Should You Hire a Consultant?

Name one gap first

Help is easier to judge once it has a job. Gaps look different from family to family: one might be comparing schools, another coordinating several calendars, another finding schools for a child with disability-related needs. Say yours in one sentence before you speak to anyone selling help. A vague worry gets a vague proposal.

Then see whether something free already covers it. Ask your child's current school what it does for Grade 9 applicants. Then read our Grade 9 overview, which splits the jobs between family and student, and our guides to the admissions timeline and building a school list. If a gap survives all that, you have a job description.

The school's rules come first

Whatever help you buy has to fit inside each school's own instructions. Packer's Grade 9 application page asks that the student essay be completed with no outside help, and it names parents, guardians, teachers and AI.

Ask about experience, not just credentials

AICEP's Certified Educational Planner (CEP) credential involves a relevant master's degree or comparable experience, professional references, a list of recent site visits, an online proctored assessment, and recertification every five years. You can search its directory by name, location and specialization. That is a reason to keep talking, not proof that someone knows NYC Grade 9 admissions.

The 2023 IECA school-consulting standards emphasize knowing the child and revisiting schools as they change. They are a guide for members; use them to frame your questions.

• How many NYC Grade 9 families have you worked with, and how recently?
• Which schools on my list have you visited, and what has changed since?
• How will you get to know my child, and whom do you refer to when a need is outside your experience?

Money, conflicts and your child's data

Money is where a polite question is most useful. IECA’s December 2024 principles prohibit members from earning school-paid placement fees or program/vendor referral commissions. A potentially conflicting school role, such as employment, needs written disclosure and client consent. Confidential records may reach others only when the client has agreed in writing and the recipient needs the information.

• What relationships or payments connect you to any school, tutor, test-prep company or software vendor?
• Who will see my child's information, including any AI tool, and what am I consenting to?
• What happens to my child's information when we finish or stop?

When the gap is a disability-related need

A general school consultant isn't automatically the right specialist, which is why the referral question above matters. NYC families raising a child with a disability can use FACE Centers without paying; support covers young people up to age 21. IncludeNYC takes requests for help with the special-education system and IEP workshops. Still ask each school how it would support your child.

Define the job before you buy

Before signing anything, define the job in a sentence and limit the first purchase to it: a shortlist review, a calendar check, a conversation about a disability-related need. If the work is genuinely complex or ongoing, longer help can make sense once a written scope says what it covers and when you will review it.

Ask for the scope in writing: what you will get, the fee, and what happens if you stop early. The 2023 standards expect a written list of services and fees, a contract with disclosures and disclaimers, and clarity that placement isn't guaranteed.

Let your child say what they want from the work in their own words. Portal logins and submissions stay with your family, and the student's own voice stays in every essay and interview. A shortlist built without them is a shortlist about someone else. Our interviews and group visits guide shows what the child will be doing anyway.