Does Your Admissions Coach Need to be Local?
When it comes to being admitted to the college or university of your choice, the help of a college admissions coach is priceless. There are many misconceptions out there about admissions consultants and how they work with students, though. Most notably, people tend to assume that their counselors should be nearby so they can meet in person. This is actually not as important as you may think for a number of reasons. First, many students apply to schools far from home anyway. Second, many admissions coaches, including those at IvySelect, have a national focus rather than a local one. Finally, modern technology has largely eliminated the need for face-to-face meetings, and college admissions are no exception.
Does Location Matter?
It’s easy to assume that the best college admissions coach is one who works within close proximity of the school of your choice, or your hometown. While counselors are likely to be more familiar with schools in their immediate vicinity, the truth is that the most talented don’t restrict themselves to being knowledgeable about nearby universities. After all, doing so would put severe limits on the students they were able to help. They familiarize themselves with schools around the U.S. by traveling to college campuses and by attending various conferences, as we do at IvySelect. In the end, location isn’t an important factor when selecting a college admissions coach.
Get Help Remotely and Locally
If you are applying to schools in Southern California, you’ll be pleased to know that IvySelect is headquartered in Los Angeles. As a result, their college consultants, as well as Director Michael Goran, routinely meet with local universities’ admissions officers and are therefore very knowledgeable about those schools’ admissions standards and processes. However, Mr. Goran attends regional and national conferences that are conducted by organizations like the Western Association for College Admissions Counseling (WACAC), the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC), the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) and the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA). The professional development seminars, meetings with admissions officers about their schools and the exchange of information at these conferences give IvySelect’s college admissions counselors deep insights and a wealth of information that we utilize in counseling our students about admissions to top-tier universities.
Immersive Assistance
Using current technology, IvySelect is able to offer the same “face-to-face” counseling experience remotely that would have previously been limited to in-person meetings. Today, videoconferencing is faster, easier and more reliable than ever. IvySelect, for instance, uses Skype to connect with students and to provide top-notch college admissions coaching from afar. Instead of endless exchanges of emails, which are impersonal and inefficient, IvySelect’s coaches utilize video conferencing to see and speak with their students within the context of immersive, hands-on meetings.
Personal Consulting with a National Focus
Choosing the right college admissions consultant is about much more than finding someone who happens to be in your area. Relying on the fact that a counselor is local is a step in the wrong direction. What matters most is choosing to work with an extremely knowledgeable, experienced, talented and intelligent college admissions consultant, regardless of location, who can best help you maximize your competitive stature to the most elite colleges in the nation. That is exactly what you will get by working with IvySelect. Remote counseling is even more convenient in many ways since you don’t have to leave home to get the guidance you need, so get in touch with IvySelect today!
