CollegePlannerPro Blog

Starting your own independent college consulting business can be an exciting and fulfilling venture. With the increasing demand for personalized guidance in the college admissions process, there is a growing market for professional consultants. However, launching a successful college consulting business requires careful planning and execution. In this blog, we will outline the essential steps to help you establish your independent college consulting business and set yourself up for long-term success.

Does the idea of talking to your families about how they are going to pay for college scare you or intrigue you?

One of the biggest misconceptions about independent college counselors is that their work is all about getting students into the most prestigious colleges and universities. Indeed, many students and parents approach the admissions process as a game where getting into highly ranked, brand name schools qualifies as winning, regardless of whether that school is a good fit.   

As independent educational consultants, it's important to continually strive for improvement in order to provide the best possible services to your clients. One way to do this is by setting new year's resolutions for your small business. It's not always easy to stick to these resolutions, especially as the year goes on and other priorities start to take over. Here are a few tips for seeing through your IEC practice new year's resolutions in 2023.

Janos Perczel, former Harvard research fellow and co-founder of Polygence, discusses how research projects and working with mentors can help students stand out to universities, and the role IECs can play in this effort.

A blank Google doc is the worst.

Especially when you’re a blogger.

But what’s even worse is not knowing the components of writing a great blog post at all. So what if you have the most beautiful, flawless writing ever? If it’s not formatted, optimized, shared and researched, nobody knows about it.

Trust me, I’ve had a blog that nobody reads. Not a great feeling.

I’ve been blogging since 2019 and have created content for many brands since 2017 and it all forced me to understand the critical components of how to write a great blog post.

Here are the secrets!

Having been through the college admissions journey before with two older kids, one might think the 3^rd time around is easier. Well, as we all know, each and every student is different and times change quickly as we have experienced in the last 6 months. With school closings and travel restrictions in place, accepted students and prospective families have had to adapt quickly and find other methods for getting a real feel and vibe of a college campus with the absence of in person tours, information sessions and college visits. My youngest is a rising senior in high school and up until this point; he has not had the opportunity to visit many colleges due to sports commitments in the fall and spring. So what now? How do students and parents connect with college campuses, their community and their students? Can you really get a vibe or feel of a campus from a virtual perspective? The answer to all these questions is – yes, you can. Grab a journal, notebook, or phone and let’s get started.

Here are 5 important tips you can pass on to the families you work with to get a better sense of college life.

Twas the year before college, the world was not the norm
The freshman were virtually visiting universities and filling out forms 

The essays were submitted and edited with care
GPAs and Test scores ranging everywhere 

The IECs guided and coached them to this day
Now proudly waiting to hear what admissions will say 

CollegePlannerPro recently hosted a webinar in conjunction with Human eSources, one of our trusted partners and the creators of the AchieveWorks® suite of assessments. Human eSources has been developing assessment tools for well over 20 years, and they have an impressive track record, to say the least. The methodologies that form the foundation of their tools have been recognized internationally, as well as received lots of acclaim from researchers and educators alike. 

CollegePlannerPro was fortunate enough to join and sponsor the IECA Professional Members retreat last month in Phoenix, AZ. Participants spent the retreat with their business hats on, learning from small business marketing and branding professionals as well as from one another during group conversations. All members left refreshed and equipped with a wealth of new business strategies to take back and implement in their practices, including the CollegePlannerPro team!