Getting into that dream school can be a bit of a hassle because good schools are highly competitive. Most times parents seek the assistance of a professional college coach to help with the process and give their ward a better chance of getting admission, especially when applying to a high-profile school like Oxford, Harvard, or Yale.
Getting the service of a college coach comes with a price tag, and it is on the high side. Although the price differs depending on the coach you have to ensure you’ll be getting value for your money.
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Parents Countdown To College Coach – Is It Worth It?
Parent Countdown to College Coach is among the leading coaching programs for students. They have college coaching courses that are packed with useful tips and information that will help students and families navigate their way through the admission process. The course provides a step-by-step guide on how to go about the whole process leaving no stone unturned. It also helps the student and family stay organized along the way.
There are a lot of resources both online and offline as regards admission, some of which are not so useful. Having their course will provide you will only the best and most useful resources there are and that you’ll need. This saves you a lot of time spent on unnecessary resources.
Some teens make unrealistic choices when it comes to the college they have in mind. With these courses, you’ll get a clear understanding of how to choose the right college that suits both you both academically and financially in addition to other factors as well. You’ll also learn tips on how to make your application stand out, giving you a better chance of getting admitted.
The financial aid process isn’t left behind as well. They provide useful information on how to pay school fees and other vital pieces of information regarding finance. They also have information about available scholarships, eligible criteria, and how to apply and have a higher chance of getting them.
Getting all this useful information from parents’ countdown to collect coach is worth it.
Can College Coaches Help With Admission?
Getting help from a college coach during the process of admission will give you a hedge if you look at the service they render. But that doesn’t give you 100% assurance of getting admission.
Having a college coach is not a criterion for gaining admission, their job is to assist you to make the right decisions, apply to the right school and providing all the requirements, and also give financial aid advice as well.
Some of these coaches have an in-depth knowledge of the admission process either from personal experience, working with some college admission boards, or due to their long time in the process.
With their experience and expertise, you can leverage on to make sure your application process is smooth. A lot of people fail to get admitted due to one or more avoidable mistakes, having guidance will help you avoid similar mistakes.
A college coach will save you the stress of doing all the research on your own and making a lot of avoidable errors while applying. With their guidance, your application tends to stand out from others who possibly do not have guidance, this will put you in a good spot for consideration.
There are a lot of factors that the admission board looks into gaining admission into a competitive college, some are class ranking, extracurricular activities, GPA, Academic record, level of interest, your admission essay, and personal statement.
While a coach can help you come up with an excellent personal statement and admission essay, they do not have control over your academic performance or history, your GPA, or your class ranking. This clearly shows that your status of getting admitted or not is solely based on having or not having a coach.
If you are good at research, there are thousands of useful pieces of information online that can guide you and pretty much serve the same purpose as a professional coach.
If you can filter out and use the correct pieces of information, your child can get admitted into a good school. Many affordable courses don’t require you to break the bank to purchase and use as a guide. The choice is all yours if you want to hire a coach or not.
How Much Do College Coaches Cost?
The cost for a college coach is not fixed, you can’t rule out that college coaches charge x amount. Every coach has a different price and amount they charge. While a majority of coaches sell their coaching courses below $100, some sell for more than that.
Hiring a coach to have one-on-one coaching costs more. This is because in most cases you get the complete package from their course to their guidance from the start of the process to finish. To crown it all, the more experienced a coach is the more the cost of hiring them.
If you are not sure about hiring a coach, you can purchase a not-so-expensive college coaching course and experiment with how useful it can be. You can then decide to buy a more expensive course or even change your mind and hire a coach or maybe not need it at all.
Getting the best coach is not much of a task, you can ask for recommendations from family and friends, or with a simple Google search. You can also search social media platforms for the best coach, make sure you’ve searched for the best that falls into your budget. Some of these coaches have websites, that ensure your coach of choice has good reviews and is familiar with the schools you have in mind.
What Do College Coaches Do?
College coaches help the student and family with the entire process from the application, to the decision of what college to apply to with a higher chance and all things in between.
Some coaches specialize in a certain type of school while others can work with any school of choice. Different coaches offer different services depending on the coach’s specialty. There are three common assistance that a coach renders regardless of specialty, they are;
- Whatever the specialty a college coach has, they are familiar with admission processes. They have all the right and useful information at the tip of their fingers. Some have even worked with college admission boards while others become coaches from their experiences. Whichever way, they have just the right information you need to get your admission.
- Having a coach makes your application stand out, and what college rejects a student who stands out? They guide you on the important information to highlight, and important information to add like extracurricular activities and volunteer works you’ve been involved in.
- A coach will be realistic with you. You might have more than 2-3 schools in mind, some of which getting admission into them is not feasible for you. Your coach knowing your financial capabilities, choice of course of study, and other vital information will advise you on the choice of college where your chances of getting admission are more realistic.
- A coach gives you financial advice and aids your process of paying for school. You are most likely going to get some form of scholarship working with a coach. They have the expertise to help you apply and get some of these scholarships.
Hiring a coach allows you to have direct coaching and undivided attention to advice and coaching to give you a better chance of getting admitted into not just the school of choice but the right and best school for your career.
Conclusion.
Thinking of the value you’ll get from their wealth of experience, it’s not a bad idea to hire an affordable coach. Most of these coaches have a vast knowledge of the admission process and might have possibly worked with students in your school of choice.
Some coaches have worked on some school admission boards so they know what the board is looking out for. This will give you an insight into what is expected of you and this will give you an upper hand for consideration.
Hiring a coach is all about choice, if you are good with research and you don’t need a coach you can go through the process and research for all the vital information you need and apply yourself.