that is quite laughable considering how many clients I have helped get into her school.
Naturally, I am always sorry to hear rude remarks about educational consultants. While I can’t defend everybody–like in every profession, not everyone adheres to high standards –in general, educational consultants help people. A lot. So I am proud to be an educational consultant. When I meet with my families, they are at a difficult point in their lives, so they are stressed out. They want their children to be happy and successful, and yet to achieve this they have to get through an incredibly unpleasant process implemented by the schools. When you think that schools make children as young as three compete for admission, I think that you can see how crazy and unfair the process is. The consultants aren’t to blame for this–the schools are.
I am proud to help parents and children do their best, and proud to alleviate families’ stress. Having been through the admissions process for eleven years now (!) and worked with hundreds of families, I have a unique and useful perspective for applicants. When I think about all the grateful emails and calls I have received from my clients over the years, I can only feel good about the service that educational consultants provide.