The pressure of going to a top college is very apparent in this day and age, and many families are willing to go to extreme lengths to ensure a spot for their children. But not every family has the same means. Does this put a damper on each kid’s opportunity to get into their dream school? 

For wealthy families, expensive isn’t an issue. They are often willing to pay the price to get their students into a good school for social status, future careers, or even just bragging rights. That might include hiring private counselors. 

But that advantage may also put additional pressures on these students. 

“I do think that families who use private counselors perhaps have more pressure and motivation for those students to attend college, and so some of those families might be pursuing that path a little more aggressively than other families,” said Christy Brown, one of eight counselors at Monte Vista High School. 

Brown said most high schools have excellent counselors available to talk about the college admissions process starting from freshman year. Students who do not have access to a private college counselor are always able to meet with their school counselor and make use of what resources they do have available to them.

“I would say that the counselors here [Monte Vista] are underutilized … a lot of times people will sidestep and go forward with hiring a private counselor, but it’s not always necessary and it can be really costly,” Brown said.

Private counselors would not necessarily have the same knowledge as school counselors since school data is exclusive to school databases such as Naviance, Brown said. A student may not get as much one-on-one time to meet with a school counselor, but they would get a more personalized experience. 

For example, the school counselor can provide the GPA a student would need to get into a certain college compared to another Monte Vista student. In this situation, a private counselor could give you the average GPA needed to get into a college, but it would not be unique to the GPA needed at your school. 

“I have inside knowledge of Monte Vista data from previous years on the number of students who were accepted and their average GPA,” explained Monte Vista College and Career advisor Sarah Wells. “So I have knowledge of where our students go because you are essentially competing against other Monte Vista students when you are applying to college.”

The college application process is something so intricate it’s almost impossible to not overthink it and get caught up in what others have to say about it. But each person’s experience is different and spending thousands of dollars on a private counselor may not be the option suited for everyone. 

Brown said, “I also think sometimes the information that a private counselor gives can be contradictory to what we are able to maybe provide for students … sometimes it can confuse families a little bit more with what exactly their options are and what they should be doing.”

This article was originally written for The Stampede, the student newspaper of Monte Vista High School in Danville.