My son's a junior, so we are very much in it. I'm surrounded by parents of juniors, and the ones without an outside consultant are starting to wonder if they've already made a mistake.

Here's my take, as a mom and admissions consultant. And yes, I'm biased.

Not everyone needs one. If your kid's school counselors are doing a great job and have the bandwidth to do it, you may not need to hire someone. If you've done this before and feel confident, you may not need to hire someone. If your kid is organized, self-directed, and looking at a smaller, more local set of schools, you may not need to hire someone. If you enjoy this process and want to shepherd them through it yourself, you may not need to hire someone.

Where outside help can earn its keep:

• School counselors are stretched thin and your kid is one of many
• Helping your kid with this just doesn't appeal — or you worry it'll damage your relationship
• The process is unfamiliar or ancient history and you're worried you might harm rather than help
• Your kid is very unsure what to study, how to combine multiple interests, or where to study, and needs guidance that starts with who they are, not where they might get in
• Your kid struggles with organization, writing, or both (lots of deadlines, lots of writing)
• Your kid is targeting highly selective schools, niche programs, or athletic recruitment
• You're chasing merit and intend to apply widely
  

I focus on self-discovery and strategic research — helping students understand who they are before we build a list, then helping them present themselves as a compelling, interesting person rather than a collection of achievements. And I don't stop at acceptances: a lot of my work is helping students prototype what four years would actually look like, so the final decision is based on evidence of fit, not just excitement and marketing materials.

Others might primarily support you with logistics and deadlines. Others will help construct a narrative for your kid from the outside in. Others focus most of their energy on the writing piece. Finding someone whose approach maps to what you want will directly impact how valuable you find the help.

So am I too late?

No, you're not too late. But if your kid is a junior and you're leaning toward hiring someone, now — winter through spring of junior year — is the right window. Waiting until summer compresses everything. Starting now gives a consultant and student time to actually get to know each other, lets college research breathe, and gives essay ideas room to develop before the crunch time, which is typically summer through fall of senior year.

And if your kid is a freshman or sophomore, there's value in starting earlier. In those earlier years, the focus is on all the things that come before applying: course selection, test strategy, and the work of figuring out who they are so that they can tell their story with conviction and enter college with a plan that's oriented towards what energizes them so that if their major changes they're not adrift.