No doubt the start of 2014 has come with a number of New Year’s resolutions. Well how about this New Year’s resolution: gain admission to your dream school. The road to getting into the school of your choice starts with proper planning far in advance. And what better way to plan than with the help of an admissions consultant. When choosing a consultant, remember to ask these five important questions.

1. What are your qualifications and experience?

This is first and most basic question that needs to be answered. If you are applying to a highly competitive private school or university in North America or the United Kingdom, you need an expert guide. Too often have I seen consultants out there who have no business advising students on how to gain admission. How can they provide the right advice if they themselves have not attended or worked at a top-tier university or private school? How do they properly understand the system if they weren’t Western raised or educated? Be careful of those consultants who claim to have qualified staff members on their teams – the Ivy Leaguer or the Ph.D. The consultant with whom you work directly should be properly qualified. I have found that the good consultants typically have a strong background in education.
 

2. Are you putting our family’s interests first?

Educational consulting can be a lucrative business. Many unqualified individuals are attracted to the industry because of the potential to make money and that can immediately create problems and conflicts of interest. A good and ethical consultant will always put the family’s interests first. Some consultants push their students to particular schools or programs because they have arrangements with these institutions to earn a commission. If this is the case, then they should fully disclose that they are being paid both by your family and by the institution. Good consultants should tie their compensation to your success. In other words, look for consultants whose fees are determined by whether or not they are successful at helping your family gain admission. Lastly, some consultants based out of country are choosing to help their students through video chat. Make sure to use a consultant with a local office where you can meet face to face.
 

3. Do you emphasize the right fit for school or university?

An ethical consultant will always take a student-centered, right fit approach when helping the family choose the right school or university. In other words, the consultant should advise you on schools that are the right fit for the student. Moreover, the consultant should set realistic expectations. For example, the family may want a student to go to an Ivy League school but the student’s marks, credentials, and profile simply aren’t competitive. In some cases, consultants will provide false hope or unrealistic advice such as having the student take extra AP courses or focusing so much attention on the SAT. What ends up happening is that the student buckles under all the unnecessary pressure when in fact he or she should be looking at more appropriate universities. A good consultant will help guide the family to reasonable and attainable choices even to the point of declining to work with families who simply have unrealistic expectations.
 

4. Do you possess the genuine expertise and knowledge?

It is important for you to figure out if your consultant has genuine knowledge of the admissions processes at private schools and universities. Is your consultant a thought leader? Is he or she invited to write articles on various admissions topics because he or she is a true expert? Or is he or she merely copying the real experts? Some consultants have gotten into the business because they had children who got into highly competitive schools, but does that make them experts? Sadly, the way that a number of consultants learn about the latest admissions information and trends is to spy on or steal from the true experts. Lastly, it’s good for a consultant to have graduated from a top program, but it’s even better if he or she also has work experience in admissions at a top school.
 

5. Do you actually know the Director of Admissions?

Some consultants out there will claim to have a strong personal relationship or friendship with the directors of admissions of various private schools or universities. They think that they’re on close terms because they have taken these people out for lunch or bought them nice gifts. They make these claims because they want to appear that they have some back channel or that they can simply pick up the phone to gain admission for their clients. Any worthwhile consultant would never make such claims because if he or she were truly friends with these directors of admissions, especially of the top-tier schools, he or she would never put those admissions officials in an awkward position or perceived conflict of interest.

Finding a consultant is easy. Finding a good consultant is much more difficult. However, if you have dreams of attending a particular school, take the extra time to invest in finding the right expert to guide you.