My conclusion from that nytimes article was College does not guarantee good employment. I was surprised to read that UCLA was looking for person with a Phd in hard sciences such as Chemistry or BioChemistry to work for $0. I guess there is no choice for most people other than to take this/College route.
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What does your kid want to major in? Are you in the Bay Area? What age/grade? And what are you hoping they’ll do for you (skills range from “manage my kid’s time so I don’t have to scream at them”, advise on strategy, advise on good fit colleges, help with essays)
If you’re hard core, you start in 7th-8th grade. Otherwise, I think middle of Junior year.
Thanks Terri. We are in the bay area, kid is a freshman. Still unsure of the major but leaning towards CS. Definitely need advice on strategy, advice on good fit colleges, and help with essays. If they can also “manage my kid’s time so I don’t have to scream at them”, there will be some peace in the house. We thought things were in control after the first couple of months needed to adjust in the freshman year, but right now we are in the “parents are the enemies” stage. But a counselor who does everything will not be cheap 
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So, if your kid is white/Asian male (ie, not a “minority” in CS), you should definitely get advice now as to what to do. The two places that I know of are
- Zenith Prep Academy
- https://www.ilumineducation.com
But you might get another 100 if you search for these and then login to Facebook 
Zenith Prep is partly in the business of selling classes to get a kid an internship to get them into a better college. But you could possibly ask for a 1-2 hour per year until Junior year package maybe? I don’t know. They definitely can advise on strategy.
#2 I’m only aware of because another kid at my son’s school used them for CS admissions. (Kid got into Stanford - I don’t know if legacy is at play.)
We met with Zenith Prep for a free consult. The thing we came away with was that my son should’ve tried participating in CS competitions. It was too late for him at that point. But not too late for you.
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PS: When it comes to applying, if your kid is interested in anything other than CS, it is an easier route to admissions to apply to a joint program such as Math with a CS minor. Direct to CS is 3-6% chance in many of the good schools. Better chances for girls or minorities (normal CS is 25% women, 75% men, but direct-to-CS programs like to gender balance).
Also, be warned - do not fall in love with a school. They don’t give a sh*t about your kid, and will break their heart at a moment’s notice. “Dream schools” are college BS. Your kid’s dream school is the one that ACTUALLY ADMITS them with an SAT average that isn’t too much lower than your kid’s.
Third, a safety is NOT a school with a lower GPA and SAT score. A safety is a school that admits a large %age of kids knowing that their “yield” will be low because kids with other offers will go elsewhere. I’ve heard that University of Wisconsin Madison fits this, but haven’t double checked. Any school that protects its yield will only admit kids who are clearly going there, so you can only get into many “safeties” by committing to them in an Early Decision round (which is where the strategy comes in).
Do competitive sports if you can. MIT and Caltech recruited kids who might be in the 1% academically but were on sports teams this year passing up kids who were 0.1% or 0.01% but who didn’t do sports. Of course in 4 years, they may be back to looking for the .1% kids. This is a fluctuating situation.
Also, there are some seasoned (aka “older”) college counsellors who will do the “nag so the parents don’t have to” for cheap. You might consider hiring a strategy counsellor separate from the nag-counsellor.
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Thanks for your detailed reply Terri and for the counselors’ info. We did attend an information seminar with Zenith but haven’t set up a consult yet. Will check out the other one as well. So many variables to consider!
Best wishes to your son!
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