disappointed with my admissions consultant

Question

I decided to hire a consultant back in May and I'm quite disappointed.

These are the reason why I not happy:

-I decided to go for one school package only, but the school has not release the essays yet. I've been pressing my consultant to start working on my story or something, but i got the "lets just wait until the the essays are out"

-So far we have only been working on my resume. Even when we only change a couple bullet points at a time (one or two sentence) my consultant takes the longest available in the contract (48 hrs) and the feedback is more like "not quite there yet... tell me the impact". if it takes 48 EVERY SINGLE TIME to review two sentences, then I have the feeling my consultant is only punching the clock and making a minimum effort.

-I had a conference this past weekend and I ask my consultant for advice. I mentioned a couple schools that I wanted to talk to. I said i know that I have to ask meaningful question and avoid stuff that are easily available online, what advise do you have for me?

The advise i got was "you already know what to do. ask insightful questions that relate to your career, how are the clubs on campus, what are they doing to expand the brand" (to me this is common sense and had no value added, or maybe I'm just being to demanding.

I was expecting something more like, for school X you can approach them like this.... community is important for school Y, make sure to talk about this... etc.... I was expecting some some value added in the advice. This has led me to believe my consultant doesn't have much knowledge about the current school programs

judging by my experience so far, I'm afraid that by the time we work on the essays, it will be more of the same generic advice and just killing time until the application is over.

Is it to early to tell, am I being unfair, or should I just fire my consultant a find a new one quickly?

judging by my experience so far, I'm afraid that by the time we work on the essays, it will be more of the same generic advice and just killing time until the application is over. Is it to early to tell, am I being unfair, or should I just fire my consultant a find a new one quickly?

MzJavert · Answer

I would suggest adding to your question, what should I be asking when evaluating an Admissions Consultant?

I'm not an expert in this area, but life-experience has taught me that it doesn't matter why you are unhappy. You are spending good money to get into a good school. You deserve to be getting top rate service. I think you should take one of two actions. One) Ask that another Consultant from the Company be assigned to you within 2 business days. Give that person two weeks. If you are still not happy, find another company. Two) Find another consultant and use your experience with the first company to ask very probing questions about their services.

Which ever decision you take, don't settle for someone who is just phoning it in.

summer99 · Answer

I'm curious to see what is the working style of other consultants; Is it only my impression that my consultant is phonie? or it is just normal that their advice is school generic and they take their time to reply eve for minor things?

CriticalSquare · Answer

Hi there,

I'm sorry you had a less than ideal experience to date. I'm not going to post here about our firm or how we do things. Instead, I will say this: the experience you have shared and documented is not how true professionals within this space operate. Yes, we all have stated turn around times but you're paying a lot of money and your consultant should respect that. No client is more important than any other and each deserves the time and attention they need.

You need to feel confident in your consultant and assured that they have your best interest at heart. This is an incredibly customized experience and if you feel any of it is generic, then you should quickly reevaluate your engagement with them.

Bhavik

bb · Answer

I can see how the consultant may want to wait for the essays to be released.

Is there an option to switch which individual is working with you ?

Posted from my mobile device.

Admissionado · Answer

Tough question. Consulting is a very personal thing. (Meaning even if the consultant is fantastic, if you don't feel great with them, you might find a better match). But I can also see the consultant's side. Sometimes it can be hard to give advice without a specific context. Meaning if your question was "I want to ask specific questions to schools", it's a bit broad. The first thing I would do is make sure I know you very well, your goals, your strengths, your weaknesses, ask you WHY you choose these schools and not others, find out what you do don't know and do. But at this point I would say before you change consultants (which can be a pain also) talk to them first, tell them what's lacking, what your expectations are, how things could be better. After all YOU are the client! And it is your needs which need to be fulfilled (although this doesn't mean I'll always tell you something you'll like!

) I hope this works out for you,

disappointed with my admissions consultant

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