Why your high school placement consultant should also be a college planning consultant

We’ve all heard the benefits of hiring an educational consultant to help place your child into the right fit school.  The Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) says, “An educational consultant meets personally with families to discuss their unique concerns. To find the right ‘fit’ for your child, IECA consultants learn as much as possible about your student and family. They help you clarify your child’s educational needs, identify strengths and weaknesses, and consider interests and dislikes.”  While I agree with this 100%, and it is definitely important when selecting an early childhood, lower school, and middle school, when you decide on a high school, you need to consider another factor: college.  Which school meets your requirements for college preparedness?

The last thing you want is to start the college admissions counseling process your sophomore or junior year in high school to realize that maybe you should have selected a different high school, one that would have paved a greater path to meet your college goals.  Independent college counselors know this world.  We know what it takes during your four years in high school to get into the best fit college.

Then big goal is college.  When your child was born, you were already thinking about saving for college, when he or she was bringing home grades in kindergarten through middle school, you thought about college, so when you are making the all-important decision of a high school, hire someone who is also thinking about college along with you.

Ibrahim Firat is an independent educational consultant who specializes in college counseling and high school placement.  He is the author of The Firat Guide, a guide to high school admissions in the Greater Houston Area.