The Internet, many companies hope, will be the college-prep vehicle of the future. The company's new Web service allows students to search lists of colleges, view multimedia lessons on admissions strategies, and receive E-mail reminders of admissions deadlines. One motive many families who use private counseling share is the desire to create a buffer between parent and child during the often tense college-planning process. Most parents come to us saying 'I can't talk to my kids. They won't listen to me.
Students also value the sympathetic ear counselors provide.
Several nonprofit groups, such as the Bottom Line in Boston, offer comparable college counseling, at no charge, to a limited number of inner-city students. A new consumer guide to these services published by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, a professional association of admissions officers and guidance counselors, recommends hiring someone with at least five years of experience as a high school counselor or in a college admissions office. Kaplan's seminar instructors typically have gained most of their experience teaching test-prep classes, but the company insists they get plenty of training from counseling experts. Achieva says the recent college grads it often hires to staff its walk-in centers are carefully trained, connect well with high schoolers, and can deliver results. Still, veteran counselors are skeptical.