I'm Not the One Going to College

Earlier this week Mark Sklarow, Executive Director of the Independent Educational Consultants Association wrote a blog piece that generated a lot of buzz. It was titled: "Getting Kids Into" Ivy League Colleges: Absolutely NOT the Job of an Independent Educational Consultant.

He was a little fired up because he'd been reading a lot of membership applications that espoused "insider knowledge" and "admission secrets" that would translate into an "advantage" for the student working with the consultant.

Outrageous claims like this get me a little fired up too. Admission to a college is not a prize to be won. Don't forget-- you still have to GO to college once you're admitted. This is why ethical independent educational consultants focus on the student as a whole and help students discover schools where they can be successful.

Think about this scenario-- Let's say Emma is a solid student at a good high school with good standardized test scores. She could get into any number of schools, but a school such as Harvard would be a long shot (and an academic struggle, to boot). Maybe she applies anyway and gets in. Any number of people would question her turning that down.

But this is exactly why admission is not the prize. Emma might flunk out. Or she might struggle to graduate in seven years with poor grades. Is that worth it? Or is worth going to a school where she could graduate with honors, be a leader on campus because she's not struggling academically, and graduate on time? That's the scenario I'd rather see.

If the Ivies were the end-all, be-all, then the thousands of other wonderful colleges out there wouldn't exist.

I'm not yet a member of IECA, but I strive to abide by their Principles of Good Practice. This is why I will never claim to get a student into college. Students get themselves in, IEC's help get everyone through it all.

Day One

I think the best place to start is to answer the question, “what, exactly, is an independent educational consultant?” (I myself couldn’t have answered that question a few years ago.) This was actually the jumping off point for a nearly week-long seminar that I attended earlier this summer. That seminar was the Independent Educational Consultant Association’s Summer Training Institute and it was a turning point for me.

I’ve spent the last few years earning my master’s degree in education (secondary school counseling) and completing online courses for UCLA’s College Counseling certificate program, all the while working my towards what I hope is long career helping high school students figure out their post-secondary plans (and maybe some potential graduate students too). None of this felt really “real” until I spent 4 days at the end of July alternating between freezing classrooms and an uncomfortable dorm room. And it was so, so fun. Really. Mentally exhausting, sure, but still fun.

So what is an independent educational consultant? After much discussion about traits and responsibilities, here’s what the group of approximately 100 attendees decided: “An informed ethical professional who works collaboratively to assist families and students to maximize their potential and reach their educational goals.”

Notice there’s nothing in there about getting a student into college or packaging an application? That’s not what IECA and its members (one of which I intend to be) are about. Intrigued? Read more about IECA here.