As Educational Consulting Moves from Adolescence to Adulthood, Let’s End the Apologies and Make Ourselves Heard—in the Best Interest of Our Clients
by Mark H. Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consulting Association
I spent the last few days attending the Potomac and Chesapeake Association for College Admission Counseling (PCACAC) Conference in Dover, Delaware with school counselors, college admission officials, and independent educational consultants from Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, DC, and West Virginia. I heard a couple of themes emerge that deeply impacted me.
Shannon Gundy, director of undergraduate admissions at the University of Maryland, College Park, served on a panel that I chaired, exploring school counselor/consultant relations. Shannon noted that in preparation for her presentation, she asked members of her staff how often they “heard from or worked with” an educational consultant. Their answer: about once a month. That led Shannon to conclude that the University of Maryland doesn’t really have much of a relationship with educational consultants and gets relatively few students applying to the state’s flagship school.
Of course recent independent studies would suggest otherwise. The Lipman Hearne study, aided by the National Research Center for College and University Admissions, showed that 26% of high achieving students—exactly the kind that would explore admission to the University of Maryland—used educational consultants. Yet educational consultants have worked so hard to keep their existence in the background that we may have led to the impression that we are of little consequence, hiding our significance (and growing numbers), and suggesting to colleges that we are an unimportant constituency. In reality, for many colleges we are their greatest source for out-of-region students. Shannon wondered why we didn’t make our numbers better known.
I was reminded of a panel at our Summer Training Institute a few years back. There, Corky Surbeck, dean of admission at Goucher College, was asked if he ‘minded’ if a consultant called him to discuss any special circumstances. He surprised everyone in the room when he stated flatly that he wished consultants called more. He noted that consultants—fully qualified and vetted consultants like those in IECA—have an interesting insight that he and his admission staff needed to hear. With students applying to Goucher for all sorts of reasons, he knew one thing: if a student working with a consultant was applying to Goucher, there was a good reason the consultant thought it was a good fit. He and his staff would welcome finding out why.
Consultants have been so wary about being seen publicly that many advise their students, when faced with the questions about “how they heard of the Common Application” or “Did you use an educational consultant in your application,” to leave the question blank—again, diluting the strength of our numbers, our work, and our efforts on behalf of students.
The other comment I have heard replaying in my head came from a twenty-something school counselor attending that session. She noted a strain of unacceptance: That school counselors resist cooperating with consultants, and consultants advise their students not to reveal to the school that they are involved. She found this absurd! “Aren’t we all working for the same goal: serving students?” she asked. When she was told what NACAC and other institutions were like 10-15 years ago when consultants were not well respected, she noted that this was ancient history and it was time we moved on.
Truer words were never spoken. It is time we moved on, taking our seat at the table, reflective of our professionalism and commitment to students. IECA introduced the phrase “good fit” into popular use more than 15 years ago. Our members have visited more campuses, hold a higher percentage of certifications, attend more professional training, and find great matches. It is time that every college, school, and parent know it. It is time for us to assert our knowledge and our leadership.
Related posts:
- Nearly 100 Presenters will Examine Hot Topics in College Admission, Boarding Schools, Special Purpose Programs & Independent Educational Consulting
- Independent Educational Consulting At the Tipping Point: What Colleges Need to Know as Private College Consulting Explodes
- A Measurement of and Testament to How Far We Have Come
- We Must Do a Better Job Ensuring Colleges Understand WHAT Educational Consultants DO and How Many Kids We Work With
- School District Moves to Contract with Educational Consultants for College Advising; are we moving toward the tipping point?
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Tagged: admissions, admissions representatives, campus visits, changes in consulting practices, college applications, college consulting, College Park, consulting, educational consulting, Finding the Right Fit, Good Match, Goucher College, IECA members, leadership, Lipman Hearne Study, NACAC, PCACAC, school-based counselors, students, Summer Training Institute, University of Maryland
Well said, Mark, but I do have a concern with your use of what I call a incomplete comparison toward the end. It’s like saying “Goodyear tires stop 25% faster.” 25% faster than what? A rolling donut?
When you say IECA members do more, have more, visit more… more that who? Do you mean school counselors, non members, or members of other organizations? If we agree that it is inappropriate, perhaps even unethical to make critical judgements about school counselors or colleges, why this? Couldn’t you simply say We’re good at this without having to suggest someone else isn’t as good.
John, as is often the case you make a wonderful point and I apologize for my failure in making my final point. Having attended this regional ACAC I was hearing the voices of school-based counselors in large schools and with enormous caseloads who bemoaned the lack of time to conduct interest inventories, explore learning styles, visit college campuses (especially those out of the region) or be granted more than one or two days per year for professional development. I have written in the past that I think school-based counselors are well-qualified and perform herculean tasks in meeting student needs with competence and grace. But those I spoke to all agreed that they could be more effective in their jobs if they were given additional time and resources. It is this disparity that I was referring to.
At this conference one attendee said that in her opinion it is not that school-based counselors and independent college consultants do the same job, but rather they perform different roles, making any such comparison improper. Thanks for calling me on it and as I have many, many times in the past, I salute and honor our school-based colleagues without whom the path to college would be impossible for most students.
Well done, Mark. Alas, there remain many college admissions professionals and school counselors, both public and private, who do not appreciate the fact that we are all working toward the same goal on behalf of the student and that we are all compensated for doing so! It remains our collective challenge to set a standard of professionalism that is beyond reproach.
Mark,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences from the PCACAC conference. As you well stated, there is a growing number of well-educated, well-trained, and just as importantly, well-intentioned Independent Ed Consultants.
It is time for Independent Ed Consultants, such as the ones who hold the ideals set forth by IECA, not to be constrained by the past. Yes, I remember more than several hurtful moments as an attendee to NACAC and SACAC conferences in years past when I was negatively pre-judged and treated with outright rudeness by some individuals on both the college and high school sides of the desk. Happily, those experiences are greatly reduced. Now, when I attend a college conference, contact a college admissions representative or meet a high school counselor, I sense a feeling of camaraderie for the most part.
Mark, you have done wonders to make this positive change occur within the college admissions community. Your smart, positive, and highly professional approach in sharing and “exposing” the good news about the role of Independent Educational Consultants benefits us all.
Mark,
This point was driven home to me during the Maryland Crab Crawl last month. It was a wonderful week to not only learn about the 11 colleges, but also to share insights with fellow “crab crawlers” – independent, public, and private counselors/consultants. It was a great relationship-building experience.
Sue